Success in interviews depend as much as on interview itself as it is on good planning and preparation.  Good preparation not only helps you appear confident in an interview but also enable you to steer the interview toward your position of strength.

In the previous article, we talked about interview basics. In this article, we will talk about how to prepare for an interview.  

Research the company - Find out what is the core business area of company, what kind of work do they do, their market position, size of company etc.

Tip  – At a minimum, you must visit the company website

Research the hiring style of Company -  Find out what do they emphasize on, what kind of questions do they ask, what is their typical interview style or hiring pattern

Tip  – You can open a new thread or use an existing thread under Discussion Forums on this site.

Develop your narrative – Why should the company hire you?  What you bring to the table, how can you showcase to the employer that you are the right person to do the job. It is therefore important to look at your strengths, skills, and executed projects and develop 2-3 stories which demonstrate how you were able to utilize your strengths and skills to make meaningful contribution in different circumstances. You can adapt and tell these stories based on interview questions asked.

Tip – You can also draw some inspiration from the non-mandatory section of your profile on this site.  The form is designed in a way to help you with resume and interviews. 

Anticipate & Prepare for possible questions -  While interviewers will most likely ask specific questions related to job, you are also likely to be asked some other questions, which includes

o   Generic questions which apply to different situations

o   Questions based on your resume/ CV.  This might include questions related to different skills or projects which you have mentioned. 

Tip – You can refer to discussion forums on this site for different technical questions asked for specific company. 

Prepare for Clarity / Personality Questions – Some interviews will ask questions to understand your thought process and how articulate you are. These questions range from

o   Tell me about yourself

o   What are your career goals?

o   Why did you choose your specific college or specialization

o   Share a time you failed and how you responded to the situation

o   What are your strengths or weaknesses?

Tip – Do not copy paste stock answers from internet.  Reflect on your personal experiences and frame your answers to these questions..  For questions which require you to refer to a situation (e.g. tell me a time..), use STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) 

Practice Interviewing – Extremely important.  Make a list of all the questions you have anticipated based on your CV and found in your research on specific company and ask some friend or classmate to help you simulate the interview.

Tip – Do not try to memorize answers. Focus on answering the question honestly and how well other person is able to understand you.  You might want to do this practice with more than 1 person.

Tell yourself you want this job – If you are not enthusiastic about the job, it will be visible to the interviewer and you will most likely be rejected anyways.  When you decide to appear for an interview, tell yourself that you want this job and prepare with full enthusiasm. If there are things which appear less exciting on the face of it (e.g. type of work done by company), you have chance to understand it well during interview process.

Tip – In the end, if you are still not convinced, you can always decline the offer.  Reverse is not true. So always be in positive frame of mind. 

Prepare Questions for Interviewer - create a list of questions to ask the employer at the end of an interview to demonstrate your level of preparation and interest. These will also help you discover if the organization and position is a good fit for you. Typical questions

o    Ask about training opportunities available in company

o    Ask the interviewer about what he likes most about working for that particular employer

o    Ask about how easy it is to move between different roles within the company 

In the next article, we will talk about how to perform better at interviews.

Have a good career.