How to prepare for a job interview

I've had interviews go badly. One in particular — I'd applied for a marketing role at a mid-sized charity, got through to the second round, and then sat across from two people who asked me "what do you know about our recent campaigns?" and I had basically nothing to say. I'd looked at their website for maybe ten minutes the evening before. I could describe what they did in general terms but I couldn't name anything specific. The interview was essentially over from that point.

That was a useful lesson, delivered quite directly.

Here's what I do now, which isn't complicated but it works.

Before the interview: research that actually means something

I spend about an hour on the organisation — their website properly, not just the homepage, but the About page, recent news, anything they've published recently. If they have social media, I look at what they've been posting. The goal is to be able to talk about something specific: a campaign, an initiative, a decision they made recently. That's the difference between "I know what you do" and "I've been paying attention."

Three stories, prepared in advance

Almost every first-round interview involves some version of: tell me about a time you dealt with a challenge / worked in a team / made a mistake and learned from it. These questions are predictable. There's no excuse not to have answers ready.

I prepare three concrete examples — real situations, with actual details — and practice saying them out loud. Not memorised word for word, just familiar enough that I don't have to construct them from scratch in the room. The examples don't have to be impressive. They have to be specific and honest.

Questions to ask at the end

"Do you have any questions for us?" is not a formality. No questions = no interest, as far as most interviewers are concerned. I usually prepare three and ask the two that feel most relevant after the conversation. Something about the team, something about what the first few months actually look like, something about what success in the role looks like after a year.

Don't ask about salary in a first interview. I've done this once, too early, and it changed the tone of the room noticeably.

On the day itself

Know where you're going before the day of the interview. I once spent fifteen minutes the morning of an interview trying to find the right entrance to a building and arrived with about two minutes to spare, flustered. Know the route the day before. Leave earlier than you need to.

And if you don't know the answer to something, just say so. I used to try to construct an answer out of nothing, which is almost always obvious and never helpful. "I don't know, but here's how I'd go about finding out" is a completely legitimate answer. More legitimate than a confident-sounding guess.