What good homework looks like for interview preparation
You are just as lovely as they say, but I'm afraid you have something that I want: your job. - Queen Merla
George Clooney helped me get job offers. True Story.
Some years ago, I read a book by Ryan Holiday titled The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph, which told how George Clooney changed the trajectory of his earlier career by altering his perspective.
George Clooney spent his first years in Hollywood getting rejected at auditions. He wanted the producers and directors to like him, but they didn’t and it hurt and he blamed the system for not seeing how good he was.
Everything changed for Clooney when he tried a new perspective. He realized that casting is an obstacle for producers, too— they need to find somebody, and they’re all hoping that the next person to walk in the room is the right somebody. Auditions were a chance to solve their problem, not his. From Clooney’s new perspective, he was that solution. He wasn’t going to be someone groveling for a shot. He was someone with something special to offer. He was the answer to their prayers, not the other way around. That was what he began projecting in his auditions— not exclusively his acting skills but that he was the man for the job. That he understood what the casting director and producers were looking for in a specific role and that he would deliver it in each and every situation, in preproduction, on camera, and during promotion.
Until this point, my interview preparation was often “me” focused. As an engineering leader, I would still prepare for my technical interviews. I would also review my talk track and work on my pitch. Of course, I would also research the company, but naturally, my research took on a perspective that focused on what that job could do for me and my career.
But upon encountering this nugget of wisdom, I changed my perspective on how I prepare: what are the needs of the company and the hiring manager, and what unique value proposition do I have to offer?
In 2015, upon resigning as the Group CTO of Magento, I went on an interview spree. I spoke with 24 companies, received four rejections and four offers, and I rejected the rest of the opportunities.
When you go about it with the wrong perspective, you might gather information that doesn’t serve the main point of this exercise: why are you the best person for this open role, and how are you going to make your hiring manager’s job easier? It wouldn’t matter if you followed my preparation playbook to the tee.
Company - Product - Requirements (CPR) Preparation
To determine a mutual fit, you can’t get around the series of conversations that you’re about to have. So the purpose of preparing for an interview is to help you navigate the initial discussions with the recruiter and, later, the initial conversation with the hiring manager.
Broadly, you’ll need to research three things about the open role:
Company - why do they exist?
Product - what do they sell?
Requirements - what do they need from you?
To help you remember to cover these three areas in your research, remember the acronym CPR.
Company
Employee count: a barometer of the operational complexity of the business
The size of the company has a direct impact on your employee experience. You may find that you prefer how large a company is, which will reflect how well you will fit in during the interview process.
6-month hiring rate and organizational headcount growth: a proxy of near-term financial stability
If the company or organization has structural issues, you may find yourself in a position where you have to look for work again sooner than you prefer.
Competitors: competitors of the company, and what differentiates the competitors from the company (and vice-versa)
A company that has relatively few competitors or relatively weak competitors is stronger. When competition is weak, a company has a cheap way of acquiring new customers because their “sales” team isn’t selling; they are taking orders. Some businesses have natural characteristics that allow them to expand revenue through usage, creating lock-in and blocking out competitors.
Founder’s story: motivation for their existence
The founder’s story significantly impacts who is ultimately attracted to the company’s mission. If the founder’s story does not resonate with you, you will find that you will resonate less with the people on the team.
Culture: operating norms of the company
The company’s career page is input into this research. However, if you’ve triangulated your application through networking, your best source of information here is from someone who works at the company. Glassdoor can also be a reasonable proxy. I tend to interpret negative comments with a grain of salt, but I parse positive comments more heavily. It’s easier to complain than to praise, and often the people who complain on Glassdoor may have been managed out of the company.
Product
Demo: see the product working, or better yet, sign up if you can
Less than 10% of everyone I interview ever signs up for the product or has played with it. Having demonstrated that you’ve seen or signed up for the product virtually guarantees that you will pass the recruiter screen, in my experience.
Note how you would improve the product and identify any questions you might have during your first-time user experience.
Requirements
Skills: match or mismatch between the job description and you
You will need to clearly understand what skills you have that match the job description and which skills you have that do not so that you are prepared to discuss both.
A fundamental mismatch here will mean that you’re likely wasting your time.
Pain point: the need for this position
Roles with generic pain points suggest that the company or organization believes adding more labor will address the pain. I generally advise against pursuing these roles because it is hard to differentiate yourself in the interview process.
Roles with specific pain points (e.g., managing an SEM program using Google, owning the SalesForce configuration, etc.) make it much easier to position your value relative to the pain point.
If you can’t discern the pain point from external information, then it suggests that the recruiting operation or hiring manager may be immature.
To help you prepare, I’ve created a template that I recommend you fill in and print out before the first and subsequent interviews. As you learn more about the job, build your notes in the same document as you progress.
Activity for today
Go through the CPR exercise for a company you applied for
Even if you don’t have an upcoming interview for a company you’ve applied for, going through the CPR exercise will be good practice.
Critically, it would be best if you timed how long it takes for you to complete the exercise so that in the future, you can budget this in your daily plan.