This article will help you prepare for your first interview with a recruiter, hiring manager, or non-technical teammate. This can help you if you are new to interviewing, have not interviewed in a while, or want to brush up. In addition, we will go through interview tips and preparation tactics from mentality to presenting past experience in the best light.
Always prepare for interviews. Interviews can make you feel apprehensive, anxious, and overwhelmed, regardless of where you are in your career path—whether you are a first-time job seeker or a mid-career professional switching fields. It is normal to feel this way, but there are job interview tips to help you perform better.
Use the interview tips in this article to improve your interviewing skills.
Prepare accomplishment stories.
The interview's success depends on telling good anecdotes about past achievements. Interviewers use stories to learn how you behave and picture you in the role. Stories indicate that you can apply the talents and skills on your CV in real professional life and are not restricted to theory.
When answering interview questions, use real-life examples. You can mention actual accomplishments while answering wider questions regarding your leadership style or cooperation strategy.
Choose your narrative.
It is hard to reflect back on your career and choose the ideal interview tale. Prepare 20-30 professional/ life stories to tell. Contact coworkers, and sift through the performance reports or project paperwork if you forget your accomplishments. If you lack professional experience, ask friends, relatives, or teachers about your best moments.
Prepare to tell effective stories.
Keep your stories under two minutes to keep the interviewer's attention. This is hard with personal stories. Each story serves a purpose.
Use STAR to create powerful accomplishment experiences, the situation, task, action, and result (STAR), this format can help keep your stories focused. It shows how you overcome challenges and complete things.
Context: What is the setting for your story? Include company, job, or project data as applicable.
Task: What were the challenges?
Action: What did you do? When relevant, mention moments you went above and beyond.
Result: What beneficial effects did your actions have? Include what might have happened if you had not gone the extra mile.
Interview preparation.
You can prepare for an interview by considering what you want to say and practicing typical questions.
Outline what you want your interviewer to know about you. Make sure everything you say supports three primary points.
Identifying your significant ideas can help you repeat them throughout the conversation. Your interviewer will remember them better. Having a defined communication plan can also assist you in avoiding contradictions. For example, if one of your primary arguments is being precise, do not tell a tale about missing product testing to meet deadlines. Even if it shows you can overcome hurdles, it will dilute your message.
Practice.
One of the best interview advice is that once you know your main points, practice answers. Tell us about yourself? Why should we hire you? Your biggest flaw? What is your motivation?
Pre-write answers to each question or, practice and refine your replies. When answering interview questions, bear the following interview advice in mind:
- Consider the question from the interviewer's perspective i.e. what are they seeking to learn?
- Make sure your answer supports (or does not contradict) your key points.
- Use short, targeted stories to explain your point, even if the question does not specifically ask for them.
- Keep answers to two minutes (or 30 seconds for a phone interview) to engage the interviewer; if asked, you can expand.
Best interview tips for preparation.
It would help if you prepared for an interview once it is scheduled.
Anticipate.
How will your interview go? In-person, phone, or virtual interviews using Zoom, Webex, or Google Meet. Panel and group interviews are also possible. Most interviews are one-on-one. Many rounds occur. You might start with a recruiter before speaking with the hiring manager and others. You may need to prepare a presentation or case study for an interview.
Knowing the interview format and who you will be speaking with will help you prepare. Interview invitations usually include this information. If not, follow up with the person scheduling your interview to get a timetable and list of interviewers.
Investigate the company, function, and interviewers.
The better you know the position, the better your replies will be. So do as much research as possible to know what to expect and what to bring.
Why do you wish to work for this company? It would help if you aimed to answer this question well. Is it a market role? Company culture? Their field approach or mission?
Use these resources to research the interviewing company:
- Website: business, structure, leadership, mission, and values.
- Search Google News or other news aggregators for corporate news.
- Employer review sites: Check out Glassdoor to see what employees are saying.
Job description and role.
Read the job description and examine the employer's needs. LinkedIn search for coworkers with comparable job titles. View their profiles to learn about their roles, backgrounds, and skills.
When you get interviewer names and titles, search them up on LinkedIn. Analyse their present and past responsibilities to understand their opinions. Look for LinkedIn reviews of your interviewers. Studies from others reveal people's communication techniques and personalities. This can help you to create a connection with them.
Job-specific replies.
Read the job description and match your abilities, experiences, and accomplishments to each statement. If your objective is to "help translation project management by communicating effectively with different vendors and ensuring timely deliverables," describe your expertise in managing vendors, deadlines, and accomplishments. If a need is the "ability to survive in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment and radiate happiness under duress," prepare STAR tales that show these characteristics.
Questionnaire.
You can ask questions about the role and company in most interviews. This is a great chance to show your devotion to the work and learn more about the firm. Thoughtful questions can lead to talks beyond a normal interview dialogue, helping you stand out.
Prepare interview questions as well as replies. Try to tailor your questions to each interviewee. Different interviewers are generally charged with focusing on specific topic areas matched with their work functions. Therefore optimising for each interviewer with preliminary research is helpful. For example, someone from the technical team will know more about the company's technology stack than the hiring manager.
Below are some interview day best practices.
- Dress better than officemates; if you are unsure, ask the recruiter.
- Bring a CV, job description, and notepad.
- Arrive early. Allow time to find, park, and check-in for an on-site interview.
- Know how you will connect with the interviewer for a virtual interview, download and practise using any relevant applications.
- Relax. Distract-free discourse is key. If you need to modify or address a distraction, request a pause to drink water, stretch, or refocus.
- Thank interviewers within 24 hours. Recruiters might forward your email to interviewers if you do not have their addresses. Thank the interviewer for their time, summarise the conversation, and follow up on anything you missed.
The interview mindset.
Once you are ready, be open-minded. You cannot predict what will happen in an interview or what questions you will be asked, but you can practise to increase your confidence and utilise this guide to establish solutions. Remember, interviews are a chance to think quickly.
Doing your preparation is crucial, but do not assume you know everything about the job because you have prepared. Job descriptions might be unclear, and recruiting supervisors may have particular needs. For example, if you go into the interview with the purpose of better understanding the role, you will feel empowered to decide if it is right for you instead of waiting for the employer to decide.
Maya Angelou once remarked, "People will forget what you said, what you did, but how you made them feel." Happiness spreads. Smile, be passionate about the role and focus on the good in your past to convey confidence. Never complain about traffic or a previous workplace. You want the interviewer to see you as a terrific applicant. Positive energy will make you a desirable coworker.
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