How to Prepare for the Interview Stage

Hi friend,

You have your cover letter and resume finished, you’re submitting applications and networking— a lot of people feel pretty good at this stage! But then… someone reaches to schedule an interview. PANIC! If you wait until scheduling time to start preparing for interviews, you likely only have a few days to a week to practice in a mock interview or think through interview questions. 

Here’s the thing— there is no way you can anticipate every possible interview question. It’s okay to prepare for a couple of the most common ones (i.e. “Tell me about yourself.” or “Why are you interested in this job?”), but if your interview prep is question-based, you run the risk of: not having prepared for a question, answering a question you prepped for instead of the one your interviewer asked, and having high variability that makes your prepared answers comes across as inauthentic or rehearsed.

So instead of preparing for interview questions, I suggest you focus on preparing the “source content” for your answers. The biggest stumbling block for most people is recalling the details of what they did in their last job(s). First, brainstorm a list of big projects from your last few jobs (or current job) that you made significant contributions to. I define “projects” as something that took place over time and resulted in a major accomplishment or change. It could be a marketing campaign, a major product redesign, a hiring process, an implementation project, or establishing an employee resource group, for example.

Now, create a detailed timeline of the project. I really like tools like Miro, which allow you to easily visualize your thoughts in a digital format (you can make a free account), but you can also do this with sticky notes, or another brainstorming tool you like. Creating a timeline helps you fill in things that happened between events. Write down meetings, discussions, and decision points. If you are still employed, you can refer back to Slack messages, emails, and reports to jog your memory.

Once your timeline is filled in, it’s time to start annotating it with your perspective. At each point, write out observations about your opinion on decisions, your consideration of alternatives, your preferences and motivations and priorities. Write notes about what you learned, what you wished you had done differently or would do differently now. It’s okay if many aspects of the project were outside of your control. Make observations about why the group or manager made decisions and compare them against what you would have done. 

After doing this for multiple projects (ideally of different types), it’s time to zoom out. Look for consistent patterns in your own behavior or approaches. For example, you may notice that you usually prioritize quality over speed. Look also for changes or development over time— a shift in your perspectives about managing people, for example. It’s important to be aware of the themes you are communicating about yourself so you can lean into your strengths and be conscious of how you frame your weaknesses or gaps.

There’s a whole lot more to interviews and interview preparation that I’ll cover later, but if you complete this step, you’ll have a solid foundation to refer to. Remember that all the interview tips and tricks in the world are no substitute for meaningful experience. Communicating what you did and sharing thoughtful reflections on why is the most effect interview technique you can use.

See you next week,

Karissa