Preparing for your interview

Published in

Agilent Careers

3 min readMay 9, 2017

We spend hours and hours applying for jobs in hopes of landing an interview — so why is interviewing so nerve wracking for some? This is what we wanted?! The interviewing process can be a large hurdle for some, but with thought and preparation, you can breeze through it.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail

These tips don’t take much time, but they will help set you apart:

Prepare to prepare

Go to the job description and look another look at the skills and experience requirements. Take those two bits of information and make a list of how you match up. Think of examples for each skill and experience. Include metrics whenever possible. The examples say, “I’ve know it and I’ve done it” and the metrics prove, “I’ve done it, and done it well.”

If you’re driving to the interview — do you know the area? It’s important to understand the commute to the interview and know how much time you need to give yourself in order to arrive on time (aka EARLY.)

Know the basics

A company’s website is a great place to start when you want to learn more. You should even go past that and take a look at their Glassdoor, LinkedIn, social media, etc, to get a better feel for the company. Understand what the company does, who their competitors are, how they’re performing, etc. What is the company culture like and would you fit into it?

Prepare your answers

Think about questions you might be asked. There will probably be technical questions if the job requires any technical skills, but there are also popular job questions that aren’t so technical.

Here are some common themes an interviewer will touch on:

Successes :When have you been successful and HOW did you get to that level of success?

Failures: When have you made a mistake, why did you make it, and most importantly HOW did you recover?

Mentoring: Have you had a mentor or have you ever been a mentor? What did this relationship provide to you and the other individual?

Teamwork: How have you been a good team member? What have you done to ensure the success of a team or help recover from a loss?

Always have these answers relate back to the skills and experiences we mentioned earlier in the job description.

What to bring

You may not even need these, but just in case the interviewer does ask, it’s good to be prepared. Here are some things to bring:

Extra copies of your resume
Portfolio with samples of your work (if relevant)
Notepad and pen
List of references
ID card (many companies require this to allow you on site)

Job interviews are something to get excited about! It’s the time where you show the hiring manager and their team that you have the skills, ability, and experience for the job. Preparing accordingly allows you to put your best foot forward — so get out there and get hired!