If the thought of a job interview makes your palms sweaty and your stomach turn, you’re certainly not alone! In fact, interview coaching is one of the most popular services I offer. Many of my clients admit to feeling nervous, afraid they’ll say the wrong thing, go blank, or talk too much.
The truth is, interviews are a crucial part of our career journeys. We all face them, often more than once, but very few people actually enjoy the process. The good news? With the right preparation, your confidence can grow, and your chances of success increase significantly.
Let’s walk through some key steps to help you get interview-ready, feel more in control, and ultimately present the best version of yourself. Here’s how to confidently prepare for your job interview:
Step 1: Understand What the Employer Wants
Preparation for a job interview starts with knowing exactly what the employer is looking for. Grab a copy of the job advertisement or description and highlight the top five requirements. These are usually listed under headings like “Essential Criteria,” “Key Responsibilities,” or “Your Experience.” An AI tool like ChatGPT can also help with this.
Pay special attention to keywords that come up more than once. These words give you clear clues about what’s most important in the role, whether it’s leadership, stakeholder engagement, project management, or technical expertise.
Step 2: Prepare Your Stories
Once you’ve identified the key skills and qualities the employer wants, the next step is to prepare real-life examples from your own career that demonstrate those skills in action. I recommend coming up with five solid stories drawn from the last five to seven years of your experience.
Why stories? Because most interviews today include behavioural questions. These are designed to assess how you’ve acted in specific situations in the past.
A question might sound like: “Tell me about a time you managed a large, complex project. What was the situation, what did you do, and what was the outcome?”
Trying to answer a question like that on the spot without prior preparation can feel overwhelming. But if you’ve already prepared stories tailored to the key requirements, you’ll be ready with confident, structured responses.
Step 3: Use the CARL Framework
To help structure your stories (answers) clearly and concisely, I recommend the CARL framework. It stands for:
– Challenge or Context – What was the situation?
– Action – What did you do?
– Result – What was the outcome?
– Learning (optional) – What did you take away from the experience?
Here’s an example of how to apply it:
Question: “Tell me about a time you led a major project. What was this and what was the outcome?”
Challenge:
“In my current role at ABC Company, I was asked to lead a project to merge five business units into one centralised Sydney based team. This involved coordinating across several states and ensuring the Sydney team was fully operational by January 2023.”
Action:
“To do this I established daily and weekly meetings with ten stakeholders and invited them to share their top concerns. I proactively reached out to a manager in South Australia who was hesitant about the change, listened to his concerns, and kept him involved throughout the process. I ensured everyone was kept in the loop through transparent communication. I did this through quick daily WhatsApp updates to everyone and then weekly summary emails. I encouraged everyone to reply with any questions or concerns. These were then actioned within 48 hours.”
Result:
“The result of this approach was that we met our deadline, and all five divisions were successfully merged and functioning as one cohesive team in Sydney by January. Stakeholder engagement was high, and there were minimal issues post-implementation.”
Learning (optional):
“Reflecting back on this, I learned how critical it is to get buy-in early, especially from those who are resistant. Addressing concerns upfront can prevent bigger challenges later.”
Avoid These Common Mistakes
Even well-prepared candidates can fall into a few traps. Here are the ones I see most often, and how to fix them:
- Saying “we” instead of “I”: Interviewers want to know your contribution. Overusing “we” makes it hard for them to assess your individual impact.
- Being too vague or general: Statements like “I worked on lots of projects” don’t tell the interviewer anything meaningful. Be specific and focused.
- Rambling or losing structure: Keep responses around two minutes duration, stay focused, and always highlight the result and your learning.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Good preparation is important, but practice is what builds real confidence. Say your answers out loud. Record yourself. Time your responses. Watch your body language.
Are you fidgeting, avoiding eye contact, or fiddling with your hair without realising it?
I once coached a client who constantly reached up as if to tie her hair into a ponytail, but she never actually did. It was distracting, and she didn’t even realise she was doing it until we reviewed her session together.
Self-awareness and practice will help you come across as polished, authentic, and confident.
Top Tip: Don’t Know Which Stories to Use?
For most job interviews you can never go wrong preparing stories around these common themes:
– A difficult customer or stakeholder
– A leadership or team challenge
– A communication breakdown or success
– Solving a tough problem
– Managing tight deadlines or pressure
– Leading or supporting a transformation
– Improving a process or reducing costs
Final Thoughts
Job interview preparation doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With a little structure, some self-reflection, and plenty of practice, you’ll walk into your interview ready to impress.
If you’re still nervous about your upcoming job interview, then an interview coaching session can make all the difference. Often, it’s just a few small tweaks, whether in how you tell your story, structure your answers, or present yourself, that lead to major improvements.
As one of my clients, Garry, said:
“Angela helped me get really well prepared for interview. She gave me material to structure my thoughts and experiences, and through one-on-one coaching, refined my answers and interview technique, giving me confidence for an upcoming ‘dream job’ interview. Angela was kind, clear and intelligent throughout the process. I got the job!”
Ready to feel more confident about your next interview? Let’s talk, I’d love to help you get that job offer.
Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you: