Tips from the Career Coaches: How to Prepare for an Interview and Manage Stress

One of the things I love most about my career coaching work is when clients tell me they’ve landed an interview for their dream job – but are unsure of how to prepare for an interview. I can tell they’re excited; but also nervous. Rest assured, that’s totally normal.

I tell them not to panic. The first thing to remember is that an interview, in its simplest form, is a conversation. It’s the chance for you to show what you can do for the company, yet, just as importantly, it’s an opportunity for you to work out what the company can do for you.

It may turn out that after the interview, you realise that you do not like your potential manager, or the role is not what you expected, so you might not take the job anyway. Firstly, it is imperative that you know how to prepare for an interview – and that you do your research. The better prepared you are, the more in control and confident you will feel. Research the company, the interviewer and the industry. So far so good, but where to start?

Assuming this is a role you really want to land, and to give yourself the best possible chance of being offered the job, here are my top tips for what you need to do to excel in the interview:

• The company website: You need to understand the company, their products, their markets and their strategy. Take note of their values and their mission so you can weave these into your examples when answering questions.
• Networking Sites: Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, Meetup and Xing can help you research the background of your interviewer, people who work at the company, and the company’s background.
• Google News: This will provide you with every article that has been written about the company. Obviously you don’t want to bring up negative press in your interview, however this information will help you to form questions to ask.
• Glassdoor: This is a great site to provide you with information from current and former employees about what it’s like to work at the company.
• Twitter, Instagram and Facebook: When it comes to how to prepare for an interview, you will also want to research a company’s social media presence. All the main social channels will give you an insight into the company’s activities and will mean you’re fully up-to-date with what they’re talking about.

Now that you have done your research, it’s time to think about the questions you may be asked. On the whole, unless you are in a technical interview, questions will fall into the following categories:

How to Prepare for an Interview with Situational Questions

The purpose of these interview questions is to find out how you act in a work scenario. You can use the job description to help you predict the themes that they will ask questions about. For example, if it’s a fast-paced environment expect a question on time management or managing competing priorities.

The interviewer is looking for an ‘I’ answer that demonstrates your skills and abilities to do the job. The reason for the name STAR is that the answer should be structured in the following way:

Situation: 10%

Task: 10%

Action: 70%

Result: 10%

You want to keep the answer concise and a maximum of two minutes long. They can always ask for more information if they need it.

How to Answer Interview Questions About Your Strengths

The purpose of strengths questions is to ascertain not just what you have done previously and can do again, but what you actually enjoy and really love doing on a daily basis at work. When preparing for an interview, remember that strength answers are often shorter and are also less easy to prepare for. Again using the job description can help, here are a few examples:

• What do you like to do in your spare time?
• Describe a successful day. What makes it successful?

How To Answer Interview Questions About Your Weaknesses

Another common area to question are your weaknesses or development areas. This can be tricky to answer as you don’t want to reveal your innermost faults and risk not being well thought of. One of the most common answers we hear when people are practising interview responses is, ‘I’m a perfectionist’, and, frankly, that’s over-used.

The interviewer wants to see that the candidate is self-aware enough to recognise that no-one is perfect and we all have areas we can work on. One useful technique for addressing this type of question is to talk about a strength overdone. You also mention that you recognise this and have put something in place to compensate for it. For example, if one of your strengths is ‘attention to detail’, you might say, ‘I’m aware that when I’m focused on checking all the details and finalising important documents, I can get so absorbed in the task that I might block out things around me. I’ve learned that I need to take a break every 15 minutes or so to check emails for important messages that need an urgent response. Then I return to concentrating on finalising the document’.

How to Answer Questions About Your CV

The most common historical question is ‘Talk me through your CV’. The focus here is always on what you were moving towards, not what you were moving away from. Focus on the positives of each job and never criticise previous employers.

This can often be an icebreaker question and you might still be a bit nervous at the beginning of the interview. Avoid talking through your entire career at length! The interviewer wants to know how your experience to date makes you suitable for this new role. A good approach is to highlight the most relevant experience you have gained in your most recent couple of roles and then give a few key achievements from earlier in your career that showcase the skills this role requires.

How to Ask Questions in an Interview

So, now you have done your research on how to prepare for an interview, what’s next? The final piece of the puzzle is to ensure that you have questions for them. Hopefully, the research that you’ve done will have brought up a number of questions that you can ask. A helpful way to phrase your questions is to put them in a form that gets the interviewer picturing you in the job. A few examples may be:

• If I was in this job, how would my success be measured in this role?
• To help me get up to speed as fast as possible, who would be the best people for me to connect with in the first 30 days?
• What would you expect me to achieve in the first 6 months?

How to Manage Interview Stress

When you’ve landed an interview for your ideal role, you’ll want to come across as well as possible. Sometimes, the anticipation and what’s at stake can get the better of us. If you’re getting nervous before or during the interview, here are my top tips for managing the stress:

• Prepare thoroughly. If you’ve done your research on how to prepare for an interview and practised answers to key questions, you should be feeling confident going in
• Whether the interview is in-person or online, leave yourself plenty of time to travel or get connected. You don’t want to get flustered because you’re running late or having to figure out a new video meeting platform
• If you feel yourself getting nervous just before the interview, take a few deep breaths and give yourself an internal pep talk. Something as simple as, ‘I know my stuff, I’m good at what I do. I can do this,’ can really help
• During the interview, if you get a tricky question, feel free to pause for a moment and gather your thoughts. If you need to, you can fill a few seconds of silence by saying, ‘That’s an interesting question. Let me just take a moment to think of the best example/consider some of the situations I’ve been in…’ If the interviewer has given you a glass of water, take a sip to buy a few more seconds thinking time
• If you’re worried you might forget the questions you want to ask, write them on a card and keep it in a pocket or in a folder or small bag. Referring to it when you’re given the opportunity shows you thoroughly prepared
• One final touch is to send an email to the interviewer thanking them for their time within 24 hours of the interview. Good luck!

Land Your Next Job Interview with Monster

Now that you know how to prepare for an interview – and how to handle those pesky interview nerves – why not take the next step? Create a profile with Monster to apply to new job roles, gain access to additional career advice and connect with leading recruiters.

Sarah Pumfrey is a Career Coach with Randstad RiseSmart.