Interviewing 101

In working with college students and doing a lot of college recruiting/early career recruiting I have come across a few things that would be helpful to prepare young professionals in the interview process.

Research the company. Know their asset size, read their annual review, compare last year’s numbers to this year’s. Know how your role might impact the bottom line. This information is easy to come by. Your goal is to be impressive. To distance yourself from the 100 other candidates they are considering. Most candidates do very little research.

Question: “What do you know of the company?”

Poor Response: “I didn’t have much time to prepare and I don’t know much” or “I know they value their customers and want to do good for the community.”

I have interviewed over a thousand candidates for various levels and types of roles and this type of response happens more often than you may think. Heck, you may have said this response before. This is typically one of the first or second questions I ask because it tells me two important things about the candidate:

1. Did you make an effort to know something about company you are interviewing for?

This is a very low expectation. I am not looking for the candidate to know everything, I am looking to see if they did any sort of research at all. This is an area where you can impress the recruiter. If the company has done well, show how you could contribute. If the company had a rough year look at why you might think that was and what can be changed. Even if it's wrong it still shows that you looked into it and were thoughtful. 

2. Do you actually care about the job?

What are the things they are most passionate about? How did you become passionate about them? Most likely, you practiced, you read, or you studied to learn more. Even if it came naturally, you would still put forth effort to improve. Your job doesn’t have to be your main passion but it needs to be something you care about and want to build something important from it.

Research yourself. Why do you want this job? Why are you a good fit? What skills or experience do you have that will help the company. Write down a list of questions and interview yourself or have someone else ask you questions and give feedback. Look into a mirror and say why you deserve this job, convince yourself; make sure to explain this to yourself using good examples otherwise you will not believe you.

Question: “Why are you interested in this role and what makes you a good candidate for it?”

Poor response: “I am passionate about helping others and I am a leader with good communication skills.”

This is where you can sell yourself. This is key for being able to explain what makes you the candidate they want to hire. The answer above may be true but you need the details. You need to convey the passion by explaining HOW this role will utilize your passion to help others.

1. This question is digging for examples of work.

Almost everyone at some point during an interview says they want to help others and that they communicate well. What makes you different? What makes you stand out? A better answer would be, “My past experience gave me X (skills and knowledge) through X work/project/internship that I did. I would be able to transfer that knowledge to this position and would help me serve the company and its customers better. For instance...” Give an example. Then add on something you think you could improve the company through your skills. Give another example! What ways in the past did you do the things you are saying? If you have no example your words are dust in the wind.

2. This answer helps the recruiter understand their motivation.

IF you give specific examples, then you will have gone above and beyond already, as most candidates fail to give specific examples, and you will be able to show ways you went above and beyond at your last/current place of employment. If you give good examples of reasons why you are interested this will show the recruiter where your motivation comes from and if it is more than a surface level interest. If…

Research your reason for leaving, all of your jobs. Why are you leaving? Is it because you can’t get along with management or an employee? Is it for career advancement? This is always a tricky answer. Sometimes an environment can truly get toxic and you want to leave but you don’t want to come off as someone who has authority problems or is not mature enough to handle people with differing personalities.

Question: “Why do you want to leave?”

Poor Response: “My manager was so bad. He told me I was going to get a promotion but I didn’t and the people caused a lot of drama.” 

1. Do you have any Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence has become a catchy phrase for, “can you handle stress and difficult situations and strive during it”. This question doesn’t typically answer if you have high emotional intelligence but it does answer if you have any at all. Any company that is growing is going to be handling a lot of change. Change is stressful and requires everyone to buckle down, prepare to think innovatively and rethink how they do things. That is not always fun. It can be messy. It can make people angry. The answer above gives me a few red flags. Did you not get the promotion because someone else did? Or were you not performing well? Oftentimes, people that say others cause drama actually cause the drama themselves. Think of answers such as, “The ceiling for advancement here is pretty low but at your company I saw a lot of growth and in my research I noticed a lot of people have moved up in the company.” This flips the question back to them and the knowledge you gained through research.

2. Can you plan ahead?

A good company and recruiter is going to be looking for someone who can think beyond the current. When someone worked while in college part time as a teller because they were interested in becoming a banker or getting more into finance related fields this tells me they were thinking beyond the money. They are a forward thinker. This also tells me that they are going to be someone who is motivated beyond money. Yes they need a job, yes money is nice, but are you gaining experience that will get you paid more in 10 years? Are you in a role that will get you higher and more responsibility but might be a step back initially?

In the end, there are many more things that you can do to improve interviewing. These are a few areas that I saw as constant foundational flaws many people missed or failed to do and a great way to begin preparing for your interview.