Last-Minute Interview Checklist!

Today, I’m gonna share with you what you absolutely need to prepare before attending any interview if you want to avoid unnecessary embarrassment, make an unforgettable first impression, and maximize your chances of proceeding to the next round. Let’s go!

1. Employer (Main Products and business offering)

The first point is the employer. You must know about the employer, especially their products and the services they offer – basically what they do. But just having a brief idea is not enough. You need to have a sufficiently clear & detailed understanding of the employer’s business in order to have an intelligent discussion on this topic during the meeting. Imagine the interviewer asking you, “What do you know about our firm, and what about our company attracts you?”

To intelligently answer this question with substance, you need to have an idea bout the following:

• The industry they in
• Are they for-profit or non-profit companies?
• Products, business offerings, and/or services
• How long have they been around?
• Recent mergers and acquisitions: have they been merged with another firm or been acquired in the last few years?
• Who is the CEO?
• Main competitors
• Market share and performance
• Recent news

2. Company website

Second, make sure you spend some time reading through the company website. Many of the details I mentioned in the 1^st point will be available on the corporate website. Pay attention to what is displayed first thing on the home page, as that is the main information the company wants people to know.

Also, try to find their mission statement, which is especially useful when interviewing with smaller firms. Lastly, do check out their career page if it’s available, as you can find potentially helpful ideas about their expansion plans, such as the number of open positions, the type of talents they are after, as well as additional information about related teams and projects from other job descriptions.  

3. Your resume

Make sure you bring a copy of your own resume to the interview (whether in-person or via Zoom). Not having your resume ready will often be viewed as a lack of preparation. 

In fact, if you’re attending a f2f interview, I suggest bringing a copy for yourself as well as for the interviewer. Sometimes, the interviewer may not have enough time to print a copy. In such a case, if you can tell them, “No worries, I have a copy for you too.” – they’ll likely feel that you are someone who is always ready and dependable.

4. Job description

Similarly, you want to make sure that you have the job description ready. Again, not bringing the JD to the meeting will not help you create a positive first impression. Bring a copy for yourself as well as for the interviewer.

5. Interviewer

Make sure you do some research about the interviewer. What are their name and title? You need to have at least a basic idea about what the person does and their relationship to the role you’re interviewing for (for example, is he/she the hiring manager? the Hiring manager’s boss? or A peer? Are they the stakeholders of the projects?, etc.). Also, do check out their LinkedIn page if it is available. In this day and age of social media, not even taking a look at the interviewer’s LinkedIn profile could make you look less serious or less committed to the position.

6. Interview Dress code

Ideally, you want to match the dress code of the company. If you show up fully decked out in a suit for a company where everyone is dressed casually, it will make you look entirely out of place. Of course, the last thing you want to do is underdress at the same time. Therefore, the best way is to ask. Ask the HR or the recruiter if you should wear formal attire or something more casual and dress up accordingly.

7. Be ready for “Tell me about yourself.”

There are questions that you can expect to face in pretty much any interview, and therefore, you should ensure you know how to answer them beforehand instead of trying to come up with the response on the spot.

One such question is: “Tell me about yourself.” I recently made a video dedicated to this topic – you can watch it here. The main point is to keep your response brief and focus on the most relevant experiences & achievements within the professional context. Again, I recommend you check out my other video for a more detailed explanation WITH SAMPLE ANSWERS!

8. Be ready for “Why are you interested in this position/company?”

Another question you need to prepare for before attending any interview is: “Why are you interested in this position/company?” One of the biggest questions and concerns a potential employer has is how keen the candidate is in the position and, as a result, how long that person is likely to stay with them.

Because the cost of making a wrong hire is greater than not hiring at all (both finance and time-wise), the employer would often choose to pass over job applicants who do not demonstrate a genuine interest. Therefore, appropriately responding to this question during the interview is crucial to your success, and you need to know precisely what you’re going to say.

The key is to make it 100% clear that you’re indeed interested in the opportunity and the company. And then provide reasons that are both accurate and convincing (and ideally unique to the firm).

For example, if you are aware that the new position will offer more regional exposure than just one city or country, whereas your current position does not offer those things, you can say something along the lines of: “The reason why I am interested in this position is the regional exposure. In my current role, the focus is limited to only one country, and I would like my next career to have a bigger coverage and responsibility. Of course, I also appreciate the excellent performance of ABC (the potential employer) in the last three years, and I would love to be a part of what you guys are doing here in the region.”

9. Know that they already like you.

If you ever struggled with confidence during the interview, know that the employer already likes you. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t invite you to meet them in the first place. Only a small fraction of job applicants (less than 10-15%) are invited to the 1^st round interview. Also, more often than not, companies (especially hiring managers) are desperate to find the right person for their team – which means they WANT you to succeed. How is that for a confidence booster! So keep that in mind as you attend the interview and present the best version of yourself.

Elevate Your Career, Elevate Your Life!

Matt