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How To Prepare For An Interview Amid The Great Resignation

With 11 million job openings in the U.S., it’s a job seeker’s market.

Sanjeri/Getty Images

As employees continue to quit by the masses, companies are at war for talent. But despite it being a job seeker’s market, interviews are still just as nerve-wracking. Here’s how you can best prepare for and crush your interviews—and land the job.

Preparing for an interview—no matter how good the job market may be—is still just as daunting as ever. With a record 48 million Americans quitting their jobs last year amid the Great Resignation—a trend that’s shown few signs of slowing down—and more than 11 million open jobs, employers are fighting to recruit top talent.

But even if it’s a job seeker’s market, preparing for an interview still means doing your homework, putting in the practice and knowing how to answer—and ask—the right questions.

“We’ve never had a greater imbalance between the demand for labor and the supply of available labor,” says Adam Robinson, founder and CEO of Hireology, a recruiting, hiring and employee management platform. “It has completely flipped the narrative. There’s things candidates can do to be fully prepared and things they have more control over.”

Whether you’re changing careers, returning to work, looking for a new challenge or seeking better pay and perks, here are the best steps you can take to prepare for and nail your interviews, according to recruiting experts.

1. Get To Know The Company

The first step in any interview process is to do your research. Knowing as much as you can about how the company is run and organized will help you sound more informed. Research will also help you show your interest in that specific employer as well as give you clarity on whether it’s the kind of place you really want to work.

“It’s important to remember you are interviewing them just as much as they’re interviewing you,” says Stacey Perkins, a career coach at Korn Ferry. “It has to be the right fit on both sides.”

Applicants should spend time on the company’s website, learning about what the company sees as its mission and its priorities. The more those work values fit with your own, the better.

“So much else really hinges on a company’s values,” says Mark Stevens, a senior director of talent acquisition at Adobe. “They guide how we treat one another, work with customers, solve problems and deal with conflict.”

Ask yourself what matters to you. It may be inclusivity, flexible hours, a remote environment, a diverse workplace—or simply a place that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Perkins recommends setting up a networking call or two with other employees to learn more about the company and why they joined. But be sure to treat these interactions—or informational interviews, as Perkins calls them—as if they were job interviews. Every exchange matters, she says.

2. Practice Makes Perfect

Doing mock interviews can help you feel more confident, says Perkins. Whether you hire a professional coach or enlist the help of a friend, practicing can help you get comfortable talking about yourself. Saying your answers out loud as opposed to writing them down helps you develop muscle memory.

But don’t write out your answers word-for-word or practice to the point where you sound rehearsed. Eloise Eonnet, a career coach and director of the Muse’s Coach Connect service, says that way, “you’re much nimbler and more adaptable during the interview process.” And remember: It’s OK to go off script.

3. Get Comfortable Selling Yourself

Interviews are nerve-wracking, period, and selling yourself is a unique challenge. For many, whether you hate being the center of attention or don’t want to come off as self-aggrandizing, it can be uncomfortable and awkward to talk about yourself.

Be prepared to clearly communicate the value you bring to the team, career coaches say, and use examples to make your point. In interviews, be specific. Show, don’t tell. Share stories that demonstrate your successes. And when talking about a project you completed, explain the impact it had. Perkins recommends the STAR method: identify the situation, task, action and result.

“When you talk about the process and the outcomes of your work, that’s when I believe you and I trust you—and that’s when I make a hire,” says Eonnet, who also oversees hiring at the Muse.

And that old standby advice to be yourself? It’s true. “If I’m hiring, I don’t want to buy a façade,” says career coach Wayne Pernell, who has worked in HR for companies including Whole Foods and AAA.

Interviews can be daunting, but don’t let nerves detract from who you are. “It’s really important to find a way that feels genuine to talk about yourself that really showcases the energy and the motivation you have in your work,” Eonnet says.

4. Have Your Resume Handy

When it’s time for the interview—whether it’s via phone, video or in person—keep your resume nearby. If you’re face-to-face, come prepared with multiple copies to share with those you’re meeting.

But resist the urge to rely on it. The interviewer has already read your resume, so don’t read it line by line. Instead, focus on bringing what’s on the page to life with anecdotes and examples. The more you practice, the easier this will become.

5. Know What Questions To Expect

Every interview and interviewer is different, but a few questions are almost guaranteed to be asked. The one that most often stumps candidates—and that’s also likely to be the first—might seem like the simplest: “Tell me about yourself.” Your answer should be a bit longer than an elevator pitch and go beyond what’s on your resume.

But stay on track. This is not the time to detail your run as high school class secretary or trip to Europe. This question is meant for highlighting your story, what motivates you or a special achievement you didn’t have room to include on your resume.

Questions like “why do you want to work for this company?”, meanwhile, are where your research comes into play, Eonnet says. They’re meant to test your knowledge of the company and understand your motives. Point to something specific you like about the employer and why it appeals to you.

Your response to the question “why are you best for this job?” should showcase your skills in a specific way, Perkins says. Use the STAR method to explain your accomplishments and how they will translate to this company and position. Show what you bring to the table.

6. Use Specifics—Lots Of Them

Another common question asks you to share your strengths—and it’s up to you to be precise in how you answer. “It’s important to be clear on what you want the [interviewer] to understand,” Eonnet says. “Rather than focusing on the answers to the questions they ask, it’s really important to make yourself an agenda as if you were going to lead a meeting for the interviewer and be super clear on the skill sets and competencies you bring.”

Study the job description and highlight your strengths that are a fit. Tailor your response to the job. For example, if it’s a project manager job, talk about your organizational chops and ability to juggle deadlines more than your big-picture creativity skills.

And when it comes to questions about weaknesses, be honest. Be sure to follow up with how you are working to improve them.

Situational questions, meanwhile, such as “tell me about a time you had a challenge and how you handled it,” aim to understand how you think and work, Perkins says. How do you handle stress? How do you deal with conflict? Your answer should focus on the outcome of the situation and the impact it had on your team, company or client. Bonus points if you include metrics.

7. The Questions You Should Never Forget To Ask The Interviewer

The tables always turn in an interview, and one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a candidate is not asking questions. Pressure can build as the spotlight shifts, but ask the questions you are genuinely curious about, Eonnet says.

This is your opportunity to understand what the company can do for you, Robinson says. “Recruiting is a sales process,” he says. “Both parties are simultaneously trying to sell themselves to one another, while also qualifying whether or not there’s a fit. ”

Robinson’s advice: Ask questions that dig more deeply into something the interviewer has already said. For example, ask the recruiter why they joined the company—and why they like it.

This question will allow the interviewer to open up more about themselves and their colleagues—as well as the culture of the employer where you may one day work.

Other questions, such as asking what success looks like in the role, or how the position impacts the rest of the company, do double-duty: They answer real questions about which you may be curious—while sending the signal you’re success-minded and a team player. Similarly, asking how other people have grown in the same position can show that you’re focused on career progression while giving you hints on how you might get promoted.

Asking about company culture can be particularly hard, as it’s a fuzzy concept even when you’re not in a job interview where everyone’s trying to put on their best face. One thing that can help: Ask about initiatives or investments the company is making, such as on diversity and inclusion efforts, to force the interviewer to be specific, Stevens says. Or, ask how they’ve done something in the past to help keep answers concrete, such as what benefits they added during the pandemic to help support employees.

8. Don’t Forget To Say Thank You

Following up is key, and timing is everything. Perkins recommends writing a message within 24 to 48 hours of the interview. Don’t be afraid to ask for an address where you can send a handwritten note.

Whether you send email or snail mail, be sure to include at least one specific reference to the conversation you had. This shows interest and attentiveness—and just might jog the memory of the hiring manager enough to offer you the job.

10 Critical Interview Questions to Prepare For | Work

By Catherine Lovering

Even the best candidate on paper can have a lackluster interview if he fails to adequately prepare. Part of getting ready for an interview is formulating rough answers to some important questions, so when the time comes, you will have the right information at hand. Thinking about what an interviewer might ask can help you determine what assets you bring to a company and why they should hire you for the job.

Why Do You Want To Work Here?

Your answer to the question of why you want a particular job should demonstrate a genuine interest in the company and the position. Include details that show the interviewer you have researched the organization and understand the full scope of what the position entails.

Why Should We Hire You?

Focus your answer on the assets you bring to the company. Point to the specific skills you have that are relevant to the position. Include information about how you fit with the organization, including your past employment that was in a similar vein.

What Are Your Weaknesses?

Answer any question about weaknesses in a way that minimizes the ones that are relevant to the position and demonstrates you are working toward improvement. For example, “I am taking a course on word processing to enhance my computer skills,” or “I am improving my second language skills by working with a Spanish tutor. “

What Are Your Strengths?

Being asked about strengths gives you an opportunity to identify the key benefits you bring to the organization. During an interview for a customer service job, you may want to emphasize your friendliness, ease with people, patience and professionalism.

Tell Me About Yourself

This question is meant to elicit an overview of your professional and job-related qualifications. As an opening question, it gives you the opportunity to highlight key points in your resume before the interviewer starts asking for detailed information about your background.

What Are Your Goals?

Answer a question about goals in a way that demonstrates you have both professional focus and that the position you are a candidate for fits in with your short- or long-term plan. For example, “I would like to learn as much as I can about this industry and eventually move into a management position.”

Why Did You Leave Your Last Job?

Regardless of why you left another job, cast them in the most positive light possible. If you have been laid off, you may say that you are using your recent layoff as a new opportunity to join a team at a different company. If you are currently employed, you may say you are seeking challenges in a new environment.

When Have You Been Most Satisfied In Your Job?

This allows you to both point to past experience and demonstrate that you are not only qualified for the current position, but that you will gain personal enjoyment from it and will remain committed to the company. In an interview for a customer service position, you may say you were most satisfied when you were able to help clients find the products or services they were seeking.

What Experience Do You Have Using These Skills?

When talking about experience, link specific instances in your past working history with the skills required in the position. Be prepared to summarize in a few sentences the situation, your role and how it was successful for each example.

What Salary Are You Looking For?

Questions about salary can be tricky. Knowing the market rate for the position and industry is important. In order to make sure you are not excluded from the competition on this point, try to glean a number from the interviewer first. Monster.com recommends this as a possible answer: “I am sure when the time comes, we can agree on a reasonable amount. In what range do you typically pay someone with my background?”

References

• Monster: Prep For The Ten Interview Questions
• Virginia Tech Career Services: Typical Interview Questions

Writer Bio

Catherine Lovering has written about business, tax, careers and pets since 2006. Lovering holds a B.A. (political science), LL.B. (law) and LL.L. (civil law).

How to prepare interesting interview questions

You have to interview a famous or not so famous person and you want to make it unique. But a conversation with even the most interesting interlocutor can turn out to be sluggish and boring if you don’t take care of the questions for the interview in advance. Of course, not everyone can become the second Larry King or Vladimir Pozner. Nevertheless, there are tricks, having mastered which, you can always “steer”, even if the conversation suddenly did not work out. Today on Pressfeed we will talk about such techniques.

Photo: Still from the film “Interview with the Vampire”

Questions or themes?

Is it really necessary to prepare a detailed list of interview questions in advance? The venerable journalists, who, as they say, ate the dog during the interview, believe that no – it is better to think over only topics for discussion, and questions will be born already in the course of the dialogue. At a master class at a cultural forum in St. Petersburg, Andrey Vandenko, the head and author of the TASS special project “First Persons”, told how he prepares for an interview: “I never write questions, except for the first one, I outline topics that I want to discuss with my interlocutor. I try to go one step further than my colleagues, with the first question to set up a person, to unsettle him from the rut of his usual answers.

Konstantin Eggert, a publicist, columnist and ex-editor-in-chief of the Moscow Bureau of the BBC Russian Service, is generally categorical about this: “Never send questions – send topics that you will discuss.”

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However, if you don’t have enough experience to conduct an interview yet, or you think that it will be more comfortable to build a conversation with prepared questions, still make a list. Perhaps it will be easier for the speaker to prepare for the interview if he has a list in advance. You shouldn’t make a drama out of this – if the interlocutor got acquainted with the questions before the conversation, it doesn’t mean at all that the interview will end up flat and stereotyped, with pre-prepared phrases. Firstly, you can send not the entire list, but only those questions that the speaker needs in order to “raise” some information – for example, data on the company’s financial performance. Secondly, it is impossible to know in advance which direction the conversation will eventually turn, so in the course of the interview you will definitely have new questions.

By the way, even the most thorough preparation of both sides does not mean that everyone will adhere to “home-made preparations”. Nobody has yet canceled the element of surprise, so everything can go wrong. Moreover, breaking the template is not always bad.

A vivid example of this is an interview with BBC radio host Chris Stark with Mila Kunis. The young journalist was very nervous because he needed to communicate with the star, which he told her about. “It’s not the same as chatting with friends in a pub, which I’m used to,” admitted Stark. After that, the journalist and the actress begin to discuss cocktails, dishes, football, and in the end, Stark even invites her on a date.

When Stark’s colleagues asked the star to talk about the originally planned topic – about the film Oz the Great and Powerful, in which Kunis played a witch, she replied that she liked informal communication more. And at the end of the conversation, the actress admitted that it was one of the best interviews in her life.

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How it works

The video on YouTube recording this interview has garnered 14 million views and more than 11,000 comments, and many Western publications have written about it. And Chris Stark himself subsequently made such an informal approach his chip.

Avoid banality

Before you start preparing interview questions, monitor what topics other journalists most often discussed with the hero and exclude them. No one wants to tell a hundred times about the same thing.

Most often, the stars complain about the monotony. For example, Bruce Willis has repeatedly stated that he hates to give interviews, including because journalists ask the same questions. And Quentin Tarantino once got pissed off when British Channel Four News journalist Krishnan Guru-Murphy asked about the connection between the violence in his films and the violence in his life. Tarantino said that he has been answering such questions from the very beginning of his career and is not going to voice his opinion again. As a result, the interview turned into an aggressive verbal skirmish.

Of course, such stories become resonant, they are discussed a lot, videos are watched and commented on. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that anyone will want to be at that very moment in the place of the interviewer of their own free will. So look for a fresh look at the topic, in general, make the questions interesting for the interlocutor. And yet, as Konstantin Eggert advises, try to think over the structure of your conversation as a diagram: from a soft question to a hard one.

It is also not necessary to ask the interlocutor for obvious things. For example, where or what he works on, what his hobbies are, his family, etc. Finding such information is part of preparing for an interview. We must try to learn from open sources about the biography of the hero to the maximum. And only what the hero never spoke about, you can clarify.

Prepare a few questions “just in case”

What if your interlocutor is laconic, gives short and monosyllabic answers? Formulate in advance a few additional questions for the “backup” interview. They will save the conversation and, perhaps, help to talk the hero. For example, ask the interviewee’s opinion about a recently released movie or book.

Use useful tools

There is no need to reinvent the wheel when preparing interview questions, but you can use what others have already come up with before you. For example, the rules of the Canadian journalist and scientist John Sawatsky. Over the years, Savatsky, together with his students, studied various interviews and analyzed them. As a result, he formulated three rules for good questions and compiled a list of the “Seven Deadly Sins” of the interviewer.

Three rules for good questions

1. Open
2. Neutral
3. Short and easy to understand

John Savatsky’s Seven Deadly Sins

instead of a question.
2. Two questions in one.
3. Overloaded.
4. Estimated words and expressions in the question.
5. Anticipatory questions or speculation by the interviewer in the question.
6. Exaggeration (hyperbolization).
7. Questions that allow one-word answers (yes – no).

Another useful tool that, by the way, Vladimir Pozner always uses during his interviews is Marcel Proust’s questionnaire. Proust himself did not write this questionnaire, he simply filled out a questionnaire that belonged to his girlfriend. Such questionnaires were very popular at the time, and Proust answered them several times during his lifetime. Two Proust questionnaires have survived – one he filled out when he was a teenager, the second – at the age of 20. They are called Proust’s questionnaire.

Most of the questions in these questionnaires overlap, but there are differences. We have combined two questionnaires into one. It turned out 30 universal questions that can be asked to any interlocutor.

And here is how Vladimir Pozner answered some questions from Proust’s questionnaire.

How to ask the right questions in interviews and user research | by Olga Zholudova | Product Design

Will help you conduct effective in-depth interviews as part of Customer Development.

You are reading a translation of the article “Asking the right questions during user research, interviews and testing”. Over the translation worked: Olga Zholudova and Rinat Shaikhutdinov.

In-depth interviews are a method from sociology that is actively used in user research. In the article you will find special interviewing techniques that encourage respondents to have a detailed discussion of personal experiences, opinions, needs and motives behind their behavior.

Competent user interviews are a real art that will be very useful when conducting user testing, focus groups, ethnographic research and other events. In this article, we’ve put together some helpful tips on how to ask your users the right questions and how to ask them the right questions.

An interview requires a lot of planning and preparation. Depending on the scope of your research, it may take up to seven weeks to prepare for an interview. Plus, you will need several days for the interviews themselves and a few more hours to collect and organize all the notes taken in the process. Unfortunately, all this work can go to waste if you do not properly prepare and plan the questions.

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Tip 1. First, identify key topics

It may seem obvious, but first you need to think about and understand what you want to get from the interview. At this stage, try to throw in the main topics that need to be covered – without moving on to specific questions yet. Be sure to agree with the team that these are the topics you want to cover during the interview.

Here’s what your topics might look like:

“Why do people buy online?”

“How do people buy online?”

“What is the difference for users between online and offline shopping?”

Tip 2: Break questions down to make them easier to answer

The topics listed above seem similar, but each topic actually involves collecting different data. To do this, you need to agree on the enlarged research goals with the team – this will help to correctly identify topics and save a lot of time.

In the previous paragraph, we did not list the questions that you will ask users, but only the topics. If you ask such broad questions, then the users’ answers will be too general and vague. Therefore, having decided on the topics, start formulating questions:

Before:

“Why do people buy online?”

Now:

“What products do you buy online?”

“What products do you never buy online? Why?”

“What do you like most about the online payment process? What do you dislike the most?

Tip 3: Don’t Use Words That Might Influence Your Response

A common mistake new interviewers make is trying to get the right answers quickly. Chances are good that when you meet the respondent, you already have a rough idea of ​​what he will tell you. But don’t follow your intuition: your goal is to get clear, unbiased results.

Old:

“Does it annoy you a lot when something doesn’t work when ordering an item online?”

Now:

“Try to remember the last time you wanted to buy something online and something didn’t work. What did you feel?

Tip 4: Ask about specific events

Asking the user about a specific situation makes their answers more accurate. Respondents talk more sincerely about real experiences and provide more details. Try to use the wording of the question to push the respondent to a specific moment or situation in the past:

Before:

“What thoughts come to mind when you can’t complete an online purchase?”

Now:

“Tell me, what did you think the last time you tried to buy something online and couldn’t?”

Tip 5: Ask open-ended questions whenever possible

Some people are quite relaxed in interviews and give complete and detailed answers effortlessly. But there are respondents who answer strictly to the questions they are asked: no more, no less. It’s not because they’re mean or lazy, it’s just that they have that type of personality.

To ensure that all your interviews are productive and do not end prematurely, ask a lot of open questions. We tend to respond quickly to closed questions, but open-ended questions require reflection.

Old:

“What did you buy online recently?”

Now:

“Tell me about the last time you bought something online?”

So you finally enter the room with the script in hand and start the interview. Get to know the respondent and make sure they feel comfortable – interviews often make people nervous. Here are some tips on how to break the ice and start a conversation.

Step 1. Enter the role

You are no longer a designer. You are a researcher with a burning desire to learn how people behave online – and especially how this particular person does.

Take a few minutes before the interview to get into the role. Breathe, do facial exercises and leave the skepticism inherent in designers at the door.

Step 2. Get in the right posture

Your body language should convey your main goal: to get as much information from the user as possible. Maintain eye contact, lean forward, do not cross your arms, and respond positively, no matter what the respondents say.

The most important thing is to smile. Smiling will even make your voice sound friendlier, and this is very important if you want to relax the respondent and achieve honest answers.

Step 3. Explain that there are no right or wrong answers here

It may seem obvious, but it works: tell the user right away that there are no right or wrong answers in the interview. It is important that they understand that you are not testing their ability to do something, but on the contrary, you are testing how clear, useful and easy to use your product is.

Step 4. Start with simple warm-up questions

It’s best to start your interview session with simple, friendly questions before moving on to the topics you want to discuss. Your warm-up questions should somehow be related to the topic of the interview, but keep them light enough.

“Where do you work?”

“What are your passions?”

“How often do you use your computer at home?”

“How often do you shop online?”

So the interview began. Everything goes like clockwork, you ask questions according to your script, and if necessary, adjust to the flow of the conversation. Here are a few more tips to help you stay in the mood.

Tip 1: Don’t sell your product

You’re doing research to get an honest opinion about your product. There is no goal to convince people that your product is the best. It’s not even worth trying.

Tip 2. Keep your reactions under control

Control yourself even if you hear unpleasant things about things you are proud of and burn with. If users feel your aggression in response to their opinion, they will stop answering honestly – well, why even conduct interviews then?

Tip 3. Listen carefully

The user should not be the one to speak. Ask a question and let the respondent answer. There may be a slight pause (and you will be tempted to fill it), but shhh!

Tip 4: Repeat the user’s answer in your own words

You and your respondent have just met, so rapport may not be established immediately. Therefore, when you hear another thought from the respondent, briefly repeat it in your own words. Your interlocutor will confirm your words or correct you – and you will not build a conversation on false guesses.

Tip 5. Answer question with a question

Sometimes users get stuck in the process – and this is normal, especially if you are doing a usability test where a person needs to perform some task in the product. They will ask questions (“Click here?”), but you don’t have to answer directly. Better ask a counter question:

“Where would you click?”

“What do you think will happen next?”

“Where would you go to find out?”

Tip 6: Pay attention to non-verbal cues

Pay attention to facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. Users convey a lot of information non-verbally. If the respondent frowns slightly while browsing your site, then something is not clear to him, but he is embarrassed to ask. Ask yourself what’s the matter.

Interviewing, like any other skill, can be improved over time. Try! At first, you will not succeed, but with experience you will become more confident and will be able to easily conduct any interview. Hopefully the tips in this article will help you get off to a fast start.

Gives ideas on how to attract, retain and direct the user’s attention

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