2018-19

If you have made it all the way to the interview stage for a position, you should already feel pretty proud! Finding a job or internship has become increasingly competitive as firms often review hundreds of candidates for only a handful of spots, so making it to the interview is a big deal. Once you have landed the interview, there are a few logistical questions that you need to immediately find the answers to, and if you can’t find them, ask your recruiter. Is the interview going to be on site or virtual? Will you have multiple interviews in a row or just one? Will the interview be behavioral and technical, or just behavioral? What is appropriate dress for the interview? It is crucial to understand the high-level logistics of your interview; otherwise, the process will become much more difficult.

Step 1: Do Your Research

Regardless of whether the interview is on site or virtual, the first key to success is to do your research on the company and role. You want to make sure that you understand the role to the best of your abilities, and anything you cannot learn from your research is a great question to ask your interviewer! Important questions that can help guide your research include: what constitutes success for the company? What are the recent news stories about the company? What has the specific business unit you are applying for (i.e. sales, marketing, finance) done well or not done well over the last 12 months? What is the company culture like? While an interview is a chance to learn more about a firm, you want to make sure you are learning information that you could not easily find on your own. Researching the company and role beforehand will make it easier to express why you want to work there and why they should hire you. Lastly, if you are given an interviewer’s name, look them up on LinkedIn. Reviewing their LinkedIn will give you a better sense of specific questions you can ask them and you might be able to find a mutual interest that you can talk about.

Step 2: Practice Your Interview Skills

As important as it is to research the role and firm, the most crucial piece of advice is to actually practice interviewing. Just like everything else in a job, interviewing is a skill and it is one that must be consistently practiced. For every interview, you should be able to answer questions surrounding your involvement on campus/why it matters to you, as well as questions surrounding why you want to work at the firm in the specific role you are applying for. Ask a friend, family member, or professor to ask you basic questions so that you can practice your responses in a safe environment. In addition to standard behavioral questions, you should be ready to answer more firm specific questions. Furthermore, be prepared for simple logical questions asking what to do in business situations. One such question could be: how would we go about increasing sales for a certain product? Lastly, if there is a technical portion of your interview (i.e. excel test) make sure you have spent enough time prepping and you will be able to display that you have the baseline capabilities to effectively perform the position you are applying for.

Step 3: Remember What the Firm is Evaluating

Remember, during the interview process the firm is effectively evaluating for three things: are you qualified for the position, do you display an intellectual curiosity and desire to learn more, and do they like you/would they want to work and spend time with you for 8-12 hours a day. Keeping these factors in mind will guide you as you prepare for your interview and will help you land the internship or job of your dreams!