Intentional Interview Preparation Strategy And Daily Method

This is the second edition to my job search post. The first one covered how to redefine yourself when your job title is gone and the second post will cover how to treat job searching like a sport (or like you are in sales).

Intentional Interview Preparation

Me just before the tour of the Amazon facility just north of Hartford, CT. Took the opportunity to learn something new while being out of work.

A few minutes ago, I got a rejection letter for a company I had 4 interviews with. I saw it coming as they moved fast and I didn't hear from them for a few days following my fourth interview. It was a pretty cool start up but just not meant to be.

Separately, I have a second interview with another company today. The lesson here is to try and have multiple opportunities in the funnel. However sometimes that doesn't always work so the next best thing is to focus on the process. If you are doing all of the little things right, the big things will fall into place. I am a firm believer in this approach, and for that, I am not worried about what is next. In fact, just the opposite. I am excited for what opportunities lie in front of me as I continue to explore new roles and new companies.

As referenced in the first part, I initially shared these topics below on LinkedIn but after additional consideration, I thought they would be great to share here as well. It is not required to have a job to create a sensory based lifestyle but there are many aspects of being employed that help. This includes building friendships, sharing a sense of purpose, travel, etc.

I hope you enjoy.

Do you have a pre-interview routine?

Hopefully you do. I am sharing my intentional interview preparation below but would love to learn more about what you are doing as well.

This process starts when the interview is secured.

Research phase

1) Review company website, learn about company messaging, products, positioning, etc.

2) Ask AI tool the following question> tell me what customers and employees say about this company. Ask follow up questions as needed. Be curious about other topics such as if it's a start up, how does their funding rounds compare to the average. I use the standard free ChatGPT for this but any AI tool will do.

3) Ask AI to provide a SWOT analysis on the company. I like to use Storm by Stamford University for this. I found it to be better than Chat, Claude, etc. However, the new Deep research by Gemini was really impressive. I tried to do it on my last interview but got stuck in the queue so I went back to Storm.

3) Review the job posting again making sure I understand the role as every job has a bunch of nuances including responsibilities and who it reports to.

The Rooted & Refined Living Expert Tip: 

"Visualize yourself being in the role as you are preparing for the interview. Tell yourself I am going to great on this interview. Manifesting can be a great tool in your success."

Prep phase

1) Start building out questions for my interview. Page 1 includes a set of questions about the company, the position, and a few about the interviewer itself such as why do you like working for the company or what changes do you anticipate in the next year for your role? In total I try to have 10-15 questions ready. I put stars next to the key questions as I have never got through all 15 in an interview, sometimes I only get one due to time so I make sure it is the most important.

2) Create a second page for interview notes. Make sure I title both pages so not to get the info lost or confused with another role.

Day or two before the interview

1) Send an email confirming the meeting, showing I did some research, offer topics of interest and things I can talk about. I usually do this for interviews 2 and after. I always include my resume and cover letter in pdf for their reference.

Day of the interview

1) Start with a cold rinse at the end of the shower (to get the blood flowing). Eat walnuts for a snack (for brain clarity).

2) If its an afternoon interview, make sure I eat a light lunch (so not to get the afternoon crash)

3) Set alarm for 30 minutes before and 5 minutes before. At 30 minutes, I do 150 jumping jacks on the rebounder (small trampoline) to get the blood flowing again. Wash face with cold water after (same reason as above).

4) Put on a dress shirt

5) Review some notes and questions again

6) Close my eyes, take a few deep breaths

Interview time

1) Join 1 minute before the interview. I always like to be early (and never want to be late) but sometimes there might be technical problems and I want to catch them before the interviewer jumps on.

After the interview

1) A few hours later, I send a follow up thank you note. Something simple but try to incorporate something about the interview.

Good luck in your interviews. Let me know what your routine is.

11 things I recommend when searching for a job.

Me at the Joshua Tree National Park on vacation last year.

1) Get your resume, LinkedIn, and a base cover letter fine-tuned. You can customize the resume and cover letter as needed but for me, I only do very slight adjustments.

2) Be specific on what type of job you are looking for. This will help you focus and as well, help others help you.

3) Be specific on the type of company (ie. big or start up, location, salary range- if they publish it, etc). This will help you focus as well. I have passed on potential opportunities as it wasn’t what I wanted to do and have also bypassed jobs to apply to based on location. I also want to work for a company that is not in the decline. For example, I passed on applying to a role at a company because they losing customers, going through layoffs, etc.

4) Network. Don’t ask people for a job but let them know you are looking, what you are looking for, and have a conversation. Ask them for advice (ie. what was one thing they did to help them land their last job).

5) Apply for jobs selectively. Don’t send out 1,000 resumes as the companies you are applying to are getting 1,000 candidates. Apply for jobs selectively and then network to get your name at the top of the list. This could be emailing the recruiter or hiring manager, connecting to people via LinkedIn, finding 1st level connections who are connected to people at the company, or your previous employer alumni or college alumni.

6) Be mentally strong. This can be a long process and frustrating when you don't get call backs or make any progress. People need to have a mental resilience as they go through this process.

7) Be disciplined in your job search hours. Get up at the same time you would have gotten up for work. Try to keep the same or similar routine.

8) Find a hobby. This will help your sanity.

9) When you do get an interview, do research on that company and build an interview preparation guide with at least 15 questions. Ask simple questions to ChatGPT like what do customers and employees say about this company, is the company growing, stable, etc. Asking AI for a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) about the company will help give greater insight on what questions to ask.

10) The day before your interview, send the person a note with your resume (and cover letter) and outline what you would like to talk about and what you are prepared to talk about. It helps guide the conversation and gives some structure as many interviewers go freeform when interviewing.

11) Take breaks/vacation just like you would if you were working.

Please share any additional suggestions or advice!

I actually like to interview.

Yup, you read that right. One of the things I enjoy most about the interview process is learning about other companies. Being in sales for most of my career, I always spent time learning about the companies I was calling on.

From a pure business perspective, you become a student of the company you are supporting. The same is true in the interview process.

I have interviewed with a wide range of companies, mostly in the software space, but not exclusively. I learned about companies that sell help desk software, affiliate marketing software, retail advertising auctions, cloud storage, insurance underwriting software, security software, marketing services, healthcare third party administration, mortgage processing software, and most recently, supply chain transparency.

Being out of work allowed me to learn so many new industries and topics I wouldn't have necessarily explored otherwise.

My Advice to the Job Seeker

Reframe the idea of searching for a job to an opportunity to learn something new. This will help drive an improved positive mental outlook, which will help in your search.

There are no right answers, but I thought you may benefit from this post. If you are currently employed but know someone that is out of work, please share.

Also, as mentioned in the beginning of this story, if you missed the first post, Career Transition Intentional Practice Method, it covered one of my favorite topics, do I search for a job or do I go out an play?

Do these posts resonate and if so, what lessons learned, or advice can you share?