Interviews
Interview preparation: stories, structure and questions
Interview performance is mostly preparation you did in advance. Six well-built stories cover the majority of behavioural questions you will ever be asked.
Build six stories, not thirty answers
Write each in STAR form — Situation, Task, Action, Result — and keep each to about 90 seconds spoken. Cover: a delivered achievement, a failure, a conflict, a leadership moment, an ambiguous problem, and a time you changed your mind.
The result sentence is the part people skip. Always end with what changed, ideally with a number and what you took from it.
The standard questions
| Question | What they are testing | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Tell me about yourself | Framing and relevance | 90 seconds: current role, two proof points, why this role next |
| Why this company? | Genuine intent | One specific thing about the product, market or team |
| Greatest weakness | Self-awareness | A real one, plus the concrete mechanism you use to manage it |
| Why are you leaving? | Risk | Forward-looking and neutral; never criticise a former employer |
| Where in 5 years? | Retention | Direction and depth, not a job title ladder |
Salary conversations
- Research a range for the role, level and city before the first call.
- If asked early, give a researched range and say it is flexible depending on total package.
- Never anchor on your current salary; anchor on the market rate for the role.
- Negotiate after the offer, once, with a specific number and a reason.
Questions worth asking
- What does success in this role look like after six months?
- What is the biggest obstacle the person in this role will hit?
- How are decisions made when the team disagrees?
- Why is the role open?
- What is the next step and the timeline?
After the interview
Send a short thank-you within 24 hours that references one specific point from the conversation and adds anything you wish you had said. It is rare enough to be remembered.
Apply it to your own CV
Build a tailored CV for free, or upload your current one for an instant score.
Keep reading
- How to write a CV that gets interviews
A practical, step-by-step guide to writing a CV: structure, section order, what to include, what to cut, and how recruiters actually read your résumé.
- ATS-friendly résumés: what actually matters
How applicant tracking systems parse your résumé, which formatting choices break them, and the keyword approach that gets your CV in front of a human.
- Writing a professional summary and strong bullet points
Formulas and before/after examples for the two highest-impact parts of a résumé: the professional summary at the top and the achievement bullets underneath.