Get Interview Ready With The 3 Rs
In recent weeks my colleagues have written articles looking at how to get the most from the job application process and how to stand out as a candidate. If you’ve successfully made it to the interview stage, how can you give yourself the best chance of now securing the job you’re hoping for?
Interview preparation can often be the deciding factor between two candidates with equally strong CVs – and sometimes it comes down to issues you may not have considered at all in the past. Today I want to run through all of the key advice I give to every candidate ahead of an interview, which I think of as the Three Rs.
1. Do Your Research.
Both of our recent candidate advice articles have touched on this, and it’s the first thing any recruiter will tell you – learn everything you can about the company, the role, the interviewer or panel. We all know that candidates asking questions in interviews is important but few things will undermine an interview performance like asking a question that your potential new employer thinks you really should already know the answer to.
Thorough research enables you to have an informed conversation with the interviewer, rather than asking them for basic facts you could easily have read elsewhere. Look at the company website and their pages on social media, find out what news they have recently issued and what company events they have coming up and work these into the conversation. If you only have the text of a job advert describing the role, ask if you can see a full job description. Check the LinkedIn profiles of your interviewers and have a look at their background and what route they’ve taken to their current role.
Having all of this information at your fingertips will allow you to ask more specific questions, and also just to hold a more memorable conversation during the interview – and being the most memorable candidate is often decisive.
2. And Your Revision.
It might sound silly to be asked to study up on your own CV – you’re the expert in what you’ve done! But, as discussed in our previous guide, you should be fully tailoring your CV for the specific job you’re applying for every time. That means you might have pulled out details that you’ve not thought about in years and highlighted knowledge and tasks from past roles that aren’t part of your current job.
It’s worth really learning your own CV back to front before going into an interview – this is all of the information that your prospective employer has about you, and you need to be ready for any questions they’ve formulated based on that document. It doesn’t look good if you’re asked about a detail from your resume and have a moment of confusion or need to be reminded.
3. Now, It’s Time to Rehearse.
Performing in interviews is a skill in itself – and one you can work on. A key factor that separates some of the truly great interviewees is a willingness to run through practice interviews and notice where they’re having difficulty or need to prepare extra information. Having a friend or partner run through a mock interview with you, using stock interview questions, can help you find current gaps in your preparation. Maybe you’ll realise that while you do have a good example of when you overcame a difficult work situation, you haven’t yet planned out a detailed STAR model answer for it.
If this is your first time encountering it – the STAR model is Situation, Task, Action, Result, and is a great way to organise anecdotal responses to make sure you include all of the necessary information.
I would also recommend rehearsing the practical side of the interview. So, if your meeting is taking place over video call, make sure you have a good set-up ready in your home with a tidy, clean background, good lighting and a stable internet connection. Have a friend join a Zoom or Skype call with you and feedback to you on how it looks from their side. This will also allow you to test your microphone and speakers and make sure ahead of time that your interview won’t be held up by the interviewers not being able to hear you, or needing to change headphones or microphones at the last minute. They can probably also be trusted to let you know if your planned interview outfit doesn’t look professional enough – which is a good reason to do this at least a few days before the actual call.
I also always tell candidates to have a back up plan in place and be ready to re-join fast – make sure the e-mail with the meeting link is readily available to you and that you can quickly switch to using your phone or a tablet if something goes catastrophically wrong with your primary device at the last minute or during the interview.
For in-person interviews, where possible I always recommend doing a practice run of your route to the office or meeting place in advance so you can be absolutely confident of when you’re going to arrive. Work out where you’re going to park or which exact public transport you’ll be using and time out a visit so that you are absolutely certain you’ll arrive 10-15 minutes before the scheduled time.
Once you’re in the room or on the call, all of that preparation will pay off. Thorough preparation helps combat nerves and should make it easier for you to be present, engaged and enthusiastic, with an answers quickly at your fingertips for any questions asked and array of interesting questions to ask your prospective employer.
Beyond the Interview
After harnessing the power of Three Rs, remember to take care of Post-Interview Admin. A quick e-mail to express your thanks to the interviewer or panel and to re-state your enthusiasm for the organisation and the job opportunity is a small thing that can make a big difference in which candidates are remembered positively.
If you’re working with a recruiter, like the team at Kind Consultancy, get in touch with them as soon as possible after the interview and share your feedback, asking them to pass along a positive message to the client, as well as any follow up questions you may have.
Thorough preparation is the differentiator that can ensure you get the job when you’re up against people with similar knowledge and experience. Investing the time and energy before an interview can make such a difference.
Another way to get an edge on other candidates is working with an excellent specialist recruiter – like Kind Consultancy.
Shai Cassidy
