Preparing for an interview is an essential part of your job search, but it doesn’t have to be painful. You don’t have to figure out the perfect answer to every question (there are no perfect answers) and you don’t have to write and memorize a script.
Interview preparation gives you a chance to get to know the company and their needs so you can best express your fit and motivation for the job. It also gives you a chance to practice speaking about your professional experience; practice can help you sound and feel more at ease during your next interview.
Your interview prep time will mainly be spent on research and practice. Time spent on each area will vary depending on your needs for each interview and how much time you have. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how to prepare and practice for an interview:
1. Research the company
- Find out what they do, who their competitors are, and how they distinguish themselves in the marketplace (e.g. what do they do differently, or what is unique about their product or service). Look for this information on their company website and in online reviews.
- Learn about their culture. Discover their values and what they look for in candidates. You can find information about this on company career pages or in their “about” section. Another way to learn about a company’s culture is to speak to someone who works for the company. Reach out to your network and see if you can have a quick phone call to learn more about working for the organization. A good time to do this sort of research is when you apply for a job, that way you’ll have more time to find a contact and schedule your conversation.
- Investigate where the company or the industry it is a part of is headed, or what challenges it faces. You can often learn about this through press releases or media coverage. Another source for this type of research is professional associations and forums. Staying on top of trends and innovations in your industry is a good practice that can give you an edge over other candidates in an interview, and also as an ongoing practice to help advance your career.
2. Make notes
- Make a list of questions. A quick search online or trip to the library will help you uncover the most common questions asked in a typical interview.
- In general, questions are likely to cover your past work experience. Most interviews use what are known as behavioral interview questions. These usually start something like this: “Tell me about a time when…” or “Can you give me an example of a time when…” The theory behind these types of questions is that your past actions are a good predictor of how you will perform in the future.
- Another type of question you may be asked are ones that are designed to demonstrate your level of knowledge or expertise in your field or industry. These types of questions are designed to measure your current knowledge. Just as with behavioral interview questions, try to find a few examples of skill-based questions so you can become more comfortable with answering these types of questions as well.
- Take note of items you’d like to cover (these notes are for your practice time only). It’s best to keep these notes limited to bullets of a word or two. Your notes should help you remember key stories that help demonstrate your work habits, approaches to common challenges, and key accomplishments that are relevant to the type of work you’d be doing. You might also want to have some brief notes about the company research you’ve done. Put these on notecards or any other format that is easy for you and use them as you initially practice answering questions. The act of preparing these notes will help you clarify, organize and focus the way you answer questions during your practice.
- Use the STAR method to organize your notes. Any stories about your previous work experience should hit on each of these points:
- Situation: what the circumstance was
- Task: what your objective was
- Action: what you did
- Result: the outcome or lesson learned
Frequently candidates will forget to include the outcomes of their actions in their stories. Be sure to give yourself time to relate specific, positive results, or the lessons you learned for the future if the outcome wasn’t good.
3. Practice answering questions
- Answer questions out loud. This is one of the most important parts of your preparation. For most people, speaking about yourself the way you would in an interview is unfamiliar and possibly uncomfortable. Spending time practicing speaking about your career outside of the interview will give you some experience selling your strengths while the pressure is off.
- Tip: If you find it awkward to speak out loud by yourself, try using a mirror or a photo. Looking at friendly face while you practice can make it more comfortable. Additionally, a mirror can help you remember to smile.
- Record yourself answering questions (either video or just audio). Listen to the recording after you are finished with your practice run and evaluate your performance. Did you communicate what you wanted to? Is there a type of question that gave you problems? Use the recording to help you determine what you need to practice next.
- Run a mock interview and have another person ask you questions. Give your interviewer a full list of questions and have them pick out five or six questions to answer. Have them conduct it like as much like a real interview as possible. This final type of practice will give you the confidence of knowing that you can handle the stress of an interview and still make a great first impression.
Bonus Tip:
The one overall question you need to be able to answer in every interview is:
“Why should we hire YOU for this position (and not our other candidates)?”
Take the time to consider how you are uniquely qualified for this role. What do you have that another candidate might not be able to offer and more importantly, how will it benefit the company? Your differentiators can be something in your education, your strengths, your experience, or even your motivation or reason for wanting the role. Invest time in being able to answer this question thoroughly and then make sure to integrate elements of “why you” in every question you answer.