I see a lot of advice on how to perform well at interview.

Typically it relates to STAR (situation task action results), CARL (context action results learning) or another derivation of this storytelling framework.

However, this advice typically stands on its own and can set you adrift if you don’t have the right anchor:

Preparation.

Before we get into prep, it’s helpful to start from first principles. Bear with me, as I go into:

Next week is about the interview itself, and the following final part will be on what happens after the 1st interview.

The goal of any interview process is to

Every employer has different priorities in assessing the points, different ways of conducting interviews and different strategies for how the process is run.

The problem is that, from the outside in, it’s hard to tell what to expect, when initial communications are broadly similar.

Transparency helps and is a great way to build trust, yet few employers do this.

If you were to know in advance that you are one of 25 people being screened by a panel on Teams, how would that affect your preparation compared to being one of 3?

Like a lot of things in recruitment, gaining insight into the what and why of any interview process should inform your strategy.

Typically employers won’t include agency interviews as part of their interview process, though I’m sure you might.

Indeed an employer might feel they only do a 2-stage process that is quite efficient, yet how would you feel if you encountered:

That’s off the top of my head. The worst I’ve heard was a 17-stage interview process!

One of my former clients (who shut up shop in the UK a few years back) regularly used to run 7 or 8 interview stages, yet they are a great company to work for.

I wouldn’t assume employers are necessarily ‘bad’ if this information isn’t available, or if their process is as bloated as this article.

The goal of any interview process is to select the best suitable candidate.

However that isn’t necessarily the goal of any individual interview or interviewer.

Goals can be dictated by a number of elements, such as number of candidates or differing views of stakeholders.

These goals can be anything from:

Interviews can also move from ‘recruitment and selection’ to ‘recruitment and elimination’ the closer you get to the end of a process.

This is particularly the case if candidates are very close in overall capability - if you can’t find a clear reason to say yes, are there any reasons you can discount a candidate?

This is one reason why ‘industry knowledge’ can become a problem at final stage, when it wasn’t earlier.

Sometimes there may even be unsavoury behaviour, such as asking you to provide a business plan in a presentation, when they have no intent to hire - free consulting!

Or it might be they want another young white male Arsenal-loving face to fit with their culture.

However, if you are in an interview process, you should assume they have good intent, while the decisions made on you are out of your control.

All you can do is influence their view through your approach.

Given there is such a huge variety in interview philosophy, purpose, strategy, process and execution it can be tempting to second guess everything and overcomplicate your part in it.

However, I’d go the other way and simplify it to what you can control.

Interviews are your opportunity to show the employer why you are interested in them, how you will contribute, how you will solve their problems, and what you are like in a professional setting.

Unless you are clearly told what to expect, it doesn’t matter so much what tricks employers will have up their sleeves.

Because if you’ve put your best foot forward, in a way that is professionally authentic, that’s the best way to maximise your odds.

Interviews can and should be a two-way process that gives you transparent information and enables an objective decision about whether this vacancy is the right move.

Interviews aren’t always though are they?

You might think that getting the job is your goal.

The real reason to interview is to establish as early as possible every non-negotiable reason why you shouldn’t take the job.

This means you do what you can to be the candidate of choice, for the right reasons, and if there are no non-negotiable no’s at the end of the process, you can accept the offer put forward.

That might sound like a strange contortion of the goal of getting the job.

The nuance is this:

You want to be able to be the person who says no, if you have to, rather than have them say no for you.

And because many parts of the interview process are out of your control, such as their decisions, you have to play the game to maximise your odds of winning.

There are broadly six types of preparation you can do for an interview:

i) Ensure you portray yourself in a way that has meaning to the interviewer

ii) Keeping abreast of general industry and professional news related to your work

iii) The company, its people, its offering, its industry and its market

iv) Give the interview what it needs

v) How you can deliver on the role requirements

vi) Why you want the job, or at least to work at the company

The first two are ongoing preparations that serve every interview process.

The rest are mainly application-specific.

4.i) Ensure you portray yourself in a way that has meaning to the interviewer

One of the key pitfalls in recruitment, whether you are a job seeker or employer, is the valuable information you have trapped in your head that will help the other see you as a viable candidate.

Don’t forget we aren’t mind readers, so how can you give meaning to why you are a great candidate?

I’m going to cheat a little here and recommend you read through Principles of a Good CV.

Not because you should repeat your CV verbatim, but because it’s a distillation of your candidacy written for the reader. And a reminder of how you can help.

You should be an expert on yourself, who can draw on your achievements readily.

Get a friend to ask you questions on your CV, someone who isn’t an expert in your domain, and see how they react to your answers.

While you might hope interviewers have technical insight in your areas of specialism, you will inevitably come across people who in the process who aren’t.

For example an HR practitioner may be involved as a steward for their culture, and to ensure you are interviewed fairly - should you expect them to understand jargon? And how might that work against you?

If you are fortunate enough to get interviews regularly, you can treat these as practice and the real thing. Watch how interviewers respond to what you say, and reflect on it afterwards. How can you give better meaning?

Unfortunately, interviewing is a skill, so it’s likely one you will have to learn by going through the mill if it isn’t natural to your personality.

Fortunately, it’s the same journey for most, so over time your skill will develop past newer jobseekers.

The mistake many people assume is that this is a sales skill and needs to project confidence, but unless the role involves sales, the requirement is actually only to be your best professional self, and show what you are like to work with.

Given that’s what you are like at work on a good day, it’s an achievable goal.

This is prep you should do before any interview and is both an anchor to your candidacy and a reminder of why you can be great at what you do.

4.ii) Keeping abreast of general industry and professional news related to your work

For anyone interested in continuous professional development this should be a natural endeavour.

Yet it’s easy to fall into the trap of not doing so, when you are between jobs, or busy with other priorities.

Given what’s going on in the near-outside world of your profession impacts your profession, I’d recommend you take a bit of time every week to keep updated.

It may even help with interviewing, showing the currency of your expertise.

4.iii) The company, its people, its offering, its industry and its market

I wrote a series, recently, on negotiation in recruitment, comparing notes with the excellent ‘Never Split the Difference’ by Chris Voss.

One of the pillars of good negotiation is to gain as full an understanding of the situation as possible.

If you want to negotiate a successful interview, one where you’re seen as the right candidate, doing so is an advantage.

There are many resources available:

I’d recommend reading Never Split the Difference - while it’s geared towards commercial negotiations and hostage-taking, Voss’ view is that everything is a negotiation, and I found it insightful comparing my own experiences.

You can also read my articles on gregwyatt.substack.com/archive. The first one is called Rule of Three.

Every industry and company will have their own priorities in an interview - keep this in mind, particularly if you’re transitioning into a new domain.

Someone with only private sector experience might be quite surprised by the needs of a civil service recruitment process, but information is typically available to help you prepare.

4.iv) Give the interview what it needs

Every interview has its own priority, some of which will articulate specific needs.

If you want to stay in a legitimate interview process, give the employer what they ask for.

You may think presentations, on-site meetings, psychometrics, etc are worthless, but if they are non-negotiable for the employer, they are a requirement to fulfil.

You don’t have to play the game; if you choose to, play to win.

4.v) How you can deliver on the role requirements

I always come back to the notion that we have to help our stakeholders understand how we can help them.

It’s no different in an interview.

Analyse what you can of their role, and think about the achievements you have, the problems you’ve solved, and the outcomes you’ve reached - in reflection of their needs.

It’s worth qualifying this in the interview too - more on this next week - so you can tailor your answers.

While this is role-specific preparation it is also related to point i) above - the answers are within.

4.vi) Why you want the job, or at least to work at the company

I expect most people who’ve been out of work for a while simply want a way to make ends meet.

Yet I wouldn’t recommend using this as an answer at an interview.

Indeed, most employers have an inclination to candidates who have reason to want to work for them specifically.

Take time to understand your reasons that relate to the job or company. What about them appeals to you?

This is the answer to give.

If the only reason you’re applying is because it is a job, how can you truthfully frame your answer to make it about them?

“I really enjoy the role of a <job title> especially around <essential requirements>” with examples from their job description - might be crude, but it’s more effective than

“I need to buy dinner on Friday”, no matter how true that is.

It can be a deciding factor in a tight process.

Next week is about delivering the interview.

Tactical points to present your best self, how STAR/CARL are storytelling frameworks, why that’s more important than just answering the question, and how you can stand out from the crowd through strategic questions.

Thanks for reading.

Regards,

Greg