When is the last time you interviewed for a new position? It could have been at a new company, or maybe you had an interview was for a different position inside your existing company. Perhaps you needed to talk to a manager internally for a new project. I’ve tried to treat all my one-on-one meetings or reviews as interviews since I’m usually trying to impress someone enough to get a raise or promotion.

Preparing for something you do rarely is hard. Most of us have interviews very infrequently, and we often aren’t prepared to impress others. If your partner or a close friend is also a business person, perhaps they can help you get ready, but I’ve found that most people struggle to help others prepare as they don’t know how themselves.

I used to interview people periodically as part of my job. I spent time asking others how they evaluated others and reading up on how different companies do this. Over time, I built up a routine of how to run an interview, ask candidates probing questions, efficiently record notes, and evaluate my choices. I became good at running interviews. Not necessarily great at hiring people because that still felt hit and miss, but at least I had a process for evaluating others.

When I was looking for jobs, which happened a bunch in my late 20s/early 30s, I also had a process and I think I did well. I got offered positions after most of my interviews, which was a luxury since that often gave me a choice of where to work. I saw this post on Linked In with a list of questions and answers for a job interview. These are certainly the type of questions I’ve been asked before, and I’ve prepared for. While this aren’t bad answers, they aren’t enough.

Some of these might not be asked in internal interviews or reviews, but you ought to be able to give a short answer and then follow it up with an example from your career, give some details and practice delivering those smoothly. Know your own story, and don’t look like you’re fumbling for answers, trying to remember things you’ve done. It’s understandable that you might not remember details of some event from ten years ago, but it is also a sign you haven’t prepared for an interview.

Getting a job these days is about having some relevant experience, having good soft skills, and standing out from the pack of other people who are applying for the same job. Blogging helps showcase experience, practicing communication helps soft skills, and great stories of things you’ve done help you remain memorable when the interviewer is talking about all the candidates with their peers.

If you want a new and (hopefully) better job, put in some work and prepare.

Steve Jones

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