Don't Do What I Did: How To Ace Your Job Interview

By Emily Plummer on December 1, 2015

Let me tell you a story about a failed job interview — well, more specifically, a summer internship interview.

It was scheduled for 3:30, and I finished class across campus from the dorms at 3:00. It was midterms week so the night before I had been cramming in a last minute paper, and only remembered to look up the organization I was interviewing for around noon.

Between each class I scrolled through the “About Us” section of their webpage on my smart phone, picking out phrases like “public service” or “community engagement” and trying to use them to form a picture of this company’s framework and values. Somewhere in there I realized I had no idea who I would be talking to at 3:30, and frantically sent an email to my contact with the internship program.

The interview was via Skype — thankfully — so I only had to put on a nice-looking top after speed walking the whole way home. Minutes before our call started I scanned through my resume, picking out in my mind my qualities and experience that would be most intriguing to the interviewer.

Surprise, surprise, I was caught off guard by some of the questions I was asked. Especially when it turned out that there were not one, but two interviewers on the other end of my Skype call. I’m certain my responses must have seemed flustered, my words and phrases stumbling over each other, my pauses before each response much too indulgent.

So I didn’t get the internship. “You win some, you lose some,” they say. Part of that can be the sheer number of applicants in competition for the job you want, slimming your chances of success. But that isn’t what got me. The other part is on the applicant, to come fully prepared, presenting only the very best.

There are lots of things I did wrong that day, as well as the days leading up to it. Interviews are a delicate process that require certain efforts to bring you a job at the end of them. To make sure you get there, follow these tips that have been formulated out of failed interviews — like the one detailed above — and successful ones too.

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1. Know the company you want to work for.

I cannot stress this enough. Know the organization you are interviewing with: their history, values, ideas, accomplishments. Explore their website, maybe even articles written about their work, if available. Be able to discuss the role this organization has in the broader field of business, technology, public service, etc.

Ask yourself how your own experience, ideas, and goals, relate to those of the company you want to work for. In other words, why do you want to work there and not somewhere else?

2. Know yourself.

That sounds a little straightforward (or, if viewed in a different way, a little existential), but all it means is that you have to know and understand your own experience and skills. You are the person the interviewer wants to get to know, so make sure you can be a good spokesperson for yourself.

Think about your most valuable classes, internships, previous jobs. Why were they significant? What did you gain from them? How have they impacted your future goals? These are important questions to ask yourself in order to discern which experiences you want to bring up, and for what reasons.

If you are interviewing for a job writing for a newspaper, you’ll probably want to spend less time talking about your volunteer work building houses in South America over the summer, than your time as editor of your university’s school newspaper. These other, more unrelated experiences are still, of course, valuable if they have affected you or reflect your values in some way. You will just need to spend more time thinking about how to frame them as relevant to the position you are applying for.

3. Give yourself plenty of time.

Start thinking about the interview as far in advance as possible. This can sometimes be dependent on the interviewer and when they arrange the interview, but do your best to prepare in advance.

Ensure that you have all the information correct for the time, date, and place of the interview, and contact the interviewer the day before to confirm. This is also a good time to ask if they would like you to bring anything specific with you to the interview.

And on the day of, don’t be in a rush. It’s easy to tell when someone is flustered because they were running around, struggling to make it on time. This will jumble your thoughts, and during the interview you want to be focused. So give yourself enough time to get there, review your notes on the company, and look over your own resume.

4. Questions!

Come to the interview prepared with questions to ask about the company you are applying to, your role there, or the interviewer’s own experience there. Having questions demonstrates that you have been thinking about this position, which in turn demonstrates your seriousness about wanting it.

Good luck out there!

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