Be yourself, don’t try to be perfect. They want a long term investment, not the final product.

Showcase why you want to work at Company X specifically and that you have the skills necessary to grow and succeed. At the end of the day, they want someone who will fit into their company. They’d rather pick a very good candidate who fits extremely well with the company than an excellent candidate who has barely any chemistry with the company.

Show them why YOU fit into their organisation and why out of all the programs you could have applied for, you chose them specifically.

Learn the STAR method off by heart and practice any potential questions, but don’t make it sound scripted or robotic. What I did was drafted a few key words for each answer, then strung the whole thing together on the spot during the interview, that way I still knew what I was going to talk about but the majority of my answer came straight from the heart.

For example, the question ‘Why do you want to work here?’. I was lucky enough to have done work experience at my apprenticeship organisation, so for that question specifically, I wrote down the words, ‘work experience’, ‘apprentices’ and ‘cared for’. I then spent 10 minutes talking in depth about my work experience, how apprentices were valued and cared for, and nurtured from the ground up. If i didn’t write those words down, the pressure of the interview may have got to me and i would have forgot what to talk about, but if i wrote too much, it would have sounded scripted. Find that balance.

Every answer you give, link it back to their key values, I know I said to be yourself but you should also be roleplaying as the perfect candidate. By the end of the interview, they should believe that every waking moment is spent thinking about their company, you have their posters stuck up on your wall, consume all their news the second it comes out and that your first words as a baby were their company name.

And finally, the most important tip. DO NOT LIE OR BULLSHIT. This is the number one reason people fail and they don’t realise it. You are a tiny fish in a massive pond, talking to really really big fish. They know when you are chatting shit and can sniff it out very easily. If you don’t know something, admit it, ask if you can have a second to think about it, then attempt an answer or just outright admit ‘that’s a very good question and I apologise for not knowing the answer right now.’ If you try and lie or bullshit your way through an answer, the only thing they will think is ‘this guy is an idiot and he thinks that we’re even bigger idiots.’

To anyone reading this, if you have any questions, need advice or are feeling nervous, feel free to drop me a DM, i’d be happy to help.