How To Prepare For Your Job Interview Like A Pro
In my almost 20 years as a recruiter I’ve interviewed hundreds of candidates and you can tell within the first five minutes of the interview whether they’re prepared or not.
Why does preparing for a job interview matter? Well it shows your interviewers that you’re taking it seriously and that you do your research before any important meeting, which is pretty much what a job interview is.
But more importantly, it gives you more confidence and power as you go into your job interview.
So here is how to prepare for your job interview like a pro.
Know The Job Description
Yes you’ve already read it, but read it again, and again. Make sure you know it inside out. What are the most important parts of the role and how do your skills and experience set you up to excel in that job.
These are going to be the things you focus on discussing in your interview.
Know Your CV
Make sure you know it inside out. If you’ve not lied or bent the truth on your CV then it should be easy, it’s just a document that tells the story of your career. Your interviewers will expect any answers you give in your interview to align with what you’ve already said in your CV.
If you’re struggling with your CV, I’ve created a template with advice that you can download for free here - Free CV Template
Research The Company
This is standard advice, but what should you research and how? I’d start with their website - what does the company do, how do they do it, who are their customers, who are their competitors, what are their business objectives.
You don’t need to memorise it, but you need to understand it and be able to articulate it. Not in case they ask “What do you know about us?” but more so you can align your answers to other questions in the context of the company, it’s customers and it’s objectives.
Check out Glassdoor, but do take this information with a pinch of salt. Normally folk who leave negative Glassdoor reviews are really disgruntled and represent a minority, those who leave really positive reviews have usually been asked to leave a review. The ‘average’ employee rarely leaves a review. It’s a bit like TripAdvisor reviews.
Take a look at the Company social media pages, especially LinkedIn, it will give you some more insight and check for any latest news on the company via Google.
Research Your Interviewer
Most of the time your interviewer will be your potential boss so it makes sense to know as much about them as possible right? Your boss has a massive impact on your career and day to day life in work, researching them is a no brainer.
Are they a first time manager? What did their career path look like? Do they look like they could be a great mentor that you could learn from?
Use this information to inform the questions you’ll want to ask throughout the interview
Research The People
Have a look on Linked at the people who currently work there, have they been there a while? Have they been promoted whilst at the company. If so then all positive signs that it’s a great place to work, more reliable than Glassdoor.
Look at people who used to work there, are there lots of people who left after a relatively short time. This is obviously a potential red flag but again gives you intel you can use to find out more during the interview.
Practice Common Interview Questions
Having an idea of what you’ll be asked and how you might answer them is always going to be helpful. You don’t want to answer a question and then later wish you’d have said something different.
Check out my other post - Top 10 Interview Questions & How To Answer Them
Prepare Questions For Your Interviewer
Avoid asking questions about pay, benefits and hours, you can discuss and negotiate that at offer stage.
Use this as an opportunity to learn more about the role, the interviewer, the company and whether you even want this job.
I’ve pulled together this list of questions you can ask in a job interview.
Use ChatGPT Prompts to Help You
ChatGPT can massively help with interview preparation and research.
Here’s a few prompts to help you:
I’m interviewing for [job title] with [company/type of company]. What skills, attributes, or previous experiences are useful to talk about in my interview?
Here’s my CV. What should I bring up in a job interview for a position as [job title] at [company/type of company]?
I’m interviewing for [job title] at [company/type of company], and this is part of the job description: [section of the job description in question]. What does this responsibility entail?/How do I showcase this skill in an interview?
I’m interviewing for [job title] at [company], and know little about the company. Give me information on the company, it’s leaders, values, competitors and products/services. How do I best answer [common interview question] if I’m interviewing for a role as [job title] at [company/type of company]?
I’m interviewing with [role of your interviewer] at [company/type of company]. What kinds of questions will they ask, and how should I answer them?
Ask me [interview question you want to prep for], and I’m going to provide an answer. Give me feedback on my answer as if you’re the hiring manager: What elements of my story stood out? What pieces were missing? Given interview best practices, what did I do well, and what could I do differently?
You can sign up for a free ChatGPT Account here - https://chat.openai.com/
Remember that a job interview is a two way conversation. They’re trying to figure out if you’re going to be a good fit for the role, you need to figure out if this company aligns with you and your career plans.
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