3 steps to absolutely
Congratulations, you got an interview!
Congratulations, you got an interview!
You have an upcoming interview. Initially, you are ecstatic. “YES! I GOT THE INTERVIEW!” You begin dreaming about yourself working at the company. You draft your “I am happy to announce I will be working/interning at _____ this summer” post on LinkedIn. You start picking out all the stuff you are going to buy with all this money you will be making.
But…now you’re nervous…
After the “I got an interview” high subsides, you get nervous. The pre-interview jitters set in. You start getting anxious. Each day you get closer to your interview, your anxiety builds. You frantically search the web for “interview tips”, but the abundance of information is overwhelming.
You think to yourself… What are they going to ask me? What if I mess up? What if I make a bad first impression? But, you really want to know, “WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY GOING TO ASK ME??? HOW DO I PREPARE???”
Interviews are scary
Like you, interviews freaked me out. I’d get nervous just thinking about them. My hands would get sweaty and I would think about all of the things that could go wrong. I would scavenge google for interview tips. But, the more time I spent researching interview tips on google, the more nervous I would get!
With the right preparation, interviews can be enjoyable
Now, I love interviewing. I enjoy answering questions about myself. I enjoy meeting new people. I enjoy showing how I am the best fit for the job. It’s almost like a game. You have to prove that you are the best candidate for the job!
I didn’t always like interviews. In fact, I hated interviews! However, once I started properly preparing for interviews I began to like them! I gained confidence in myself. I was ready for whatever the interviewer threw at me. Here’re the steps I took to crush my interviews.
Step 1: Familiarize yourself with common interview questions
The first step to crushing your next interview is to familiarize yourself with common interview questions. However, before identifying common interview questions, we have to understand the 5 types of interview questions.
There are 5 types of interview questions. Any question an interviewer can possibly ask you falls into one of these categories. That makes you a little LESS nervous right? If you are confident in answering 3–5 questions from each of these categories, you will be prepared for ANY interview.
Each category of interview questions tests a different part of you as a candidate. It’s important that you prepare for questions within each of these categories. Here is an example of a question within each of the five categories.
Personal — Tell me about yourself.
Work history — Tell me about a conflict or challenge you’ve faced at work. How did you deal with it?
Company-specific — Why do you want to work for this company?
Job-specific — Why do you want this job?
Case questions — Case questions vary based on the company you are applying for. The two industries that are notorious for incorporating case questions in their interviews are the consulting industry and the technology industry.
Now that you have an idea of the different questions you may be asked, you need to prepare answers for these questions.
For more of the most common interview questions and general interview tips, check out the articles below.
Browse these articles and pick 3–5 questions from each category. Now, move to step 2.
Step 2: Prepare answers for common interview questions
Once you’ve identified 3–5 questions from each of the 5 types of interview questions, you need to prepare answers for these questions.
You need to approach each category of interview question differently. Here are some examples of how I answered the prior questions in my most recent interview with Deloitte.
Personal — Tell me about yourself. — My name is Austin Schlessinger and I am a senior at Rutgers Business School majoring in business analytics and information technology. This summer, I interned at KPMG in their risk consulting practice in New York City. At KPMG, I planned and executed client engagements focusing on Oracle GRC, Oracle security, and audits of Oracle environments. I am currently seeking a full-time job in the consulting industry and would love to have the opportunity to work at Deloitte. This is also my elevator pitch! I think it is the simplest and most effective way to tell someone about myself. To learn how to make your own elevator pitch, check this out.
Work history — Tell me about a conflict or challenge you’ve faced at work. How did you deal with it? — I was confronted with a challenge while interning at ABM. My team was tasked with extracting information from over 75 collective bargaining agreements. The information we extracted was going to be used to create an automated payroll and benefits system. The data we extracted needed to be clean and meet specific formatting. I was working in a team of 3, myself included. The template we were using was ineffective. It didn’t contain columns for all the types of data we were collecting. We had a deadline to meet. If we kept using the same template, we were not going to meet the deadline. I scheduled a meeting with my manager to talk about the problem. I told them about the problem, and suggested that I create a new template to fit all of the data we were collecting. After our discussion, my team and I created a new template. As a result, we completed the task prior to the deadline.
Company-specific — Why do you want to work for this company? — I want to work for this company because I heard there is a great company culture. Based on the conversations I’ve had with Deloitte employees, they all enjoy coming to work every day. I want to work for a company where people enjoy the work they are doing and the people they work with. This is definitely evident at Deloitte.
Job-specific — Why do you want this job? — I want this job because I want to work with a variety of different clients and learn about different industries. Also, I enjoy solving complex problems that consultants are required to solve daily.
Case questions — I’ll provide a detailed post about case questions in the future. Contact me if this would be of interest to you! :)
Step 3: Practice! Practice! Practice!
Alright. You’ve come up with a list of common interview questions. You’ve answered each of the common interview questions. Now you need to practice. The two steps of practicing are (1) test and (2) check.
Test
You need to practice answering common interview questions by testing yourself. You can do this in several ways.
Flashcards — Write the question on one side and the answer on the other. Read the question out loud. Answer the question out loud. Then, check to see how your verbal answer compares with the answer you wrote.
Quizlet — When I was practicing for my interviews, I liked using Quizlet because it reads the questions out loud to you. It’s almost like you have your own mock-interviewer.
Mock interviewer — Find a mock interviewer. I found this to be the most effective way to practice. Have your mock interviewer ask you the questions on your common questions list. Answer the questions as you would in an interview
Check
When you are testing yourself, you need to check for three things.
Accuracy — How accurate is the answer you prepared to the one you are delivering? Is the answer you are speaking out loud comparable to the one on the back of your flashcards?
Length — Is your answer concise? Do you find yourself rambling?
Confidence — Do you sound confident? Do you find yourself saying “um”, “uh”, or “like”?
The best way to check how you are doing is to record yourself. You can do this in 2 ways.
Video recording — Video recordings are very effective because they allow you to visually see how you are delivering your answer. Do you look confident? Are you fiddling with your hands? Videoing yourself allows you to check and make sure your answers are accurate, concise, and confident.
Audio recording — If you’re in public, or don’t want to video yourself, audio recording is fine. However, make sure that you have some sort of control in place to make sure you look confident when delivering your answers. When you are practicing with a mock-interviewer, ask them to look for eye contact and posture. Are you maintaining eye contact throughout your answers? Are you sitting up straight? Or are you slouched over?
Conclusion
The best way to alleviate anxiety leading up to an interview is to be prepared. If you prepare yourself to answer common interview questions, you will reduce your pre-interview jitters and you will crush your interviews.
Here’re two other resources that will help you with your interviews.
3 questions you NEED to ask at the end of an interview — Preparing for the questions you will be asked is half the battle. You also need to know what you are going to ask the interviewer. When they say “do you have any questions for me?” what are you going to say?
How to write an elevator pitch — You need an elevator pitch. It is the easiest way to sell yourself in 15–30 seconds. I use my elevator pitch at the beginning of every interview. Once the interviewer says “tell me about yourself”, then I go directly into my pitch. They are extremely effective. They’ll help you hammer out who you are, what you do, and where you want to go.