Interview Preparation

If you’re reading this, chances are, you’ve landed an interview – congratulations! A job interview is a great opportunity for you to share your skills with a potential employer and discuss how you may be a good fit for their organization. Whether you have an initial screening interview with talent acquisition or a final round technical interview with your potential supervisor, you want to be sure to prepare in advance so you can be successful.

Interviewing – Who, What, Where & How

Who Is Interviewing You?

It’s important to understand who will be interviewing you so that you can adequately prepare! To start your interview prepareation, ask yourself the following questions:

When they invited you to the interview, did they include the name(s) of your interviewer(s)?
If not, have you asked them for the name(s) of your interviewer(s)?
If there are multiple interviewers, are you speaking to all of them at once (in a panel interview format) or individually (1-1)?
If you have the name(s) of your interviewers, do some research. What role does each individual hold within the organization?

Knowing who you are talking to will help you to prepare tailored answers to interview questions and allow you to ask questions that this particular interviewer will be able to answer. For example, if you are interviewing with a recruiter, you likely wouldn’t ask them about details for a specific project the team is working on, but you might ask them what they like about the company culture! If you’re speaking with multiple interviewers at the same time, be sure to think about who is in the room and address everyone when answering questions.

Two students talking across a circular table

What Are Common Types of Interviews?

Screening Interview

This type of interview is usually done by HR and conducted over the phone at the start of an interview process. They are typically looking to see if you meet the requirements and/or preferred qualifications for the role in order to move forward. Remember—you will likely not be talking to an engineer or expert in your field, so you want to avoid getting too technical.

Technical Interviews

Technical interviews look differently depending on the field but they are typically designed to test you on a technical skill, or ability to solve a technical problem related to the role. As you may have guessed, this type of interview is usually done by someone with a technical background.

Case Study Interviews

A case study interview is designed to understand how the candidate might use their critical thinking skills to solve a problem. In this type of interview, the candidate is usually given a scenario and asked to explain their approach to solving the problem. This type of interview is usually done by someone on the team you’d be working on.

Behavioral Interviews

Behavioral interview questions aim to understand how the candidate has demonstrated professional skills (commonly known as soft skills) in their past experiences. Behavioral interviews can be conducted by anyone from HR to the hiring manager to members of your prospective team. The STAR Method can be a helpful tool when preparing for these types of interviews.

Where is Your Interview?

Phone Interview

This is an interview that takes place over the phone. Take a phone interview in a quiet place with minimal distractions. Make sure your phone does not send unknown calls directly to voicemail and make sure that you have your voicemail set up just in case.

Virtual Interview

This is an interview that takes place over a video conferencing platform, such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams. It is expected that you have your camera on for this type of interview, so ensure you’re in a quiet space with with minimal distractions, as well as a neutral background. Test your technology in advance, know where your camera is, and get comfortable looking at it. Turn off all computer notifications and pop-ups during the interview.

On-Site Interview

As a part of the hiring process for roles with an in-person component, the company typically asks you to come to the location you will work so that you can meet your potential team face-to-face. Often times, these visits are comprised of multiple interviews where you will get to know you team, manager, and even supervisees (if applicable). These usually happen towards the end of the hiring process when you are seriously being considered for the role.

How Should You Prepare?

Research the Company

You may have already done some company research when preparing your application materials – if not, now is the time to research the company so that you better understand the organization you’re interviewing with.

What is the organization’s mission and vision statement?
What does the organization highlight on its website, social media, and LinkedIn?
What do current and former employees say about working at the organization?
What excites you about the organization?

Review the Job Description and Qualifications

Start by reading and re-reading the job description until you can summarize what they need in a few sentences. Next, highlight key words, phrases, or skills frequently referenced in the job description. Then, create a list of your experiences that meet those common job description highlights. These will be experiences you’ll want to bring up in your interview question responses!

Prepare Your Materials

Whether you’re speaking with a recruiter over the phone or meeting with your entire potential team in-person, you want to be sure to prepare your materials in advance. Consider having these items ready to go before your next interview:

Professional attire – if your interviewer can see you, make sure you are dressed professionally
Copies of your resume – for yourself and/or for your interviewer(s)
Examples of your work – perhaps you want to bring a career portfolio and let your work speak for itself
Notebook and pen – this will allow you to take notes on information you learn during your interview
Questions you want to get answered – write these down in advance so that you don’t forget your thoughtful questions
Water and snacks – make sure that your bodily needs are met so that you can focus on your responses
Prepare for the interview format – if you need to utilize technology for the interview, be sure to test it in advance

Prepare Your Interview Responses – The STAR Method

The STAR Method is a technique candidate’s can use to effectively and comprehensively answer behavioral interview questions.

Situation: Describe the context of the story and set the scene for the interviewer to understand.

Task: Explain the problem or challenges that you’re highlighting to address their question.

Action: State what you did to solve the problem or address the challenges.

Results: Share what happened as a result of your actions, and if the result wasn’t all that positive, consider sharing what you learned from the experience.

Practice

Below are some sample interview questions with guidelines on how to prepare your responses. Take a moment to write down your responses then practice saying your responses outloud. Remember that it’s okay if you don’t say everything you wrote down – you want your responses to sound natural!

Tell me about yourself.	Share your work journey, mentioning the explicit experience you have that would help with this job. Tell them about your passions and hobbies and what skills they developed. Aim to keep this under 2 – 3 minutes.
What is the hardest problem you have tackled?	Explain the problem and its importance. Discuss how you approached the problem despite the difficulty. Explain clearly how you solved the problem and the impact that made.
What are the main strengths you will bring to us?	Discuss your main strengths in relation to the role. Talk about any experience and how these strengths developed over time. Share how you think these strengths will directly benefit the company.
Why do you want to work for this company?	Show you have done your research and mention things you really like. Relate it to the position and how you align with it. Be passionate and excited!
How do you deal with pressure or stressful situations?	Share an instance when you remained calm despite the turmoil. Discuss how it has been a continuous journey of improvement and talk about how you have learned with every new experience.
What are your weaknesses and how would you improve them?	Share actual weaknesses, not “I work too hard”. Ensure the weakness is not a core skill for the role. Show them the action steps you have in place to improve this weakness.
Describe a situation where you had to handle multiple priorities. How did you manage your time?	Describe how you were organized and prepared. Discuss what techniques you used to multitask or prioritize. Use a specific example and discuss the impact of the result.
Tell me about a time you couldn’t meet a deadline. How did you handle it?	Discuss honestly how things didn’t go as expected. Share how you reflected on the situation and learned a lesson. Explain how you would have handled it differently, given this new knowledge.
What sets you apart from other candidates?	Talk about your top strengths and ensure you relate them back to the role. Discuss any unique strengths and how you built them.
Share an example of a time when you had to work with a difficult person. How did you handle working with them?	Explain how you communicated very clearly with them to ensure nothing was missed. Share that you went in with empathy as you never know what others are going through. Discuss the common ground you reached and what you learned from it.
Do you have any questions for us?	Use this time wisely! It’s a great way to show that you reasearched the company in advance of your interview. Select at least 2 – 3 very precise and important questions. Ask your questions politely and with respect. Have a few more questions than you think you will need!

Tools & Resources

The Mines Strategy (Pages 39 – 40) – Check out the Mines Strategy to learn more about how to prepare for interviews and get some ideas of questions you may be asked, as well as questions you may want to ask!

Interview Cheat Sheet – Use this to start to think of possible interview questions and what might be included in a good response.

Common Interview Questions – Use this more extensive list of possible interview questions to help you practice.

Practice Interviewing with a Career Advisor – Schedule an appointment with a Career Advisor to gain experience interviewing and receive feedback on how you can improve.