How to prepare for an interview.

1. The forty five minutes of research that matter

You do not need to memorize the company's history. You need four things, and you can get all of them in under an hour.

• What the company actually sells, in one sentence. Not the mission statement. What does a customer hand them money for? If you cannot say it plainly, keep reading their site.
• Who you will be talking to. Look up every name on the invitation. A hiring manager who came up through operations asks different questions than one who came up through finance.
• One recent, specific thing. A new location, an award, a product line, a hire, a news mention. One is enough. It is the difference between "I did some research" and proving it.
• The job posting itself, printed or saved. The posting is the scoring sheet. Every requirement in it is a question they might ask. Go line by line and make sure you have an answer for each one.

2. Tell me about yourself, answered properly

This is not small talk and it is not an invitation to narrate your life since high school. It is the interviewer asking you to frame yourself for them. You get about ninety seconds and it goes in three parts.

• Now. What you do today and what you own. Twenty seconds.
• Then. The one or two moves that got you here and why you made them. Forty seconds.
• Why here. Why this role, at this company, now. Thirty seconds. This is the part almost everyone skips, and it is the part that actually matters.

Write it out. Say it out loud four or five times until it stops sounding memorized. Do not read it in the interview.

3. Build a story bank before you build answers

The mistake is preparing for questions. There are hundreds of possible questions and you cannot cover them. Prepare stories instead, because the same story answers many different questions.

Five to eight well chosen stories will cover the large majority of behavioral questions you will ever be asked. Write each one down once, then tag it with the questions it can answer.

Pick one story for each of these:

• A time you fixed a process that was broken or manual
• A time you caught a mistake, including one of your own
• A time you handled a difficult customer, client or coworker
• A time you had too much to do and had to decide what came first
• A time you learned something new quickly because the job required it
• A time something went badly and what you changed afterward
• A result you are genuinely proud of, with a number attached

4. STAR, with a real example

STAR is the structure interviewers are usually trained to score against, so it is worth using even though it feels mechanical while you practice. Four parts: Situation, Task, Action, Result.

Here is what it sounds like when someone does it badly:

Nothing in that is a lie and nothing in it is useful. Same story, structured:

Same facts. Forty seconds. The interviewer can now score you, which is the entire point.

If a story needs less setup, compress to CAR: challenge, action, result. That is the fix for when you notice yourself spending thirty seconds on background before you get to what you did.

5. The ninety second rule

The most common reason a qualified person loses an interview is that their answers run long and have no specific example in them. Long, unstructured answers get read as disorganized, and sometimes as evasive.

• Cap every answer at about ninety seconds. Time yourself once with a phone. It is shorter than you think.
• One concrete example per answer. A real customer, a real number, a real month. Specifics are what get remembered after you leave.
• Then stop talking. Silence after your answer is the interviewer writing. Do not fill it by starting a second story.
• If it is a yes or no question, answer it first. "Yes, I have closed a month end. At my last job I owned the receivable side of it." Then elaborate if they want more.

6. The salary question, under New York law

Two New York rules are on your side here, and most candidates do not know either one.

• They cannot ask what you currently make. New York Labor Law section 194-a has banned salary history inquiries statewide since January 6, 2020. An employer cannot ask you, cannot require it to be considered, and cannot go ask your former employer. If someone asks anyway, you can simply say you would rather talk about the range for this role.
• The range should already be published. Since September 17, 2023, section 194-b requires New York employers with four or more employees to include a good faith compensation range in the advertisement for any job that will be performed at least partly in New York. Go back and read the posting. The number is often already there.

So when you are asked what you are looking for, you are not guessing in the dark. Say a range, anchored to the posting and to the market, and say it without apologizing:

• Give a range, not a single number, and make the bottom of your range a number you would genuinely accept. Never name a floor you would resent.
• Never volunteer your current salary, even to be helpful. It becomes the anchor for the offer, and it is the exact thing the law was written to stop.
• Do not negotiate before there is an offer. The goal of this answer is only to confirm you are in the same universe, so the process can continue.

More on how to pick your number is in the Western New York pay guide.

7. Questions you ask them

Showing up with no questions reads as no interest. Bring five written down, on paper, and actually look at the paper. Nobody has ever been penalized for being organized.

• "What does the first ninety days look like for whoever takes this?"
• "What would make you look back in six months and say this hire went really well?"
• "Is this a new seat or a replacement?" — and if it is a replacement, "what did the last person do well, and what was hard for them?"
• "Who would I work with most closely day to day?"
• "What is the thing about working here that people do not expect until they start?"

Then ask the one that gets you information nobody volunteers: "What are the next steps, and when should I expect to hear something?" It is not pushy. It is what a professional asks.

8. Why local employers actually pass on people

This is the list from the employer side of real Western New York searches. Almost none of it is about qualifications.

• The commute was never realistic. Most smaller employers here are on site five days a week. If the drive from your address is forty five minutes each way in February, say up front that you have thought about it and you are fine with it, because they are already wondering.
• No stated reason for wanting this job. "I am looking for a new opportunity" is not a reason. It tells them you would take anything.
• Badmouthing the current employer. One sentence, neutral, then move on. Long grievance answers make the interviewer imagine you talking about them.
• A pattern of short stays with no explanation. They will not ask. They will just not call back. Get ahead of it in one calm sentence.
• Vagueness about what you personally did. "We" answers when the question was "you." Small employers hire an individual, not a team.
• Being late, or being forty five minutes early. Ten minutes early is right. Much earlier puts someone on the spot.

9. Logistics, in person and on video

10. When you do not know the answer

You will get a question about something you have never done. This is normal and it is not disqualifying. What is disqualifying is bluffing, because an experienced interviewer can always tell.

Say what is true, then bridge to the nearest real thing you have done:

That answer is honest, it demonstrates transferable skill, and it gives the interviewer something to write down. Bluffing gives them a reason to stop.

11. The twenty four hours after

• Send a thank you email within a day, to each person you met if you have their address. Four sentences. Reference one specific thing that was discussed so it is obviously not a template.
• Write down every question you were asked while it is fresh. If there is a second round, this is your study guide. If there is not, it is your study guide for the next company.
• Note what you answered badly, and fix that answer now rather than the night before the next interview.
• If you are working with a recruiter, call them the same day. Feedback moves fastest right after, and a recruiter can often correct a misunderstanding before it becomes a no.

This guide is general information for job seekers, not legal advice. New York employment law changes, and how a rule applies depends on your specific situation. If you believe an employer has broken the law in how it treated you, talk to the New York State Department of Labor or an employment attorney.