Interview preparation frequently covers trivia. A handful of questions appear almost universally and are what the decision actually rests on.
Tell me about yourself
Assessing whether you can communicate clearly and whether your story makes sense for this role.
Not a biography. Two minutes covering where you are now, what you have done that is relevant, and why this role is the logical next step.
Why are you leaving
Assessing whether you are running from something and whether you will speak badly about them later.
Frame forwards rather than backwards – what you want to do next, not what was wrong. Criticising a previous employer is the most reliable way to lose an interview.
Tell me about a time something went wrong
The most informative question asked. They want to know whether you take responsibility and whether you learned anything.
Have a real example where you contributed to the problem. Answers where the failure was entirely someone else’s fault are transparent.
Why this company
Assessing whether you applied deliberately or sent a hundred applications.
Something specific about what they do. This requires twenty minutes of research and a surprising number of candidates skip it.
Do you have questions
Not optional. Having none suggests no interest.
Ask about the actual work – what the first three months look like, how decisions get made, what they find difficult. Questions about the work signal you are evaluating the role, which is what a good candidate does.
The preparation that helps most
Three or four concrete stories from your experience, adaptable to most behavioural questions. Preparing stories rather than answers covers far more ground.