5 Helpful Interview Tips

by Chelsea Blackmon, Head of Recruiting & HR

The job market is hot right now. Follow these five helpful interviewing tips to nail your next interview!

1. Dress for Success
Okay, this is obvious, and yet it’s 2022 and I still have to say this. Prior to your interview make sure you look the part. I’m not just saying make sure you’re in a button down/nice blouse. Make sure your surroundings look the part for the job you want.

We’re (for the most part) all remote. I get it - the dog barks at the UPS man, your toddler may have a breakdown and your partner is trying to control them - things happen. Those are the surroundings you can’t control. Laugh it off, make a joke, and get right back to the interview. I’m talking prepare your surroundings for the things you can control. 

I once was interviewing a young college student for an internship/post-grad role and he was still living in his Fraternity house, which he let me know right away in the interview. No big deal. I get you have 100 other people living with you so you can’t control everything, but you know what he could control? The Natty Light flag in the background. Was he an amazing candidate? Absolutely. Did he have all the qualifications? 100%. Could I risk putting him in front of any of our clients knowing that he cared this little about his presentation for an interview? No. 

If you’re in a shared living space, make sure you find a *quiet* spot for your interview with a plain wall in the background. Can’t find one? Go to the library – they all have private rooms you can rent specifically for interviews now!

 2. Prep Your Tech
Another obvious one, but still needs mentioned. Make sure your camera is working, do a mic check, and be sure your headset is charged. Never used the meeting platform your interviewing with? Login the night before and “join” the meeting to make sure it works. You would be surprised how many people don’t login until a couple minutes beforehand only to find out their computer needs to do a reboot and update to run the program.

If possible, login 10 minutes early to the meeting – just like you would arrive 10-15 minutes earlier to an on-site interview. Have your computer propped up (you knew you were saving those old college textbooks for something) so that you are not looking down at your screen. Check out more on-camera tips here and here.

Have your resume in front of you (or your portfolio pulled up), notes to the side, and a glass of water beside you.

 3. Know Your Audience
Do your research on the interviewers beforehand. Check out their LinkedIn profiles and read articles on the company you’re interviewing with. You may find that you and one of the interviewers volunteer for the same organization, have connections you didn’t know about, or even worked at the same organization in the past.

At the very least, you should know:

Their Name
Job Title
Career Progression (in the company and before)

Doing this research can often times spark questions to ask during the interview.

 4. Ask Questions
Seriously, ask questions. Not the basic “Do you like working here?” or “What’s the culture like?” – you should already know the answer to these! Ask questions that not only show your interest in the role, but show you’ve done your research.

• I saw you started with {company} in 2017 and have had several roles, how did you decide that path?

• I read an article where {company} recently bought {software, other company, etc.} – how has that impacted the team?

• When you think about the team I would be joining, what are some of the strongest characteristics? Where do you feel they are coming up short?

  • Use this time to say how you could help the team with any shortcomings they are facing.

5. Answer the Questions, Don’t Just Ramble
We’ve all been guilty of this. Maybe we misunderstood the question, maybe we didn’t practice our STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) enough. That’s okay! You can still rebound. If you don’t understand the question, ask for clarity! Don’t assume you know what they mean and go off on a tangent about something totally different.

Make sure you can explain the situation, task, action, and result of what YOU did. Yes, we all want team players, but each player needs to contribute, so be specific about what you did, how you did it, and why you did it. Your team is not being interviewed for this role; you are being interviewed for this role.

At the end of the day, there is a reason you were selected to interview for the role. Do not forget that and stay confident! Always thank everyone for their time. Even if you don’t get the role, always network with the individuals. After your interview send them a connection request on LinkedIn with a note saying you enjoyed the conversation and really like {specific thing discussed in the interview} and how you would impact the team.