When I help clients (from the C-suite on down) to prepare for an interview, we dive into their pitch, persuasive stories, challenging questions, and more, often via a mock interview. Sometimes, though, there isn’t enough time before an interview to schedule this prep, so I send them a customized version of the following interview preparation checklist:
Find out who you’ll be interviewing with, if you don’t already know. Then develop a hypothesis about how you can help each person you’ll be meeting.
Prepare interview questions to confirm or disprove this hypothesis. That is, ask questions that can give you more clarity on how you can help them; gain the information you need to “sell” them on your candidacy. The best questions lead to answers that give you an opening to say “that’s something I can help you with.”
Share why you want to work there. Come up with a reason that’s stronger/more specific than “I would excel in this role.” Try to incorporate the organization, culture, leadership, business model, or mission. Ideally, your answer will make them feel good about both your motivation and their organization. Find a way to share why you want to work there in the interview, even if you’re not directly asked about this.
Think about issues they might have with your candidacy. Then have a strategy for dealing with them (either proactively to pre-empt a concern or reactively if they ask you about a sensitive area). If you get a question that doesn’t enable you to talk about how you can help them, keep your answer as short and positive as possible. Then, try to steer the conversation back to your “how you can help them” and/or “why you want to work there” agenda.
Have a well-rehearsed, engaging, differentiating two-minute interview pitch. Use it to answer open-ended questions like “tell me about yourself/experience/background” or even “take me through your resume.”
Prepare three great Success Stories and share them in a Problem Action Result (or similar storytelling) format. Bring them in to illustrate your answer to most questions. Sharing a resonant, relevant story is the single best thing you can do in an interview. We humans are wired to remember the imagery in stories, so you’ll be more memorable. Plus, for most interviewers, the best predictor of success is a resonant example of prior success.
Prepare answers for questions like “a time you failed,” “your greatest weakness,” “a criticism you received” and “an area of development.” These questions are all similar; they assess your ability to be self-reflective, to learn and grow from experiences. Ideally, pick something that you learned about yourself a long time ago, so you can say you have now fully mastered the issue. One story can often answer all of these questions.
Avoid negotiating compensation until after you get the offer. That’s when you have all the leverage, and things that weren’t negotiable before suddenly are. Also, it’s hard to discuss compensation properly before you fully understand the role and therefore the market rate. Prepare to deflect or postpone answering if asked about compensation.
Set yourself up to write a great post-interview “impact email” that will influence their decision-making; go way beyond a thank-you note. Leverage the notes you took on the conversation and what they asked about to write this email. In the process, address potential issues with your candidacy.
An Interview Prep Checklist to Stand Out from Competitors
April 28, 2025 by Robert Hellmann • Interviewing
When I help clients (from the C-suite on down) to prepare for an interview, we dive into their pitch, persuasive stories, challenging questions, and more, often via a mock interview. Sometimes, though, there isn’t enough time before an interview to schedule this prep, so I send them a customized version of the following interview preparation checklist: