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DISCLAIMER:

I’m early in my career, but have 2 things that make this worth reading; experience and guidance. I’ve moved jobs quite a lot in a short career, and each time have cast the net wide and interviewed as much as possible, which has given me some decent insight on the process. Also, I’m very lucky to know experienced people in finance, recruiting and human resources, who offered me some of the guidance that is in this piece. That said, these are just my humble opinions, and things that have worked for me. 

Also – I swear a bit so there’s that too.

 1) Want the job

This is…. an annoying piece of advice, but especially with grads or anyone early in their career, there is a tendency to find yourself going in for jobs, without being totally sure they’re what you want, because largely, you don’t know what you want. This is fine, loads of us aren’t sure, and that’s just life. But, it is definitely true that the more you want the job, the better your odds get.

You’ll prepare better, read/know more, and generally come across better if you find a job you really want. Last time I found myself snowed under similar looking job application forms, CVs and recruiter emails, one job shone out to me as “wow that actually looks cool”. As I ploughed through my applications, I found that I returned to the research for this job more than the others, and as such was the one I felt most prepared for by a long way – and it showed. They were impressed with the sheer depth of knowledge I had about the company, and the enthusiasm I was already displaying – I nailed the interview and took the role.

This works the other way as well, if there’s a job that’s a little “meh”, spend some time reinforcing to yourself why getting the job is a positive thing that you are willing to spend time and effort on, and it will improve your overall process towards getting and nailing the interview.

If you can’t find anything, anything at all – then throw the application in the bin now – life is too short for that kind of work, and you will suck at it if you really don’t want to be there.

Side tip – up to a point, it’s usually worth interviewing, if you get the chance, for these jobs that you aren’t excited for. Practice is practice is practice is essential – so every hour spent in that chair will make you more relaxed and easy. Additionally, an interview is as much about you deciding the company is right for you as the other way around. Treat it as such. Ask about the company, the culture, the nature of the role, and if the job seemed rubbish, leave with useful interview practice and confidence in your choices – you didn’t need them anyway.

2) Tell them you want the job.

This is almost so obvious that people don’t actually do it. An interview is just as much about you figuring out if you want them as much as they figuring out if they want you. remind them of this – I usually frame it during a question along the lines of “what’s the culture like, I really want to be sure the atmosphere aligns with my ideals” or “I want to make sure I’m a good fit”. Once you’ve established the narrative that you’re deciding if you want the job, decide to want the job. The simplest way is right at the end, at the handshake before you leave, look them in the eye and say “nice to meet you, thanks for your time, I’m really interested in this role, and would love to join this team”.

NB – They want someone who wants the job – A large theme of all of these tips is “find ways to convince the interviewer that you really want this job”. The candidate that really wants the job, and is therefore really happy to do the job, will likely be the best at the job. Surprisingly, a great way to tell your interviewer you want the job, is to tell them.

3) Make notes (and then make some more)

It doesn’t matter if you know most of the stuff about the company – take the time to do the research, find out about the company, the history, any random facts, recent news – and note it down in a notebook. Have this handy, and even if you never use it, it’s a nice backup. The visible proof that you’ve done your homework is good. You should know who the CEO is. You should know if there are key straplines the company has or things that the company is focusing on.

A colleague of mine once asked a candidate “what are our company values?”. The values are (or were at the time) the first thing you see on the company website, written in massive letters. The candidate had no idea, and didn’t make it past the first 5 minutes of the interview. If there’s something that obvious, you should at least be able to prove you’ve spent a few minutes exploring the company website.

In with these notes should be the name of the interviewer, time, address etc. I usually make calendar notifications, but having had my phone die on me before an interview once, a paper copy is fucking essential.

Side Note:

Bring your CV, printed, and maybe even highlighted with relevant stuff. This can be useful as (although almost everyone would say they know their own job history”, having reminders of the specific details, or wordings you’ve used to best describe your work can be really useful. I’ve definitely found myself checking my CV as a jumping off point when explaining a piece of work, which allows me to tailor the explanation to match the words on the page. It makes it harder to be caught out if the interviewer asks something like “what does it mean when you say specialised work here….” Or something, as you can see the context.

As ever, this also adds to the image of you being one prepared mother-fucker. There are lots of small details, none of which are essential, but together do give a boost to your image at that moment.

This image can really impress. I interviewed once, for a research role, and not long before, mostly as a joke, I had changed my twitter bio to read “please hire me”. Later, by coincidence, while researching who would interview me, I followed her on Twitter. In the interview she commented what a nice touch it was to change my bio and make it visible to here, nobody else had been so inventive in trying to get the role. It was largely accidental on my part (I just thought she had an interesting twitter) but the image she had of me before I walked in the door, was already of someone who had thought ahead, done my research and was thoroughly prepared.

4) Know your interviewer

See the story above slightly, but this is useful, as a detail. Stalk them on LinkedIn, their company profile, and make a few notes. Have they written any articles or blog posts etc recently? Do they share any interests with you that you can chat about like mountain biking or frankly whatever.

You don’t need to be obsessive, but a glance through the interviewer’s bio could arm you with useful detail.  This is the only time that I like Linkedin’s feature of showing you who’s viewed your profile, as it’s definitely good if your name appears in their feed – and proves to them that you’re doing your homework.

5) Bring questions

Loads of fucking questions. That “any questions for us?” moment is really big, both in terms of finding stuff out, and proving that you’re smart.

Don’t just write 3 questions, write 15. Write 20. The classic trap is prepping a couple of really generic questions like, “what are the hours”, only to find that these were covered off by the interviewer, leaving you sounding stupid when asked to ask something. I’ve had interviews that I severely underprepared for, and not being able to come with anything to ask in this situation really sucks. A meek “No, you’ve covered everything I needed to know” might be more or less true, but does not make you memorable in any way. Ask questions if you already know the answers. Ask questions if you don’t care about the answers. But ask questions. Care about the company and what it does, in detail. After all from his point of view, you’re drilling into the detail of your future employer.

Have loads of questions, spitball and write down questions about anything. Ask about something that happened to the company recently (an award or whatever). Ask how often they see the CEO. If there’s anything the company does that you don’t understand, ask for more detail on that. Ask what their favourite thing about the company is. keep asking for as long as you can. drill the interviewer, and give the impression of being the most interested candidate they’ll ever meet.

6) Record it

All interviews are learning curves, so even if you think you’ll never get the job, go, practice, and learn.

If possible, note down all the questions they asked you, and start making a bank of interview questions. There might be details of your CV that draw specific questions, and if you can clock this, and prepare answers, you’ll be ahead.

It’s hard to do, but in those 5 mins after the interview is the best time to do this. Try and use the adrenaline buzz to power out some notes on the experience you just had before relaxing and recovering.

7) Personalise your CV

A friend of mine told me that you always have 2 versions of your CV, the general one, that’s a record of what you’ve done, and the one you’ll use to get the job you want. Suffice to say, if you’re job hunting then you can up this, and have loads of CVs.

Start with a standard template, the one that you’ve spent time formatting, and looks great, and that you (hopefully) keep up to date as you do new work and add new achievements. Then, for each job that you apply for, take this and customize it for that particular job (I create a folder for each new application I send, with the specific version of the CV I used for that role, and any other docs about the role like job descriptions etc.). This can include re-arranging to bring the most relevant experience to the top (not all CVs need to be fully chronological!), rewording to highlight relevant things you did that might not be shown by the current wording.

Crucially, you should customize your CV to show you want this particular job.

At the end of my profile, that 3 line sentence that sums me up (the tinder bio of employment), there should always be the last line that reads “currently looking for roles in XXXXX”. I’ll re-write this line to match the role I’m applying for in a semi-generic way. Rather than just “currently looking for roles in financial services”, make it “currently looking for business analyst roles, in dynamic, mid-sized consulting firms”. Don’t make it so specific that it’s obvious, but where possible this line should indicate that this job is a perfect fit for you, not just something you randomly trawled off of totaljobs.com.

8) Admit stuff you don’t know

This is legitimately tricky, as bullshitting is definitely a thing, but sometimes you just know that you’re out of luck. luckily, “you’re not expected to know everything” is actually true. If you can sit there and say honestly, “I don’t know that”, or “I can’t confidently answer that”, it can be a real plus. Hell, say it with a smile as well. People in jobs don’t know things all the time, and their heads don’t explode. Not all interviewers are perfect, and some definitely love to put people on the spot to see how they’ll react, with questions that you aren’t supposed to know. If you crash and burn, and have no idea, don’t panic or flail.

If possible, spin the situation to make it like, well, what a normal person would do – i.e. say you don’t know, but then explain how you would find out from someone more knowledgeable, or check the answer to make sure your work is good.

At the very least, if you’re unsure, but might have an answer, then get clarity on the question. Repeat the question back, and ask if you have that right, or ask what specifically they mean by part of the question. This can be a useful last-ditch way of buying time to compose yourself, but be wary when trying to answer around the edges of your knowledge. If the interviewer think’s that you’re bullshitting them – you’re done. They won’t want to work for someone they think might lie to them.

Disclaimers like “I understand the answer to be this”, “my best answer is this but, I’m not confident on this area” etc can be useful.

9) Be smart

This shit’s obvious – clean stuff – your good shoes, all the usual stuff with whatever clothing makes you look like a business force of nature. The bottom line is a general image, a smile etc.

If in doubt, be smarter not more casual. You can always take a tie off, or make yourself more casual, but rarely the other way around.

If nothing else, looking your best can help yo to feel your best. Look good, feel good, go get em.

10) Talk to people

Particularly if it’s a job you really want – make sure you try to find some other people to add feedback and information.

I’m pretty damn lucky with my network, and with nearly every job I’ve had the opportunity to reach out to people in and around the organisation I’m applying for. If you can find anyone knowledgeable, ask them! Ask them if they really like it there, if there’s anything an interviewer wouldn’t mention, and get a decent picture of what it’s like to work there.

Find someone who might do some practice questions, find someone who works there already and ask them about the role or the team.

Find a recruiter and get their feedback (although always remember recruiters have a motive, and that motive is not your best interests)

Find someone who joined recently and reach out to them, or even someone who left recently – Loads of people are surprisingly willing to supply you free, valuable information.

11) Have a Human Connection

As said earlier, interviews are often about making sure that you’re someone who they would like to work with. Although some interviewers will be so robotic and poker-faced that you’re convinced they interrogate their spouse about the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges overcame as pillow talk, most people are very much human. Even the inhuman ones will often only be acting, and will still appreciate proof that you are a real human too.

It’s no bad thing to be emotive. This includes smiling, laughing, and where possible finding common ground with the interviewer.  Asking questions and being personally receptive to the other person,  and generally enhancing your connection with the interviewer is great. On the other side of the coin is proving that you are human too. If you have an amazing work achievement, don’t just list how awesome it was, tell them how great it made you feel, and make them share in that feeling if possible. Include the interviewer when telling anecdotes – for example, if mentioning a problem faced and overcome, briefly ask them if they’ve faced something similar before starting. If they say yes, then you both know how frustrating that is, and then explain how you talked it, and what a relief it was.

12) Know your trump cards

Most people, if you look through their career history, will have a couple of fantastic moments that make them look absolutely amazing. That time you single-handedly created a new product, fought down an impossible stakeholder, or saw the answer to a problem that nobody else could see. It is really important to have thought about these in advance, and maybe even written them out in advance; the things you are most proud of.

In the interview, think of it not as an exercise in answering the questions as accurately as possible, but as an exercise in cramming as much good stuff about yourself as possible into something that sounds a lot like an answer to whatever question they asked.

An interview is not about answering questions, it’s about showing off.

If you get through the interview without mentioning any of these trump card moments – you’ve fucked up.

Summary

In summary – preparation is KING. Be proactive before the interview and during it, and remember that you’re trying to convince the interviewer that you’d be someone great to work with, as much as someone who can do the job well. There is no real upper limit to the “stunts” you can pull to stand out and prove you want the job (from emailing the CEO directly and demanding a meeting).

Hell, a close friend of mine simply called the company he wanted to work for every single day, and asked for a meeting to talk about joining. They refused him over and over, until one day they gave him the meeting. He made it so clear that he wanted it that they reconsidered, and eventually gave him the job. He’s kept on proving he wanted the job ever since, arriving early and leaving late ever since, and as such has risen through the ranks like a goddamn rock star.

An afterthought on recruiters

Recruiters are useful, sure, but they are also sharks.

They can certainly be good, as they will have more access to jobs than you can find by yourself, and some of them are legitimately wonderful, finding companies you’d never have heard of, using their own networks, and suggesting jobs that you hadn’t considered, but are good fits.

But

Not all are so lovely. Know that a recruiter’s paycheck is based on the number of candidates placed, not the number of well-paid and happy candidates placed. Know also that the relationship between what the employer is offering to pay, and what they tell you it pays can be fuzzy as well: If the employer offers £100k for a job, but the recruiter can convince you that the offer is £70k, there is a good chance that they take home a chunk of that £30k, so be wary, and never be afraid to push back if they’re trying to drive you down on your expected salary. Unless it’s love at first sight with your dream job, chances are there’s another similar job around the corner, so don’t be bullied.

Recruiters are always happy to put pressure on you to attend interviews (make sure you take your own damn time) and even worse, pressure you to take job offers.
I’ve had an experience when a recruiter phoned me, told me I’d been offered the job, but had to respond by the end of the day if I wanted it, and asked me there and then to confirm so he could email me the contract.

It is totally unreasonable to make a career decision in just a few hours or a day.

Don’t be bullied. Especially if the recruitment process hasn’t been that long, and double especially if you’ve got other offers hanging around – tell them to fuck off and wait while you take your own sweet time to think.

I told one such recruiter, pressuring me to take a job, that he’d have my decision by the end of the week, or maybe even Monday, depending on how much free time I had to consider, and if the company couldn’t accommodate that then it was their loss. The recruiter had to admit that that would be fine. If the company isn’t willing to respect you enough to give you time to make a decision then it is a major red flag.

NB – The recruiter doesn’t want you to make the decision fast because it benefits you, or the company. They want you to make the decision fast, because it gets them paid faster, and reduces the chances of you finding something better.