The 3 Interview Tips and Preparation Hacks You Need to Land the Job
The Key to Answering Interview Questions With No Experience When Rejoining the Workforce
Job hunting is a bummer. Nobody is going to argue that.
Looking for growth opportunities in the workplace is challenging enough, but for women making a career change or re-entering the workforce after raising a family, applying for jobs can seem like a never-ending process with no path to success. You know you’re competing with others who are better connected, have more experience, and advocate for themselves. You feel like you are missing out on the interview tips and preparation techniques others have.
You’ve already spent weeks updating your resume and have sent dozens of cover letters, but your inbox remains so deserted that you saw tumbleweed roll across your computer screen.
It’s left you wondering if those jobs are even real, or if this is just a sick game HR likes to play with desperate people on LinkedIn.
Finally, it happens. You receive a notification email that your resume was forwarded to the hiring manager, and to schedule an interview. But before you can celebrate, you remember how stressful in-person interviews are. You wipe your sweaty hands over your stomach, which is already doing somersaults.
It’s time to polish up your skills, so you get the job and recognize the true value you bring to the company.
As a former hiring manager, I’ve interviewed over a thousand candidates during my time in corporate America. I met one of my best employees in her panel interview. She was a single mom staring at a career change. Her nervousness revealed how insecure she felt about her qualifications. In a room with several other hiring managers, we could tell that she was taking a risk applying.
No matter if it’s the first, final, or a panel interview, the anxiety about how to answer the next question is the same. I can assure you that every candidate worries about their mind going blank when someone is waiting for an answer. But how you handle the pressure makes a big difference.
How to Prepare for an Interview by Focusing on Your Mindset
There are a couple of things you can do before the interview to ensure you get off to the right start.
Research the company ahead of time. Reference their mission statement when explaining why you’re interested in the role. Mention part of their origin story or which of their values genuinely resonates with you. Be specific and try to relate it to your experience.
Reflect your confidence in your clothes. When in doubt, visit the workplace and notice how the employees dress. Mimic that style when choosing what to wear to your interview, and you’ll signal to them that you fit right in.
If you have a natural tendency to apologize, understand that it can work against you in an interview.
Women approach the job search and interview process much differently than men. When considering candidates who are less qualified for a role, men are more likely to apply than women with similar experience. Women underestimate their skill set more often than men do, even if they are equally qualified.[1] Get out of your own way and stop sabotaging yourself before you even begin.
Women also tend to apologize more than their male counterparts in their personal lives and in professional settings.[2] Do your best to avoid apologizing unnecessarily. No “Sorry, I’m nervous” or “I hope that made sense.” Take a breath and pause if you find yourself about to apologize for existing.
Now you can walk in prepared. Take a deep breath and show your humanness. Make small talk and try to connect with your interviewer – they are human too!
Practice Answering the Interview Questions Employers Ask
You study the latest trends (what even are STAR questions?) and mock interview with some friends, but you can’t shake the fear that they will ask you a question and you’ll freeze. There are a few specific things you can do and say to increase your chances of landing the job.
STAR questions have become the standard technique as hiring managers ask more behavioral questions during interviews.[3] This is a fancy way of saying they want to know how you will handle situations that you will probably encounter in this job.
STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. This specific type of question prompts the candidate to provide an example in their answer.
Instead of saying “I can multi-task because I have three kids,” you’d answer a STAR question by telling a story about a time when you navigated three different emergencies and kept everything running. If your resume shows that you can do the task, answering behavior-based questions with specific examples will communicate that you can do the task well.
Managers don’t care if you are pulling from lived examples or using logic to create a plan. We only care that you’re not going to knock on our door every 10 minutes when something doesn’t go exactly right. Employees who can find solutions when something unexpected happens are far more valuable than those who need constant direction to move forward (ahem – speaking from experience).
Let’s review some examples of STAR questions you can answer by pulling from life rather than work experience. Keep a few of these stories in your back pocket to pull out during the interview. Practice them enough that you can speak to them easily, but not so much that they come off as over-rehearsed.
Remind yourself that the reason they are asking the question is more important than the question itself:
Answer Interview Questions With No Relevant Experience
“Tell me about a time when you had a lot on your plate, and everything seemed to need to be done at once. How were you successful?”
They are really asking you about your time management and how you can multitask and juggle competing priorities. Show them that you were the Claire Dunphy in your Modern Family.
Situation: “I was making dinner when my oldest daughter said she needed help with a project due the next day. The baby was crying, and my cell phone started ringing.”
Task: “As a single mom, it’s all on me to handle every situation. But since I’m only one person, I quickly prioritized so I could handle one thing at a time.”
Action: “I looked at my phone and saw that it was my mom. I sent her to voicemail with a silent promise to text her after the kids were asleep. While the food was cooking, I picked up the baby and put her in her bouncer. Then I created a plan with my daughter about the best way to finish the project while I finished dinner and plated the food.”
Result: “After everyone ate, I put the baby to bed. Then I helped my daughter finish her project and texted my mom back.”
You can use the same formula to answer the following questions:
“Give me an example of a time when you had to quickly learn something completely new?” This question is trying to determine how resourceful you are. Remember how fast you had to learn your kid’s new remote-classroom technology during COVID-19? Dust that example off and make it shine.
“Tell me about a time you disagreed with a coworker. What was the disagreement, and how did it turn out?” Here, we are examining how well you include collaboration in your teamwork philosophy. Show that you can see the bigger goal and that you entertain a variety of ideas. Coparenting is a great example of this.
Use Your Experience to Answer These Common STAR Questions
When you recognize the value of your lived experiences, you realize you bring more to the table than what’s on your resume. If you don’t have applicable work experience, answer the interview questions employers ask with life examples:
As a stay-at-home mom, the past 10 years of your life have looked like ballet practices and out-of-state gymnastics tournaments. I bet you can describe a scenario when plans changed at the last minute, but you still got everyone where they needed to be. That shows resilience and organization. Did it all with a flat tire? Creativity.
For years, your Thursday nights were PTA meetings and coordinating school functions. You’ve unknowingly been working on your networking skills – influencing others and fund-raising.
If you’re taking a leap of faith and leaving a career for another field, help the hiring manager see you making a heart-led decision to pursue a career you’re passionate about. That shows bravery, the ability to pivot and adapt, and that you’re not intimidated by obstacles.
These stories reveal skills you can highlight during the interview. I recommend keeping a few top of mind if you need a quick example.
Don’t Pass On Your Chance to Ask Questions
The interview is a two-way street – they need you, but you also need to choose them. When your interviewer is done, she may invite you to ask any questions that you may have.
I cannot stress enough how much you should not pass on this opportunity to ask questions of your own. Asking questions highlights your ambition and intention to stay with the company.[4] Here are some good ones to get you started:
“What does success look like for someone in this position?”
“How will you measure my effectiveness?”
“What growth opportunities exist for someone highly successful in this role?
Take the opportunity to show that you’re looking for a future with the company – not just a job. The questions you ask at the end of the interview can reveal your intentions with the company. You are signaling to the hiring manager that you enjoyed the interview and that you would be happy to work with them.
A Successful Hire Is a Win-Win Situation
That single mom, who was insecure about her experience, took the opportunity to share that she had recently returned to school to get a degree. I couldn’t help but comment, “Wow, good for you, that’s not easy!” She laughed nervously and gave a sheepish “Thanks” and asked about growth opportunities having to do with her future degree.
By the end of the day, she had offers from several managers in the interview, but she chose me. The pay was the same as the others, but she said I was the only one who acknowledged her going back to school as a positive and made her feel supported.
When that single mom joined my team, I knew she wanted to be there. She chose the open position in my department because of our connection during the interview process. She became one of my best hires because that support went both ways from the very beginning.
Remember that you’re there to help everyone win – these interview tips and preparation strategies position you as the logical choice for the role. Frame your answers as a win-win between you and the company, and you’ll be accepting that job in no time.
Connect with me on LinkedIn and check out my posts for more STAR interview questions, and gain insights that give you the upper hand in landing your dream job.
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