This handy interview cheat sheet will help you organize your thoughts and stay focused before, during, and after the interview.

Don’t worry; you’re not actually cheating! While it is an ‘interview cheat sheet’  it’s really just a checklist and worksheet to help keep you on track and serve as a resource that you can use to prepare for an interview and is proven to leave you feeling more confident.

Read on for a full breakdown of the different areas on your cheat sheet, and then feel free to download our PDF fillable version to use time and time again.

Do Your Research

To be fully prepared for an interview, you need to know some essential information to make sure you’re fully prepared. If the company doesn’t immediately give you this information, don’t be afraid to ask!

Know Who is Interviewing You

Once you know the interviewers’ names, be sure to check out their profiles on the company website (if available); otherwise, LinkedIn is always a great way to get a snapshot of someone’s background.

Research the Company

It doesn’t always come up, but often in an interview, you may be asked what you know about the organization, so you want to have done some research ahead of time so that you aren’t caught off-guard. Even if you aren’t asked this question, demonstrating how much research you’ve done into about the company shows the interviewer you are genuinely interested in the role and engaged in the company.

Know Your Experience & Prepare Answers

This may seem like a no-brainer, but you’re going to need to be able to speak about your experience, skills, and expertise to highlight to the interviewers why you would be an asset to the company and where you would add value to their team. Think about what you have done in the past, what you are doing now, and what you would like to be doing in the future.

Match Your Skills to the Role

When going into an interview, you should be able to highlight specific skills and experiences that meet the needs of the role in question (ideally, you will have done this when you tailored your resume to the job ).

Start with the job ad/description and look for the keywords that signal the essential qualities and skills the hiring team is looking for (this is what employers often term a ‘competency’). Once you have that list, create a list of 8-10 of your skills that match the job’s competencies that you just picked out.

Develop a Story for Each Skill/Competency

Once you have identified the competencies and examples from your experience, you need to craft the perfect story to showcase those skills ! By having stories prepared that showcase your skills, you can prove your experience and skill level to an employer, making them feel confident that you will be able to do well in the role.

Prepare Questions to Ask the Interviewers

We would argue that the most crucial question in an interview is the one at the end when the tables turn, and the interviewers ask if you have any questions for them. Having questions prepared shows that you are engaged in the interview, but also demonstrates that you are taking the interview process seriously, which will impress your interviewer.

Now that you’ve had the full breakdown of what you need to prepare, it’s your turn! Download our fillable ‘Interview Cheat Sheet’ and head into your next interview more prepared than ever.