5 ways to prepare for a job interview

So you have sent out quite a few applications and now you got a positive reply with an invitation for a job interview? Congratulations! You have every reason to be excited about this opportunity. Now it’s important to be well prepared.

Here are 5 things you can do to be ready for your interview:

1. Take a look at the job ad again. In case you haven’t saved it earlier, do save it now because sometimes job ads are taken offline after the period of advertising and you don’t have access to it anymore. The job ad will help you to understand what your job will be in case you get the position. Have a close look at the requirements and qualifications they ask for. Can you come up with examples from your previous jobs where you did something similar to this job? And if you didn’t, do you at least know what the particular responsibility described entails? You should be the expert for the job that you will have to do already in the interview so that you can impress the interviewers with your in-depth knowledge about the particular role.
   

2. Do some research about the company. Visit their website and social media channels and check out recent news reports. What are they working on currently? What are their values? What is their most important product or service? Can you find out anything about the company’s history so far? You can also get a feeling of the company’s culture, how their office looks like, who is working there, whether they have a dress code, what departments there are, etc. Try to understand the potential employer as well as you can. It might come in handy when you mention the employer’s most recent project, an award they won recently, or if you know about their focus areas in different countries.
   

3. Outer appearance matters. You should think about the right clothes. In an interview in the start-up context you might not wear business attire, but something more casual. In more traditional sectors you would be underdressed if you don’t wear a business outfit. If you are in doubt go for the more formal dress because it’s better to be overdressed than underdressed. This applies to online interviews as well. For them, another factor comes in that you don’t have when you are being interviewed in person: The right environment. Make sure you have a stable internet connection and some neutral background (not your messy bed or your kitchen sink with the leftovers from your last meal). Try to find a spot where it’s not noisy, cars in the background can be as disturbing as children screaming. 
   

4. Know your salary expectations. If you have not stated any salary expectations in your application, it could well be that this topic will be addressed in the interview. Even if you have already stated your salary expectations, it is important to be able to justify them in an interview. Here you will find everything you need to know about salary negotiations.
   

5. Prepare answers to questions and practice, practice, practice. Ask yourself what you would want to know if you were sitting on the other side. You can also brainstorm with some friends or family members what questions they can come up with. Practice. Do a mock interview with them and make them ask you the most difficult questions, e.g. about qualifications or experience you are missing or about a very short employment period with a company where you had problems with your colleagues or the boss. Can you explain why you think you are the most suitable person for the job despite the fact that you only fulfill 60% of the criteria mentioned in the job ad? Try to be so well-prepared that you are not confronted with any question in the interview that you didn’t already think about and you have already come up with the answer in advance. It will also make you feel calmer when you go into the interview.
   

There are many questions that can be asked in interviews, but just to give you some ideas, we have put together a shortlist of common interview questions:

• Why are you interested in working for us/working in this particular position?

• Which are the most relevant skills that you bring to this position?

• Can you give me an example of a project where you worked under tight deadlines (time, money, resources)? How did you deal with it?

• Can you give me an example of a successful project you handled? What did make it successful and what was your contribution?

• Can you give me an example of a working situation where you did not deliver? What did you learn from this experience?

• Let’s assume you would start in this role. What would you do on your first day at work?

• What factors are important to keep you satisfied in a position?

• What type of leadership works best for you?

• What are your salary expectations?

• What are your strengths/weaknesses?

• How can you be motivated? How do you motivate others?

• How can a leader fail?

• Can you describe a situation in which you learned a lot?

• How would you deliver bad news to your team?

• Do you have a role model, someone you admire?

• What do you think is the best way to resolve a conflict at work?

• How do you organize projects and tasks?

• How did you handle a situation in which you had to make an unpopular decision?

• What are you passionate about?

• What salary do you expect?

• Do you have any questions for us (apart from administrative points)?

This list is not comprehensive, of course, and there can be very specific questions about your expertise in case the job requires particular knowledge. We hope these points help you to prepare for the interview and we wish you all the best!

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