Ace Your Job Interview
BEFORE THE INTERVIEW.
1. Learn what to expect for your interview
You get invited to an interview! Yesss! High five!!! Woohoo!!!! Celebrate in the moment! Add the date and time to your calendar.
And… confirm the details for the big date. Who will you meet with? What are their roles? Will you be asked to complete an assignment? How long will the interview take?
Hopefully the interviewing organization will share that information with you. If not, don’t be afraid to ask, over the phone or via email.
2. Identify frequently asked questions
Every interview is unique, with employers having their own questions, formats, criteria and scoring methods. But you can prepare for the interview by researching commonly asked interview questions. Look for general resources as well as industry-specific questions. Tech companies, charitable organizations and medical institutions will all be interested in unique skills and capacities, so do some research on frequently asked job interview questions in your field.
You can do this by Google searching for
· Common Job Interview Questions
· Job Interview Questions for [insert your field here]
· Grad School Interview Questions
· Medical School Interviews
· Internship Job Interview prep
· Job Interviews for Management Roles
· You get the idea
Based on your web search, create a list of questions to practice. Be sure to include questions that you are nervous about or not sure how to answer, including questions about challenges, weakness or problems you may have experienced in the workplace.
3. Practice your answers… OUT LOUD!
Now that you are armed with your list of questions you might encounter in your interview, practice your answers out loud.
Talk to yourself! This is my best advice. You can think about your answers, review your resume, remember key challenges or achievements, and you might feel prepared for your interview, only to find yourself stumbling over words, getting lost in a story or losing your momentum on the big day.
If you practice saying your answers ALOUD, you can streamline your stories, find tactful ways of describing tricky situations, and avoid repeating the same anecdote five times.
If you have a very helpful friend, ask them to play the role of interviewer and share some simple feedback on how you answer (“Stop saying ummmmm so much”). If you are a student, many Career Centres offer ‘mock’ or practice interviews, so take advantage of that resource.
Practicing aloud will help you feel more confident, so you head into the actual interview knowing how to articulate what you need to say.
DURING THE INTERVIEW
4. Quantify your experience
Quantifying your stories and answers means specifying:
· numbers (of people engaged, clients served, team members managed, stores, locations, etc.)
· scope (local, provincial / state, national, international)
· amount (dollar value, production output)
· target (financial or growth)
Quantifying makes the scenario concrete, helping interviewers envision your specific role and contribution. It also shows strong communications skills by preempting questions.
Here are some examples:
· Unquantified answer: “One time, I had to plan this BIG event…”
· Quantified answer: “As event manager, my first major assignment was to plan our annual gala attended by 500 participants.”
· Unquantified answer: “My manager wanted us to increase our newsletter subscribers pretty quickly”
· Quantified answer: “I was tasked with meeting the target of a 25% increase of newsletter subscribers during the first two quarters of 2018. This meant acquiring 4,000 new subscribers.”
Don’t leave the interviewer wondering what “BIG” or “a lot” or “urgent” mean to you. Be precise about the timelines, goals and quantities involved, and your answers will be much more effective.
5. Tell the whole story (STAR!)
This technique will help you avoid incomplete answers to interview questions. You do not want to leave the interviewers with a cliff-hanger or having to draw the full story out of you with five follow up questions.
A complete answer outlines the context you were in, the challenge you faced, what you did and the final outcome.
The STAR Method is a handy acronym to remember this approach to satisfactory storytelling in an interview:
SITUATION: Describe the environment or workplace and your role within the organization.
TASK: Outline the assignment you were given or the deliverable that you had to achieve.
ACTION: Explain the steps you took – individually and collaboratively – to fulfill your goal.
RESULT: Describe the final outcome or achievement (a prototype, a report, a partnership, a sale).
Your objective is to show how you helped achieve a positive outcome, not to explain the complex inner workings of a past workplace. Briefly describing the ‘situation’, ‘task’, ‘action’ and ‘result’ is a great way to structure succinct and strong answers.
6. Be curious about your potential role and employer
Many job interviews conclude with an opportunity for the interviewee to ask some questions. When your interview panel asks “Do you have any questions for us?” you should reply “Yes!” Asking questions of your prospective employer is a great way to demonstrate your genuine interest in the company. More importantly, it is a way to gather information to determine if this is the right opportunity for you.
Examples of questions you might have for the interviewer:
· Is this role new or has it existed within the company for a while?
· How would you describe the work environment?
· What does the onboarding or orientation process look like for new employees?
· What are some of the best things about working for your company?
· What are some common characteristics of people who thrive at your company / in similar roles?
· How collaborative is this workplace / role? Which teams / colleagues would this role engage with the most?
These questions provide crucial information on whether this company is a fit for you in terms of mentorship, culture, growth opportunities and teamwork. Often we enter job interviews feeling like the outcome is entirely in the hands of the employer. However, you also have to make a decision. Deciding on next steps is easier if you have greater awareness of the workplace: its benefits, challenges, dynamics and opportunities.
7. Have references ready
You should come to an interview with a list of references, usually three references is a safe bet. Include the name of the reference, their job title, their relation to you (past supervisor, swim coach for 15 years, colleague, etc.), their phone number and email.
Typically, the expectation is that references will be someone who directly supervised or managed you (versus a peer or a colleague on another team).
Ensure you have the permission of your references before sharing their information! Even if someone agreed to be your reference in the past, you should reach out to them, confirm their availability and brief them on each specific job opportunity before listing them as a reference.
Have a clean, printed version of your references ready to leave behind at your interview.
8. Confirm next steps
Before closing out the interview, ensure that you are clear on next steps.
· What are next steps in the process?
· When will the decision be made?
· When will candidates hear about the outcome of the process?
AFTER THE INTERVIEW
9. Say thank you
Write an email to your key contact to say thank you for the opportunity to interview for the role. Reiterate your interest in the role and tie it to something you learned in the interview, for example:
“I remain very interested in this opportunity, especially with the information you shared in the interview about the rapid growth and opportunities within the company.”
Expressing your appreciation directly after the interview will distinguish you from other interviewees who do not take this step.
10. Follow up if there is no reply
Do not contact an employer if you haven’t received a response on the exact date they mentioned. However, if a few business days have passed from when you expected a reply, it is appropriate to write a polite follow up email asking about the status of the recruitment process.
“Dear Geralt,
I greatly enjoyed meeting with you and Ciri last week. You mentioned that candidates would receive news by last Friday, so I wanted to check in to ask if there are any updates available on the recruitment for the Senior Supernatural Analyst role. I understand there are a lot of moving pieces, and I appreciate any updates you can share.
Thanks again for the opportunity to interview for this role.
Yennefer”
11. Responding to the outcome
The goal here is to stay classy, regardless of the outcome.
If you receive news that you were not the successful candidate, reply in a positive way, thank the interview team for their time, and invite any feedback they are able to share. Organizations often decline to provide feedback, but if there is someone willing to provide some feedback, respond politely, take notes and apply your learning for future interviews.
If you receive good news that you are the successful candidate, congratulations! Do not feel obliged to provide an immediate answer. Express your excitement and happiness at the news. Ask to see the contract and terms of employment for the role, and communicate that once you have an opportunity to review those documents, you will provide a final answer ASAP.
Interviews are an awesome learning and networking opportunity. Rejection is not fun, but in the long-run, not every opportunity is the right fit for you, and practicing your interview skills equips you to seize the right opportunity when it arrives.
Go get ‘em, you superSTAR!
