How to ace your next job interview
Finding the perfect job is a challenge that most mid-career professionals will face at some point in their professional life. An important part of finding the right job is acing the interview process and making sure you find an employer who recognizes your skills, experience and personality. To help ensure success, it’s essential to properly prepare for your job interviews so that you can make a great first impression and have a better chance of receiving an offer letter.
As an ex-recruiter I have run literally thousands of job interviews, and I cannot explain the importance of preparing thoroughly for your interview. Candidates who haven’t prepared properly stick out like a sore thumb and are very quickly put into the “thanks but no thanks” pile. I understand that preparing takes time, and trying to guess interview questions and memorise organisational values can feel disingenuous, so that’s why I am going to tell you exactly what you need to do to ace your next interview. Read on!
1. Research the company: This may seem obvious but you’d be surprised at the number of people I have interviewed who had zero clue on the high level info. First place is obviously their website; a broad understanding of products and services is a must. What’s their footprint? What’s their mission and their vision? Remember; every other candidate is going to be researching the same information, so what can you find out that they won’t know? Who can you talk to to find this gem!? Have they been in the media recently? What challenges have they been facing economically?
2. As mentioned in number 1, reach out to your network. And this is NOT about name dropping in your interview. Use your contacts to ask the questions around culture and challenges that the business is facing. Can you find out what’s coming up? Who are their competitors and what are they doing differently.
3. Make sure you are dressing appropriately. The last thing you want to do is be underdressed for your interview, but being overdressed can be just as problematic. Your future employer wants to check out if you can fit it. So find out what the real dress code is, and add some polish.
4. The most common form of interview questions these days are competency based questions. These are the “can you tell me a time when you have demonstrated your problem solving ability” type questions. You may be able to predict the competencies they are going to quiz you on by looking at the role description. These questions are looking for you to talk about a time in the past where you have demonstrated that competency. The best way to prepare for these is to have pre-prepared stories that can fit multiple competencies. Eg, one of my past examples of where I demonstrated my problem solving skills can also be an excellent example of my communication skills. To prepare properly, reflect back on your work experience over the last couple of years. Write down some situations in which you have been really successful or the outcome has been positive. See which competencies you can layer over the top.
5. Ask questions; recruiters love when candidates have questions at the end of the interview. Relevant questions that is; not “how did I do in the interview”! It is equally important for you to ask questions aswell, even though it might seem its all about the recruiter. Pre-prepare a few questions and have them up your sleeve for the last five minutes. Eg. I’m really keen on continuing my learning journey, so I wanted to ask what your development programs are like? OR What is the growth trajectory for this role? OR What would be the difference between doing a good job versus doing an excellent job in this role?
So, best of luck for your next job interview! If you would like some more support in your career pivot journey, please book in for a free discovery call.