Acing that interview

In my last post, I discussed how you can make your application stand out in a crowded marketplace. Let's assume you took my advice, or you didnt, and got noticed. You've been called for an interview. In this article, I will delve into how to approach the interview.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am actively recruiting for a Technical Writer role. Sadly, 9/10 candidates, when I ask them why they want to work with my company don't have a good answer. A similar number will know nothing about the company. Now unless the candidate is exceptional, I have already lost interest. I don't lose interest because they didn't answer those two questions, I lose interest because they are so disinterested that they didn't even bother to make something realistic up.

People often ask me how to approach an interview. I can summarize all my advice about this in three words:

Research. Research. Research.

But three words, even if it is one word repeated three times, does not a blog post make. So here goes.

Know the company. Know the role. Your chances improve dramatically where there is a better fit. So figure out how you are going to sell yourself as the perfect fit for the role at hand.

Research the company

There was a time when the only way you could get information about a company was if it was wildly popular or if you knew someone who worked there. Today, tools such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and others allow us to collect quite a bit of background on the company before the first conversation. The number of times I have had candidates tell me in the first conversation that they know nothing about the company is surprisingly high. If you haven't taken the effort to at least go to the company website to understand their business, you don't stand a chance.

I also go through the company's LinkedIn posts. The kind of posts the company and its employees make gives you a good idea about the company, its values, and its direction.

If you are too lazy to read through websites and LinkedIn posts, at least ask ChatGPT. "Tell me about <company>" is a simple enough prompt. Starting from there, you can dive deeper into information about the company.

The one thing you don't want to do in an interview is to say that you know absolutely nothing about the company or its products.

Research the manager

Always ask the talent acquisition executive you are interacting with for information about who is on the interview panel or loop. Once again, go back to LinkedIn. If the person is active on LinkedIn, you will get a pretty good idea about them and their interests there. If you need more information, check out their Facebook and Twitter/X feeds. Find out if they write blogs, read them if they do.

Ask ChatGPT, "What do people who work with <name> who is a manager at <company> say about them?"

This helps you direct the conversation. Once you know what is important to the recruiting manager, it becomes easier to tailor your answers.

Recollect your relevant projects

Once you have researched the role, company, and manager, go back through your career and recollect projects that fit into the story you want to weave. Make notes about the projects regarding its scope, aim, team, challenges, solutions, and metrics. You should have prepared notes on at least three or four projects. Now when you are asked a question, pick the most appropriate one from your prepared examples. Since you are already ready to talk about these projects, you'll come across as confident and articulate. It also helps you talk about little details that demonstrate that you really did work on the project.

While all this helps you crack the interview, it also plays another very crucial role - it helps you decide whether there is a good fit between you and the company and whether you actually want to work there.

Remember that the interviewer is just as desperate to hire you as you are to get the job. She is looking for an excuse to select you and get you on the team. Unfortunately, most of us approach job interviews like school/college examinations. Instead, approach it like a casual conversation between two equals who are sizing each other up to see whether they can work together.