Job interviews tend to follow pretty standard formats: You'll come in, you'll do some small talk, then your interviewer will likely dive into telling you about the role and asking you about your background. Make sure you're on time, respectful and ready to answer those questions.
Some interviewers will also leave 10 to 15 minutes at the end of an interview for you to ask questions. This opportunity is critical not just for you to get a sense of the company culture but also as a way to further prove your value as an employee.
Some interviewees show up "having done very little homework," says Nolan Church, who's worked in recruitment at both DoorDash and Google and who's now the CEO of talent marketplace Continuum. They won't know about the company, the role or the interviewers they're speaking with. "It's just a massive red flag to me," he says.
Here's why it's critical to show you've prepared and how to do it.
Avoid too many 'very surface-level questions'
For Church, there's one tell-tale sign that an interviewee hasn't done their research about the job and company before going into the interview: When interviewers open the floor, they ask "very surface-level questions," he says.
Questions like "what's the hardest part about this job?" are pretty generic, he says, and can be asked in any interview scenario, regardless of company. While it's important to ask them if they help give you a sense of the role, you don't want them to be the only ones you pose.
They show a "lack of preparedness" that ultimately "doesn't show that you're actually interested in the opportunity," he says. For all the recruiter knows, you might never have looked in depth into what this company is doing.
Ask, 'what's been the comparison between the roles?'
Before you enter an interview, take some time to peruse the company's website and its LinkedIn page. Learn about its mission and goals. Read through the description of the job and think about specific components of it that you're curious about. Find out everyone who is interviewing you and go through their LinkedIn pages to see their career trajectories as well.
Then prepare to ask questions like, "I looked into your LinkedIn. I saw that you did these three things before. What's been the comparison between the roles?" says Church. Ask about how you and your interviewers might interact on the job. Or pick out specific tasks in the job and ask how you can be successful in doing them.
That "level of thinking and a level of depth" in asking questions helps to prove that you really did the work before going in, and that you care both about the opportunity and about succeeding in it. It's added proof that when you get the job, you're "going to do well," says Church.
Without preparedness in the interview, "I don't trust that you're going to be thorough on a day-to-day basis," he says.
DON'T MISS: Want to be smarter and more successful with your money, work & life? Sign up for our new newsletter!
Join the CNBC Work Summit on Dec. 6 to hear from leaders and experts, including Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks, discuss how AI could transform the future of work. Register here today.
Check out:
I've done over 30,000 interviews, says hiring expert: Here are 3 ways to 'instantly impress'
'First impressions are critical': How to figure out what to wear to a job interview
Don't use LinkedIn's 'open to work' sign, says former Google recruiter: It feels 'like desperation'
