As a career coach, I’m often asked about the best way to prepare for an interview. Your resume is what will initially get you the attention you deserve, but once you’ve been asked for an interview, it’s a whole new ballgame. At this point, it’s not only your resume and qualifications that are being scrutinized, but interviewers are now paying attention to your personality, ability to think on your feet, and quite simply how well you handle yourself in an interview. The best way to prepare for an interview consists of a few different steps.
Research the company. When interviewing, you want to know the company as well as possible. Do research on what their short and long term goals are, what their mission statement is, and if they’ve come up in the media at all with any big news. You want to show the interviewer that you’ve put work into the interview and that you’re interested in the company. The worst thing that could happen would be that they just made a big public announcement and you had no idea. A situation like this could make you seem careless and not aware of pertinent information.
The whole point of doing your research is to show your interviewer that you know where the company is going and that you want to be a part of it. You want to show them that you will be beneficial to them if you are hired.
Find something that you think the company could improve upon. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it shows a lot of motivation and expertise if you can find an area which you think the company can improve on. Again, you want to show them that you’re beneficial to hire, so if you provide them with a perspective which they haven’t accounted for, it will make you appear as an asset.
This is a great opportunity for you to bring in past experience. For example, you could say something along the lines of the following.
“I’ve done a lot of work on [topic] with [company] and I noticed that your [area or project] could be improved by [way to improve it]. Have you thought about utilizing [ways to improve it]?”
Figure out how you could help them improve their weak points outline some evidence on how you would go about it. This directly stems from the step above, but you should always talk about what you would do and how you would improve the company if you were to get hired. Showing them how you would solve a problem or how you would improve a weak point gives the company (and interviewer) direct insight as to how you think and how you could help them.
A fabulous marketing professor at UC Santa Cruz once told me that the key to landing a job or a client is to show them that you are the solution to their problem, and it’s something that’s always held true. If you can show a company and interviewer that you are the solution, they will almost surely hire you!
Remember to be yourself. While it’s important to do the legwork and make sure you know all of your talking points, the best way to prepare for an interview is also to calm down, be yourself, and act natural. It’s important to remember that no matter how fabulous a job seems, you want to work for a company where you mesh well with the other employees and company culture. Even if you love your job, if you don’t love your peers and fellow employees, the experience can go sour very quickly. The interview is where both you and your interviewer will get a better idea about whether you’ll fit in and be happy, so don’t try to hide who you really are. Maintain a professional and sociable demeanor, however if you’re someone that generally likes to be around people, don’t act as though you will be happy working in a closed off office away from any human interaction, or vice versa.
I’ve never actually come into an interview with ways to improve the company, mostly because the majority of jobs I’ve applied for are ones where I have little experience (and they know it). So I don’t think they’d take me seriously if I gave them suggestions. I think it’d be a good idea though if you’re applying for a job where they think you have some sort of expertise other people don’t!
Hi Nicole, When you’re interviewing, remember that you’re there because the hiring manager saw potential in you and believes that you can be beneficial for the company. Even if you don’t come to an interview with ways to improve the overall company, perhaps you can suggest another viewpoint or tip to improve small processes which you would be involved in if hired.