I’ve got one on Tuesday that looks like my best shot at a new job since I got laid off in the summer. It’s with a vice president of the company and the person whose position I’m filling since she got promoted
I’m just a little weirdo, I don’t know how to make them want to hire me 
Practice giving your answers in a STAR format (situation, task, action, response) basically what was the context, what were you assigned/doing, how did you execute and what was the result. The split should be 10/10/70/10, i.e. don’t spend too long on the preamble. Make sure to talk to what you did, rather than ‘we’ did. If you have a ‘we’ example, you can say ‘I, as part of the team’ or ‘The team and me’ to re-emphasise your place in the team.
Write down about half a dozen examples you can think that may cover some of the general question themes, for a desk role these could commonly be:
Having a look at the position description may give you a clue, especially if they list some of these more abstract skills.
The real trick is using these half dozen rehearsed examples and tailoring them on the fly to fit into any question they give, and making it look like you thought of it on the spot.
To cover for this, you can practice a few stock phrases to stall for time and to think rather than saying “I don’t know” for e.g. if you can’t think of an example say “Thanks for the question, do you mind if I take a moment to think of the best example?” (Gives the impression you may have multiple and are choosing the most appropriate).
Feel free to break down questions, to define terms, it will help structure your answer e.g. “Tell us a time you had to go above and beyond to meet a client’s expectations” you could say “Thanks for the question, it appears to me there are two parts to this. I’ll define what the client’s expectations were first, and how they diverged from our normal service, before I can get to how I resolved that issue”.
Finally, if you’re interviewing online, I’ve heard that looking at the camera, not at the screen, gives the illusion of eye contact and idk apparently hiring panels appreciate it.
I interview well because I honestly rehearse, like it’s an audition.
Urgh, I cannot force eye contact to begin with. My eyes walk when I’m talking. That’s just happening no matter what. Maybe a paralytic or some sort of pin vice
Yeah I struggle too, but when I do look up I make sure to look at the camera. I interviewed for a role online recently, too, and the screener was like “You seem extraverted which is good because the team is full of introverts” didn’t want to contradict them so I was like ahahahah yeah I guess I’m an ambivert. In reality I’ve had previous managers grill me over eye contact in person fucking sucks and eye contact has nothing to do with intro/extroversion.
I’m pretty bonkers extroverted, will forgo sleep and food if I’m in a comfy conversation and enjoy meeting new people. No idea what’s going on though
Good post!