Nothing excites me more than getting an email from a client that says they’ve got an interview coming up. I can practically feel the energy and smell the possibilities in the air. The news is often followed by this question:

“Do you have any advice or tips for how I can stand out in this next interview?”

How much time do you have?! Of course I do. 

For those who have a few days before an interview, I always recommend our Interview Skills Course. (You can learn more about the course and the fourteen videos it contains that go through all parts of an interview process here.)

If you’re more strapped for time - and this is a first round interview - here’s what we suggest: 

Practice the most common question you’ll likely get: Tell me about yourself

‘Tell me about yourself’ is one of the most likely questions you’re bound to get at some point in the interview process. You might also get ‘walk me through your resume’ or ‘why did you apply for this role’ as one of the first few questions you’ll get as well. 

Regardless of which question you get, the goal of your answer should be the same: 1) to share the most important skills and experiences you’ve had that tie to the job, 2)  to share your interest and connection to the mission and the type of organization, 3) to convey all of that in a way that conveys that this job and company make sense for you that that’s why you’re excited to be interviewing with them. 

Prep 2-5 STAR examples that directly tie to the job description

Read the job description and identify the 2-5 biggest tasks and responsibilities this job will entail. Then think back over your career and consider what stories you can share that most tie to those, and showcase your abilities and accomplishments. 

If the STAR method is new to you, you can read more here. Interviewers prefer you answer behavioral questions with the STAR method (sometimes called PAR - problem action result, or CAR - challenge action result) so they can easily understand how your experience relates to the role they’re hiring for. 

Make a list of 3-5 questions you have for them

If this is a first interview, chances are the employer will save a few minutes at the end to ask if you have any questions for them, but you’ll likely only have time for one or two if it’s a phone screen. Be sure to prepare 3-5 questions (in case some get answered during the interview) that demonstrate your ability to think strategically about the challenges and opportunities facing the organization and team. Questions like: What’s the biggest challenge facing this team right now? How is success measured on this team? Can you share an example of the type of client engagement/project that is characteristic of the type of work I’d do in this role? What are the biggest company goals right now and how are they going? 

You’re probably really curious about the organization’s culture. While you may really want to ask about it, if your goal is to wow them with your insights and strategic thinking, asking about the culture doesn’t help you do that effectively. When it feels like the right time to ask about an organization's culture, we’ve got some great questions here.

If you’ve got more time after preparing these three pieces, you can make sure you’re ready for these additional questions:

• What are your salary requirements?

• Why do you want to work for our company?

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

By the way - we go through all of these and much more in our Interview Skills Course. 

You’ve done all the hard work to finally score an interview; you don’t want to leave your performance up to chance! 

We recommend spending a few hours on this prep for a first round interview. And the good news is that after this preparation, you should sail smoothly into the next interview. Plus, a lot of your preparation will be already done as you’ll likely get many of the same questions in the next round. 

Onwards!