Seven Types of Job Interviews (Plus How To Prepare and Tips)
When you go on interviews for different jobs, it can help to be ready for the different types of interviews you might have. Depending on the job, an interviewer might ask different questions or use different formats to find out more about a candidate. Learning about these different ways to approach an interview can help you prepare for each one. This article tells you how to prepare for an interview, describes seven different kinds of interviews, and gives you advice for when you get to this point in your job search.
How to prepare for a job interview.
Here are some things you can do to prepare for a job interview:
1. Learn about the business
Researching the company can show the interviewer that you know what they have to offer and that your goals are similar to theirs. You can learn more about the company’s history, mission, and products by going to its website. This could mean learning about the products and services they offer so you can answer questions about what you like and what you would change about how they run their business now.
2. Print your resume
During an interview, people often talk about your resume. Printing more than one copy can help you prepare if there are more than one interviewer, and it can also give you a copy to use as a reference. Think about putting your resume on thicker paper to show that you are professional and that you want the interview.
3. Prepare questions
Even though the interviewer can ask you a lot of questions about your experience and skills, coming up with your own questions can show that you are interested in working for their company. You can ask about ways to improve, how your day would go, and what you can do to help. You can show the interviewer that you are interested in the job and want to stay with the company by asking these questions.
There are seven different ways to interview for a job.
Here are seven different types of job interviews you might have to go through:
1. Talk to just one person
In a traditional interview, you answer questions from the hiring manager or someone from human resources. Usually, the person in charge of the job does this because they want to see how you might fit into their team. They often ask about your previous job, your skills, and how you handled situations to see if your past actions and achievements can help them reach their goals.
2. Panel interview
In a panel interview, more than one person asks you questions. Most of the time, these are people from different parts of an organization, like human resources, your potential manager, and sometimes even team members. Since they usually have different jobs, they may ask you about different parts of the business. For example, a person in human resources might ask you about your salary goals, while a teammate might ask you about how you work with others.
3. Interview from far away
During a distance interview, the candidate may ask to meet by phone or video. Most of the time, these are ways to get to know you better before a more formal interview. People who work in human resources see these things happen often, and they may ask a few standard questions. If you meet their needs, they might set up a meeting with you to learn more about you. Since many jobs can be done from home, some companies may switch from traditional interviews to video interviews.
4. Behavior interview
Traditional interviews might not go as deep as behavioral interviews. A hiring manager might ask you about specific things that happened at your last job, what you did, and how things turned out. This happens a lot in fields like science and technology, where people try to figure out how to solve problems. These kinds of interviewers can also ask how you would handle situations that don’t exist.
5. Group interview
In a group interview, you and other people are being interviewed for the same or similar jobs. Companies usually give a short talk about their business and then talk to each person one-on-one. They might ask you questions in the same room, so you can use that to show why you’re the best candidate. Hiring managers often want to see how you work with others in a group to see how well you get along with people.
6. Working interview
In a working interview, you do the tasks of the job so the interviewer can see how good you are at them. This is usually the case for jobs in writing or sales, where they want to see how you use your skills in the real world. For example, if you want to be a copywriter, the person interviewing you might ask you to write a sample article so they can see how well your writing style fits the job.
7. Right there and then
Informal interviews are when you have a casual conversation with the person in charge of hiring. This is usually how jobs within the company work. For example, a manager might take you out to lunch to talk about your goals and experience and give you more information about the job. They might sometimes bring in other team members to see how well you get along with them and how you answer their questions.
Help for job interviews
When going on a job interview, here are some things to think about:
- Don’t be late. If you want to show the hiring manager that you are professional, it is very important to be on time for a job interview. This also shows that you respect their time and know how to use it well.
- Bring a notepad: Bringing a notepad to an interview shows that you want to pay attention to what is being said. To show that you are interested, you could write down your questions and the answers you get.
- Know who you’re talking to. If you know your interviewer’s name, you can use it. This is especially important if you are interviewing with the person who will hire you, so that you can show that you respect them.
