When it comes to interviewing for jobs, do you see yourself as being good at it?
That’s sort of a trick question, because the truth is that nobody is inherently good or bad at interviewing (although it’s certainly true that some people are more comfortable in interviews than others). Mostly, it’s a learned skill. The good news is this: just like any other skill, it’s entirely possible to improve through practice.
Why Do I Need to Practice?
The irony about this particular skill is that we become really good at interviewing when we’re actively on the market. We attend one interview after another, honing our skills, then finally perfecting them … just in time for us to land a job. Then – happily employed once again – we fall out of practice, and go through the whole process again the next time we’re on the hunt for a job. (As an aside, this is a great reason to interview occasionally for jobs when you’re not actively looking. It keeps your skills sharp for the next time you really need them. And in the process, you just might unexpectedly stumble across your next great job.)
If you’ve got an important interview coming up, investing a bit of time and effort in preparing and practicing can help you get the outcome you’re hoping for.
How to Practice for a Job Interview
The first step in preparing for interviews is to think about the common questions you’re virtually certain to be asked. ‘Tell me about yourself’ is a common opener, so you’ll want to have a concise and compelling elevator pitch ready. Your strengths, your weaknesses. Your proudest accomplishments, and moments of failure. These questions are fairly ubiquitous, so it makes sense to think about your answers ahead of time and make note of the points you wish to make.
After preparing for these common questions, you could certainly try to figure out what other questions you might be asked. The problem is, there are literally thousands of possibilities.
Instead, forget about questions, and turn your attention to stories.
Whether a question you’re asked is a behavioral interview question or not, stories are the best way to describe your past performance and most effectively demonstrate your value as an employee. When thinking about the stories you could tell, there are four target areas to focus on.
The first two are achievements and accomplishments, and failures and missteps. Everyone has highs and lows in their career, and interviewers ask about them because they’re great ways of learning how you define and pursue success, and how you deal with and learn from failure when it happens. The next two areas to think about are difficult people, and difficult decisions and situations. These are important to interviewers because they demonstrate how you overcome obstacles (human or otherwise), and they also often speak to the way you solve problems and make decisions – important skills to any employer.
Questions about your work history often fall into those themes, no matter the specific wording. So, if you have a few stories reflecting each of those four areas, you’ll be able to ‘re-purpose’ them in response to a wide variety of questions.
When you’ve got your answers mapped out – your answers to common questions, and some good stories to tell – it’s time to practice.
It’s tempting to just think about your answers, maybe even rehearse them in your head. It may be uncomfortable, but resist that temptation. Speaking your answers aloud is much better. There are a number of ways you might approach this, depending on your situation.
At the very least, use your phone (or some other device) to record yourself. Listen to the recording, critique yourself (don’t forget to note the things you did well!), improve, and do it all over again.
You can take it one step further using video (and this is particularly helpful if you’re doing a lot of virtual interviews, as many of us are now). Use whatever hardware setup you usually use, and video yourself answering questions and telling your stories. With video, you can not only critique the content and delivery of your answers, you can also evaluate your body language and facial expressions. This is also a great time to practice maintaining eye contact with the camera (instead of watching yourself on the screen, a very hard habit to break).
If you want to go all in, you might consider looking for someone to do a mock interview with you. This doesn’t tend to work all that well with a friend, since it’s not a realistic representation of the real thing. It’s better to do this with someone who interviews and hires people as part of their work, and who doesn’t know you too well. (All that said, it’s still better to just apply and interview for jobs occasionally as mentioned above; there’s no substitute for the pressure and unpredictability of a real interview.)
Managing your Emotions
Unless you’re one of the very fortunate confident few, a job interview can be a very stressful experience. For the rest of us, managing this anxiety is an important part of being prepared for interviews.
This may seem a bit counter-intuitive, but once you’ve prepared and rehearsed, put it all aside and give your brain a rest. Overthinking can be just as harmful as under thinking. If you know you’re prone to anxiety and stress, meditation and deep breathing (regularly as part of a routine, and then especially just before an interview) can help calm the jitters. Don’t underestimate the power of visualisation, either. You may be skeptical, but picturing yourself being confident in the interview can really help boost your confidence when it comes to the main event.