Your first job interview isn’t just a conversation or a mere formality…
It’s a high-stakes game with its own set of rules and dogmas that aren’t always obvious.
Nail it, and you set yourself up for an exciting career, oriented toward success from the get go.
Fumble it, and you not only lose this crucial opportunity, but you could also end up staring down the barrel of underemployment or unemployment.
This is why: interviews are a big deal. And here’s how they really work…
How Job Interviews Really Work
Interviews, above and beyond figuring out if you are the “right fit” for the job, are designed to test your ability to navigate the hidden, unspoken rules about the corporate world.
They are a tool designed to let employers see if you know “how to play the game”.
If you master this process, you’ll unlock doors to opportunities you’ve only dreamed about. If not, you will be left behind. It’s that simple.
To make sure the latter doesn’t happen, we are going to teach you the most crucial elements of conducting job interviews. With the caveat that job interviews are a VAST subject, the following elements will get you ready for the basics:
- Preparation
- Presenting Yourself Professionally & Attire
- Your Conduct During The Interview
- Asking Questions
- Interview Follow-up
- Conclusion: The Edge You Need to Win
Preparation is Key
Preparation is your foundation. This is because, in reality, interviews are “aced” in your preparation.
By the way, when we say preparation, we are not just talking about brushing up on your resume or reading up about the company a few minutes before your meetings…
Instead, we are talking about diving deep into understanding the company, the specific job role, and anticipating the questions you’ll face. Get these three things right, and you’ll walk into that interview with a massive edge.
Let’s break down each of these crucial steps…
Understand the Company
Understanding the company means, getting informed about the business, it’s industry and the market.
Research Thoroughly
Before your interview, research the company thoroughly. You need to get to a place where you know the company better than most of it’s employees. This will likely mean doing quite a bit of digging around and reading, which may, at first, seem like overkill…
Just remember that this is not really about learning about the company. It is about gaining a tactical edge in your interview.
And it’s not overkill, because you are in a much more competitive environment than the current employees of the company, most of whom were hired in more lenient job markets.
When you understand the company fully, you can position yourself for a better offer and a path for advancement. Every bit of information you uncover about the company will be used for your advantage.
Company History and Culture
Start by understanding the company’s roots, mission, and values. While you are unlikely to face specific questions about these abstract concepts directly, knowing where the company comes from and what drives them will be integral to HOW you answer their questions, as well as matching and mirroring their expectations.
For example, if you’re interviewing with a company like Tesla, known for its innovation and risk-taking, you should frame your responses to highlight your adaptability and creative problem-solving skills. On the other hand, if you’re interviewing with a company like IBM, which values tradition and stability, emphasize your experience with structured processes and long-term project management.
Make no mistake: these nuances matter. In fact, they are so colossally important that we are beginning this interview guide emphasizing them! It may be the most important bit of advice in this entire document.
Remember who they are and where they come from as you answer their questions, and you will naturally give the right answers.
Current News and Projects
After learning about where the company comes from, learn where the company is. Stay on top of the latest developments and projects. This information can be leveraged to show that you’re not just another candidate – you’re someone who’s already plugged in. Someone who’s an insider, and is ready to “hit the ground running”.
For new graduates and early career professionals, signaling your ability to “hit the ground running” is paramount.
Industry Trends
Be aware of where the industry is headed and how the company is positioning itself. This allows you to speak to the company’s future challenges and opportunities, setting yourself apart as a forward-thinker.
(Pro tip: When applying for senior but non-managerial roles, discussing industry-wide challenges or external opportunities can sometimes be perceived as overstepping, especially if it hints at managerial ambition – see “expressing managerial interest”. For new graduates and early career professionals, however, this isn’t a concern. You won’t be seen as a serious managerial contender, so any broad insights or strategic awareness you share will likely be viewed as “youthful enthusiasm” – a positive trait that can actually strengthen your application and set you apart from other candidates.)
Action Steps:
- Talk to Your Current Connections: This can give you a leg up by revealing what the company is really looking for beyond the job description. (This is by far the most important action step that should not be ignored.)
- Find Out About the Hiring Manager: Research the person who’ll be interviewing you. Knowing their background and interests can help you steer the conversation in a favorable direction. (This is the second most important step, and a crucial aspect of “getting their brain on your side”.)
- Visit the Company Website: The website will give you the company’s official narrative, which you can use to align your pitch with their stated goals.
- Browse Social Media: Monitor the company’s social media for insights into their latest initiatives and public persona. Use this to show you’re in tune with their public-facing strategies.
- Explore LinkedIn: Analyze the company’s LinkedIn page and key employees. This can reveal the kind of talent they value and how you can present yourself.
- Search Google and Google News: Dig into recent news articles and press coverage. This information can provide ammunition to discuss current challenges and how you can help solve them.
- Use Glassdoor and Other Employee Sites: Check out employee reviews to uncover what really goes on behind the scenes. You will use this intel to negotiate from a position of informed awareness.
- Research the Field and Competitors: Understanding the competitive landscape allows you to speak intelligently about the market and how you can help the company.
- Check on the Company’s Financial Health: Look into their financials to assess their stability and growth potential. This can guide your negotiation strategy, and also, protect you from joining a sinking ship.
Understand the Job
Understanding the job means understanding what they want you to do.
Job Description Analysis: Learn About the Skills the Company Requires
Carefully dissect the job description to identify the specific skills and qualifications the company wants. Built a top 5 list.
This list allows you to position yourself as the candidate who can deliver immediate value. It also sets the stage to effectively use The Language of Value – which is absolutely crucial for competitive positions.
Beyond the Job Description
Here’s something most candidates overlook: unspoken priorities.
While the job description outlines explicit needs, there are often hidden, unspoken priorities that you can uncover by reading between the lines.
For instance, if the job requires “excellent communication skills,” dig deeper – this could mean they’re facing internal communication breakdowns or need someone to manage external stakeholders diplomatically. If they emphasize “adaptability,” perhaps they’re undergoing too many changes too quickly, or maybe they are struggling with a volatile market.
If you’ve done your homework and understand the company, reading between the lines to uncover unspoken priorities becomes second nature.
Once you identify these underlying concerns, you can position yourself not just as a candidate who meets the stated requirements, but as a problem-solver who addresses the deeper issues they’re grappling with. This sets you apart as someone who understands the business beyond the surface level and can deliver value where it really counts.
Align Your Skills with the Role & Customize Your Resume
Once you understand the required skills and unspoken priorities, highlight the relevant elements on your resume that match the job requirements.
Of course, if you are following our methodology, you should have already modified your resume to reflect the job’s specific requirements before sending your application. But if that is not the case, you can still take this opportunity to update your resume to match what the job demands.
Yes, they already have a different copy of your resume. And no, you will not need to send them a new resume…
Instead, at the start of your meeting with every interviewer, you will give them a copy of your “updated resume”. It’s a nice professional gesture, and a way to subtly show them you care about their opinion and take them seriously enough to give an updated resume. (We’ve even seen some positive results by merely marking your physical resume using a highlighter pen, at the start of an interview, to “highlight” what you want to talk about during the interview.)
Remember: in the context of an interview, your resume is the irresistible bait that helps you focus on topics you want to focus on – topics that present your best foot forward and demonstrate you as the best candidate for the job.
Preparing for Interview Questions
Preparing for interview questions means: having the answers ready.
Prepare for Common Questions
Anticipate and prepare for the most common interview questions by writing down your answers as talking points.
Questions like “Tell me about yourself” or “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” may be standard, but the way you answer them sets the tone. Focus on how your responses demonstrate your value to the company.
“Tell Me About Yourself”
This question is your first opportunity to make an impression. You may want to read our extensive answer to “tell me about yourself”, before writing your own answer.
Craft a concise narrative that ties your background, skills, and ambitions directly to the role you’re applying for. Highlight experiences that showcase your strengths in areas critical to the job.
Strengths and Weaknesses
When discussing strengths, choose ones that align with the job’s key requirements. For weaknesses, be honest but strategic – frame them as areas where you’re actively improving, ideally in ways that are relevant to the role.
(Pro tip: By the way, answering “weakness” questions by giving humble brags (i.e. “I work too much”) does not work for early career jobs. When you are a politician or executive, however, you should never admit any weakness.)
Behavioral Questions
Behavioral questions are designed to assess how you’ve handled situations in the past, which is used to predict how you’ll perform in the future. These questions typically start with prompts like “Tell me about a time when…” or “Give an example of…”
To prepare, use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your responses. Clearly describe the context, your specific role, the actions you took, and the outcomes.
Since it is difficult to predict specific behavioral questions and interviewer may ask, we teach our students to prepare a handful of (3 to 5) STAR examples that can be used to answer any question.
For instance, consider this STAR example:
Situation: A major client threatened to leave due to dissatisfaction with our service.
Task: I was assigned to retain the client.
Action: I met with the client to listen to their concerns, identified their dissatisfaction, and figured out how to give them what they want.
Result: The client not only stayed with us but also increased their business by 20% over the next year.
This STAR story can be used to answer a variety of behavioral questions, such as:
- “Tell me about a time when you resolved a difficult customer issue.”
- “Give an example of how you managed a challenging situation at work.”
- “Describe a situation where you had to turn around a negative outcome.”
Have your best stories in your backpocket, and you’ll instinctively know when to use them…
Demonstrate Concrete Problem-Solving Skills
When answering questions, it’s crucial to realize that employers want to know you can handle challenges effectively. Prepare to discuss your problem-solving abilities with specific, real-life examples that demonstrate your analytical thinking and adaptability. (These are the most common traits employers are secretly, and not so secretly, filtering for.)
Analytical Thinking
This means: showing that you can break down complex problems into smaller problems and find efficient solutions. Be ready to walk through your thought process step-by-step, emphasizing how your approach leads to successful outcomes.
Adaptability and Learning
Highlight instances where you had to quickly adapt to change or learn new skills to solve a problem. This showcases your ability to succeed in unknown, new environments (aka every new job) and your commitment to “getting things done”.
Conduct Practice Interviews
Of course, preparation isn’t just about writing down answers. It’s also about practicing them. Conduct mock interviews to refine your responses, adjust your delivery, and ensure you’re using The Language of Value effectively.
Present Yourself Professionally
Presenting yourself professionally means: looking the part.
The Importance of First Impressions
First impressions are everything, and they’re formed faster than you think.
Research shows that people form judgments about your competence, trustworthiness, and even your social class within milliseconds of seeing your face. These judgments are not just random; they are deeply ingrained in human psychology, hardwired into our brains, as discussed in studies like the one published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) here.
These snap impressions carry significant consequences, influencing how others perceive your competence, trustworthiness, and overall worth. It’s important to note that facial qualities that suggest low fitness, youth, specific emotions, or certain identities are often overgeneralized (i.e. stereotyped).
This basically means people will make assumptions about you based on how your face looks.
For example, if your face has features associated with low fitness, people might subconsciously perceive you as less competent (anomalous face overgeneralization). If you have a youthful or “babyface” appearance, they might assume you’re less experienced or capable (babyface overgeneralization). Similarly, facial expressions that resemble specific emotions can lead others to wrongly attribute those feelings to you (emotion face overgeneralization), and if your face resembles someone familiar, they might project that person’s traits onto you (familiar face overgeneralization).
What does all this mean?
It means that starting with your facial presentation…
Every Detail About Your First Impression Matters
Your appearance, especially your first impression, has a tremendous impact on your job interviews.
Despite all the talk about fairness and reducing bias, even the most progressive organizations haven’t cracked the code to overcome this very human flaw. And it’s better to go into your interview with full awareness of how people respond to your appearance.
The brutal truth? Every little detail about your appearance matters.
How you look often matters more than what you say or even what you know during an interview. In fact, how you look only matters slightly less than who you know going into the interview…
In other words, if your uncle is the chairman of the board, you can even get away with looking like a slob. But if you’re a “normie”, that suit jacket will matter a lot more than how many modules of sales training you’ve completed.
Remember: First impressions are made in an instant, whether you like it or not. People judge others based on first impressions immediately, and there’s a shocking amount of agreement in these judgments, even across cultures.
By the way, this is not because people are bigoted. This is because people are humans, and they have human brains, and human brains are hardwired to respond in this way. And while modern HR practices make a genuine effort toward eliminating bias or “lookism”, biology not only remains dominant in the corporate world, but these biases even influence AI algorithms and how computers analyze images!
The Harsh Reality of Social Perception
To understand how significant looks are, consider the extensive research on income disparities linked to physical appearance, such as height, BMI, and facial features, as highlighted in this study. Or contemplate how in a nation of 40% obesity, only 5% of top executives are obese.
Or if all that’s too academic, and you want a more hands on learning experience – just browse through the social media profiles of Fortune 100 companies… The aesthetic similarity between their top leadership and prime-time TV personalities or celebrities isn’t just a coincidence – it’s uncanny. Leadership tends to look good.
Why are we telling you all this?
We are telling you all this to drive a critical point home that you need to leverage to get the jobs you want.
And what exactly is that point?
That point is: competence is perceived through looking the part.
All of this happens because human beings perceive competence in other humans within milliseconds of first impression, based on subtle cues related to your social class, as shown in this study published in Nature Human Behavior by Princeton University.
Or to put it simply: if you can look the part in first impression, you can get the job. And conversely, if you don’t look the part, even if you are fully qualified, you are unlikely to get the job.
It’s sad. But it’s also that simple.
Therefore, to succeed in your interview, you need to look the part by presenting:
- Appropriate social cues (social class and in-group indicators)
- Expected body language
- Matching facial expressions
- Appropriate attire (fit in with the company)
To do it justice, the first three will take a couple of hours of instruction – available here (absolutely worth learning, especially if your whole career is in front of you). But we can get into the attire part below…
The Nuances of Attire
A key part of how you appear is what you wear. But it’s not so simple…
Before anything else, don’t buy into any generic advice – especially fashion advice from people selling apparel – about what to wear to an interview!
There are countless nuances to how your attire is perceived. For instance, research shows that the masculinity of your clothing can significantly impact how interviewers perceive your management capabilities – masculine presentation being perceived as better managerial material (study).
In fact, generally speaking, what makes a difference in employment when it comes to attire, is usually uncomfortable to talk about. In many cases, the findings are not politically correct, which is why most people either gloss over them or misrepresent them – if they know these subtleties at all.
But if you want to win the job, you need to dress like a winner – a winner that understands these subtleties.
Dress Appropriately
Researching the company’s dress code is a bare minimum. If you want to stand out, you need to do more. Dressing slightly more professional than the company norm isn’t just about wearing a suit when everyone else is in business casual—it’s about signaling that you understand the unwritten rules and are ready to meet and exceed expectations. For example, if you’re interviewing for a managerial role in a company where business casual is the standard, a well-tailored suit can demonstrate your seriousness and readiness for responsibility.
Yes it’s shallow. But early on, all interactions start in the shallow…
Also remember: dressing appropriately is not just about formality; it’s about fit—both literally and figuratively. The qualities you project should align with the specific demands of the job. For instance, if you’re aiming for a leadership role, your attire should signal authority and confidence. That might mean choosing a suit that’s sharp and assertive, with strong lines and bold colors. Conversely, if you’re interviewing for a position that values collaboration and humility, a softer, more approachable look might be more effective.
Your presentation should also adapt to the personalities of the people interviewing you. If your research shows that the hiring manager values creativity and innovation, incorporate subtle but distinctive elements into your outfit—a unique tie, a tailored jacket with a modern cut, or even bold accessories. These details matter.
Company Culture
It’s not enough to just know whether the company is formal or casual; you need to grasp the deeper values and attitudes that drive the organization. This insight will guide not only how you dress but also how you carry yourself and respond during the interview.
For instance, in a corporate/traditional environment, everything from your attire to your demeanor should convey professionalism and reliability. This might mean a classic, well-fitted suit, conservative accessories, and polished shoes. The goal is to project an image of competence and trustworthiness.
In contrast, a creative/innovative company might expect a different kind of professionalism; one that’s less about adhering to tradition and more about showing that you can think outside the box. Here, business casual might include more modern cuts, bold colors, or trendy pieces that showcase your creativity while still maintaining a professional edge.
If you’re walking into a casual/relaxed environment, the challenge is to strike the right balance between fitting in and standing out. Even if everyone else is in jeans and t-shirts, your outfit should still signal that you’re serious about the role. Don’t show up wearing a t-shirt that says “lazy developer” with a caricature of someone asleep on their desk (If you only knew 🙄…). Opt for high-quality, well-fitted casual wear: a crisp button-down shirt, premium denim, or a tailored blazer. You want to show that you respect the company’s culture while still being a cut above the rest.
Finally, in a start-up/tech environment, the lines between casual and professional can blur. Here, your attire should reflect a blend of comfort and professionalism. A well-fitted blazer over a casual shirt or a sleek dress with practical yet stylish shoes can convey that you’re adaptable, forward-thinking, and ready for fast-paced work.
The careful student will realize the common thread in these cultural styles: Dress in the way the members of that company would idealize, in the way they would like to see themselves. Mirroring the expectations of their ego is the secret key to winning hearts and minds in first impression.
It’s about showing that you belong, while also subtly indicating that you’re bringing something extra to the table.
Professionalism vs. Casual Attire
The debate between professionalism and casual attire is a settled one. Research consistently shows that individuals of lower socioeconomic status are perceived as less competent and deserving of respect, regardless of their actual abilities (Psychology Today on Clothing and Status).
This means that, whether you opt for a professional or casual look, your attire must convey that you belong to a higher socioeconomic status.
In practical terms, this means investing in high-quality, well-fitted clothing. A cheap suit can do more harm than good, while a well-made pair of jeans and a premium shirt can speak volumes. Brands, fabrics, and tailoring matter – these are the details that differentiate you from other candidates and signal to interviewers that you’re someone who takes their appearance, and by extension, their career, seriously.
But clothing is just the start. The way you accessorize, the condition of your shoes, the quality of your watch; these are all signals that people subconsciously read… But remember: all of it serves a single purpose – signaling high socioeconomic status.
During the Interview
During the interview: you win them over.
Communicate Clearly
Clarity is king.
Avoid buzzwords, jargon, or any form of “corporate speak” that might make you sound pretentious or out of touch. In fact, research supports that clear, straightforward communication is far more effective than using convoluted language. Even the government agrees on this point – speak plainly, directly, and ensure your message is understood (source).
Hit Your Talking Points
Your preparation should include a set of core talking points – these are non-negotiable aspects of your experience and qualifications that you MUST convey during the interview. We explain this at length as your “statements of qualification” and “statements of fit” in “The Language of Value” training.
Ideally, a skilled interviewer will ask questions that naturally allow you to bring these points into the conversation. However, not all interviewers are created equal. In fact, very few interviewers you interact with will be ideal…
Make no mistake: you will likely interact with many terrible interviewers, who are tossed into the room with you on account of nothing but their seniority. Such is the business world.
If When you find yourself with an interviewer who isn’t guiding the conversation effectively, it’s up to you to steer it in a way that allows you to highlight your strengths. This means you must be strategic and deliberate about inserting your talking points, regardless of the questions asked – while also not making it too obvious or emasculating the interviewer.
This is not easy, but it gets easier with practice.
Also, this isn’t about forcing unrelated information into the conversation but rather about subtly weaving your qualifications and fit for the role into your answers. The better you are at this, the more control you’ll have over the flow of your interview, and of course, hiring outcomes.
Non-verbal communication
Your words are only part of the story. Non-verbal communication plays a critical role in how you’re perceived during an interview.
Remember: it’s about looking the part…
Your non-verbal communication brings your first impression to life. And mastery of your non-verbals can make the difference between being memorable or forgettable. Hired or ignored. Promoted or let go.
Eye Contact
Maintaining eye contact is essential, but it needs to be balanced. Too much eye contact can be overwhelming, while too little can make you seem untrustworthy or disengaged. Aim for consistent eye contact with slight breaks to avoid discomfort. The distance between you and the interviewer also plays a role – if you’re physically closer, reduce the intensity of your eye contact slightly, and increase it if you’re farther away (source).
Handshake
Your handshake is a critical first impression. It should be firm, dry (very important), and of a natural duration. For men, especially, a well-practiced handshake can set the tone for the rest of the interaction. A weak or overly aggressive handshake can start the interview on the wrong foot (source).
Physical Appearance
Be impeccably groomed. Attractiveness does enhance the effectiveness of your impression, making it easier to build rapport and leave a positive impression. For women, wearing some makeup can help. But also keep in mind that same-sex interviews introduce a negative bias against attractiveness (aka jealousy). Attenuate your physical appearance based on who you are interviewing. When interviewing same sex individuals, reduce signs of dominance (source).
Verbal communication
This should go without saying… But… Pick your words, and how you say those words, carefully.
Demeanor
Avoid being overly agreeable or ingratiating, as this can undermine your perceived authority and make you seem less competent. This point becomes much more important as you compete for leadership roles, but even as a new graduate or early career professional – you must avoid being seen as a suck up.
Confidence and a focus on your strengths are essential. Depending on the role and the personality of your interviewers, you’ll need to vary your approach. But for almost all interviewers you interact with, a confident and self-focused demeanor is beneficial.
(Pro Tip: See Launch Your Career for the personality profiles of interviewers, and what drives their decisions.)
Conversational Focus
During the interview, keep the focus on yourself. While showing interest in others is valuable in everyday interactions, it is counterproductive in an interview. Your main goal is to demonstrate your qualifications, achievements, and fit for the role.
Save all questions about the interviewer or company culture for the end. And avoid anything that might be considered personal. (No one is going to hire you because you asked about their weekend, or commented on that holiday picture on their office desk; but they may decide not to hire you because you pried into personal territory, or showed “fake personal interest”. Remain professional.)
Speech
The way you speak can heavily influence how you are perceived. Research shows that a faster speech rate, fewer pauses, lower variability in loudness, lower pitch, and higher variability in pitch are perceived as more attractive and competent (source).
Of course, this doesn’t mean rushing through your words – enunciate clearly and maintain a steady pace. For men, a deeper pitch can be particularly effective in conveying authority and competence.
Accents
Accents significantly impact your chances of getting hired, often in a negative way. Research indicates that foreign accents, particularly those associated with countries of lower socio-economic status and darker skin tones, can reduce hireability. This is due to ingrained biases and “similar-to-me” preferences within Anglophone society. While this is unfortunate and unfair; if you have an accent, learning to reduce your accent and perhaps even taking some speaking lessons could improve your chances of securing a job offer (source).
Active Listening
Active listening is a crucial skill during an interview. Masterful interviewers, in fact, will test your active listening skills.
Pay attention to the interviewer’s words as well as nonverbal cues, but don’t let them throw you off your game. Negative cues from the interviewer can lead to a feedback loop, where your reaction to perceived disapproval results in poorer performance, which in turn leads to more disapproval.
That’s a bad downward spiral you want to avoid…
It’s important to maintain composure and not be discouraged by any signals from your interviewers. Be aware of what’s going on, but don’t let it influence the way you feel about yourself or the interview.
Moreover, especially for high-value roles, be aware that you might be in a “stress interview,” designed to test how you handle continuous pressure and disapproval. This is why we teach our students to assume that they are going through a “stress interview” and continue with their interview plan regardless of negative cues.
Ask Insightful Questions
When you’re in the interview, it’s not just about answering questions, it’s also about asking them. In fact, the ideal interview should feel like a back and forth conversation, where you are trying to determine if this company is right for you, as much as they are trying to determine if you’re the right fit for them.
Insightful questions demonstrate your genuine interest in the role, your thinking, and your understanding of the position and company. The right questions can set you apart from other candidates, showing that you’ve done your homework and are thinking ahead. (We can tell you dozens of stories where the candidate was chosen because of the questions they asked.)
Prepare Questions for the Interviewer
You should come prepared with a list of questions tailored to the role and the company. These questions should be specific, showing that you’ve researched the organization and have a deep understanding of the industry.
You MUST avoid generic questions that could be asked in any interview, or questions whose answers can be found by a simple Google search. Asking such trivial questions is considered insulting, and also demonstrates your laziness.
Instead, focus on questions that will give you insight into the company’s strategy, challenges, and expectations for the role.
Examples might include:
- “What would my immediate priorities be over the next six months if I got the job?”
- “How does this role contribute to the company’s long-term goals?”
- “What are the biggest challenges currently facing the team?”
These types of questions not only provide you with valuable information but also signal to the interviewer that you’re serious about the job and thinking strategically about your potential contributions.
Of course, ask questions that you are genuinely interested in! Just taking the above questions and asking them without making them your own, can make you come across as robotic and pretentious, ultimately hurting your chances rather than helping them.
Team Dynamics
Ask questions that give you insight into how the team operates, what the company culture is like, and how team members interact with each other. This can also help you gauge whether you’ll fit in with the team and enjoy working there.
Some questions to consider:
- “Can you tell me about the team I’ll be working with?”
- “How does the team typically handle conflict or disagreements?”
- “What is the management style of the team leader?”
These questions help you understand the social and professional environment you’ll be entering, which is just as important, if not more important, than the job itself.
Role Challenges
Every job comes with its challenges, and it’s important to understand what you’re walking into. Asking about the difficulties or challenges associated with the role not only prepares you for what to expect but also shows the interviewer that you’re realistic and ready to tackle tough situations. (It’s a great signal to send.)
You might ask:
- “What are the most challenging aspects of this position?”
- “Can you describe a recent project that was particularly challenging for this team?”
- “What kind of problems should I expect to encounter in the first few months?”
Growth Opportunities
Finally, inquire about growth opportunities within the company. This shows that you’re thinking long-term and are interested in developing your career with the organization.
While asking these questions, be cautious: Unless you are explicitly interviewing for a leadership role, you should avoid signaling managerial interest or too much ambition to anyone who may compete with you for promotions. It’s OK to ask these questions to your would be boss, your boss’ boss, or other executives; but we typically recommend avoiding these types of4 questions to peers.
Growth opportunity questions include:
- “What opportunities for advancement are available within this role?”
- “How does the company support professional development and career growth?”
- “Can you provide examples of career progression for someone in this position?”
These questions indicate that you’re ambitious, motivated, and looking to build a future with the company, which can be very appealing as well as appalling potential employers. Ask wisely.
Follow Up Post-Interview
The interview doesn’t end when you walk out of the room.
How you follow up afterward can significantly impact the impression you leave. A well-crafted follow-up can reinforce your interest in the role, showcase your professionalism, and keep you top of mind as the hiring decision is made.
For some positions, a lack of followup can disqualify you…
Send a Thank-You Note
Sending a thank-you note after the interview is the bare minimum essential. It’s a simple but powerful way to show your appreciation for the opportunity and reiterate your interest in the position.
Make sure your note is clear, concise, and reflects genuine gratitude. Your note can be a simple paragraph – it need not be another variant of your cover letter. It’s the gesture that counts.
Timing and Content
Send your thank-you note within 24 hours of the interview. In terms of content, be specific. If you can, mention something discussed during the interview that resonated with you or reinforced your enthusiasm for the role. If you can’t, just demonstrate your interest and excitement for the role.
Personalization and Appreciation
Address the interviewer by name, unless of course, it’s a job where you need to refer to them formally or using their title (Mr. President, etc.).
Close the note by expressing your appreciation for their time and reiterating your excitement about the potential opportunity to work with them.
Conclusion: The Edge You Need to Win
The job market is unforgiving, and for new grads, the stakes are higher than ever.
Employers aren’t just looking for qualifications; they’re looking for the total package – someone who not only fits the role but who also understands how to play the game.
They have the gall to be this picky, because the competition is extremely fierce…
And whether you like it or not – you are in this competition.
You’ve invested years into your education, honed your skills, and prepared your best foot forward. But remember, knowledge alone isn’t enough; execution is everything.
In this crowded field, every detail counts – from the way you dress, to how you communicate, to the questions you ask. You’ve seen that appearances matter as much, if not more, than substance. You’ve learned how to navigate biases and leverage them to your advantage. And you’ve also been equipped with the insight to ask the right questions.
What separates the successful from the forgotten is the ability to apply this knowledge under pressure.
Practice makes perfect.
Mentorship and training makes perfect faster.
And why be perfect?
Well, dear reader… That’s the difference between being a member of the working class or the professional class.
Or to be more blunt: it is the difference between a six figure or a seven figure, and sometimes eight figure, salary…