Interviews… when you first receive a call or email to inform you have one, it is one of the best feelings in the world as a student or job seeker. However, you quickly come back to reality and realise you actually need to prepare for it.

Preparing for interviews is one of the top two topics that come up when talking to students, graduates and job seekers. The main issue I hear about from clients or individuals when it comes to preparing for interviews is where to start and what to research and prepare for. This is perfectly understandable as at times, interview prep can seem daunting with the amount of research and range of possible questions that could be asked.

This was something that I faced during my time at university and to deal with this I created a framework for preparing for my interviews to help streamline my interview preparation process. Using this interview prep framework helped me land internships from 1st year to final year at university at BlackRock, KPMG and Willis Towers Watson, while also my first grad job at Wellington Management. So I’m quietly confident it works.

The framework focuses on the 4 key areas of Interview Prep:

100% of interviews will touch on at least 2 of the 4 and I’m confident 80% of interviews will involve all 4 areas. By preparing around these 4 areas, you’ll not only be prepared for any type of questions but will also be able to provide insights and research that your competition will not have.

While I won’t go into detail in each area (I’ll do a deep-dive newsletter on each area over the coming weeks), I’ll give you an overview of the key things to be doing for each area of interview prep.

This is the main part of the framework and where you will spend most of your time. Your research should focus:

•Strategy - what is the 3-5 year plan? What products/markets are they focusing on?•Financial Performance - What is the main trend in their performance? How is their performance compared to the market? Which areas of the company is driving growth?•Size of company - Boutique or Multinational? Talk about the benefits of either on your career development e.g. boutique gives you more responsibility earlier on•Culture and Values - what are their key underlying values and how do they align with you•M&A activity - have they bought a new company/Capability recently? How does the M&A benefit the company?

2. Competency questions

There can be a gazillion questions that interviewers can ask which is really what most people struggle with when it comes to preparing for competency questions. To know what they will most likely ask, look at the key skills/competencies they ask for on their job description page and then focus on preparing answers to competency questions around those competencies. Remember STAR method is your best friend here!

3. CV Storytelling

‘Tell me about yourself’. Gosh, I used to hate this question with a passion. I didn’t know where to start but over time I have refined my template. The key is to use past, present and future. Start in the past with what you studied and work your way to the present before stating your future plans (make sure those future plans align with the role you’re applying for!)

4. Questions to ask at the end

Never go into interviews without having questions to ask. This part is usually at the end of interviews and allows you to polish off your interview and secure that offer.

The key is to ask questions not only about the role but also about the interviewer. Remember they are the ones assessing you so it’s important to engage them personally and try and get to know them. If you are given the interviewer’s name beforehand - I recommend doing some LinkedIn research on their career path to prepare some questions.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll do a deep dive into the first part of the interview prep - company research.