Interview Preparation - A Case Study

To mark the launch of the CD I wanted to share with you a casestudy (an extract from my book Graduate to Success) focussing on the tangible preparation we can do when preparing for that dream role. If there was one lesson to learn from this case study it is that ‘successful people do the things that most people do not like to do.’

The casestudy below shows what it means to go the extra mile when you are preparing for an interview.

Sean’s story

Sean was a University graduate when I met him. His goal was to join one of the big Corporate Banks or Consultancy firms.

He had sent of applications to the graduate admission programmes of a number of firms and was waiting to hear back from them. He was firmly strolling along the first mile!
After spending some time with Sean he moved to the extra mile zone when he did the following;

• He took personal responsibility by not just waiting for others (graduate admission programmes) to revert to him. It was time to get proactive.
• 
  He viewed his outcome of getting the job he wanted as his current job, a job in itself that he would spend 7 hours a day working on.

• He immersed himself in everything he could get his hands on, that would aid him when he was called for an interview. He researched the firms he applied to on the web. He phoned some of them and requested more information from them.
• 
  He read books, magazines, articles, anything that related to the industry he wanted to work in or the firms he wanted to work for.
• 
  He set up ‘Google Alerts’ so every morning he got emails containing worldwide news articles and blog entries relating to the firms he was targeting and the industry in general.

And he didn’t stop there. He began to gain momentum.

• He wrote down on a piece of paper all the people he knew that could be of help to him. Family relations, friends, friend’s parents, friends of his parents. He was amazed at the network that he already had in place. His father knew two people who already worked with one of the firms Sean had applied to. Sean contacted them and obtained some useful information. The brother of another friend also worked in one of the firms he was interested in and he arranged to meet him for a coffee to discuss the firm. He got some valuable information that was not shared on the company’s website.

And he didn’t stop there either.

• Sean applied for a number of jobs that he wasn’t particularly interested in, but did so purely to practice his interview techniques and presentation skills. When he didn’t get the jobs he rang the interviewer for feedback as to how he could improve his performance during future interviews. In some cases he simply wasn’t experienced enough or qualified enough, but in others he got some useful feedback like his answers were a bit long-winded or the interviewer found it difficult to get salient points from him. Sean took this on board and honed his skills.

His dedication, commitment and willingness to go the second mile paid off. He wasn’t offered the first position he hoped to get, but he was subsequently offered two jobs and he had the luxury of choosing the one he wanted.

What is you response on reading the above? Does it sound like too much work? Is this the level of preparation you do for interviews? Remember, the price of success is paid for in full and in advance. Sean was willing to pay it in order to achieve his goal. Are you?

‘There are never any traffic jams on the extra mile.’

‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less travelled by,
And it made all the difference.’

From the Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

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