Interviews and career
How to prepare for a job interview
Prepare three short stories from work that show what the employer is looking for, and one sentence on why you want this job. Answer questions with specifics, and when you do not know something, say so and show how you would find out. Ask a question of your own at the end, because that is part of the assessment too.
How to handle this conversation
Connect your experience to the job ad
Pick three requirements from the ad and match an example to each. “At my last company I led the rollout of a similar system across three departments” says more than a list of duties.
Answer with situation, action, result
Set the scene briefly, say what your part was and finish with the outcome. “The team was going to miss a deadline, I took over weekly planning and we delivered on time.”
Do not pretend to know everything
For a question outside your experience, try: “I have not done that yet, but I would start by looking at how it is set up here and talking to the person who ran it before.”
Have two questions ready for the end
A question like “How will you know after six months that this person is doing well?” shows engagement and gives you information for your own decision.
I am going to a job interview
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Duration
- 15-20 minutes
The situation
You have applied for a specialist role at a mid-sized company and are through to an interview with a recruiter and your future manager. Your experience fits, but you do not meet one of the requirements in the ad. The interview lasts half an hour and is the first serious stage. You want to show what you bring and find out whether this is the right place for you.
Who you talk to
A recruiter and your future manager
They are polite but on a tight schedule with several candidates. They dig into the details of your examples, return to the missing requirement and check whether your motivation is real.
The counterpart also has private goals and information that are never shown upfront. You discover them only through the conversation, the same way you would in real life.
What makes it hard
- General answers are met with a request for a concrete example and numbers.
- The conversation keeps coming back to the requirement you do not meet.
- You are asked why you want to leave your current job.
Your goals
- Show your fit for the role with concrete examples
- Answer the question about missing experience calmly
- Ask questions that help you make your own decision
What the report looks at
- Whether your answers are specific and backed by examples
- How you talk about your gaps and your current job
- Whether your answers are a sensible length with a clear point
- Whether you ask thoughtful questions at the end