Interview Preparation

The employer will use the interview to evaluate your skills, professionalism, what motivates you, and your genuine interest in their work. Equally importantly, an interview gives you the chance to assess the organization and determine if it is a good fit for your interests and goals. The key to a successful interview is research and practice! Begin by reviewing the interviewing tips below and these two brief animated videos: Interview Preparation and Telling Your Story.


Different Types of Interviews

Interviews come in different flavors, and some interviews may even combine these different types. A brief overview is below, but be sure to choose the hyperlinks to view more details on each type of interview and tips on how to prepare

  • The Behavioral Interview: Every interview has a behavioral portion, which includes a discussion of your resume, accomplishments, and the often-asked ‘Tell me About Yourself‘ question. Check out the sample behavioral interview questions compiled by OCS and use this accomplishment stories worksheet to develop the stories you’ll use when answering these behavioral questions.
  • The Case Interview: In addition to behavioral interviewing questions, some employers will use a case interview to gauge your ability to problem solve in real-time. This is a popular interview format for consulting roles and marketing positions.
  • The Technical Interview: Questions of a technical nature are used to assess specific skills and knowledge of a field. These questions are often used in interviews for computer science positions and technical finance roles.
  • Firsthand Career Guides (previously Vault) also provide interviewing advice for specific industries or fields. Register to use this free resource for Yale students and postdocs.
  • Big Interview: Licensed by OCS, this mock interview tool allows students to choose among thousands of interview types, record their answers and watch them back for practice.
  • Illegal Interview Questions: It is important to know that there are some questions employers should not be asking candidates, and also how to handle these in the rare event it happens.

RocketBlocks: Industry Overview Concepts

What are industry overviews?
Industry overviews provide a bird’s eye view of 10 industries that tend to surface in consulting interviews. They’ll help establish your bearings on industries you’re not super familiar with.

Each overview includes: 
– Major trends and …

By Denise Byrnes
Denise Byrnes Associate Director of Employer Relations
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Don’t You Hate This Question?

How to Answer Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years (Without the Anxiety Attack)

This question tops the list of most hated interview questions.   The main problem is that it gets misinterpreted and taken quite literally by candidates. …

By external content
external content
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RocketBlocks YouTube Short

The product management term you need to know: breadcrumbs

A new short by Kenton Kivestu, RocketBlocks founder, ex-Googler and former PM

By Lisa Blees
Lisa Blees Assistant Director, Programming & Internal Relations
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Yale 2023 3-Minute Thesis Competition Winners Announced!

The Yale 3-Minute Thesis Competition challenges Ph.D. students to describe their thesis work clearly and engagingly in just 3 minutes! On April 14th we invited the Yale community to cheer on this year’s 10 finalists in this live celebration of Ph.D. …

By Jacob Gonzalez
Jacob Gonzalez Senior Associate Director, Graduate and Postdoctoral Career Services
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Career Strategy Essentials with the Office of Career Strategy (GSAS and Postdocs, Spring 2023)

Join OCS this spring for a series of career strategy workshops designed to help you navigate your career journey! We will introduce the many OCS resources at your disposal and cover essential skills like crafting a resume, exploring your interests …

By Jacob Gonzalez
Jacob Gonzalez Senior Associate Director, Graduate and Postdoctoral Career Services
Read more »

Alumni Spotlights

Featured Resources

Includes mental math exercises and additional resources to help you prepare for case interviews.

Community Resources

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