How to prep for a job interview

Today’s post comes courtesy of a question from a terrific college student I connected with recently, after speaking at a fabulous Florida Women in Business panel on diversity and inclusion: “What advice would you give to young people about internship or first job interviews, especially if they don’t have as much experience to speak on?”

This is the classic dilemma, right? It’s hard to get a job or internship without experience, but how are you supposed to get experience without a job or internship?

Work your network

The best advice for finding a job or internship, no matter how much experience you have, is to work your network and be willing to relocate, even just temporarily.

“But none of my friends have jobs either!” you say.

What about your parents? Your parents’ friends? Your friends’ parents? Your professors’ friends? Former classmates who already graduated? High school friends? High school teachers’ friends? You see where I’m going. Someone you know works at a place offering internships, or knows someone who does. Ask anyone and everyone for suggestions and referrals.

Someone you know works at a place offering an internship or job, or knows someone who does. Ask anyone and everyone for suggestions and referrals.

Think like a man

And don’t be afraid to apply for stretch positions. Here’s something I wish I’d known in my 20s: Job descriptions tend to be less an accurate description of what the job will actually be, and more a wishlist of what everyone with a say wishes the person would do. Sample comments: “Wouldn’t it be great if the person knew Photoshop?” “And had graphic design experience?” “And was a good writer?” “And could operate a forklift?” “And could build furniture from scratch?” They know they’re unlikely to get someone who can do all of these things, but they figure it’s worth a shot.

Numerous studies show that men will apply for positions where they don’t meet all the criteria, but women will only apply when they meet every single qualification. My advice is to think like a man and, if you meet at least 60% of the criteria, go ahead and apply. You have little to lose, and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Focus on fit

Here’s another thing I wish I’d known in my 20s: If you get an interview, that means they’ve already decided you meet their requirements on paper. Your goal during any interview is to demonstrate that you’d be a good employee and someone they want to work with. It’s also to make sure, on your part, that this position is a good fit for you.

I had a recruiter contact me last week about a really great job opportunity that included crisis communications for a 3-state territory. So at any moment, I might get a call and need to drop everything and drive 3-5 hours to talk to the media. Fantasy SB found this idea exciting. Real SB recognized that a) this would be a huge challenge for my family, since my husband also works full-time; b) these calls would inevitably come during a blizzard, and if I hated the idea of driving the 15 minutes to my current job in bad weather, I would not be excited about driving multiple hours.

The power of preparing ahead

In terms of convincing them you’d be a good employee … the No. 1 thing I always tell people is to practice practice practice. Find interview guides online and make friends or family interview you. A lot of companies ask behavioral-based questions and are looking for answers that follow a SAR (situation, action, resolution) or STAR (situation, task, action, result) format:

• Situation: An event, project or challenge
• Task: Your responsibilities and assignments
• Action: Steps or procedure taken
• Result: Results of actions taken

Google “behavioral interview questions” (this site, for example, has some typical ones). Then draft answers and rehearse until you could say them in your sleep.

Google “behavioral interview questions.” Then draft answers and rehearse until you could say them in your sleep.

When asked about a time you worked with someone difficult or who didn’t listen to you, a good SAR answer would be, “[SITUATION] Last semester I had to do a group project with someone who just wasn’t as invested as I was. He didn’t show up to any of the meetings, he ignored my emails and texts. It was so frustrating because this was a big part of our grade. [ACTION] I even tried knocking on his door and talking to him in person. Finally, I reached out to the professor to ask if I could change partners. He said that wasn’t possible, so I ended up doing both his part and mine because I didn’t really see another option. [RESOLUTION] However, I was clear in my notes to the professor and in my presentation that this was a solo effort. I didn’t want to be vindictive or throw my supposed partner under the bus, but I also didn’t think it was appropriate for me to cover up his negligence. That seemed unethical, and it didn’t do justice to the extra work I had had to do.”

So this situation has a lot of landmines that I tried to adjust for. This is why writing out your responses and rehearsing them ahead of time is critical. You don’t want to sound like a whiner or victim, or like you’re trying to claim all the credit and want people to laud you for your amazingness. None of those are attractive qualities in an employee. You do want to sound like you’re a problem-solver, a team player, someone who takes the initiative and can succeed under duress, but also someone who values integrity and who can stand up for herself.

When rehearsing, you need a friend who will be honest with you and critical about body language, things you’re saying that may be coming off the wrong way, tone of voice, etc. You can also ask a friendly adult to interview you. I interviewed one girl for an internship who spoke so softly, I could barely hear her, and gave really short, unhelpful answers. I threw her every lifeline I could think of, and she still floundered.

Another guy I interviewed for an internship, when I asked him to name his proudest accomplishment, told me he had lost 100 lbs. And when I asked him to tell me about a challenge, he told me his brother had died. Both of those were – wow. I mean, congrats on the amazing weight loss, and I’m so sorry about your brother, but I wish you would have related both of those to how you would do working for me. Like, even if he had said, “A few years ago I lost 100 lbs. That taught me self-discipline and focus that I think has also been reflected in my work,” that would have been so much better.

Also, he was 20 minutes late for his interview without any excuse. Don’t do that. (See “Avoid unforced errors” below.)

And when it comes to your lack of experience: Use the interview questions you find online to help you prep responses that highlight any transferable skills you have from summer jobs, school, volunteering, etc. Group projects are not all that dissimilar to team projects at work, sadly. Don’t apologize for your lack of experience – you’re in your 20s; no one expects you to have 10 years of management experience. Just show you understand how to take what you’ve learned at college and your job folding T-shirts at the mall, and apply it to the workplace. For example, the college students who organized that Florida Women in Business panel did a better job creating and facilitating it than 90% of the ones I’ve attended at work. That’s an amazing accomplishment, even though it was a volunteer gig, not a paid job.

Avoid unforced errors

Finally, take note of some of the most common interviewee unforced errors, and avoid them:

• Dress appropriately. It’s perfectly OK to ask the person setting up the interview for you what to wear. This makes you look mature and planful. I also like to dress a step above what’s normal for the company – e.g., if most people wear jeans and nice shirts, I’d wear to the interview a skirt or slacks.

• Show up on time. If you’re late or have technical problems, own it, remain calm, apologize and carry on.  

• Don’t interrupt. This can be tough when you’re nervous and eager, especially if you’re on the phone and lack visual cues. If you do, quickly say, “I’m so sorry – please go on,” and then wait for either a clear question or a pause of at least one second.

• Don’t ask questions you can easily look up online. Showing that you’ve done your research and understand what they do and what they’re looking for shows that you’re thorough and prepared.

• Don’t trash previous employers. It’s tacky and unprofessional. If you’ve been let go from a previous job due to economic reasons, a simple, “Then the pandemic happened” will suffice. If you were let go for what you consider to be unfair reasons and you hate them with a holy hatred, practice a neutral story like, “It wasn’t a good fit” or “I’m looking for new opportunities” or “I’ve always been passionate about [whatever industry the job you’re applying for is in].”

• Don’t swear. I was once interviewing a candidate I liked so much. She brought homemade cookies to the interview! She was warm and personable and seemed awesome. Then when I asked why she was looking to transition, she said, “My current boss is always up my ass.” Cue needle scratch.

• Scrub your social media. This is one of the first things employers check when someone applies for a job. If there are pics of you doing keg stands or lighting up, remove or hide them immediately, and untag yourself from friends’ pics.  

• Stay off your phone. When you arrive at the interview site, put it in silent mode and put it away. If you need to get it out to take notes or look something up, give a quick explanation – “Sorry, what you said was so awesome, I just want to jot it in my Evernote before I forget” – and then put it away as soon as you’re done.

• Don’t lie. It’s OK to stretch the truth a bit if you’re confident you can deliver – e.g., positioning yourself as a Photoshop expert when in reality you’ve only used it a few times, but you know you can watch some YouTube videos over the weekend and get up to speed quickly. What’s not OK: Pretending to have your master’s when you don’t even have your bachelor’s, or saying you have experience planning corporate events for hundreds when the only event you’ve planned is your own birthday party.

• Be careful about salary and benefit questions. I am all about asking for fair compensation and negotiating. But during interviews, whenever possible, I try to let the interviewer be the one to bring up salary and benefits. Companies want to believe you’re excited to work for them because they’re amazing, not that you’re doing this for filthy lucre, and if you bring up money, especially early on, you can seem transactional and mercenary.

There are ways to get a sense for this without asking outright, and you should practice these. For example, “What do you like about working here?” “What’s kept you here for X number of years?” “How long is the average tenure?” [High turnover is a red flag. At my first job, turnover was so bad, the handbook had a policy stating that only people who’d been there at least a year would get a going-away card. I lasted 15 months, and on my last day, my boss said loudly to someone on the phone, “Yes, we’ve been expecting her to leave for awhile now.”]

Often in the prescreening call, the recruiter will ask you about salary expectations. My first go-to is to punt and say, “A lot depends on the total package – benefits, vacation time, retirement contributions, bonuses, etc.” This is all true – my friend JVM worked at a place that didn’t pay super well but put 15% into retirement funds and gave 4 weeks of vacation.

If they still press for an exact number, give a range – e.g., “I’m hoping for $45,000-$55,000, but as I said, it all depends on the total package.”

You can also try a great tip from my friend JW, who suggested saying, “My goal is to be in the 75^th percentile of the range.”

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Do you still have questions? Any seasoned interviewers out there who have anything to add?