Interview Preparation Guide | For success in your job interviews

Interview Preparation | 10-Step Process to ace your upcoming interviews

STEP 1: RESEARCH ON THE INDUSTRY, COMPANY AND ROLE

1. Research the INDUSTRY and write down your answers for:

• Current trends in the industry
• Current industry challenges, future predictions and opportunities
• Visit [Link]

2. Research the COMPANY and note down:

• Their mission, vision, and values
• What they do, who do they serve, products/services they offer
• Company culture - great things about working there. Talk to employees and use Glassdoor for this
• Recent news articles, annual report and financial results
• Recent company challenges, and opportunities for the future
• WHY you’re interested and excited in working for this company (CULTURE FIT)

3. Research the ROLE and note down:

• Your knowledge/education, skills and experience that is directly related to the role (JOB FIT)
• What makes you the ideal candidate for this role / Benefits of hiring you
• WHY you’re excited about pursuing this role
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Interview Preparation | 10-Step Process to ace your upcoming interviews

STEP 2: RESEARCH THE INTERVIEWERS AND EMPLOYEES ON THE TEAM

1. Research the INTERVIEWERS before each interview:

• Find the Interviewers on LinkedIn

• Read their ‘About’ section on their LinkedIn profile to get to know them
• Read the ‘Experience’ section on their profile to see how long they’ve worked there and their career journey
• Read ‘Education’, ‘Certifications’, ‘Volunteer’ sections to discover interesting facts and find common interests
• Use the information from your research to build rapport and establish trust

2. Research and connect with EMPLOYEES that are on this team:

• As part of your networking efforts, connect with employees on the team

• Ask them questions about their role, team structure, culture, current projects, issues/challenges, etc.

• During the interview, let the interviewers know you’ve had conversations with employees on the team

• Highlight specific challenges faced by the team and provide your recommendations on change/improvement

• If possible, have the employees on the team advocate/put in a good work for you with the interviewers

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Interview Preparation | 10-Step Process to ace your upcoming interviews

STEP 3: REVIEW YOUR RESUME AND PREPARE YOUR STORIES AND THEMES

1. Review your RESUME:

• Pick 2-3 of your proudest accomplishments from your 2-3 recent roles (7-10 accomplishments in total)

2. Write down your STORIES AND THEMES:

• Write down your top 7-10 career accomplishments

• Prepare a short STORY to describe each of these career 7-10 accomplishments

• For each story include Context (what was situation), Action (what did you do) and Result (outcome)

• Ensure your stories are:

• Concise (2 minutes max)
• Relevant to the role requirements (skills + experience + systems/software)
• Beneficial for the company
• Assign a THEME to each story (e.g., leadership, teamwork, problem solving, creative thinking, conflict
resolution, analyzing data, managing people, process improvement, project management, marketing, etc.)

3. Now, you can repurpose your STORIES to answer many of the interview questions!

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 Interview Preparation | 10-Step Process to ace your upcoming interviews

STEP 4: REVERSE ENGINEER THE JOB POSTING TO PREDICT POTENTIAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Create a table with requirements from the job posting and examples from your work that relate to it:
Job Requirements How I meet/exceed the requirements

Skills and Experience from the job posting How your experience matches those Skills and Experience

2. Turn the job requirements into interview questions:

• If the requirement is “Able to resolve issues and conflict with diplomacy” then the question becomes “Tell me
about a time when you had to resolve conflict?”
3. Prepare for both positive and negative versions of interview questions:
• Positive: If the requirement is “Able to establish and maintain working relationships” then the question
becomes “Tell me about a time when you established effective working relationships to achieve common goals”

• Negative: If the requirement is “Able to establish and maintain working relationships” then the question
becomes “Tell me about a time when something went wrong with a fellow employee, customer or vendor”
4. For any gaps in your experience compared to the key requirements on the posting, have a response:
• If you don’t have the knowledge/skills/experience, tell them how you’re upskilling yourself (via courses, online
learning, projects, volunteer work). Tell them you have a high willingness to learn & known to be a quick learner

POTENTIAL INTERVIEW
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 Interview Preparation | 10-Step Process to ace your upcoming interviews

STEP 5: PREPARE FOR ALL 4 TYPES OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. BACKGROUND: These are questions that help the Hiring Manager determine if your background is the right fit for the
role. Expect questions on the education, skills and experience listed on your Resume.
Examples: Tell me about yourself? Walk to me through your Resume? Tell me about your experience in Project Mgmt.?

2. MOTIVATION: The purpose of these questions is to figure out your WHY. Why are you looking? Why this
role/company? Use your research on the role/company. Avoid saying anything negative about your current role/company.
Examples: Why are you interested in working for this company? What motivated you to apply for this role?

3. SITUATIONAL/FUTURE: These questions focus on the future and assess thinking, problem-solving, decision-making
Examples: Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years? What would your plan be for the first 3-6 months in this role? How
would you deal with upset customers? How would you increase traffic to our website?

4. BEHAVIORAL: “Tell me about a time…” or “Tell me about your experience with…” questions to validate your experience
Examples: Tell me about a time when you showcased leadership? Tell me about a recent accomplishment you’re proud of?
Tell me about your recent experience with analyzing data? Walk me through a recent project your managed?

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Interview Preparation | 10-Step Process to ace your upcoming interviews

STEP 6: ANSWERING BACKGROUND, MOTIVATION & SITUATIONAL QUESTIONS

• For Background and Motivation questions:

• Demonstrate that you’ve done your research on the company and role

• Ensure your responses are concise (2-3 minutes maximum per answer)
• Ensure you responses are relevant to the requirements for the role (education + skills + experience
+ tools/systems/software)

• Highlight why you’re interested and excited in pursuing this role

• Highlight why you’re interested and excited in working for this company

• For Situational (future focused) questions:

• Highlight how you will contribute to the role and company, while learning new skills
• Do not mention that you plan to pursue a different career path or eventually open up your own business

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 Interview Preparation | 10-Step Process to ace your upcoming interviews
STEP 7: ANSWERING BEHAVIORAL QUESTIONS

• Use Storytelling for all your answers. Imagine talking to a friend and avoid memorized and robotic responses
• Prepare using the CAR formula (Content, Action Result). For example:
• CONTEXT (WHAT was the situation?) Provide context on the situation – what was the challenge or opportunity for
improvement. “During my Marketing Specialist role at [Company], we were tasked with creating and launching a marketing
campaign for a new client in 3 weeks. With my boss being on vacation and one of my teammates being sick, I put up my hand up
to lead the project. This was my first time leading a project and dealing with this new client.”
• ACTION (HOW did you address it?) Include 2-3 specific actions YOU took to solve the problems/issue/challenge or improve
the situation. “I was able to quickly arrange meetings with the client to understand their needs & expectations. Then, I leveraged
relationships built with people in other teams to pull together data, and lead campaign execution to exceed what the client
wanted, while still staying on budget.”
• RESULT (WHAT was the result?) Specify the positive results, improvements and impact from your actions. Use quantifiable
outcomes. “We ended up running a marketing campaign that exceeded goals by 200%. We also ended up providing insights into
another service for the client and they ended up signing up for another campaign, which we began once my boss was back. I
learned the power of cultivating relationships and that listening intently to your clients' needs are an important part to success.”

• Prepare based on the role requirements from the job posting. Some examples:
• Business Analyst: Analysis, Data visualization, Data insights, Reporting, PowerBI, Tableau
• HR: Recruitment, Onboarding, Training, Employee Relations, Performance Management, ATS, HRIS
• Finance: Accounts Receivable/Payable, Billing, Budgeting, Forecasting, Financial Reports, Advanced MS Excel
• Marketing: Digital Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Email Marketing, Branding, Market Research, CRM
• Project Management: Agile, Scrum, Project plans, Charter, Budgets, Stakeholder Mgmt., MS Excel, Project
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• Sales: Business Development, Customer Success, Negotiations, Sales Plan, Sales Funnels, Salesforce CRM
Interview Preparation | 10-Step Process to ace your upcoming interviews
STEP 8: ASK POWERFUL QUESTIONS DURING THE INTERVIEW USING THE JOIN FRAMEWORK:
J: Questions about the Job (Role): O: Questions about the Organization (and Team):
1. In your own words, could you describe a typical day for me in this role? 1. What are the current goals that the company is focused on?

2. What are the most immediate initiatives/projects I’d take on in this role? 2. How would you describe the culture at [Company]?

3. What are the main challenges I would address in this role? 3. What gets you most excited about the company’s future?

4. What are your expectations of me in this role? 4. What are the company’s plans for growth and development?

5. What’s the most important thing I should accomplish in the first 90 days? 5. Can you tell me about the team? What’s the culture like within it?

6. What would success for me in this role look like long-term after 90 days? 6. What other teams will I work and interact with closely?

7. What’s the performance review process? How often would I be reviewed? 7. How does this team help to achieve the company’s goals?

8. What KPIs/metrics/goals would be used to evaluate my performance? 8. What are this team’s biggest challenges?

9. A year from now, what would make you say I was a good hire? 9. I saw that [Company] has gone through [Recent event you
heard/read about]. How does this impact your team?
I: Questions about the Interviewer:
10. If you could have your team do (or change) one thing to make
1. Can you tell me about your experience working here? life easier, what would it be?

2. What’s your favorite part about working here? N: Questions on Next Steps:
3. What motivates/excites you most about coming to work every day? 1. What are the next steps in the interview process?

4. Can you tell me about your role, and what do you like most about it? 2. When can I expect to hear back from you?

5. What are some of the challenges you faces in your role? 3. Is there anything else you require from my end?

6. What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve learnt while working here? 4. Is there anything I can do/read to prepare for the next round?
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7. What’s different about working here than anywhere else you’ve worked?
 Interview Preparation | 10-Step Process to ace your upcoming interviews
STEP 9: PRACTICE INTERVIEW ETIQUETTES AND BEST PRACTICES

1. RELAX before interview begins. You can listen to upbeat music, stretch/exercise, meditate, or practice power poses

2. BE CONFIDENT even though you feel nervous. Go in with the mindset that you’re the best candidate for the role

3. BE CLEAR & CONCISE with your responses (2-3 minutes max) and focused on why you’re a good fit for the role

4. SMILE when answering questions. It will make you look and feel more confident and convey a warm upbeat tone

5. SHOW POSITIVE ENERGY & ENTHUSIASM to show you're excited for the interview and genuinely want this job

6. MAKE IT CONVERSATIONAL. Visualize talking to a friend. Don’t sound robotic. Make them feel good talking to you

7. BODY LANGUAGE IS SUPER IMPORTANT. Use hand-gestures, make eye contact, smile, breathe, pause to reflect
before answering. Only 10% of your message impact is words (what you say), 90% is non-verbal (how you say it!)

8. PRACTICE – Write down your career stories & interview answers. Practice out loud or with a friend. Record yourself

9. REFLECT after the interview. Get feedback from interviewers on how could you have answered better or differently

[Link] your interviewing skills constantly. Once you have reflected and received feedback, change your answers.
Aim to implement those improvements into your interview preparation for upcoming interviews

INTERVIEW PRACTICE TOOLS: [Link] [Link] [Link]

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Interview Preparation | 10-Step Process to ace your upcoming interviews
Thank You Note
STEP 10: SEND A THANK YOU NOTE AT THE END OF EVERY INTERVIEW
Hi [Name],

"Dear [Interviewer’s Name],

I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to interview for
the [Job Title] position at [Company Name].

It was a pleasure speaking with you and learning more about the exciting work your team is doing. Our conversation left me
even more enthusiastic about the possibility of joining your organization.

In particular, I found our discussion about [mention a specific topic from the interview] to be particularly intriguing. It reinforced
my belief that [Company Name] is a place where innovative thinking and teamwork thrive, and I’m excited about the potential
to contribute to such an environment.

Once again, thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to the possibility of working together and contributing to
the success of [Company Name].“
Follow-up after 1 week
Regards, Hi [name],
[Your Name]
Hope you're having a great week!

I wanted to quickly check in on the status of my application and reiterate my excitement

for the role. If there's anything I can provide from my side, please let me know.

Thank you again for your time and I look forward to hearing from you!
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[Your name]
Interview Preparation
Most Common Interview Questions
1. Tell me about yourself? 17. Tell me about a conflict situation where other disagreed/dismissed
your ideas or work. How did you handle it?
2. Tell me about your experience in [Skill / Experience / Software]
18. Tell me about time when you had to manage competing priorities.
3. Why are you interested in this role? / What makes you a good fit?
How did you prioritize?
4. Why are you interested in our company?
19. Tell me about a time when you demonstrated problem solving on a
5. What are your greatest strengths?
complex project?
6. What is your biggest weakness?
20. We are an innovative firm. Tell me about a time when you had to be
7. What do you like to do outside of work?
creative and think outside the box?
8. Why do you want to leave your current/last job?
21. Tell me about an experience with ambiguity where you made
9. Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years?
decisions and with no/minimum direction?
10. What are your salary expectations?
22. Tell me about a time when you had to influence something or
11. Do you have any questions for me? someone. How did you go about it?
12. Tell me about a recent accomplishment that you’re proud of? 23. Tell me about a challenging project/client/customer situation that
13. Tell me about a mistake or failure where things didn’t go your was stressful. How did you manage it?
way. What did you learn from it? 24. Tell me about a time when you were proactive and went above &
14. Tell me about a time when you missed an important deadline? beyond to exceed customer expectations?

15. Tell me about a time when you showed leadership? 25. Tell me about a time when you had to learn something quickly?

16. Tell me about a time when you demonstrated teamwork?

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