How to prepare for a successful interview - Step 1
Being able to actually do a job and being able to successfully interview for a job are distinctly separate skills. Understanding this is helpful, because it means it’s something you learn. So instead of thinking “God, I’m shite at interviews. I’m never going to get a job I actually want,” you can shift gears to, “I don’t think I’ve ever really learned how to prepare for and execute a good interview, but now is definitely a good time to start. And once I prepare properly, I’ll be way better at interviewing, and therefore way more likely to land the job!”
So - where do you start? There are so many things to consider when preparing for an interview: how to dress, how quickly or slowly to speak, whether you should research your interviewees beforehand, your body language and posture, how to create a compelling narrative about your experience that hooks the interviewer on an emotional level, how you can set yourself apart from other candidates applying for the same role. I bet you hadn’t even thought of some of those things, right? GAH! Now we’re back to being overwhelmed
Deep breath. I’ve got you. Yes, there are all kinds of topics you can cover when learning the skill “interviewing well”, but the fundamental thing you have to be able to do is ANSWER THE QUESTIONS AND ANSWER THEM WELL. Right? All the rest is just salsa. This is the meat
Following is a simple and comprehensive tool you can use to set yourself up for a successful interview by making sure you can comfortably, confidently, and directly respond to any relevant question your interviewer throws your way.
Once you’ve followed the steps below, you’ll find that:
You feel more confident going into your next interview
Answers will be on the tip of your tongue, instead of you needing to stall for time while you think of what you really want to say
It’s a lot easier for you to communicate why you’re the right person for the job
You’ve *accidentally* prepared for more than one interview by coming up with targeted examples of your experience in areas that you’ll be asked about in pretty much any interview that comes up in the future (tricky trickster coach moves right there…) ;-)
As a result, preparing for all future interviews is going to be a lot simpler and faster
Sound good? Cool. Get going!
Your first step is preparing yourself to answer any questions about your experience, skills, and traits in a way that is:
relevant to the job description,
results-oriented,
brief and compelling, and most importantly...
effective in communicating how you will use your experience to excel at the role for which you’re applying.
Here’s how to do it in a way that will both set you up for success and set you apart from the competition.
Step 1:
First, find a job listing for a job that you’re interested in, plan to apply to, and/or have already applied to. Ideally, you’re preparing for an interview that has already been scheduled.
Step 2:
In that job description, find the list of job requirements (experience, skills, traits). Then copy and paste each individual job requirement into its own square in the far left column.
Make sure to break the requirements into separate pieces where they’ve been combined into a single sentence. Here’s an example:
This sentence “Must possess strong interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills, attention to detail, and proven leadership.”
turns into these boxes:
Strong interpersonal skills
Oral and written communication skills
Attention to detail
Proven leadership
Step 3:
Once you’ve filled out all of the job requirements, fill out the second column by thinking of a simple, discrete example from your professional OR personal history that demonstrates your experience, expertise, or skill level in each area (each row).
Where possible focus on results. So if you were in charge of a fundraising campaign that went really well, talk about how much you raised. If the campaign did significantly better than the previous year’s campaign, talk about the percent increase in funds raised (we brought in 26% more than last year). Sometimes the results won’t be numeric, but that doesn’t make them less valid. If you were brought on to run a team that was scattered and tense, and you designed and implemented a team-building plan that resulted in everyone getting along a lot better, being more willing to work together, fewer complaints to supervisors and HR, and as a result, higher performance across the board - talk about that!
Be brief and stick to the point - this is something you want to PREPARE for, not just hope you remember to do in the moment. Write down just the key points you want to remember below, and focus on remembering and communicating those. That will help you stay focused, instead of wandering around hoping to find a point.
Include examples from your whole life, as long as they’re relevant. Maybe some of your experience doesn’t come from your paid job - it comes from some volunteer work you did with an organization that matters to you. Maybe it’s just something people always ask your advice about, and as a result you’ve helped a lot of people accomplish something in particular (aka maybe you’ve helped a lot of people prepare for conversations with their bosses about getting a raise, and several of the people you helped actually got raises). If you’ve done it, and you know you have that experience, talk about it! Don’t miss an opportunity to prove that you have the chops for the job just because it wasn’t a part of your day job.
Be specific. If you have 4 years of experience in social media management, make sure to include what platforms you managed. If you got an account from x number of followers to y number of followers - mention it. Don’t go too far into the weeds, just make sure you’re truly communicating the full nature of your experience.
Step 4:
This next step is the MONEY step. It’s the step that most people don’t take when preparing for interviews, and as a result, the step that will set you apart from the hoard of candidates you’re competing against. So - what you want to do next, in the third (pink) column, is think about how the experience you’ve just detailed in the previous column prepares you to be awesome at the role you’re applying for. Some considerations:
Focus on ways to apply your experience, knowledge, skills, or traits that will:
Make your supervisor’s life easier
“I love working on a team, but I’m also totally comfortable managing my own time and projects autonomously. It’s important to me to find a good balance between working independently and keeping my direct report informed, so that everyone is on the same page. Here’s how I did this in a previous role that was effective…”
Make your supervisor look good
“At my last job, I made the case for a low-cost reporting software that allowed me to provide my supervisor with weekly, at-a-glance progress reports of all the key metrics my team was responsible for, so that he could easily share them with the executive team when asked.”
Make your team look good
“As a team leader, I know how important it is to both validate and share my team’s wins. I have a two-pronged approach to this. First of all, I start each week with a team meeting where everyone shares their wins from the previous week before digging into their responsibilities for the current week. This puts everyone in a good mindset to get things done. Then at the end of each week, I send out an email to the relevant stakeholders sharing the awesome progress my team made that week. I found that this also helped us make our case when we have a new idea or project that we want to take on!”
Make the company look good
“Starting in my previous position, I’ve made it a point to write at least one article a month on LinkedIn sharing non-confidential company successes from the perspective of a new process, approach, tool, or other helpful thing that might benefit someone else in our industry or in my role. It serves as both a way for me to stay connected to my professional network and for me to be a brand ambassador for our company.”
Improve any metrics or processes that are under the new role’s purview, such as:
Increasing profit
Increasing customer/client satisfaction
Increasing followers or engagement on social media
Improving conversion re: digital marketing efforts
Improving processes to make them more streamlined and efficient
