Acing a tough set of interviews

Had a client report to me today that our work together enabled him to perform at top notch during nine back-to-back interviews at a U.S. high-tech company, resulting in a great job offer.

What was the secret?

a) Understanding the company, its culture, and its values; gathering intelligence on how it conducts interviews.

b) Several practice interviews, where I served as the interviewer.

c) Preparing his PAR stories in advance in order to remember them for answering behavioral questions.

d) Practicing answering marketing cases, making sure to approach each one with a specific analytical structure in mind.

e) Being prepared to answer open-ended questions, such as "tell me about yourself."

f) Thinking through his own value proposition, what he brought to the table for the company, and what constituted his "competitive advantage."

g) Thoroughly researching the company's industry, products, competition, and current business challenges.

Moral of the story: there's no substitute for being prepared!