How to interview well - Preparing for the interview

We’ve shared a lot about hiring and interviewing for companies, but the advice is possibly more needed – or helpful – for job seekers, who arguably interview far more infrequently than companies themselves.

With this in mind, here is part one of our series of tips for how you, a potential candidate in a role, can interview well and with confidence!

ONE: Research

This seems like a common one mentioned, but instead of giving you a blanket “Do your research” word of advice, here’s how you can put it into practical use.

If you know who will be interviewing you or your direct report should you get the role, it doesn’t hurt to look them up on places like LinkedIn to get a gauge on them as well as the potential culture of the team you’d be joining.

This can also give you insight and ideas into information you may need to know, or topics of connection you can bring up as part of the conversation.

If you’re interviewing in person, it’s also important to research the location, including how you’re going to get there and where you’re going to park. Having this plan in place helps to avoid the stress of things not going the way you might assume otherwise. Include in this an awareness of what traffic might be like at that time of day to take timing into account.

TWO: Prepare your responses

Whether it’s been 18 years or 6 months since your last interview, preparing how you’re going to respond and practicing out loud how you want to say things in conversation can make all the difference in confidence as well as impression during an interview.

Things you might want to practice here are specific examples and anecdotes of what you’ve done in the past that illustrates a particular area of interest or skills, such as overcoming difficult clients, teamwork, and conflict resolution.

This will also apply to navigating conversations around gaps in your resume. When you prepare for the question, you’re more able to answer it with a response that is confident and clear.

THREE: Ask your questions

Interviews are just as much as an opportunity for you to gauge whether you want to work for this company or in this role, as it is for them to figure out you too. So make sure you’re preparing smart questions for the interviewer in order to determine the information you need for your decision.

What details of the role or workplace do you need to know based on your own requirements, needs and desires?

What information do you need in order to make this decision?

Make no assumptions, particularly if it’s an area that might impact their decision making as well, such as knowing that you need a hybrid working arrangement. The sooner you have that conversation, the better for both you and them.

People often fear bringing up questions because of what it might make the interviewer think or presume about them. If the fear is that they’ll think you’re too hard to deal with just by asking for more information could actually be an opportunity to find out more about the kind of response they have to information requests – which may actually inform your overall decision to work there. It’s all helpful.

The easiest way to approach this is by being open, having a list and referring to it. You can even say “I’ve written these down so I don’t miss any”, and that will convey that you come prepared.

FOUR: What to wear?

The best rule of thumb for interviews and workplaces is that it is better to be overdressed than underdressed. However, that can bring its own set of nerves, so as part of the preparation, consider how you can find out the norm for dress standard where you’re interviewing.

If you’re unsure, their social media or website pictures might indicate their general dress standard, if it’s a role without a uniform. Remembering that it’s also a great opportunity to ask as a question during the interview (see previous point).

The idea here is to present your best self. Make sure it’s something role and workplace-appropriate that you feel comfortable in – nothing that you’ll be tugging at or self-conscious wearing that can impact your posture. When you’re in the mode of presenting your best self, this part makes all the difference.

When our posture is impacted, our breathing is usually too, having less room to take the steady calming breaths we might be needing before or during an interview. Your posture also affects how others perceive you in the workplace, so walking in looking confident and open will be more useful for you in this context than trying to be as small as you can (Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk has some great research and practical insights on this). We want to inspire the interviewers’ confidence in us, and that comes from being able to walk in feeling as confident in ourselves as we can.

If you’re not used to wearing that certain type of clothing, it might be useful to wear it at times in the lead up to the interview, maybe out to the shops, so you can practice feeling ‘normal’ in those clothes beforehand.

In the preparation stage of interviews, you can see the common theme threading through is to do your research. Hopefully these points are helpful as a start for where to direct that research, rather than going in trying to know just about everything.

We’ve got another two parts on this topic coming in subsequent weeks!

We also have a whole podcast episode on this topic. Have a listen here.

Grow Advisors is a part of the Talent United group of companies.