Interviewing for jobs can be very scary when you’re unprepared. Winging it is probably the worst thing you can do if it’s a job you really want. This was me about 5-6 months ago. I was in a place in my career where I felt like I knew enough about project management and figured I’d just walk in with my charm, whits, and basic PM knowledge and land a job. HA! - Nope, it doesn’t work like that. Especially when you’re asking for big bucks, you’d better be fully prepared along with the charm. 

Inside the Women of Project Management membership, Edi Hayes discusses the reasons why you didn’t get the job. In her presentation, she shows a study of the reasons why recruiters didn’t move forward with a candidate and why candidates feel like they didn’t get the job. One reason she mentioned that stood out to me is that candidates come unprepared. Click below to listen to a clip of the podcast.

Research common interview questions for the role that you are interviewing for. 

If you’re interviewing for a role in project management, go to glassdoor.com, in the careers dropdown, click interview questions. From there type in ‘project manager’, the location, and click search. After the results come up, write down the relevant questions. Knowing the questions that will likely be asked during the interview will help you with the next tip.

Answer the questions in conversation style.  

Writing a script is one of the most important ways to prepare for an interview. Knowing the question that you will be asked is not enough. Take it a step further and write out your answers exactly how you would say them in the actual interview. Make your answers personable and know your metrics. 

Having degrees, the right certification, and sufficient experience will get you in the interview… but trying to come up with answers on the fly to questions you’re unprepared to answer is not a good look.

Research the company’s history.

Most employers are impressed when you know a little about the company. Know their core values and express how you are aligned with them. Researching the company’s history will also help you develop questions for the interviewer. Be prepared to ask those questions towards the end of the interview; their answers will give you a feel of what the company culture is.

Practice your script. 

Practice your script many times before your interview. Grab your partner or a colleague and have them conduct a mock interview with you. Researching typical questions and writing a script means nothing if you’re not familiar with how to answer each question in an interview setting. 

After you’ve done all of that and you still don’t get the job, sis - it just wasn’t meant to be. Accept it and trust that God has something better and more aligned with your purpose. Reasons we don’t get a job vary from person to person and are most times out of our control. The one thing we do have control over with every interview is how prepared we are. 

By, Airess Rembert, PMP, Member of Women Of Project Management & Blogger at The Nerd Bae

Check out How Not To F**k Up A Project Management Interview with Edi Hayes

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