[how to] prep for an interview & stand out as a result
You'd be surprised how few candidates prepare well, and how many bonus points it gets the ones that do.
A section of my unedited prep notes for my mercury interview in 2022 are below as an example. They don't have to be perfectly formatted (clearly), but they do need to work for how you think under pressure.
Establish a deep understanding of the company's priorities.
〰️ What has the leadership team been saying? What themes do you notice in focus, challenges, wins, etc.
〰️ What press has the company gotten recently? What can you learn about what's most important to their success?
〰️ Understand their business model - what drives results? What opportunities are there to accelerate growth?
〰️ What other roles is the company hiring for? This can point to where they're focusing resources.
Get very familiar with the role you're interviewing for. The better you understand the problem set the hiring manager is solving for, the better you'll be able to prepare.
〰️ Is this role a backfill or a net new role? Search LinkedIn for the company and job title to see what you can find out.
〰️ How is the current team structured and where does it seem like this role will fit into that structure?
〰️ What is the hiring manager and the team currently focused on? Check out their LinkedIns, Twitters, company blog etc. to see what you can learn about projects they're working on.
〰️ How might this role might ladder up into the company's primary focus areas?
Define why you're the perfect candidate for this role. Write these down and bold a header for each to make them easy to skim while you're interviewing.
〰️ When have you successfully accomplished the goals of this role before? How can you quantify that success? Which parts of that success did you directly own, vs. collaborate with or support others to achieve?
〰️ What differentiating personality traits do you possess that will make you exceptional at this role?
〰️ Why are you excited about spending so much of your valuable time working on this problem set?
〰️ How does this role align to your long term goals or vision for yourself?
〰️ What do you find most interesting or exciting about the company's current strategy and why?
Prepare thoughtful questions and follow up questions. There will be time for questions at the end of the interview, and this is your time to differentiate yourself by asking thought provoking questions that show you've done your research.
〰️ What recent feature release, announcement, or piece of press did you find most interesting about the company, and what questions do you have about it?
〰️ Instead of asking what will make a candidate successful in the role, ask which goal they're hoping this person will make the most progress against. Listen critically, ask a clarifying question.
〰️ Prepare follow up questions to your questions - it'll demonstrate critical thinking and curiosity.