Stand Out in Your Job Interview: Insider Tips for Recent Grads

Ask Women and Work

Question: I’m a recent grad hunting for a job and I feel like it’s impossible to stand out in the crowd of other applicants. Do you have any insider tips on what companies are looking for, especially during a job interview?

We asked Sarah Stockdale, founder and CEO of Growclass, to tackle this one:

Most of the jobs that you will get are not going to come through cold applying through LinkedIn or Indeed. You need to be thinking about how you can start to cultivate a professional network.

I know that sounds like a big ask as a new grad, but you could spend three days putting in 100 applications online, or you could attend two conferences and ask three people who have interesting roles out for coffee. You might not be getting jobs through those people immediately, but getting your name out there, asking thoughtful questions and cultivating relationships is likely where you will get your next job.

During interviews, you are applying to solve a problem for the company. So, figure out what that is and frame your experience to show that employer that you can solve that problem or take advantage of that opportunity.

It’s hard when you’re fresh because you don’t have a tonne of experience to lean on, but do your best to come up with what I like to call interview ‘bits.’ Stand-up comedians prepare for stand-up shows not by memorizing a whole hour of comedy. They memorize five-minute bits. Employers are always going to ask a series of similar questions: Why this company? Why now? Why you? Come very prepared with your bits – your stories that provide evidence and receipts that you are the person they should hire.

Be sure to anticipate the hard questions. In marketing we would say ‘resolve the objection.’ So, if the objection is that they are asking for SEO experience and you don’t have any, you need to figure out: How do you use your background, your thoughtfulness, your resourcefulness to prove that they’re wrong?

You can practice for the interview using AI. Research the company and the hiring manager. What have they done in their past? What podcasts have they been on? What blogs have they written? Do your best to compile all of that. Write a list of questions that you think that employer is going to ask. Tell ChatGPT or Perplexity that you are interviewing for this role and say, ‘I want you to interview me as this person.’ You can even turn on the voice function and simulate the interview with the help of the data you have provided.

Some organizations will require you to submit assignments as part of the interview process. We just built a Getting Hired e-book at Growclass that has an anonymized database of assignments that have gotten people jobs. So if the potential employer is asking you to write a content marketing strategy as your assignment, you can see a content marketing strategy that got someone a job. It’s so much work applying for jobs. We want to show you what great looks like and help you get an idea of what employers are looking for.