How to Prepare for a Job Interview

What is actually being scored

Most candidates prepare as if an interview rewards the most impressive-sounding answer. In a structured process, each question maps to a specific competency — communication, ownership, judgement under pressure — and the interviewer is listening for clear evidence of it, not polish.

That reframes what "a good answer" means: not the best-told story, but the one that hands the interviewer a specific, verifiable example of the exact thing they are assessing.

STAR: a structure for any answer

STAR works because it forces specificity, which is the one thing a vague answer always lacks.

1. Situation — one or two sentences of context. What was happening, and why did it matter?
2. Task — what were you specifically responsible for?
3. Action — what did you actually do. Spend the most time here; most candidates rush past it.
4. Result — what happened because of it. Quantify where you honestly can; describe the concrete outcome where you cannot.

Prepare four to six stories before any interview, each flexible enough to answer several questions. A strong story about resolving a conflict can usually also cover communication, difficult feedback, or pressure — you do not need a unique story for every possible question.

The questions no one warns you about

• "Tell me about a time you failed." The trap is a fake-humble non-failure ("I work too hard"). Pick something real, own it plainly, spend most of the answer on what changed afterward.
• "Why is there a gap in your CV?" Answer directly and briefly, then move on. Over-explaining is more uncomfortable than the gap.
• "What is a weakness of yours?" Same principle — a real weakness with evidence you are managing it, not a disguised strength.
• "Tell me about a conflict with a manager." This checks maturity and self-awareness, not who was right. Show you understood their side, not just yours.
• Silence after you finish. Some interviewers pause deliberately to see if you keep talking and undercut yourself. If you have answered, it is fine to let the silence sit.

What to prepare in advance

• Research beyond the homepage: recent news, the product, who you are meeting if you know their names, how the role fits the company's broader goals.
• Four to six STAR stories covering achievement, conflict, failure, initiative, and pressure.
• Three to five questions to ask them — genuinely useful ones, not ones the website already answers.
• For video interviews: test camera, microphone, and lighting the day before, not five minutes before.
• Arrive, or log on, five to ten minutes early. Not more — excessive earliness puts pressure on their schedule too.

The stage before the interview

For a growing share of roles — larger companies, finance, tech, consulting, graduate schemes — the interview is not the first filter. A cognitive test, a situational judgement test, or a personality assessment often runs before anyone from the company speaks with you.

These cannot be crammed for the way a knowledge exam can — they measure how you reason and respond, not what you memorized. But the format itself can absolutely be prepared for, and format familiarity has a measurable effect under a timer. Meeting a data interpretation table for the first time during the real thing means fighting the format and the clock at once.

The questions you ask them

When an interviewer asks if you have questions, treat it as part of the evaluation, because it is one. Weak or absent questions read as low genuine interest. Strong ones signal engagement and give you real information for deciding whether to accept an offer.

• What does success in this role look like after the first six months?
• What is the biggest challenge someone in this role is dealing with right now?
• How would you describe the team's working style?
• What made you decide to join, and what has kept you here?

Save salary, vacation, and benefits questions for later in the process, once an offer is genuinely on the table.