Depending on the nature of the position you are interviewing for, there are a few different types of interviews you can prepare for: phone screening, one-on-one, and group. You also have to consider the possibility that your interview could be in-person or virtual. Based on the industry you’re interviewing for, you may want to know how to answer personal, behavioral, situational, and/or technical questions.
Tips for a Successful Interview
- Research the company
- You should know the company’s mission, vision, brief history, current projects, etc.
- Prepare questions to ask at the end of your interview.
- Dress for the job
- Wear business professional or business casual attire (black, gray, and jewel tones are good colors)
- Make sure your skin, hair, and nails are clean and clipped
- Do not wear strong perfumes or colognes
- Practice your body language
- Make eye contact with who you are speaking with
- Smile, lean in, and nod appropriately to show interest
- Be on time
- Arrive 10 minutes early
- Follow Up
- Send a thank you card or email to each interviewer within 24 hours.
- Be brief and professional: express appreciation for the interview, reiterate your interest in the position, and remind employer of your relevant skills.
Additional Tips for Virtual Settings
- Test your technology
- Be sure you have the correct software (Zoom, Teams, updates browsers, etc.)
- Make sure your connection, microphone, and camera are functioning properly
- Find a good background
- Your background should be clean and simple. Avoid distracting posters or pictures.
- Pick a professional filter, if using one. No sports teams, beach scenes, etc.
- Find your lighting
- Make sure there is a light source in front of you, not behind or on one side
- Avoid interruptions
- Be sure to select a location where you won’t be bothered: keep animals out of the room, tell you family/roommates not to disturb you, make sure your phone and other notifications are silenced.
Star Interview Technique
| Situation or Task | Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. You must describe a specific event or situation, not a generalized description of what you have done in the past. Be sure to give enough detail for the interviewer to understand. This situation can be from a previous job, from a volunteer experience, or any relevant event. |
|---|---|
| Action you Took | Describe the action you took and be sure to keep the focus on you. Even if you are discussing a group project or effort, describe what you did - not the efforts of the team. Don't tell what you might do, tell what you did. |
| Results you achieved | What happened? How did the event end? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? |
Use examples from internships, classes and school projects, activities, team participation, community service, hobbies and work experience -- anything really -- as examples of your past behavior. In addition, you may use examples of special accomplishments, whether personal or professional, such as scoring the winning touchdown, being elected president of your Greek organization, winning a prize for your artwork, surfing a big wave, or raising money for charity. Wherever possible, quantify your results. Numbers always impress employers.
Remember that many behavioral questions try to get at how you responded to negative situations; you'll need to have examples of negative experiences ready, but try to choose negative experiences that you made the best of or -- better yet, those that had positive outcomes.
Here's a good way to prepare for behavior-based interviews:
- Identify six to eight examples from your past experience where you demonstrated top behaviors and skills that employers technically seek. Think in terms of examples to exploit your top selling points.
- Half your examples should be totally positive, such as accomplishments or meeting goals.
- The other half should be situations that started out negatively but either ended positively or you made the best of the outcome.
- Vary your examples; don't take them all from just one area of your life.
- Use fairly recent examples. If you're a college student, examples from high school may be too long ago. Accenture, in fact, specifies that candidates give examples of behaviors demonstrated within the last year.
- Try to describe examples in story form and/or PAR/SAR/STAR.
To cram for a behavioral interview right before you're interviewed, review your resume. Seeing your achievements in print will jog your memory. In the interview, listen carefully to each question, and pull an example out of your bag of tricks that provides an appropriate description of how you demonstrated the desired behavior. With practice, you can learn to tailor a relatively small set of examples to respond to a number of different behavioral questions.
Companies that employ behavioral interviewing have predetermined the skill sets they require for a particular position. These skill sets could include: decision making and problem solving, leadership, motivation, communication, interpersonal skills, planning and organization, critical thinking skills, team building and the ability to influence others. The company determines the skill sets by doing a detailed analysis of the position they are seeking to fill. Job seekers also must go through this same process. To conduct a job analysis the job seeker should ask questions such as:
- What are the necessary skills to do this job?
- What makes a successful candidate?
- What would make an unsuccessful candidate?
- Why have people left this position previously?
- What is the most difficult part of this job?
Once you have landed the interview, keep in mind the following points. Be detailed and specific. You should have developed three stories that illustrate your past performance. Remember that the interviewer will be operating under the premise that "past performance in a similar setting is the best predictor of future performance."
The best way to accomplish this is to use the three-step STAR process or
- Situation or Task
- Action
- Result or Outcome
For example, you might recount a time when communication within your work group had broken down (situation). To resolve the problem, you organized informal lunch meetings for people to discuss relevant issues (action). Morale then improved, as did the lines of communication (result). Using this three step STAR process is a powerful way for you to frame your experiences and accomplishments for the interviewer.
- Limit rambling and tangents. While you can't control what is asked, you can control what you say.
- Listen carefully to each question. If you are unsure, rephrase your question and ask for clarification. When you respond, be sure to recall your past accomplishments in detail.
- Practice your behavioral stories using real-life examples. It is very difficult to make up behavioral stories, which is why behavioral interviewing is becoming more popular. By practicing, you will be able to recall with confidence your past accomplishments.
Communication
- Give me a specific example of a time when a co-worker criticized your work in front of others. How did you respond? How has that event shaped the way you communicate with others?
- How do you ensure that someone understands what you are saying?
- Tell me about a time when you had to present complex information.
- Tell me about a time in which you had to use your written communication skills in order to get across an important point.
Decision Making
- Give me an example of a time you had to make a difficult decision.
- Describe a specific problem you solved for your employer. How did you approach the problem? What role did others play? What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of when taking your time to make a decision paid off.
Initiative
- What did you do to prepare for this interview?
- Give me an example of a situation that could have not happened successfully without you being there.
Planning and Organization
- Describe a situation when you had many projects due at the same time. What steps did you take to get them all done?
- How do you determine priorities in scheduling your time? Give me an example.
Flexibility
- Describe a time where you were faced with problems or stresses that tested your coping skills.
- Describe a time when you put their needs aside to help a co-worker understand a task. How did you assist them? What was the result?
Leadership
- Tell me about a time when you influenced the outcome of a project by taking a leadership role.
- Give me an example of when you involved others in making a decision.
Time Management
- Tell me about a time when you failed to meet a deadline. What things did you fail to do? What were the repercussions? What did you learn?
- Tell me about a time when you were particularly effective on prioritizing tasks and completing a project on schedule.