The 3 interview ingredients that will land you offers!

Hey reader,

When I'm preparing my clients for interviews, I never start with practice questions.

I don't hand them a list of "perfect" answers. I definitely don't tell them to use AI to generate responses that sound like everyone else's.

Instead, I coach them to do something most people skip entirely.

They research. They dig deep. They find out exactly what keeps their future boss up at night, and what problems they desperately need someone to solve.

Then they figure out how to position themselves as the obvious answer to those problems.

Hiring Managers approach interviews as a ‘risk assessment’; it’s very expensive for them to make the wrong hire. You need to help them understand that you are worth investing in.

The more confident they feel about you as a candidate, the easier the decision to move you forward and hand you an offer. It's all about ‘de-risking’ yourself.

There are 3 key ingredients to deliver a great interview:

1. Building a real connection

What BAD looks like:

• "How's the weather there?"

• Only talking about surface-level stuff

• Making it feel like a formal interrogation

What GOOD looks like: You've actually looked them up. You checked their LinkedIn profile and saw they recently posted about moving their team to a new Tech stack. You mention how you did something similar at your company and what you learned from it.

Maybe you saw they went to the same conference you did, or they posted about something you care about, too. Find real connection points over making small talk.

One of my clients saw that her interviewer had just celebrated their team reaching a big goal. She started by saying congratulations and asking what made that win so special. They spent the first 10 minutes talking about the real story behind it, and by the time they got to the "official" questions, it felt like talking with someone on their team! This foundation helped her continue building a strong connection before getting an offer 3 weeks later.

2. Show your impact

What BAD looks like:

• Using the same AI-generated answers that everyone else gives

• Talking about your tasks instead of what changed because you did it

• Sharing basic examples that could work for any company

What GOOD looks like: You share your BEST and most aligned examples. Start with what happened because of your work, then explain how you made it happen.

Instead of: "I managed a team of 5 engineers to build a new feature."

Try: "We cut customer churn by 23% in Q3, which saved $2.1M. Here's how I made that happen..."

Your examples should make the Hiring Manager think: "We have exactly this problem. She could fix this for us too."

One of my clients was interviewing for a Product Manager role at a FinTech startup that was struggling to get users to actually use their product. She didn’t talk about her PM experience in general. Instead, she told a story of how she got 135% more people using a feature at her current company by creating a simple way for users to give feedback that completely changed their product direction. She found out she was moving to the next round during that same interview!

3. Ask strategic questions

What BAD looks like:

• "What's the company culture like?"

• "What does a normal day look like?"

• Questions you could ask anywhere

What GOOD looks like: You've done your homework. You found the CEO's recent interview where she talked about their 3-year plan to become the top AI company in their industry. You watched their latest feature release. You researched their biggest competitors. You read their company reports.

Your questions should connect to what actually matters to them:

• "I saw in your last earnings call that you're investing heavily in AI features. How would this team help with that, and what would success look like in the first year?"

• "Your CEO mentioned wanting to expand to the US by 2026. How would this role be part of that expansion, and what are the main challenges you need to solve to get there?"

• "You've scaled from 200 to 500 employees in the past 18 months. What growing pains are you still experiencing, and how can I help solve them?"

Ask questions that show you've done your homework and you're thinking about their actual challenges.

The sweet spot

Don’t focus on ‘perfect answers’, because they don’t exist! Show that you understand what the company and Hiring Manager need, and prove that you are the solution.

The sweet spot is the combination of creating a genuine connection with all interviewers, sharing your BEST stories that show how you can make an impact and asking strategic questions.

When you do this right, you'll feel the energy change in the interview. The interviewer starts nodding along, agreeing with your points. You'll get that positive feeling because there's a real connection forming. The interview might even go over time because you have so much to discuss.

That's what you're looking for. That's when you know they're already picturing you as part of their team.

I’ve helped 50+ women towards landing incredible roles at companies like LinkedIn, Amplitude and SnapChat. If you’re ready to change how you show up in interviews, so you can start landing offers soon, I’d love to help you get there! Reply to this email with “CAREER” and I’ll share the next steps with you.

Here’s to your next incredible role!

Talk soon, Jennifer