Preparing for a job interview: the method

A job interview checks three things: can you do the work, do you really want it, and will you fit into the team. All of it can be prepared: what you know about the company, the examples you tell, the questions you ask, even the video-call connection. Here is the method, in order, from research to follow-up.

Researching the company

• Reread the job ad line by line and underline the tasks, the required skills and the words that keep coming back: they are the interview's topics. The guide to reading a job ad helps you decode the salary part.
• Read the company's website: its products, customers, recent news, locations. For a large company, add press coverage and its annual report.
• Look up who is interviewing you on a professional network: their role, their background. You will know whether you are talking to a recruiter, your future manager or both.

Finish with one sentence you can say without notes: “What draws me to you is [a precise fact], because [link with your background].”

Preparing your stories

For each important requirement in the job ad, prepare a real example, told using the STAR method: the Situation, the Task you were responsible for, the Action you took, the Result you achieved. An example proves what a claimed quality only asserts. Use your real figures; if you have none, describe the result with facts.

Example: “At my last employer, customer returns piled up during the sales (situation). I was put in charge of handling them (task). I created template replies and a triage by urgency with the team (action). Response times fell by [X] days and complaints went down the following season (result).”

The classic questions, and how to answer them

• “Tell me about yourself.” Present, past, future, in a few sentences: what you do today, the steps that led you there, why this job is the logical next step. It is not your life story.
• “Why us?” Your sentence about the company, prepared earlier, plus what you bring to that particular project.
• “What are your weaknesses?” A real weakness that doesn't rule you out for the job, and what you do about it: “I tend to want to check everything myself; I am learning to delegate by setting checkpoints.” Avoid “perfectionist”.
• “Why are you leaving your job?” Forward-looking, without criticising your employer: what you are looking for and no longer have where you are.
• “What about this gap in your career?” Three neutral sentences, prepared in advance: the guide to a gap in your CV sets them out.

Rehearse these answers out loud without learning them by heart: the goal is to know where you are heading, not to recite.

The questions you can't lawfully be asked

French employment law limits what an employer may ask: the information must serve to assess your ability to do the job and have a direct and necessary link with it. You must answer those questions in good faith. The others are not allowed: service-public.fr lists your health, your family situation, union membership, your sex life, your housing and your leisure activities. A candidate does not have to reveal a pregnancy, and turning someone down on discriminatory grounds (origin, age, religion, opinions, disability, pregnancy…) is prohibited. Faced with such a question, calmly steer back to the job, without justifying yourself.

The questions to ask

“Do you have any questions?” almost always comes at the end. Having none suggests you don't much care about the job. Prepare a few, about the job above all:

• “What would my priorities be in the first few months?”
• “A year from now, how will you know this hire has worked out?”
• “How is the team organised, and who would I work with most?”
• “What are the next steps in the process, and on what timescale?”

Keep holidays and remote working for later, unless one of them decides whether you apply.

The salary question

It can come up at any point, often in the very first conversation. Arrive with a gross annual range, based on what the market pays for this role: the salary expectations generator works out three targets from real job offers in your field and writes an answer for each. How to phrase it, aloud and by email, and what to say if you are asked your current salary, is covered in the guide to answering on salary expectations. The negotiation itself comes later, once the company wants to hire you: see negotiating your starting salary.

Dress, phone and video calls

• Dress: what the team you are joining wears, one notch smarter. If in doubt, look at the company's photos on its website.
• On a video call: test the link, microphone and camera the day before; camera at eye level, light in front of you, a plain background, notifications off. Look at the camera when you speak, not at your own image.
• On the phone: somewhere quiet, your notes and the ad in front of you, and speak standing up if it helps you keep your energy up.
• In person: arrive early, with a few copies of your CV and something to write with.

After the interview

Write down straight away what was said: names, points to follow up, next steps. The same day, send a short thank-you email:

“Dear Ms [surname], thank you for our conversation this morning. The priority you mentioned on [topic] particularly motivates me, and I remain available should you need any further information. Kind regards, [First name Surname]”

If the stated timeframe passes with no news, follow up once, politely: “I am getting back in touch about the [title] role; my application still stands.” If you are turned down, ask for feedback: it helps with the next interview.

Practising with Nego

On Nego: prepare your interview, you paste the job ad and attach your CV: Nego spots what the recruiter will dig into, lists the likely questions with an answer built from your own facts, then runs a mock interview, one question at a time, typed or spoken, commenting on each answer. It also puts figures on your salary-expectations answer with the site's calculation, prepares your questions for the recruiter and the follow-up. No figure is shown unless it comes from your CV, your messages, one of the site's calculations or a cited source, and when it looks the company up on the web, it gives its sources.