Interview Tips

An interview is forty minutes in which a stranger tries to predict how you will perform in a job neither of you has watched you do. Everything below works on that one fact.

Prediction can be influenced. The people who clear interviews consistently are rarely the most qualified in the waiting room - they are the ones who made the evidence easy to find. Three phases decide it: what you do beforehand, how you handle the conversation, and the follow-up that almost nobody bothers with.

Last updated August 2026

Before The Interview

Research until you can name something specific

Generic praise is worse than silence. Before you walk in you should be able to say what the company sells, who buys it, who it loses deals to, and one thing that changed this year - a launch, a funding round, a new market, a leadership change.

Twenty minutes on the About page, the careers page and recent press covers it. One accurate sentence about the business does more for you than ten minutes of enthusiasm.

Turn the job description into a question bank

Every requirement in one column, your strongest matching example in the next. Any row you cannot fill is a question you will be asked, so prepare an honest answer for it now. In practice this exercise predicts a good two-thirds of what actually comes up.

Know your resume better than they do

It will be open on the table. Every project, tool, metric and date is fair game.

Go line by line, write the obvious follow-up beside each one, and answer it aloud. Anything you would struggle to discuss for two minutes needs to be learned properly or removed. Our resume writing tips cover how to phrase claims that hold up under a follow-up.

Rehearse out loud, not in your head

Answers that feel crisp in your head come out twice as long and half as organised when you say them. Record one. You are listening for three things: how often you say "basically", whether you actually reach a conclusion, and how long you took. Over two minutes needs cutting.

Handle the logistics the night before

Time, format, location or link. Two printed resumes, ID, certificates. Clothes out, devices charged. All trivial on a calm evening, all a disaster at 8am.

During The Interview

Use STAR, and land the result

Situation, Task, Action, Result. One line of situation, one line of what you owned, most of your time on what you personally did, then a clear finish on what changed.

Most candidates nail the first three and then trail off. The interviewer is left with nothing to write in the box. If you have a number, use it. If you do not, say it plainly: it shipped, it stopped breaking, the client renewed.

Hear the whole question

Answering the question you expected is the most common unforced error in interviews. Let them finish. Take a beat. If it is broad, ask whether they want the technical detail or the business outcome - that question by itself signals judgement.

Say "I don't know" well

Everyone hits one. Bluffing dies at the first follow-up, freezing ends the conversation.

What scores: name the gap, then reason aloud. "I have not used that directly. My assumption would be X, and I would confirm it by checking Y first." You have just demonstrated the exact thing they are trying to measure.

Mind what your body is saying

Sit up. Hands still and visible. Eye contact on your main point. Smile when you greet people. On video, look at the lens instead of your own thumbnail, and frame yourself from the chest up. None of this wins an interview - all of it quietly undercuts good answers when it goes wrong.

Give salary a band and a reason

Let them go first where you can. When asked directly, quote a band based on the role, the location and your experience, and add that you are considering the whole package.

Check Glassdoor, AmbitionBox or LinkedIn Salary beforehand so the number has something behind it. Two answers to avoid: a figure you have not verified, and "whatever you think is fair", which tells them you have not valued your own work.

Ask questions about doing the job

Three ready, adapted to what came up. Good: what does a strong first six months look like, how is the team structured, what is the biggest thing slowing you down right now. Weak: anything on the website, and anything about leave before an offer exists.

Never run down a previous employer

Your reasons may be excellent. It lands as a preview of how you will one day describe them. Talk about what you are moving towards - more ownership, a different domain, closer contact with customers. Truthful, and it reads as maturity.

Virtual And Telephonic Rounds

Remote rounds are the default first filter now, and they fail for reasons unrelated to your ability.

Test the exact platform they sent, on the device you will use, a day early. Teams, Zoom and Meet handle permissions differently.
Light your face from the front. Never sit with a bright window behind you.
Camera at eye level, and check what is visible over your shoulder.
Wired earphones with a mic. Laptop speakers echo and clip your first word.
Silence everything, including the phone lying next to you.
Swap phone numbers in advance so a dropped call is a pause, not an ending.
Telephonic round? Stand up. Your breathing changes and the energy carries down the line.

After The Interview

Send a thank-you note within 24 hours. Four lines is plenty:

Subject: Thank you - [Role] interview, [Date]

Dear [Name],
Thank you for your time today. The discussion about [specific thing they raised] was particularly useful.
It confirmed my interest in the role, especially [one requirement you match].
I have attached [whatever they asked for] - happy to share anything else.
Regards, [You]

Debrief yourself the same day. Every question you were asked, written down, with the three weakest answers marked. Do this for four interviews and you have a question bank tuned to your own profile, which beats any generic list on the internet. Each round then gets easier because you have met the questions before.

Ask for feedback if you are rejected. Reply once, thank them, ask what would have made you stronger. Plenty will not respond. The ones who do have just handed you your next interview.

Keep the pipeline moving. Never pause applications waiting on one result. Our job hunting guide covers running several conversations at once, and if this is your first interview, start with our fresher interview preparation guide.

Mistakes Worth Eliminating

Arriving with no company knowledge. The cheapest preparation available, and the most visible when skipped.
Rambling. Ninety seconds with a clear result beats four minutes with three tangents.
Listing duties instead of results. "I was responsible for reporting" says nothing. "I automated the weekly report and got two hours back" says everything.
Overstating a skill. One follow-up exposes it, and the doubt then spreads to the things you were genuinely good at.
No questions at the end. Read as disinterest.
One resume for every application. Tailor it and the interview becomes a conversation about things you prepared for.

Interview Tips FAQs

What is the best way to prepare for a job interview?

Work backwards from the job description. List every requirement, put one example from your own work beside it that proves it, and say that example out loud until it lands in under two minutes. Add twenty minutes of company research and three questions of your own and you have covered most of what any panel will ask.

How do I answer interview questions using the STAR method?

Situation in one line, the Task you owned, the Action you personally took, and the Result. Spend most of your time on the action, because that is the part being scored. Finish on a number or a clear outcome - most candidates get the first three beats right and then trail off without landing the fourth.

What should I do if I do not know the answer in an interview?

Say so, then reason out loud. Explain how you would find out, what you would check first, and what a sensible starting assumption looks like. Interviewers are watching how you handle an unfamiliar problem, and a structured attempt scores well above a confident guess.

How should I discuss salary during an interview?

Let them raise it first where you can. When asked, give a researched band rather than one number, based on the role, your location and your experience, and say you are open on the overall package. Check Glassdoor, AmbitionBox or LinkedIn Salary before the interview so the band you quote has something behind it.

Should I follow up after an interview, and when?

Send a short thank-you email within 24 hours that references something specific from the conversation. If the date they gave you passes with no update, one polite follow-up is appropriate. Messages sent before that date work against you.

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