Research preparation: Job Description
- Know the job description (JD). Thoroughly read the JD and highlight key parts – including the skills that the employer is looking for from candidates.
- Prepare examples of your experiences that evidence that you have the skills on the job description.
- Have two examples of each skill listed. The employer may ask for another example if they feel your first example hasn’t been comprehensive enough to fully demonstrate the skill.
- Focus not just on the ‘how’ part in your example, but also on the outcome/impact – how did the use of that skill enable a great outcome/result.
Research preparation: Employer website
- Thoroughly research the employer. The more you know about and understand the employer, the better targeted your responses will be to the interview questions.
- Review their website and look at the following sections to gain an insight into the employer, key development and culture:
- Values / Culture section
- News and press section
- Careers/working here section
- Follow the employer on LinkedIn and other social media. You will be able to access latest news, updates and insights that could be useful in an interview.
Practical preparation – top tips
- Be somewhere quiet, with good network reception. Check this in advance.
- Ask the people you live with to be quiet. You do not want to be distracted or have noise in the background.
- Set yourself up in advance. Make sure your phone/tablet/laptop is fully charged – ideally keep it charging during the interview.
- Dress smartly. Wear exactly what you would at a face to face interview.
- Sit up straight. It really does make a big difference to your voice projection.
- Check the lighting. Ideally sit with light coming to you rather than behind you.
- Look straight ahead, rather than down or up. Practice this and get the set up correct.
- Practise seeing yourself on camera. Put your phone on selfie mode and listen to yourself speak. Ask a friend to review with you and give feedback on how clear you are and the speed at which you speak.
- Practise answering questions in set time. Most pre-recorded platforms provide a short practice time (30 – 60 seconds) per question and then a set time to answer the question.