How do you prep for interviews?

[bluebelltippytoes]

In last couple of days I've had two interviews.

The first was for a job I've done a long time. I'm out of practice and it went 'okay'. I'm waiting to hear back from then.

The second was for something completely different. I did what I thought was lots of prep beforehand and although they liked me/thought I could do the role the prep wasn't really evident.

Just wondered how everyone else prepared?

I interview a lot, so these are the kind of things i expect
-know what the company is, what they do/sell, who are their main competitors
-be able to say why you want to work for the company
-be able to explain what you think the job is based on the job description and any conversations with recruitors etc
-prepare plently of "stories" with examples of your skills ... so typical questions are often "tell me about a time you handled a difficult customer/drove an important project/handled conflict with a colleague/made a mistake and had to correct it ... concentrate on your role in theses scenarios, what actions you took, and what the outcome was
-be ready to explain any gaps in CV

Thanks ele

I think I need to go back to basics. Have been in current career for a long time and relied on my CV.

Can you give me a few more 'story' questions. Those are the ones that I struggle with.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'the prep wasn't really evident'
My version of prep is thinking about the sort of questions I'm likely to be asked and coming up with examples I can trot out. Checking the employer out, organising how to get there and what to wear, then reading up on any job specific stuff.
I had an interview recently and one of the questions was totally unexpected, but it didn't make me think I hadn't prepared enough.

I have a list:
Tell me about yourself.
What is it about this job that interests you?
What experiences or education do you have that would help you qualify for this position?
Why are you looking to leave your current position?
If I asked your current manager to describe you in three words what do you think they would say?
Can you give me an example of a time you have provided good customer service?
Can you give me an example of when you have worked in a team, what was your role in the team and what skill/ strengths did you have to give to the team?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Give me an example of a problem that you have had to deal with and what you did?
Give me an example of how you work under pressure?
Do you have any questions?

We have competency based interviews. I am currently applying for a job in the same organisation. I prep by writing everything down, so positive indicators for the competencies, info about out ethics, mission etc and then I try and come up with lots of different questions related to the competencies. I just write, write, write - which is how I remember things.

There are a couple of ways to prepare your answers.

The wine glass - the wide part at the top is the bigger picture. The main bit of the glass about the organisation, the stem about you and your examples and the bit at the bottom what the impact was.

Or the onion. Working out in layers how your example has impacted someone or an organisation. The wider the impact the further out you go.

Plus there is star - situation, task, action and result.

Thanks everyone, that's really helpful.

When I say 'prep wasn't evident'. It was for an NHS therapy assistant role so although I'd researched the therapy aspect, I hadn't researched the particular patient group. Well, not well enough anyway. It's all new territory for me and knowing which bits of info to absorb is a bit overwhelming.

I did a mock interview with a friend who interviews therapy assistants as part of her job and that went really well!

Yeah don't for get the result, I had an internal interview and asked for detailed feedback and although I got the job I would have scored more highly if I had just said a few 'as a result of whichs' .

oh one other thing - i love candidates who ask intelligent questions about the role... outside of the usual working hours/benefits/holidays type things. One of my favorites was "what is the one biggest problem you'd like a successful candidate to solve?"
Showed they were really interested in understanding the role and finding out if it was a good fit for them too