Interview Preparation

Before your interview, take some time to learn about the employer. Doing a little research ahead of time can help you feel more prepared, answer questions more confidently, and show that you are genuinely interested in the role.

Good places to start

You can find helpful information in:

• Handshake
• The organization’s website, annual report, blog, and social media
• Industry websites and publications
• Glassdoor
• LinkedIn
• On-campus information sessions and events
• Alumni, peers, and professional contacts

What to look for

You do not need to know everything about the organization. Focus on the details that help you understand what they do and why you want to work there. Try to learn:

• Where the organization is located
• How large it is
• What products or services it offers
• Its history, mission, and values
• Its clients, competitors, and partners
• Its challenges and successes
• Its leadership, structure, and culture
• Recent news and current projects

You can find helpful information in:

• Handshake
• The organization’s website, annual report, blog, and social media
• Industry websites and publications
• Glassdoor
• LinkedIn
• On-campus information sessions and events
• Alumni, peers, and professional contacts

Read the job description carefully. Look for the skills and qualities the employer wants most.

For each one, think of examples from:

• Classes
• Internships
• Jobs
• Leadership roles
• Volunteer work
• Student organizations
• Research projects

Use these examples to show how your experience matches the employer’s needs.

• Test your technology ahead of time so you know your camera, microphone, internet connection, and interview platform are working.
• Log in a few minutes early to show that you are prepared and ready to go.
• Choose a quiet, well-lit space with a clean, uncluttered background.
• Dress professionally from head to toe in case you need to stand up during the interview.
• Look at the camera when speaking to help create eye contact.
• Keep your phone on silent and turn off notifications before the interview starts.
• Sit up straight and stay engaged by nodding, smiling, and using positive body language.
• Have your notes nearby, but avoid reading from them word-for-word.
• Speak clearly and at a steady pace so the interviewer can easily follow you.
• Show enthusiasm by being attentive, asking thoughtful questions, and expressing interest in the role.
• Limit distractions by letting others know you are in an interview and closing unnecessary tabs or apps.
• Send a thank-you message afterward to reinforce your interest and professionalism.

• Arrive 10–15 minutes early so you have time to check in, settle down, and avoid feeling rushed.
• Dress professionally and choose clothing that is clean, neat, and appropriate for the workplace.
  • The WashU Professional Clothes Closet offers free business and professional attire to all current WashU students.
• Bring copies of your resume and any other materials you may need, such as a portfolio, references, or a list of questions.
• Turn off your phone before you enter the building so you are not distracted during the interview.
• Greet everyone politely from the front desk to the interviewer, since professionalism matters at every step.
• Offer a firm handshake if appropriate and make eye contact when you introduce yourself.
• Sit up straight and stay engaged by listening carefully, nodding, and showing interest.
• Speak clearly and confidently, even if you feel nervous.
• Avoid fidgeting with your hands, pen, or phone, which can make you seem less confident.
• Be friendly and attentive to everyone you meet, including staff members and other employees.
• Ask thoughtful questions to show that you are interested in the role and the organization.
• Thank the interviewer before you leave and follow up with a thank-you email afterward.

Interviews can happen in different ways:

• In person
• By phone
• On Zoom or Teams
• In a group
• On-site
• In a recorded video format

Some interviews may also include:

• Case questions
• Technical questions
• Writing tasks
• Presentations
• Multiple interview rounds

When you are invited to interview, ask what to expect so you can prepare well. If you need to travel, ask whether the organization will cover the cost.

Case interviews are a common part of the hiring process in management consulting, but they can also show up in interviews for business, healthcare, education, nonprofit, and social service roles. In a case interview, you are usually given a real-world problem and asked to talk through how you would approach it. The interviewer is often looking at how you think, how you organize your ideas, and how you communicate under pressure.

What a case interview might look like

Depending on the field, you may be asked to:

• Recommend a solution to a business problem
• Analyze a company’s sales, costs, or growth
• Decide how to improve a process, program, or service
• Respond to a healthcare, education, or community-based scenario
• Make a decision using limited information and explain your reasoning
• Work through a problem involving trade-offs, priorities, or resource limits

Common types of case interviews

• Business case interviews
  Often used in consulting, finance, and strategy roles. You may be asked to help a company increase profit, enter a new market, or solve an operations issue.
• Market sizing cases
  You estimate the size of a market or the number of customers for a product or service. Interviewers want to see how you break down a big question into smaller parts.
• Profitability cases
  You may be asked why a company’s profits are falling and what could be done to improve them.
• Operations or process cases
  These focus on making systems more efficient, reducing delays, or improving workflow.
• Healthcare or public health cases
  You may be asked how to improve patient access, reduce costs, or respond to a community health challenge.
• Education cases
  These may involve improving student outcomes, increasing engagement, or solving a school-based problem.
• Nonprofit or social service cases
  You may be asked how to serve more people, use limited resources well, or evaluate the impact of a program.
• Behavioral case hybrids
  Some interviews combine a case with questions about teamwork, leadership, or past experience.

How to prepare

You do not need to know every industry-specific fact to do well in a case interview. What matters most is showing that you can think clearly, stay calm, and work through a problem in a logical way.

• Practice structuring your answer Start by identifying the main problem, then break it into smaller parts.
• Think out loud Interviewers want to hear your reasoning, not just your final answer.
• Use numbers when helpful You do not always need exact calculations, but being comfortable with estimates can help.
• Ask clarifying questions If anything is unclear, ask for more information before jumping in.
• Stay organized A clear, step-by-step response is often more important than a perfect answer.
• Connect your answer to the field If you are interviewing for a healthcare, education, or nonprofit role, show that you understand the people the organization serves.

Technical interviews can look very different depending on the field and the employer. If you are interviewing in computer science, data, finance, engineering, or consulting, you may be asked to solve problems, explain your thinking, or apply technical knowledge in real time. The best way to prepare is to understand the interview format, practice ahead of time, and focus on showing how you think—not just whether you get the final answer.

Common types of technical interviews

• Coding interviews
  You may be asked to write code, debug a program, or solve algorithm problems. These are common in computer science and software engineering roles.
• Data interviews
  You may be asked to analyze data, interpret charts, write SQL queries, explain metrics, or talk through how you would clean and organize a dataset. These are common in data analytics, data science, and related roles.
• Case interviews
  You may be given a business problem and asked to walk through your approach. These are common in consulting, but can also show up in finance and strategy-related roles.
• Technical problem-solving interviews
  You may be asked to apply concepts from math, physics, programming, systems, or design to solve an applied problem. These are common in engineering and some finance roles.
• Behavioral plus technical interviews
  Some employers combine technical questions with questions about teamwork, communication, and past experience. This is common across many fields, especially when employers want to see how well you explain your work to others.
• Whiteboard or live problem-solving interviews
  You may be asked to solve a problem out loud while the interviewer watches. The goal is often to understand how you approach challenges, not just whether you know the right answer immediately.
• Take-home assignments
  Some employers give you a project, dataset, coding task, or case to complete on your own. These are common in data, engineering, consulting, and technical business roles.
• Portfolio or project walkthroughs
  You may be asked to explain a class project, internship project, research experience, or personal project. This is especially common in computer science, engineering, data, and design-related roles.

Behavioral interviews ask about past experiences. Employers use them to understand how you may perform in the future.

Some industries use a mix of behavioral, case, and technical interviews. These often require extra preparation, so it can help to work with a career coach.

These questions help the interviewer get to know you.

Tell me about yourself.

This is one of the most common interview questions. Give a short summary of:

• Your studies
• Your interests
• Experiences that shaped your skills
• Why you are interested in the organization
• Why you are a good fit for the role

Keep your answer brief. You will have time to share more later.

Describe your strengths and a weakness.

Choose strengths that relate to the job and give examples that show them.

For a weakness, choose something honest and manageable. Explain what you are doing to improve.

Where do you see yourself in three to five years?

The interviewer wants to know how this role fits your plans. Be honest about your goals. You can talk about whether you hope to grow in the organization, in the field, or through graduate school.

More traditional questions

You may also hear questions like:

• Why do you want to work for us?
• What did you learn from your internship at X organization?
• How will your experience with a student group help you in this position?
• What interested you in this industry?
• What qualifications will help you succeed in this role?
• What is your preferred management style?
• What do you like to do in your free time?
• Why should we hire you?

Behavioral questions ask you to describe past experiences. The goal is to see how you handled real situations.

Prepare a few stories from:

• Jobs and internships
• Student organizations
• Research projects
• Volunteer work
• Challenging classes
• Leadership experiences

It also helps to think of a time when something did not go well. Interviewers often want to see how you learned from mistakes.

Sample behavioral questions

• Tell me about a time you made a contribution right away.
• Tell me about a mistake you made. How did you fix it?
• Tell me about a time you had to manage several tasks at once.
• Tell me about a time you went above and beyond.
• Tell me about a time you solved a problem in a creative way.
• Tell me about a time you persuaded someone to support your idea.
• Tell me about a time you worked with a difficult person.
• Tell me about a time you led a team.
• Tell me about a time you failed.
• Tell me about a time you worked under pressure.

Use the STAR method to organize your answer:

• Situation: Describe the context
• Task: Explain what you needed to do
• Action: Describe what you did
• Result: Share the outcome or what you learned

Focus on what you did, not just what the group did.

Technical interviews focus on your ability to solve problems and use specific skills.

Examples may include:

• Tell me about a time you used creativity to solve a problem.
• What kinds of projects have required planning?
• How would you decide what to test if you do not have time to test everything?
• What is the most interesting software project you completed in school?
• Give an example of a project you started on your own.
• How do you contribute to a team?
• Tell me about a time you had to learn something quickly.
• Implement an algorithm to sort an array.

How to prepare

• Review the core skills for the role
  Look at the job description and identify the technical topics that show up most often.
• Practice the format you are most likely to see
  For example:
  • coding problems for computer science roles
  • SQL and data interpretation for data roles
  • case practice for consulting
  • quantitative and modeling questions for finance
  • design, systems, or mechanics problems for engineering
• Talk through your thinking out loud
  Interviewers often care just as much about your reasoning as your final answer.
• Practice under realistic conditions
  Try solving problems with a timer, a whiteboard, or a shared document so you get comfortable with the pressure.
• Review your projects and experience
  Be ready to explain what you did, what tools you used, what challenges came up, and what you learned.
• Prepare questions for the interviewer
  Asking about the team, tools, workflow, or expectations can show that you are thinking seriously about the role.

Tips for the interview itself

In technical interviews, employers are often looking for more than the “right answer.” They want to see how you think, communicate, and handle challenges.

• Take a moment to think before answering
• Ask clarifying questions if the problem is unclear
• Explain your reasoning step by step
• Stay calm if you get stuck
• Be honest about what you do and do not know
• Show how you would approach the problem, even if you do not finish it

At the end of the interview, you will usually be asked if you have any questions. Always be ready with a few.

Prepare 5 to 10 questions in advance. You may only ask 2 to 3, but having extras helps if some are already answered.

Ask questions that:

• Show you researched the organization
• Help you understand the role
• Help you decide whether the job is a good fit

Avoid asking about information that is easy to find on the website. Also avoid asking about salary or benefits too early in the process.

Good questions to ask

• What does success look like in this department?
• What are the biggest challenges in this role?
• How would you describe the office culture?
• What does a typical day look like?
• What do you enjoy most about working here?
• How does this role fit into the department?
• What are the department’s goals for the future?
• How will my performance be evaluated?
• What are the next steps in the hiring process?

At the end of the interview, restate your interest in the role and organization. Ask for a business card so you can send a thank-you note.

Start your follow-up before you leave the interview. Ask when you can expect to hear about next steps.

Send thank-you notes as soon as possible, ideally the same day.

If the interviewer asks you to send something, such as a reference or more information, do it quickly.

If you need to follow up later, be polite and professional. Restate your interest and share any updates that are relevant.

Give the organization at least one to two weeks before following up again. Hiring often takes time.

If you accept another offer, let the other organization know right away.

A thank-you note helps you stand out. It shows professionalism, interest, and good communication.

An email is usually fine. In some cases, a handwritten note may also be appropriate.

Keep the note short, but personal. Mention something specific from your conversation and explain why the role interests you.

Dear Ms. Smith,

Thank you for meeting with me on September 9 to discuss the recruiter position at XYZ, Inc. I enjoyed learning more about the travel part of the role and hearing about how your career developed after you started in a similar position.

It was exciting to learn that XYZ plans to double its staff size in the next three years. I would be glad to contribute to that growth as part of the recruitment team. I was especially interested in your team structure, and I believe my experience leading the intern hiring process at ABC has prepared me to help improve cross-team communication. As we discussed, I would also be happy to use my InDesign skills to help create the new employee newsletter.

Please let me know if I can provide any additional information. You can reach me by phone at (314) 935-0000 or by email at jstudent@wustl.edu. Thank you again, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Jill A. Student