The way I see it, there are three types of people when it comes to preparing for job interviews:
- Those who prepare days in advance
- The people who prepare the few hours before
- Those who completely wing it
Personally, I fall into the first category. I never go into an interview unprepared because I believe job interview preparation is crucial for interview success.
In the past, I was terrified of job interviews. I always felt like I was fumbling through my answers and didn’t know what I was talking about. After having ten interviews in one year, I feel much better about interviews because I developed a perfect interview prep system! Using this system, I was able to have successful interviews over the past year, and I attained positive results from ten interviews (some internships, some grad school, some jobs)!
I have found that it is most effective to start interview prep at least three days before your interview. I do this because I believe there are three steps of preparation that need to take place for a successful interview.
Day 1: Job Interview Practice Questions
I spend the first day of interview preparation researching popular interview questions. Typically I will go on websites like Indeed and read about popular interview questions and how to answer them. I will then go through as many questions as I can and write out answers to them.
I try to choose the most relevant questions to the position I am applying for, so if I’m applying for a position as a preschool art teacher, I will focus more on questions about experience with children and art than I am on experience with psychology research. However, if I’m applying to grad school or for an actual research position, I will focus more on that research experience. Makes sense, right?
I cannot stress this enough, write out answers to questions! This will help you to be able to easily recall what your strengths and weaknesses are or a specific story if you are asked something related. This doesn’t mean memorizing all the answers you write out. The goal here is to think about how you would answer questions and highlight key points you want to talk about. This will help you so that if you’re asked a question like “What is your biggest accomplishment,” you won’t stutter and panic, but you will know exactly the accomplishment you want to talk about!
STAR Technique
When writing out answers to questions, try answering using the STAR technique. The STAR technique is an interview technique that you should use when answering behavioral interview questions, which are questions that ask for examples about actions you took in the past.
Want to know more about behavioral interview questions, check out THIS article!
That sounds stressful, I know. Let me break it down for you. STAR is an acronym; it stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. These are the four parts that you should include when answering an interview question that asks for a specific example of something you did in the past. Here is the breakdown.
Situation: Explain the details of the example you are describing. Where did it happen? Who was involved? What is the backstory? What was the issue?
Task: Describe what you responsibility was in that situation. What role did you play? Did you take initiative with the task, or was it assigned to you?
Action: Describe the steps you took in the situation. What did you do first? Did you talk to someone about a conflict? Were you able to take a leadership role to fix a problem? Did you catch an error before publishing something? What did you do next?
Result: What happened? Finish the example by explaining the result of the situation.
The STAR method may sound scary, but really you are just telling a story! Check out this example to see what I mean!
STAR Example:
Question: Tell me about a situation in which you showed initiative.
Answer: I am a teaching assistant for the developmental psychology course at my university. In the spring semester, students are assigned a semester-long project to research different developmental theories. The professor gave students a timeline to follow, but there was only the end due date, so students had the flexibility to start their projects at any point. About halfway through the semester, I noticed many of the students hadn’t started their projects yet, so after speaking with the professor, I reached out to students to schedule one-on-one meetings to help them work on their projects. I wanted to make sure all the students achieved grades they would be proud of, and I wanted to help them as much as I could. Only a few students took me up on the offer to meet, but I was able to help them create a schedule for work for the project. I met with these students several more times throughout the semester to check in and ask questions, and at the end of the semester, they all earned high grades.
See, it’s just a story!
Want to know more about the STAR technique, check out THIS article.
Behavioral questions can be asked in all kinds of situations and involve all types of scenarios, so it is good to go into an interview knowing some general experiences that you can bring up if asked.
There are endless lists of interview questions online, and the questions differ depending on the type of interview. For example, a graduate school interview will involve different questions than an internship position. The key here is to recall details of your experiences and prepare to bring them up in conversation!
Check out the free resource at the end of this post for a breakdown of the 3 Day System and a list of the most common interview questions! It’s the only job interview prep resource you’ll need!
Day 2: Research, research, research
Phew, that was a lot of work. Day 1 is the heaviest day of interview prep, in my opinion. Sometimes I’ll even take two days to do it and have four total days of interview prep.
Anyway, it’s Day 2 now! The second day of interview prep is set aside for research. It is a designated time for you to look into the organization or company, people you are interviewing with, and the job you applied for!
Research the Company
First, it is necessary to look into the organization or company you are interviewing with by reading their website, newsletters, or any other prominent information you can find online. Find out their mission, any future goals, and any accomplishments they achieved in the past.
Research the Interviewers
You can also research the people you are interviewing with. Look them up online. You can look up their LinkedIn profiles, but remember that sometimes people can see who views their profiles on LinkedIn. It might be beneficial to actually make a fake LinkedIn account for this purpose (I haven’t done this, but I know someone who has!). Basically, you want to know who you are interviewing with. You want to know their position, how long they’ve been with the company, what kind of work they do. Anything that might be helpful to know during the interview!
Research the Job
The third thing you should research on this day is the job you applied for. Make sure you know about the job! Seems obvious, I know! Read over the job posting and any responsibilities or qualifications listed. Knowing what qualifications they are looking for in a candidate may be beneficial to integrate into some of your answers to questions from Day 1.
Day 3: The Final Day
Ahh, your interview is tomorrow! On the day before your interview, set aside time to go over everything you have done in the past two days. Read through your answers to questions our loud (maybe into a mirror), or better yet, practice with a friend! Look through the research you did yesterday, were there any questions that came up? This is the perfect time to make a list of questions to ask your interviewer. It is guaranteed that the interviewer will ask you if you have any questions, and you want to be prepared to ask something because it shows that you are engaged and interested in the position.
These questions can be about something you read on the website, a clarification about the job listing, or any questions about the organization. Remember, questions might come up during the interview as well, so make sure to take note of them and ask them as well!
Preparing for a job interview can be really stressful, especially when you are devoting several days to it! Take some time the night before to relax. Watch your favorite tv show. Take a bath. Do some self-care (check out THIS article for some of my favorite self-care practices). Most importantly, get a good nights rest! You want to be awake and alert for your job interview tomorrow!
Job Interview Day!
Congrats, it’s interview day! Hopefully, all your preparation has paid off, and you are feeling confident going into your interview! I know it is just as likely that you are nervous about your interview, but try to remember it is just a conversation between you and the person interviewing you. You spent the last three days preparing and thinking about all the ways that you are qualified for this position, now you just have to show the person interviewing you how qualified you are!
Good luck!
Psst…
Want to utilize this 3 Day System? Want to have a list of some of the most popular job interview questions? Download my job interview preparation resource here!