Lesson 8 of 1225 minutesFree

Preparing for interview

Research the organisation like a senior candidate, predict the questions from the job description, and match each one to a story.

Goes with Chapter 8 of How To Get Your Dream Job. Everything saves in this browser only.

Before you start

Your path

Choose your field and level. The examples and suggestions in this lesson change to match.

The story

The chair asked about the margins

Samuel · Head of financial planning · final interview for finance director

Samuel's final panel was the chief executive and the chair of the audit committee. He spent the evening before reading the company's website and rehearsing answers in his head.

The chair asked why margins had fallen last year and what he would look at first. The annual report, published two months earlier, had a whole page on it. The other final candidate had read it.

“I didn’t sound like I’d learned answers. I sounded like I already worked there.”

Interview preparation isn't about memorising answers. It's knowing three things well: the organisation, the role and your own evidence.

Step 1 · Research like a senior candidate

Two or three hours, well spent

Go beyond the website. Read the annual report and filed accounts (free on Companies House for most UK companies), board papers if they're published, and any regulator's reports.

What does the organisation do, for whom, and how is it changing?

What do the accounts, board papers or regulator's reports say about its pressures?

What problem is this role there to solve?

Who is on the panel, and what's their background?

Two things I could mention that show I've done my homework

Step 2 · The question predictor

The job description is the exam paper

Paste the job description or person specification. The predictor turns its key requirements into likely questions, adds the ones almost every senior interview includes, and lets you match each to a STAR story from Lesson 3.

Likely question

Type

My story or answer

Step 3 · Your questions for them

Interview them back

Choose two or three. Avoid anything you could have answered from their website.

★ Core activity

Your interview prep sheet

Your research, predicted questions with matched stories, and your questions for the panel, on one page. Take it with you, and read it in the last ten minutes before you go in.

Before you move on

Three questions

Five minutes, in English or your own language: whichever lets you think most clearly.

What did your research uncover that you could use in the interview?

How many of the questions you predicted could you answer with a story today?

Which of your questions would tell you most about whether you want the job?

What to remember

Five things to keep

Know the organisation, the role and your own evidence; don't memorise answers.
At senior level, read the accounts, board papers and regulator's reports.
The job description is the exam paper: predict the questions from it.
“Tell me about yourself”: thirty seconds, then stop, with two minutes in reserve.
Ask questions that show you're thinking about doing the job.

Lesson 9: Performing at interview

Timed practice with random questions, a speaking-speed check and self-rating, so the first five minutes stop happening by accident.

Start Lesson 9 All lessons

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