Preparing for interviews helps you to make the best possible impression on recruiters, so you can convince them that you are the right person for the role.

This article provides interview skills help by outlining how to prepare effectively for interviews, so you can increase your chances of securing your chosen role.

Research the company

Most companies will ask, “what do you know about our company?” or “why you would like to work for us?” It’s important to research the company, via their website, LinkedIn and other social media sites so you can answer these questions. Your research may include:

• What products/services do the company offer? Who are their customers? How are they different from their competitors?
• How do they provide these products/services to customers? Do they sell via their website or through other sites / distributors?
• What is the company’s mission statement and core values / culture. Demonstrate these values in your answers.
• When/why was the company founded? Where are its sites located? How many employees does it have?
• Look at company announcements / press releases. Have they recently launched any new products? Acquired other companies? Delivered high profile projects?
• Look for other announcements, recent outings or charitable work which you can ask about during the interview.
  

If you want to impress the interviewer, you can research the company’s competitors, and talk about why customers choose to use the company rather than their competitors.

Some people recommend using LinkedIn to research the interviewers background, however I do not usually recommend this, unless you’re extremely careful how you share your findings. I have interviewed alongside many managers who found this slightly odd or intrusive, with several managers feeling that the candidate had demonstrated stalker-like behaviour!

Review the job description

The key to successfully selling or marketing anything (including yourself!) is to understand your customer’s concerns and focus on how your product or service delivers or overcomes these.

A job description is a list of the problems which the company needs someone to solve. An interview assesses who is best placed to help them to resolve these issues, the more problems you can resolve, and the closer you align yourself to these requirements, the more desirable you will be as a potential employee.

The best way to prepare for an interview is to focus on how you can deliver value in each area of the job description. I suggest dividing the job description into the main areas of the role, linking your experience to each area, and identifying your best examples to demonstrate how you can help them to resolve these issues. As part of your interview preparation, consider why you are applying and what you will bring to the role, linking this to the main requirements in the job description/person specification.

As part of their interview preparation some people find it helpful to plan which examples to use for each area of the job description, other people prefer to prepare full STAR based examples, and/or answers to common interview questions, other people may not feel the need to prepare any answers. There is no right or wrong answer, it depends on your ability to recall information, your personality and how confident you feel.

Prepare questions for the interviewer

Interviewers usually ask whether you have any questions towards the end of the interview. The more questions you ask, the more interested you will look in the company and the role. You may wish to prepare some questions in advance, however don’t ask anything which you could have found on the company website or in the job description, as it will look as if you hadn’t read these. Some good questions include:

• What does a typical day in this role look like?
• What types of [campaigns/projects] would I be working on? What opportunities are there to…
• What qualities do your most successful employees have?
• Clarifying anything on the job description which wasn’t clear (e.g. acronyms, job duties etc)
• Clarifying anything about the company you couldn’t see on their website
• When can I expect to hear from you?

Practice delivering your answers

Some people find it helpful to practice delivering their interview answers with an interview coach, friend, relative or in front of the mirror. You may find that an answer sounds awkward, or unconvincing when spoken aloud, so this provides an opportunity for you to refine your answers and memorise them. The more you practice, the more confident you will feel in the interview.

Assess the content of your answers, to ensure your examples clearly demonstrate the skills and behaviours required in the role. Plus the delivery of your answers, which includes your body language, the words you use and your tone of voice.

Consider your travel arrangements

Most people find job interviews stressful, so it can be helpful to plan your travel arrangements and possibly do a trial run before the interview. Allow far more time than you will need, if you are very early, you can always find a coffee shop, so you are able to relax before your interview.

Sometimes delays happen which are outside your control; trains are cancelled, roads closed, or there are unexpected delays such as difficulties finding a parking space, or finding the building. If this happens, telephone the person who arranged your interview and explain you will be delayed, most people are understanding when things are outside your control. The worst thing you can do in this situation is to turn up late for your interview with no warning and then try to explain yourself, as this creates the wrong impression.

As part of your interview preparation, you may wish to read some of the other articles providing interview skills help and guidance to improve your interview skills.

Improving your Interview Skills

Would you like professional assistance in preparing for interviews effectively and improving your interview skills and confidence? I offer interview skills help via interview coaching sessions, personally tailored to your needs. You may wish to visit the interview coaching section of my website, where you can find more information and prices. Or you are welcome to contact me, and I’ll be pleased to discuss how I can plan a session to help you.