8 Step Guide To Prepare for a Job Interview in 60 min

Here’s how to efficiently prepare for a job interview. Emphasis on efficiently, because your time is precious. While you could prepare endlessly for this upcoming interview, as an HR leader and someone who has helped thousands of people land career-defining jobs, here are the specific prep steps that really matter.

How To Research The Company You’re Interviewing For

There are 4 steps involved to thoroughly research a company. This research will help you gain the information you need for the other steps in your interview prep, so don’t skip it!

Step 1

Make sure you know what the company does, and who they do it for. You can do this by finding videos or articles about the company, looking up the company’s competitors and seeing how they differentiate, reading their website, and demoing their product if possible.

Once you find this information, test yourself to make sure you are clear on exactly what the company does. Write it down and summarize out loud what they do, to drill it into your brain. It can be tricky for some companies like some complex supply chain business in a niche industry where you find yourself asking, “Wait, what exactly do they do?” In these cases try to find explanation videos or articles that make it clear.?

Having this information is key because the company will most likely ask you if you have heard about the company before, in which case you can demonstrate that you’ve done all your research and ask questions if you need to (I’ve done a video about how to answer this question in a phone interview which you can check out here. ).

Step 2

Research your answer to why you want to work for the company. Do not stop researching until you have your answer. Make sure you focus on things that are unique to this specific company, such as they have a mission-driven product or leaders with strong values, not extrinsic things like they match 401k or it is remote work. This is a commonly asked question so be prepared to answer this question while hitting on the 15 Competence Triggers.

Some resources I recommend to help you find your answer is to locate a company blog either on their website or on a site like Medium. You can learn from employees about the company by reading Glassdoor reviews or connecting with them on LinkedIn and conducting informational interviews . Also check out the company's social media pages to get some good morsels of insights.

Step 3

Find out the company stats including how big the company is, how much revenue they make, how many cities they are in, etc. None of your interview time should be taken up with you asking these researchable questions, because finding these answers will provide context for deeper questions that you can ask. Such as:

I see the company is at 1000 employees now, how different is that from when you started 2 years ago?

Interviewer: I started when we were just 400 people. It’s been exciting and this place has changed a lot.

You: Oh wow how has that growth impacted your role and the culture?

Use the research that you found to customize the way you discuss the opportunity, showing off that you did research makes you stand out because in actuality candidates doing research is a lot less common than one would hope. If you want more tips on how to answer interview questions check out my Job Interview Secrets Ebook.?

Step 4

Find a current piece of information to use to help spur a great conversation. This can include a company tweet, a piece of recent news, a newly launched product, an office relocation, their recent hot dog eating contest among employees, anything like that.?

Make sure to write your findings down and reference them during the interview. I advise to have notes out no matter in phone, video or in person interviews to show you are prepared and to help you jog your memory. To get a job it isn’t a competition of who has the best memory, it’s showing who is a great fit by generating a thought provoking conversation that demonstrates the effort put into really getting to know the company. There are many techniques that I teach to help you control the interview and turn it into a conversation. ?

4 Items You Should Prepare Before The Interview

1. Your Resume

Print out your resume if you’re going in person or have it open on your laptop during the interview. To really impress them you can take it a step further and create a folder specifically for them filled with your cover letter, resume and some work samples. Include their logo on the front and boom you have a folder just for them filled with information they can reference to for your candidacy .?

2. The Interviewers’ Names

Ask for the names of the interviewers. You should always research who you are talking to before the interview to help you ask deeper questions. Have their names written down in front of you to help you remember it throughout the interview, since referencing them by name will help them feel more connected to you. Your goal should be to make the interview feel like a connective conversation not a boring interrogation. (I go into detail on how to do this here )

After you find out who they are, discover more details about them such as how long they have been at the company, what position they are in within the team, or anything interesting you notice on their LinkedIn profile or blogs you find of theirs online. Typically I’ll record where they’ve lived, what they studied in school, any professional experiences of interest that I’d like to hear more about. This helps you jump into more meaningful questions and conversation, taking it back to a 2-way conversation.?

3. Your Answers To Common Interview Question

Prepare your answers for the most common interview questions. You can predict a large number of the interview questions that are likely to be asked. This is great because you can prepare answers to each that hit on the 15 Competence Triggers.?

Here is a playlist of how to answer the top interview questions. Be sure when writing down your answers not to read it like a script during the interview, but write down the key points to help you remember your answer.?

4. Your Complete Story Toolbox

A story toolbox are all the stories you have of your top achievements, certain situational stories like working on a team and behavioral based question example stories [I'll link the free template here ]. Telling stories helps keep the interviewer interested and demonstrates your experiences clearly.

The story toolbox holds all the important content you need in the interview to help you answer most behavioral interview questions. Be sure to hit the competence triggers in your stories and keep them short and brief avoiding autobiography syndrome.?

If you need any additional help preparing for the interview or even finding the right job this free class can help !?

__________________________

Madeline Mann is an HR & Recruiting leader who is known for her award-winning job search YouTube Channel, Self Made Millennial, and her acclaimed coaching program, Standout Job Search. Mann’s career coaching programs have led to thousands of success stories, and her work has been featured in Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and more.