Recently I have been fortunate enough to have several people ask for interview advice, so I compiled 5 invaluable steps for anyone – student or otherwise – to do before, during and after an interview.

1. Research the company

While you should already have done this during the resume stage, keeping up to date with the information of the company you applied to is essential, and it never hurts to spend a little time refreshing your memory by going back and reviewing the companies LinkedIn, reports or news which could serve as effective icebreakers during the interview.

Taking the time to review both your resume and the job posting are also essential here, being able to recite the job posting from memory and elaborate on every section of your resume could impress the interviewer and distinguish you from your competitors.

2. Research the interviewers

Connecting with your interviewers on LinkedIn is a great way to show initiative, and researching your interviewers could also give you a greater insight into the requirements of the role, the structure of the organization, and any common ground you and the interviewers have which might make for a good touch point in the interview.

3. Ask the right questions

Attending interview without any prepared questions is a missed opportunity to demonstrate interest in the role. For maximum effect, I recommend preparing at least three questions while keeping in mind your two primary goals for those questions:

• Learn more about the organization you are being interviewed for.
• Demonstrate your adeptness for this role.

While the first goal is obvious, it’s a shame that the second goal is forgotten so often, since most of the best questions come from a combination of the two goals, for example:

While researching your organization i was unable to find much on the technologies used there, could you tell me more about what you use at your organization?

Which demonstrates that you are familiar with the organization, but also gives you the opening to point out any technologies you are familiar with and correlate any relevant experience to the role, bonus points if you replace “unable to find much” with an actual list of technologies used and demonstrate research skills.

4. Understand the S.T.A.R & P.A.R method

The STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) and PAR (Problem, Action, Result) frameworks allow you to answer experience and situational questions in a powerful and concise manner.

The methods are very straightforward, but I think that this post by the Victoria Wall Associates sums up the techniques much better than I can, so I encourage you to visit their article for a better understanding of the technique.

5. Write a follow up email

After the interview is done a follow up email is a necessity. For optimal impact it is recommended to send it within one business day of the interview. Some people recommend sending another at the end of the week, but the number of emails you send can tell recruiters a lot about you and too many could come off as desperate while too few might look uncommunicative. It is best to consider the role you are applying for, determine the communication requirements and workload of the HR department, then determine if a second follow up is necessary from there.

The main content of your follow up email should be simple.

• Thank the interviewer for the interview
• Reiterate how enthusiastic you are for the role
• (Optional) Share any projects you might have forgotten about
• Ask for any feedback from the interview.
• Sign off in a professional manner.

Following this structure allows you to keep your follow up concise but thought provoking and reinforce your dedication to the role.

Conclusion

Remember, recruiters are on the lookout for the best possible candidate, and interviewers want to find the best talent they can. At this point in the process everyone wants you to be the best possible person for the job, and your only responsibility is to confirm their beliefs.

As always, this is a non-exhaustive list and will be updated as time goes on, do you have any feedback or suggestions you want to add? comment them on my LinkedIn post and I will review them accordingly.