How to prepare for a job interview

Interviews are won in the two or three days before, not in the room. Preparation is the difference between hoping for easy questions and being ready for hard ones.

Three days before: understand the job

1. Read the job description three times. Underline every skill, task and quality it asks for. These are the questions in disguise.
2. Make two columns. On the left, what they want. On the right, your evidence for each: a project, a job, a number. Where you have nothing, decide what you will honestly say.
3. Re-read your own resume. Everything on it is open to questions. Be ready to talk for two minutes about each line.

Two days before: understand the employer

Spend an hour on the company's own website and recent news.

• What does it make or sell, and to whom?
• Where does it operate? How large is it, roughly?
• What is new: a product, a branch, an award?
• Who will interview you, if you have been told? What is their role?
• What would this job contribute to the business?

You need this for why do you want to work here and for the questions you will ask at the end.

Prepare your answers

Write short notes, not scripts, for the questions almost every interview includes:

• Tell me about yourself
• Why should we hire you?
• Strengths and weakness
• Why are you leaving? (if employed)
• Five years from now
• Salary expectations

Then prepare five stories in STAR form, and the technical questions for your field from the questions by job pages.

Practise aloud

Thinking an answer and saying it are different skills. Say each answer aloud at least three times: once to a mirror, once recorded on your phone, once to a friend or family member. Listen to the recording for speed, filler words ("basically", "actually", "like") and answers that run too long. The practice tool gives random questions with a timer.

The day before: logistics

• Confirm the time, place, floor, and the name of the person to ask for. For an online interview, test the link, camera and microphone.
• Work out the route and how long it takes at that hour. Plan to arrive fifteen minutes early.
• Lay out your clothes. See dress, documents and the day.
• Put in a folder: copies of your resume, certificates and photocopies, identity proof, photographs, a pen and a small notebook.
• Eat properly and sleep on time.

On the day

• Read your notes once in the morning, then put them away.
• Switch your phone to silent before you enter the building.
• Be polite to everyone from the gate onwards; receptionists are often asked their impression.
• While waiting, sit upright and stay off your phone.

In the room

• Greet, wait to be offered a seat, and say thank you.
• Listen to the whole question before answering. If you did not understand it, ask.
• Answer the question that was asked, with an example, and stop. One to two minutes is right for most answers.
• It is fine to pause for a few seconds to think.
• If you do not know, say so, and say how you would find out.
• Speak to all members of a panel, not only the one who asked.

If you have only one evening

Do four things: read the job description and the company's website; prepare "tell me about yourself" and say it aloud five times; prepare three stories; pack your folder and set two alarms. That covers most of what matters.

After it

Note the questions you were asked while you remember them. They are the best preparation for the next interview. Then see after the interview.

Questions people ask

Practise aloud with a timer

More guides

Common questions

Model answers are examples. They show the shape of a good answer, reviewed in November 2026. Use your own facts: an answer copied word for word will not survive a follow-up question. Employers differ, and nothing here promises selection. Names in the examples are invented.