Feeling overwhelmed for your upcoming interview? Whether you’re still waiting to hear back from a school or already have a set interview date, there’s some things you should know about interview culture in the US. If you can learn these cultural differences and follow these tips, you’ll be well on your way to masterfully preparing for your upcoming interview.
Content
Listen to their Question
Answer the Question Directly
Highlight your unique hard and soft skills
Share a specific example as evidence
Have a thoughtful question prepared
Listen to their question.
Most students, whether native English speakers or English learners, are scared out of their wits when it comes to interviews. Don’t skip the first step–listen to the specific question they’re asking.
Keep your answers under 2 minutes. If the interviewer asks what achievement you’re most proud of, don’t give them your whole life story, tell them all the things you like about their school, or focus on your smaller daily responsibilities at work.
To best address the question they ask, limit your answer to one recent accomplishment from school, work, or the lab that best highlights your strengths.
Answer the question directly.
You don’t want to beat around the bush by being too polite, general, or vague in your response. It’s not rude to be direct; Western culture prefers direct answers over polite, confusing nonsense. You don’t want to copy the “textbook-correct” answer here. Share directly your honest, personal answer.
To start, you could even use the question they ask as a starting sentence for your response.
If they ask, “Tell me about yourself,” limit yourself to 3 sentences: your past studies, your current experience, and your future goals. Keep it simple, no fluff. (Do be specific!)
Instead of telling them about your hometown, your pet cat, and your hobbies, relate the content of your answer to the job at hand.
For example, if they ask, “Why do you want to go to our school?”
Don’t give them a generic, stale answer.
Avoid this: “I want to go to your school for your comprehensive curriculum, esteemed faculty, and large alumni network.”
This answer is too general, and could be copied and pasted to any school! You want to name 1) something specific about the school, and 2) explain why this feature will help you reach your goals. Remember, the school already knows what it has, but it doesn’t know why you want it!
Try this: I want to go to your school for its in-depth training on UI/UX design. So far here in Taiwan, I’ve covered the basics of design and have trained both in Adobe and programming, but I’m missing the user-centric mindset that school name here specializes in. From Course A, I hope to train to develop websites that best meet end user needs, and I think learning under Professor X would best prepare me to address practical challenges in the future.
Highlight your unique hard and soft skills.
Everyone claims to be responsible, a hard worker, and to have great communication skills. Problem is, everyone says this, hoping they’ll sound attractive, but they fail to share stories of them displaying these skills.
You won’t stand out by just proving that you’re a hard worker by showing them your test scores or GPA. Instead of focusing on the results, emphasize skills like taking initiative, creativity, leadership, and endurance. This list isn’t exhaustive–think about the qualitative ways that you stand out from among your peers.
If they ask, “what’s your greatest strength?”
Avoid this:
I’m a team player, and have great communication skills.
Try this: Select ONE specific example from school, work, lab, or extracurriculars that best shows the quality you want to highlight.
I’m an effective communicator, especially when it comes to navigating conflict in group projects. When working on my capstone project, my team members all had different opinions on how we should finish the project. Recognizing that we needed to face the problem head-on, I set up a meeting where each member could share the advantages and disadvantages of each option. In the process, some members recognized that their ideas weren’t fully thought through. For other members, as they shared details of their plans, we narrowed down our choices to 2 options, and voted on how we wanted to proceed. I’m proud that I helped our team navigate this conflict, and that we all learned how to communicate with people whose ideas differ from our own. In the end, we got a prize for our project, and the professor commended our teamwork.
Share a specific example as evidence.
Answer the question straightforward–in the first sentence. In the next few sentences, provide a clear example to support your answer as evidence, or proof, of what you have done before.
For example, if they ask, “What are you proudest of?”
Avoid this: I’m a hard worker, earned high grades, and finish the tasks my boss assigns.
Try this: I take initiative to lead projects at school and at work, even when facing an area I’m unfamiliar with. After only 2 months at my job, I noticed a weakness in our company’s internal system. Though I didn’t have the technical skills to resolve it myself, I took classes online to learn more, asked some older colleagues for guidance, and got positive feedback from my boss before implementing these changes.
Have a thoughtful question prepared.
Congratulations! You’ve made it to the end of the interview–you just have this one last question, and then you’re done!
Instead of asking something generic (tell me about your career center), or something that you could find in a Google search (what’s the starting salary for graduates from your program?), you want to ask something more personal.
The person interviewing you is invested in the school they represent. Maybe they’re a professor or some kind of teaching staff. Maybe they’re an old alumnus of the university, maybe even the same program you want to pursue.
Lean deeper into this personal connection–if they’re part of the staff, they could recommend a specific class or professor for you to study under. If they’re familiar with programs on campus, they could list names of laboratories for you to join (or even specific projects!) that align with your interests.
Whether they’re older or younger, you can always ask for their personal recommendations, suggestions, or stories. This personal connection to the interviewer is one surefire way to stand out from a pool of applicants! The interviewer will be much more likely to remember your name (and recommend you) if they build a stronger connection with you.
Personal Tip! Here are some questions I (Cate) use:
“If there was any one thing you could tell me about your school/company, what’s the one thing you’d want to share?”
“What’s your favorite part about working there?”
“If you were in my place, what’s one thing you would have wanted to know before coming here?”
If you want more practice going through these steps or adding details and direction to your answers, click here for more information about our Private Tutoring! Thrive English offers FREE Consultations with professional tutors who can guide you through the Interview Preparation process, whether for work at international companies or for graduate school applications.
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