Interviews

Prepare to ask questions to help you determine if the position is what you want.

Common Interview Types

• Career Fairs- Consider these a screening interview. Be brief and to the point, ask good questions and have your 30- second elevator speech ready. 
• Phone/Skype- Usually an initial interview used to screen applicants for the next, more in-depth round. Reserve an interview room in the Hubbard Center for a private space.
• Panel- Where there are multiple people asking you questions.
• Group- Where multiple candidates answer questions together.
• Behavior-based- Questions posed will ask you to discuss your previous experience to indicate your habits, personality and how you would fit in the organization.
• Case study- Assess your problem-solving skills and lets you demonstrate your ability to solve complex problems.

Visit the Hubbard Center for help understanding how to prepare and practice with some mock interviews.

Prepare for interview success

For each type of interview, you will need to do extensive research on the company to do well and impress the committee. Utilize a variety of resources:

• Organization's website- Study the Homepage, About Us and Contact Us sections. Know the company mission, locations and officers. Know the products and services it provides. Read press releases. Review annual and quarterly reports.
• LinkedIn- Look at employees--what career paths have they followed? Read the organization news. Follow the company.
• Search engines- Search the organization's name and products--research several pages of results. Look for good and bad news and the reasons for it. Who are the major customers and competitors? Create a Google alert.
• Additional web resources- Search for leaders' presentations and watch them. What connections do you have to them? Hometown, college, etc. Visit Glassdoor and Yahoo Finance for additional information.

Prepare to Tell Your Story

Your interview is the opportunity for you to discuss your education and experience to detail why the organization should hire you.

Using the STAR format will help you answer questions thoroughly, build rapport with your interviewer and demonstrate past results to show your fit for the organization. You should prepare your STAR responses before an interview. Reflect on and prepare to discuss examples that best highlight your experiences and skills that you would be using in the position you seek.

Situation: The context, such as were you were.

Task: What you needed to complete or achieve; the problem that needed to be solved. 

Action: What you did to accomplish the task; focus on your actions, not the group;s actions.

Result: What happened? Did you meet, fall short, exceed expectations? What did you learn?

Common Interview Questions

• Tell me about yourself. This is your opportunity to explain your background; be sure to focus on elements and experiences that are relevant to the position.
• Why do you want to work here? Research is key for answering this questions. You should discuss the field of work, including the company's products, services or business. Demonstrate your knowledge of the industry.
• What relevant experience do you have? Your can demonstrate your understanding of the day-to-day work in the field. Detail any transferable experiences you have that can give some insight into the result you have in the position.
• What is your greatest strength? Explain your awareness of what makes you unique. Provide details about how you can use your strengths to benefit the position you are seeking.
• What is your greatest weakness? Answer with a trait you have been improving, with examples of how you have learned from experience. Questions such as this provide the employer perspective on how you handle difficult questions and moments.
• Do you have any questions for me? This is an important time to have lingering questions answered. By having legitimate, well considered questions to ask, you will demonstrate that you have put serious thought into what this position would mean for you. You can also demonstrate your research by asking detailed questions about the business.

TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT, CALL 765-658-4622, OR EMAIL HUBBARD@DEPAUW.EDU