Top 15 tips for your interview preparation in 2024: While being a fresher, preparing for interviews stands as the cornerstone of securing career opportunities. Getting top 100 interview questions on random LinkedIn influencer’s post is not going to work. As interview preparation is not only preparing the top n number questions asked in any interview. Lots of different qualities of candidate are examined during any interview. So, getting prepared for interview in a perfect manner is very important as it reflects a candidate’s commitment, dedication, and readiness to contribute effectively within the industry. Here is a list of 30 tips that will help you prepare for interview.

Pre Interview Preparation:

Know the Company

Before appearing in the interview research about the company on google. You may think that it is not required but sometimes, if you know about the company for which you are appearing for interview shows your interest for that company. So, it can be a positive reflection of you in front of the interviewer. Also try to research about recent changes in the company and latest news about any project that the company is working. The best practice is just surf the internet and check the company official page and try to understand on which field is the company working. Be ready with your answer whenever the interviewer asks you – “What do you know about ABC Company?” Prepare for questions like below –

Company Background and History:

1. Can you tell us what you know about our company’s history and how it has evolved over the years?
2. What do you think sets our company apart from our competitors?

Recent News or Milestones:

1. Were there any recent developments or news about our company that caught your attention? How do you think it might impact our industry?
2. Our company recently launched a new product/service/initiative. What are your thoughts on it?

Company Culture and Values:

1. How do you think your personal values align with our company’s core values?
2. What aspects of our company’s culture appeal to you the most, and how do you envision fitting into it?

Industry and Market Positioning:

1. From your perspective, what are the challenges and opportunities our industry faces, and how does our company navigate through them?
2. What do you think are the key factors contributing to our company’s success in this market?

Future Plans and Vision:

1. Where do you see our company heading in the next five years, and how do you think you can contribute to that vision?
2. What aspects of our company’s future initiatives or goals are particularly intriguing to you?

Personal Research and Insights:

1. What compelled you to apply for a position at our company specifically?
2. Based on your research, how do you think your skills and experiences align with our company’s needs?

Understand the Job Description

Most of the freshers do one common mistake while preparing for an interview which is they prepare everything possible forgetting about the requirement of the company. Let’s try to understand it with an example – Let’s say the company has published a job notification for a role of a Data Analyst Role. In this case, you should better prepare in SQL, Python, ETL Tools & Reporting tools. But, if you prepare in HTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT that are required for the role of a Web Developer. So, this is not going to help you get the job. You should be prepared according to the job description and its requirements. Knowing everything is good, but we should have the ability to prepare on those things which are a must for the mentioned role. I am not saying that knowing everything is bad. You just need to have the ability to represent things in appropriate locations. Hence, it is very important to understand the job description & requirements and prepare accordingly.

Learn about the Interviewer

If you are an experienced professional and you have referred to by a friend or a colleague for the mentioned interview. And if the interviewer’s identity is known to you by somehow. Try to know that person, his personality, what type of questions he may ask. You may try to know him through LinkedIn or other professional platforms.

Find out the – Kind of Interview & Prepare Accordingly

Interview can be of different type, some companies test your technical knowledge directly through technical tests and conduct only one or two HR interviews. Some prefer technical & hr both rounds as interview rounds. Again, in some Core Engineering recruitments, we have seen GD (Group Discussion) rounds. So, there are basically different rounds of interview, below is a consolidated list –

1. Technical Round
2. Group Discussion/GD
3. Managerial Round
4. HR Round

In technical rounds, most of the questions are asked from your technical knowledge & background. This round can be an elimination round.

In group discussion, a random topic is provided and asked to lecture/debate on that topic. So, basically in GD round, they test your public speaking and logical thinking abilities.

            In Managerial round, it is about how you can handle any situation. They provide you some critical situations and ask you to make decisions on those.

            In HR round, some HR related questions are asked to the candidates, that you can find easily on the web.

Try Mock Interviews

If you have sufficient time in your hand, prepare with some mock interviews with your friends or any interviewing agency. Appearing more in mock interviews will help increase your self-confidence as well as help you finding your mistakes and opportunity to improve. Below is a list of websites that can be helpful by providing you mock interviews –

Brush up your Skills

Revise your technical skills so that you feel confident in the interview while answering.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep

It is very crucial to have a good sleep in the night before the interview. It will help you stay calm in the interview. Get a good sleep and wake up in the morning with a fresh mind and become ready for the interview.

Preparation during the Interview

Keep necessary things Handy

In the fear of interview, we forget important things to carry with us. So, keep calm and prepare with all required documents with you before appearing for the interview. For example, in any online interview of a company – an identity proof is must along with the resume. Keep this necessary things with you so that you can provide these whenever is asked. It will feel you comfortable, otherwise if we forget things during the interview, it can back fire on us and the whole interview may become a mess. Keep an eye on these things.

Get well dressed & Keep Surroundings Clear

If you are attending an online interview, make sure that you are in a clean room with proper lighting. The background should be clear and vibrant. Remove unnecessary things from the background, that may attract the interviewer’s attention. Get well dressed, with Formal Shirt & Pant. And also try to wear a tie matching with your shirt so that you look more professional.

Stay Confident During the Interview

Before starting the interview, it is your first impression that can be game changer for you. For that you should be prepared both physically & mentally. Remove all other thinking & keep calm in this situation. As freshers, sometimes we can become nervous while appearing for the interview. To overcome this nervousness, practice in front of the mirror or along with your friends and certainly it will be very beneficial for you.

Be Ready to Answer –  About Yourself

This is one of the most important point while answering about yourself. As soon as the interview starts, in most interviews the interviewer starts asking – “Tell me something about yourself”. If you are confident enough to answer this question properly, you can grab attention of the interviewer the way you want. So, be ready with a suitable answer for this question. Be informed to keep this answer short and precise and the time should be within 2-3 mins. Make sure that you are not spending more than 5 minutes to answer this question. As sometimes it can feel boring to the interviewer.

Answer – Why you’re Interested in this Position and the Company

The very next questions, after “tell me about yourself” is “why you are interested in this company?” and “Why are you interested in this role?”. For answering why you are interested in the company, you can provide an answer with some studies that you did about the company before appearing in the interview, which I have described in detail in this post. And for answering about the role, if you are an experienced person of working on this role, then you can answer accordingly. But if you are a fresher, then you can show your genuine interest by providing some latest development, project that you have done individually & also provide some facts about growth of people on this role.

Do Salary Research

If you are a fresher, then it is more likely you not be asked about salary. But if you are an experienced professional then you should have understanding of the market value of your skills and the role you are applying for. For understanding currenct market value of your role/position you can find those in the below websites –

Write down your Questions

Once the interview is over, the interviewer is most likely to ask you – “Do you have any question for me?”. Don’t just say that – “I do not have any questions”. Ask some intellectual questions in terms of the interview role whatever you think you should ask. It can have a positive impact on the interview. So, be prepared with your questions as well.

Conclusion

At last, if everything is completed well, you can grab a great opportunity of your choice in a great organization. So, keep preparing honestly for your interview. More of all, do not loose hope, it is hope that keeps our desires alive! So keep trying, I believe you will be successful if not today, but definitely one day. Till then, do not stop trying…