Interviewing Preparation

As a job search coach one of the areas where I am asked to provide guidance and suggestions is interviewing. Many times my clients want to know how to prepare for the interview and other times they want to practice interviewing.
While I can’t predict all of the questions that will be asked of an applicant, we do prepare based upon the job posting and by reviewing the client’s resume, strengths, weaknesses and accomplishments. Here is what we do:

1. Review the job posting for key words and job specific phrasing. Take a piece of paper and draw two columns. In the first column, write down the job wording and job responsibilities (write them one by one). In the second column, write out your accomplishments as they relate to these words and phrases. Look at your resume for guidance (after all, there was something in your resume that interested the hiring manager or HR representative). Refer to your prior work experience and also any outside or volunteer work.

2. Look up the company website and read the sections entitled Home, About Us and Our Employees. Review any new products and services as well as the company core values. These sections will provide additional information about your understanding of the company and you can again align your past performance with their principles.

3. Google the company and do as stated above. Also look them up on LinkedIn.

4. Practice interviewing using behavioral questions. Go back to the two-column chart you created earlier and using the wording in the left-hand side, create behavioral questions. For example, if you are applying for an Environmental Engineering position and one of the job responsibilities is “soil and groundwater sampling”, two behavioral questions might be, “Take me though the steps you use in groundwater sampling. What tests do you perform, what do you do with the results?” or “What are some of the issues that you have run into while doing groundwater testing? How did you handle these and what were the results?” Practice answering these questions out loud or with a partner.

5. Have a list of questions to ask the interviewer. You don’t need to save the questions for the end of the interview; ask them or any question whenever you need clarification or more detail. Some sample questions to ask the hiring company include, “What are the pressing needs of this position?”, “What are the goals of the department, the organization?”,”I read that you just introduced Product X, how is this position related to the roll out of that product?”

There are other ways to prepare such as answering the Strengths, Weaknesses and Tell Me About Yourself questions and we can talk about these at another time. The important thing about interviewing is to prepare. While the interviewer may not ask you everything on your list, it is better to be prepared. After all, preparation leads to a better understanding of yourself and that naturally leads to confidence and assuredness.