How not to f*ck up a job interview 🫣

How to nail a job interview 

Last week I wrote about interviewing from the perspective of the hiring manager. I tried to show how having some structure, common sense and empathy can really improve your hiring process. 

I got quite a lot of feedback from folks who suggested they sent it around to their hiring managers to read and that some people had to take a good look at themselves after reading. #SorryNotSorry

I also got a lot of “What about from the candidate side though Troy” feedback and knowing I was going to write this blog next, I assumed this may have been the case. 

So, today let me teach you how to nail a job interview. 

Before I take you on the journey to increased responsibilities and a probable payrise. So you probably owe me a coffee as I gave up drinking beer. That is a post/story for another time.  

For those that have not read my blogs before, you should know that I do not outsource the writing or the editing and prefer they read in my personal voice, which is also quite sweary. If you are offended by swear words then probably do not read any further as I am unapologetically authentically myself. 

So you want to smash a job interview?

Since covid, we have seen the interviews largely move to online video interviews and traditionally people are not a fan of them for interviews. Me, I love them. It is much easier to interview online than in person IMO. 

So let's start with the video interview or zoom interview as Zoom as Zoom has become a verb since Covid and only talk about this first. I will add in person during the week or next week if it is of interest. 

Research:

In my previous post, I talked about how hiring managers should spend time reviewing the information you have provided and developing specific questions they'd like to ask you alongside the common questions they typically ask.

So you should spend that time researching the company, and the people you are interviewing with as well. Let’s start with the company.

You should aim to know the company well enough to be able to give a version or at least, your version of the elevator pitch. Ideally, this company was chosen as it resonates with you and so this should be easy. Though if you do not know about them, that is ok. Just do some research. This effort should give you a better idea of what you're really interviewing for and help you feel confident that the role is right for you. From the recruiter's perspective, it's easy to tell if a candidate has no idea what they're interviewing for, and it makes them look unprepared.

Once you know enough about the company, you now want to know about the role you will be doing. You should have been given a position description and if you have not, I encourage you to go and ask for one if it is available. Most times you should, but sadly a lot of times hiring managers are not so diligent. Or HR, as I work more with hiring managers, let's blame HR. 😉

Once you have that position description, I would like you to look at two key components. 

1. The company values, mission statement, or company vision. 

What we want to do here is understand what the company values or mission of the company is. We can then smartly use these to answer some questions if they align.

Eg. One of the company values is: Commitment to Customers. You then might want to answer a question with: “As I like to make sure I am always thinking about the customer and ensuring that I am committed to building something for them. I like to spend an hour a week with the support team understanding feedback on our products. 

1. The Key responsibilities listed in the position description. Sometimes these may even come with a Deliverables/outcomes section as well. 

What we are going to do with these is take each responsibility and think about what interview questions you may get asked for. Think about your career and anytime you may have been in that situation and write your answer on a post-it note or on Trello to save the environment. 

Look at the deliverable they are looking for and make sure you are answering the question from the lens of this deliverable. 

In the end, you might have a wall filled with post-it notes and look like Charlie from Always Sunny in Philidelphia trying to disprove Pepe. However, you can actually start thinking about your answers and even rehearsing them if you want. 

Now that you have read the position description and put together some really good answers I want to give you a little source of information that is mostly overlooked that I personally use first. 

Read the LinkedIn profile of the incumbent or previous person in the role and if you are lucky enough they may give you some great information about what they are doing as part of their job. Usually, this is better than the position description. I also use LinkedIn heavily to read about the interview panel and who they are. How does this role impact their actual job? For example, if I am a Business Development Manager and I see that a marketing manager is on the panel, I will ensure that I answer their question with a marketing lens. Or I would answer the question and then at the end say: “And how that related to you in marketing is…” 

I could actually write a whole blog alone on researching for job interviews and so I will try and stop myself. Before I do though, if the interview panel blog or short-form blog, or they even just tweet - read that information. That stuff is gold. I remember interviewing with Ben Gracewood at Vend for a recruiter job and he asked me a question that was obviously important to him as he had been tweeting about it for the last few days. I was able to give him my answer and then say, I believe you and I share that view as I know your stance is X. I also was able to disagree with him on one other point and tell him why my views were different from his with tact. 

Now you have researched and have all this information at hand, you are so very lucky that you can use it. Put your favorite post-it notes around your laptop or screen and you will be able to see them. You will be able to quickly look at an answer (colour coded if you are as nerdy as me) and be able to refer to a great response without saying um, ah, er for too long. 

Please do not lie though. If you do not have an answer prepared because you have not been in that situation before, please do not lie. So many people feel the pressure to need to answer every question and end up not letting the truth get in the way of a good story.

As a skilled interviewer, I can usually tell if someone is lying about something. On top of this, the times I am not sure about something, I may ask to follow that up in reference checking and so if you are lying it gets very awkward. You either get caught out or you make someone else lie for you and then get caught out sooner rather than later anyway. 

If you get a question that you have not prepared for or have never been in. Simply say, I have never been in that situation before. I can give you a guess on how I might handle it if it happened but I do not want to lie. This is the reason I am wanting this job as it will give me some more opportunities, like this one.

Testing 1, 2, 3.

I assume that most of my readers are in tech and Zoom all day every day, though I will still say. It's never a bad idea to ask a friend to meet with you on Zoom before your interview to get familiar with the platform — and test your internet connection. This preparation will give you a chance to troubleshoot any issues beforehand and enjoy a more seamless interview experience. 

Use the best internet connection possible. If you have people in the house while you are interviewing, ask them to not watch Stranger things on Netflix while you are interviewing. Make sure you have backup options if your internet connection is poor. You can always hotspot from your phone too if need be. If your internet connection turns out to be shaky on the day of the interview, don't worry. It happens to everyone at some point! In that case, I suggest you try turning off your camera. This usually helps improve the sound quality. The sound is much more important obviously. 

The location is equally as important. The number of times I have joined a video interview and people have not thought about their background, is too many. Try to find a quiet space where you will not be interrupted. If you cannot, then just be upfront from the start and say: “Apologies, my kids are home and they may wander past me.” Anyone that will not hire you because of this is a jerk and you should not work there anyway. Life happens no matter how hard you plan. 

You must wear pants: 

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone looked great up top and had to step away to grab something and they were wearing rugby shorts or something. I do not care so much about this myself but it could be the one thing that counts you in or out in a very tight process.

I like to tell people to wear clothing that matches the company culture you are interviewing for.

To do this, I would check the company’s website for an About Us page or photos of employees working together to get an idea of what they would typically wear (when they can be in the office, of course). Company Instagram is a great tool here. You could also ask your recruiter if need be as they should know if they are internal or agency. 

Mute that annoying builder:

Zoom has a feature where you can mute your audio. This is a great feature to use while your interviewer is speaking for long periods. While using the mute button, they cannot hear anything on your end. This is useful when there are loud sounds in your household such as building noise, dogs barking, or children playing. Keeping yourself on mute as they speak can help your interviewer feel more focused on what they want to tell you. Just remember to take yourself off mute every time you talk and tell them why you are muting them when you talk to be polite and not have them think you are multitasking. 

Look into the camera while speaking

During an in-person interview, maintaining eye contact with your interviewer is a sign of confidence and respect. Video chat makes this a bit different, because if you were to look them in the eye on your screen, it may not look like that on their end. Instead, look into the camera as you are speaking. This creates the illusion that you are looking at them rather than yourself or the screen. I have taken this one step further and have a screen above my screen that I can look at people and the camera at the same time making them feel like I am looking at them. 

If your room is shit, use a background. 

When setting up Zoom or Google Meet or even Teams, you can choose a virtual background or you can blur the background of your place. If you are lucky enough to have a cool space you can use while doing video meetings, then just be aware of what is behind you. Probably don’t do what a candidate of mine did recently and left a copy of ‘The Joy of Sex’ book on the shelf behind them. Not a fan of kink-shaming anyone. This particular interview went really well and they had a really interesting chat about this topic - but I would have probably moved it to be safe. Also, pretty please put your camera at your face level and not looking up at your chin or from the sky above.

Silence your phone and notifications

Before your Zoom interview, silence your phone and put it away. This way, you can focus on the interview rather than a text message or phone call. It may be a good idea to put your phone away a while before your interview, so you can clear your mind and focus on preparing before you start. Along with turning off your phone, you should also turn off any notifications on your computer. Close out of any social media websites or anything else that could become a distraction. Set the Zoom meeting to full screen so that your interviewer is the only thing you can see.

Charge your laptop

If your interview space doesn't have an outlet, make sure to fully charge your laptop before your interview. Ideally, you should choose a spot where you can leave your laptop plugged in during the entirety of your interview. This way, your device can last throughout a lengthy conversation. You would be surprised how many interviews I have lost someone because they ran out of juice.

Update your computer

Get the newest edition of Zoom prior to your meeting. Likewise, also do a full system update on your computer well in advance. If you were to accidentally click on the install update notification during your interview, this could cause your computer to restart mid-interview. By doing these updates a few hours before the interview, you can ensure your device is at its best.

Ask your interviewer questions

When you are researching is the best time to prepare your questions and they should be a part of your Post-It note strategy. Though sometimes the best questions come up as you learn more about the role, take a mental note or even take actual notes of what questions you want to ask at the end of your interview. Make sure to listen throughout your interview so you only ask questions about topics the interviewer hasn't covered yet. It should be a two-way street and if they do not give you time to ask questions as you were both vibing so much, do not be afraid to follow up with an e-mail.

To summarise, this is simple shit I am writing here and I often wonder if I should try to be a more stupid influencer. But I hate influencers and so if you see me do that one day, I am not writing the post. I again wrote it simple as it is the simple things that help you get the job.

If your skills are not up to the job, you will not be in the mix to get the job anyway and there is no bullshit trick to teach you that. So assuming you have the skills good enough to get you to the interview. Here are some other things to think about and really nail.

Research, practice and prepare, and never ever schedule your dream interview as your first interview in a while. Try to get one to knock the cobwebs off or call me or my team at Talent Army and we can put you through your paces first.

Good luck and I hope you get that dream job.