How to Prepare for an Interview – 10 Top Tips

Part of my job is to coach candidates on how to prepare for an interview and perform their best on the day. Some of the advice on this post may be obvious and some less-so. Here are my top 10 tips….

Tip 1 – BE YOURSELF

I have put this as the first tip because I truly believe it is the most important. It may seem obvious, but a lot of people try and imagine how the best candidate for the job would present themselves and then position themselves as that person at interview. This is good practice, however at the end of the day, the only way to get a clear view on your suitability for a role and how well you will work with the team is to BE YOURSELF. Be the best version of yourself, but be yourself and let your personality shine through.

Tip 2 – DO YOUR RESEARCH

Before meeting a company, in any context, but particularly during an interview setting, DO YOUR RESEARCH! I have put some tips below regarding what to look for and how to prepare;

The Market
Start broad and funnel deeper into the detail as you go. I recommend researching the market in which the recruiting company are operating in… what does that mean? Have a look for commercial insights and trends that you can fashion into well-thought out questions. Some questions to consider are;

• What are the biggest challenges this industry is currently facing?
• Who are the leading companies in this space?
• Who are this company’s competitors?
• What is the latest news in this industry? – Pay attention to mergers & acquisitions, new partnerships announced, movers & shakers in the senior leadership teams amongst the top companies in this space

The Company
So you know the area in which this company operates…. now it’s time to dive deep into this business. My top tip here is to look for the most recent Annual Report. All publicly listed companies publish them, they can normally be found on the website, or through a quick google. If not, see if you can find a company Fact Sheet or draw what you can from the ‘About Us’ section of their website.

During this exercise, you should be looking to learn the basic facts (size of company, where they are based, who their customers are), but also more about this company’s financial performance, information on their product portfolio or suite of services, familiarise yourself with the leadership team and draw conclusions on where you view this company’s strengths and weaknesses to be.

The Role

Read the job description! Put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes and write a list of the key skills & experiences the qualified candidate should have. For each of these skills & experiences, prepare a short example to demonstrate how you are qualified. You should structure your examples in a way that clearly describes;

• The scenario or task at hand
• The actions you took
• The impact it had

The Person

Lastly, make sure you know who you are meeting. This information isn’t always provided to you when an interview is confirmed, but if you can ask someone for it – then go for it! Once you have the name of the person/people you are meeting, look them up on LinkedIn to familiarise yourself with their background & experience and a top tip here is to search google for any interviews or promotions this person might have worked on – it may help you anticipate how this individual likes to communicate.

Tip 3 – DRESS TO IMPRESS

I am a firm believer that it is always better to be overdressed than under-dressed, especially for an interview. You want to look presentable, but referring back to Tip 1 – be yourself. Don’t be afraid to wear a bit of colour… I used to think that business attire had to be black and boring. It’s not the case. After all, this is an interview, not a funeral!

Tip 4 – DON’T BE LATE

Prepare your route there in advance. Allow extra time for unforeseen circumstances and plan to arrive at your destination early so that you can grab a tea/coffee/water before going in. I would recommend checking in at reception 5-10 minutes prior to your interview.

Tip 5 – KNOW YOUR STUFF

In addition to researching the company, you need to make sure you also know yourself. Take a read through your CV before the interview and be ready to provide a clear rationale behind why you want this job and why you want to work for this company.

Tip 6 – ASK QUESTIONS

Always prepare questions to ask at an interview. And then prepare some more. There have been so many times where I have prepared a list of questions which I find are already answered throughout the discussion and then I have nothing left to ask at the end! Good questions are an indicator to your hiring manager that you are interested and understand the challenges you may face in the role. Top tip here is to fashion your questions around the research you did on the market, the company, the role and the individual you are meeting. At the end of the interview, I will always ask the hiring manager how they felt I performed and how well aligned they think my experience is with the role.

Tip 7 – FUEL YOUR BRAIN

Ever eaten a huge burger for lunch and had to pin your eyes open to get through the rest of the day? I know I have! Eat appropriately ahead of an interview. Don’t go too carb-heavy and make yourself lethargic (I’d save that for after), but also remember to eat something so that your mind doesn’t get distracted by your rumbling tummy!

Tip 8 – BE HONEST

There is no point lying about your experience in an interview. If you set an unrealistic expectation at interview, then people will be disappointed when you start in your new job and quite clearly were dishonest. If there are areas where you have less experience, be honest about it being a development area for you, but try and think of transferable skills that help demonstrate your ability to pick up new things quickly!

Tip 9 – CREATE COMPETITION & URGENCY

If you have other interview processes running concurrently, make sure you tell them! You want to show you are interested in the role, but also that you have other options. This can help create urgency which means quicker decision-making! I recommend asking for an idea on timelines for decision making, either at the end of interview or as a follow up. This will help manage your own expectations on when may be appropriate to contact them again for feedback.

Tip 10 – BE PREPARED TO FAIL

It is not the end of the world if you don’t get the job. Interviewing is great experience and there will always be something to learn from. If you didn’t get the job this time, try to understand why and make sure you work on doing it better next time. A no today means you are one step closer to a yes. Keep your head held high and make sure you boss the next one.

I hope you find this post interesting and maybe you even learned something new! Feel free to comment your interview tips/experiences below, I’d love to read them! And Subscribe to my mailing list to receive updates whenever I post new content!