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an introvert's guide to job interviews
and how to knock it out of the park
Brian Garland
February 29, 2024
Welcome to The Introverted Path!
Happy Thursday and Leap Day! Hope everyone has had a great week so far.
Weather has been all over the place here in Kansas City. It was up in the 70’s on Tuesday and now down to 18 degrees on Wednesday 🥶
I’m ready for spring time!
This week, I am writing about navigating job interviews as an introvert.
Interviews are something that used to give me a lot of anxiety, but there are ways to ensure you are prepared and confident so you can land your dream job.
In today’s email:
Why job interviews are difficult for introverts
Strategies to overcome those challenges
Links to other content I enjoyed this week
Let’s dive in 🤙
Why job interviews are difficult for introverts
I went through multiple interview processes 18 months ago before starting my most recent job.
So this topic is still fairly fresh for me. I did a lot of reading and preparing as part of that.
Let’s start with the obvious - as introverts, it can be difficult to talk about ourselves.
And at it’s core, an interview is selling yourself to the person you are being interviewed by.
This means we need to put any humbleness to the side and be ready to showcase our skills and talents.
The good news is that most interview formats are typically 1-on-1 or 1-on-few.
This makes it easier to have productive, meaningful conversations when you aren’t competing to get a word in amongst a large group.
Tips to knock interviews out of the park ⚾️
1. Research
Before each interview, open up a new Google doc or turn a fresh notebook page.
Do as much research as you can on the company and the people who will be interviewing you.
The job description, product, the team, Glassdoor reviews, funding rounds, roadmaps, mission & vision statement, social media, recent news articles, competitors, etc.
The idea is to take in as much information as you can and make notes so that you have a familiarity of the company going into the interviews.
And then if you have the name of the person interviewing you, don’t be afraid to do some internet stalking 😄
At the very least, you should be able to find their LinkedIn page and get a better sense of their role. Plus you can look if you have any mutual connections or are familiar with any of their previous workplaces.
2. Preparation
Most interviews have some amount of behavioral questions which are scenario based.
They’ll want you to tell them about a time you overcame a big challenge to achieve your goal, or how you worked well in a team, or how you managed a difficult team member.
Begin to write down as many situations that you can recall from your job history.
All the wins you had, milestones achieved, difficulties overcome, times you worked with tough peers or clients, anything that would help you stand out.
Then run through some example behavioral interview questions and begin to map out what experiences you could use to answer each questions.
Practice answering these using the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result.
The other thing I would practice in advance is your elevator pitch.
What you will answer when asked “tell me about yourself…”
It’s important to highlight the work experiences that match the job description, but also to tell them things about yourself that will help them remember you.
Try not to be vague; instead of:
“I like to workout” → “I really enjoy yoga and am thinking of becoming a teacher”
“I like to cook” → “My partner and I pick a new recipe each week to cook”
“I enjoy reading” → “I have been really into reading about 18th-century sailors”
3. Relax and be yourself
Once you have put in the research and preparation, you can go into the interview feeling confident.
I have found most my anxiety stems from not being prepared - so by doing the first two steps, it makes you much more relaxed during the interview itself.
Instead of shying away from your introvert traits, lean into them.
I previously wrote about introvert superpowers.
Highlight why being an introvert will help you excel in this job, instead of trying to portray yourself as someone else.
Links that I enjoyed this week 💥
Best,
BG