How to prepare for Interviews? Interview Tips & Advice

Question

General Job/Interview Tips & Advice

Job interviews can be extremely nerve-wracking, stressful, and difficult. Your goal is to convince the interviewer that you are the best candidate for the job and to sell yourself as much as possible in a very short amount of time.

Different interviews require you to answer different types of questions (that are relevant to the company/role), however, there are certain things that you can do to prepare that will help you no matter where you are interviewing.

Networking is an essential part of the recruitment process. It not only helps you get your foot in the door at a company, but also, having someone on the inside helps your application have internal support (and thus is more likely to make it through the interview process).
Have a clean resume that sells your experiences and conveys why you are a good fit for the job. This is important because your resume is usually the first thing employers look at to assess whether you are a good candidate or not. Despite having strong experiences, having a clean and professional-looking resume speaks volumes about your organization and professional skills.
On interview day you want to dress to impress. This is an important part of looking professional and making a good first impression. How you dress depends on the role you are applying for, but a general rule of thumb is you should dress at least as nice/formal as the employees at the company you are applying dress.
What to bring with you to the interview? It is usually a good idea to bring copies of your resume, some blank paper, a pen/pencil to take notes, and any other materials the employer specifically asks you to bring. I like to bring a bottle of water with me as well to make sure I stay hydrated during the interview day, but they usually provide you water.
During your interview, you want to have a good, positive, confident, and professional attitude. This means being polite, smiling, looking people in the eye, speaking loudly/clearly (don't yell just be confident!), sitting up straight, etc.
During you interview, you will have to answer questions and tell stories about yourself. Effectively answering questions is not as easy as it sounds, but it is essential. While different types of questions require different answers and approaches, below are some quick general tips that will help you sell yourself more effectively:
- ANSWER THE QUESTION - This is the biggest tip I can give anyone when interviewing. People do not realize how often they are asked a question and do not directly answer it, or they take a really long time to get to the answer. A simple way to avoid this tendency is to start with the answer immediately and then explain how/why that is your answer.
- Tell stories in chronological order - This makes it easier to follow how you got from one place/idea to the next.
- Be concise & do not go off-topic - It is more common than most people think to not have a purpose to their stories. You have a very short amount of time to get your points across to the interviewer, don't waste a second of it.
- Use more recent stories - If possible, when answering a question with an anecdote, if the personal story is a more recent one it is slightly more effective than one from a long time ago. This isn't a huge deal, especially if you are thinking on the spot, but something to keep in mind.
As each of your interviews wrap up, it's important to ask good, meaningful, and relevant questions. A lot of interviewees ignore this portion of the interview but it is essential that you have at least one, but preferably 2 or 3 questions to ask your interviewer about the job, the role, the company, or even about the interviewer. Getting the interviewer talking about themself is a great way to end an interview because everyone loves talking about themself! Make sure you have some questions prepared before starting your interview, but if you can think of relevant ones on the spot (based on your interview discussion) that's even better.
After the interview is done, it is important to send a professional follow-up thank you email to everyone that interviewed you (so make sure you have their email address/contact info before you leave!). In the email, make sure to thank the interviewer for taking their time to speak with you and mention at least one thing you discussed with them during the interview. This is an important step to ensure you make a good, lasting impression. Aim to send this email no later than one business day after your interview takes place.

Some Interview Prep Sources

If you are looking for some other sources that are good general interview prep guides, below are a few I have found to be pretty good. I advise looking through career-relevant forums on Careersopedia to get specific interview advice for a specific career you are interviewing for.

Reply with any general interview questions, comments, tips and/or advice you have below!

EVRBankrBoy · Accepted Answer

100% Agree on all of this - ANSWER THE QUESTION

Also:
1. Too many cooks spoil the broth - only have a couple of people look over your resume otherwise you’ll receive conflicting feedback. Whatever you include, you should be able to talk about and be willing to answer questions on but a clean, consistent look with 0 spelling mistakes and formatting errors is the minimum requirement to hit
2. Come up with a repertoire of personal anecdotes and stories that demonstrate your great attributes and decision making. You can then draw on this bank of personal stories regardless of the question (especially ones you haven’t prepared for).

tigerking · Answer

How do I network if I don't know anyone...I feel like it's so much easier for all my friends to just talk to people and get a job since they have high-level connections. How do I build a job network from scratch?

sushiluvr · Answer

This is awesome

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