Employers use interviews to evaluate a candidate’s skills, professionalism, and interest in the employer’s work. The interview also allows the candidate to assess the organization to determine if it fits their interests and goals. The key to a successful interview is research and practice! Review the tips below and these two brief videos: Interview Preparation and Telling Your Story.
Types of Interviews
Interviews come in various flavors, and some combine different types. An overview of each is below, and visit the hyperlinks for preparation tips:
- The Behavioral Interview: Every interview has a behavioral portion, which includes discussing your resume, accomplishments, and the often-asked ‘Tell me About Yourself‘ question. Check out these sample behavioral interview questions and use this accomplishment stories worksheet to develop stories to use when answering behavioral questions.
- The Case Interview: Some employers use a case interview to gauge your problem-solving skills 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): Provides interview advice for specific industries or fields. Yale students and postdocs are invited to register for this free resource.
- Big Interview: Licensed by OCS, this mock interview tool lets students choose among thousands of interview types, record their answers, and watch them back for further practice.
- Illegal Interview Questions: It is important to know which questions employers should not ask candidates and how to handle these in the rare event they are asked.
