Prepare for a job interview in English

After 15 years holding leadership roles within companies of all sizes, geographies and industries, I learned a few important lessons about preparing myself to be interviewed for a new job. 

I hope the following points will be useful to you. 

Prepare for the interview like you did when preparing for exams. I invested hours and hours for some of my job interviews.

• Research information about the company, team and plans.
• Find as much information as you can about the people that will be interviewing you. 
• Double check the job description. If there are weak spots, make it clear to yourself and explain how you will prepare to improve.
• Prepare a short and direct description about yourself, including your strengths and weaknesses. There are questions you know it’s very likely you will get, so get ready and you will feel more relaxed.

Experience helps. For a good professional, it’s healthy to do job interviews at least once a year to practise. 

• You will practise your communication skills.
• You will understand your value in the market.
• You will get some good new contacts.

This is where most people fail. 50% of your job interview will depend on the good questions you make. Prepare them in advance. 

Tip: If the person interviewing you has been in the company for less than 1 year, ask him why he / she decided to join the company. It will prove you are smart, in addition to giving the interviewer the opportunity to talk about themself for a moment.

It’s ok to sharpen your messages to be closer to the company’s culture, but at the end of the day,  don’t lie. Always be yourself or any good interviewer will easily find out. You will get nervous or you might end up working somewhere you don’t like. 

Yes, it’s important for the person who is interviewing you to like you. Smile. Always smile. Be careful with your non verbal communication and find common views so you can generate a comfortable environment for both. 

Make your weaknesses clear and be direct. Of course, also be constructive on how you will overcome them. It’s very likely they will appreciate you being honest and direct. Everyone has weaknesses and by being transparent about them will make sure that the interviewer has covered all areas.

You don’t need to say it directly, but you need to make the following points clear:

• You are excited about this opportunity.
• You are ready to commit to the new company.
• You are a good team player.
• You are highly proactive and constructive.

Ask if you could meet the team you will be working with. People at your level, reporting to you or above you. This will be important for you to understand the culture, clearly prove your strong interest, and show them you are smart with your decisions.

You might think this is a binary situation: either you have the desired level and you are able to prove it, or not. Well, not exactly.

First of all, do not focus on demonstrating your perfect grammar (of course, it depends on the job). Goal number one is to make yourself understood. (verbally for sure and possibly in writing too). Sometimes you might be in a grey area where it’s not that clear if your skills are good enough. Then, two things make a big difference:

• How good you did through all points above. Believe me, if you did it all right based on the 8 points above, you have high chances your interviewer might take the risk to hire you. But you need some additional push.
• Make it clear that you are committed to improving and that you will work on it and that in 6 months you will get up to speed (of course, only if it’s true). 

Example: I was able to find an executive job based in France while my French language skills were very limited at the time and the company was able to help me to improve my language skills for the first year. True story.

I hope this Microlesson has been useful to you. Stay tuned for new content to come!

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