How to Prepare for an Interview – Last Minute

Wondering how to prepare for an interview? Good news: It’s not terribly complicated. Say, your interview is in 24 hours. There are four things that you can do to help boost your confidence.

Even if you have less than a day before your job interview, you can outshine the competition with a little interview preparation. The following four tasks will take you about four hours (plus five minutes) to complete, making this the best approach when it comes to preparing for an interview.

1. Conduct basic interview research.

To prepare for an interview, find out as much as you can beforehand. Call the person who scheduled your interview and ask: Who will you be talking to? Will you meet the manager you’d work for, or will you just talk to HR? What are the interviewer’s expectations?

What’s the dress code? Dress better than suggested. Most times, it’s best to wear a professional suit. Many candidates show up looking like they’re going to class; that’s not presenting a professional demeanor.

Get directions to the office. Plan to leave early. Keep a phone number to call if you get stuck in traffic. If you arrive late and stressed, the interview will not go well. If you don’t have a detailed job description, ask for one. The call should take about five minutes.

2. Learn about the company online.

Do some fast research, which will give you something to talk about in addition to the job description. Go to the employer’s website for information such as: How big is the company in terms of annual sales or employees? What does the company say about its products or services? What recent news (such as a new product, a press release, an interview with the CEO) can you discuss?

If the company is public, the boilerplate at the bottom of its press releases will tell you a lot.

Basic research should take you about an hour.

3. Think of some stories.

Be ready to answer typical interview questions with a story about yourself. To prepare, write down and memorize three achievement stories. Talk about times you’ve really felt proud of an achievement at work or school.

These stories demonstrate all those soft skills like judgment, initiative, teamwork or leadership. Wherever possible, quantify what you’ve done – example: “increased sales by 20 percent,” “cut customer call waiting time in half,” “streamlined delivery so that most customers had their job done in two days.” Non-work achievement stories are good too.

Take your time – spend at least three hours on this task.

4. Pick your outfit, and go to bed early.

Lay out your interview outfit the night before, get a good night’s rest, and always get an early start. The last thing you want is to waste all of your interview preparation by arriving flustered and panicked because you couldn’t find a parking space.

The interview is a big part of the job-search process, and the more you prepare, the more relaxed you’ll feel – and the better it will go. Even if you’re used to waiting until the last minute in every other area of your life, the job search is one thing that you really should get a jump on.