Since you are a potential employee for the organization where you are interviewing, it’s important to show your interviewer that you are interested and already knowledgeable about the company, what they do, what sets them apart from other organizations and what their mission is. Interviewers will often ask why you want to work at their organization, so it’s best to have a genuine answer ready to go.

The Career Center’s interviews page provides links for scheduling a mock interview with a DePaul Career Coach or alumnus volunteer in your field. You can also use DePaul InterviewStream to record yourself answering common interview questions and self-evaluate afterward. These resources can provide you with the necessary practice and feedback to improve your interviewing skills and land that internship!

The Career Center has a great resource containing an overview of the most common types of interview questions and how to approach them, and they have an additional webpage with an extensive list of traditional questions. Also, the HireDePaul blog has helpful posts breaking down certain tricky behavioral questions, unusual questions and questions about weakness. Take some time before each interview to think about how you would answer these questions if they came up.

Different workplaces have different expectations for how their employees should dress, so you’ll want to dress accordingly to look like you will fit into the work environment. The Career Center has a useful resource for choosing what to wear to an interview.

For in-person interviews, it is extremely important that you aim to get to your interview location 10-15 minutes early in case you run into traffic or other issues on your way to the interview site. Even if any delays were out of your control, arriving late gives a very bad impression to your prospective employer, and they may immediately withdraw their consideration of your application. If you arrive over 10-15 minutes early, it is best to wait somewhere outside the building — like your car or a nearby café — as arriving to the interview site too early can throw off or distract the interviewer and other employees.

For video or phone interviews, be ready to begin the interview at least 5 minutes early. You may be able to enter the interview “room” early in programs like Zoom or Google Hangouts so that you are ready to go as soon as your interviewer appears. Being able to immediately accept the call from your interviewer without having to scramble to grab any items or complete any tasks at the last minute will show them that you will be a punctual worker.

Asking your interviewer questions can help you learn more about the job, but it’s also a crucial way to demonstrate genuine interest, enthusiasm, and research you’ve done on the organization. Check out this Career Center resource and this Handshake blog post for some helpful information about what kinds of effective questions you could ask your interviewer.

Even if you are feeling very nervous or underqualified for an interview, try your best to present a confident appearance to the interviewer. Despite any feelings of anxiety, be sure to smile, maintain good eye contact, give a firm handshake and speak clearly. To come across as open and relaxed, avoid crossing your arms or legs. By “faking it ’til you make it” and pretending to be confident, you may even feel a real sense of confidence beginning to grow.

A post-interview thank-you letter can make you stand apart from other applicants and show the employer that you are very interested in the job. Many employers even expect a thank-you letter and may not consider applicants who fail to send one. Since the hiring process often moves quickly, it’s recommended to send your letter as an email, although you may decide to additionally send a handwritten letter if you want to add a personal touch and stand out even more. Send your thank-you email within 24-48 hours after the interview so that you are still fresh in the interviewer’s mind. This blog post from HireDePaul can guide you through the process of following up after your interview. Additionally, this blog post from Handshake provides some tips for writing and sending your thank-you note, which should at least include a subject line, personalized greeting, note of appreciation, recap of your qualifications, prompt to take the next step and contact information.

A group interview involves one or more employees interviewing multiple candidates in the same room at the same time. Some group interviews also include a work-simulation or problem-solving exercise in which you must work with the other candidates as a team. Be friendly and kind to your fellow candidates. While you may all be vying for the same position, interviewers will be paying close attention to how you collaborate with others and how relaxed you seem. Also, consider your personality before going into a group interview. If you’re more extraverted, be mindful of not steamrolling others; if you’re introverted, find ways to be inclusive of others if you’re not comfortable generating ideas on the spot. These articles from Indeed, Glassdoor and The Balance Careers include helpful tips for group interviews if you want to read more.

A panel interview involves one candidate in front of a panel of multiple interviewers. This type of interview is similar to one-on-one interviews in terms of the types of questions to expect, but it’s important to establish a rapport with everyone on the panel. Be sure to acknowledge each panel member throughout the interview and bring enough materials (such as resumes) for all of them. Take a look at these articles from Zippia, The Balance Careers and The Muse for some additional tips on panel interviews.

Phone interviews may seem more relaxed than other types of interviews because your interviewer won’t be looking at you or your environment. However, you should always approach phone interviews with the same level of professionalism and preparation as you would with other types of interviews. If you want to read some specific “do’s and don’ts” for phone interviews — for example, do be concise and don’t multitask — check out these articles from The Balance Careers, Glassdoor and Inc.

Video interviews over platforms like Zoom, Skype and Google Hangouts have exploded in popularity recently, so it’s important to feel as confident in your video interviewing skills as you are in your live interviewing skills. Just like for phone interviews, be sure to go into the video interview just as professionally as you would for a normal interview. If you wouldn’t do something in a face-to-face interview, don’t do it during your video interview. Take a look at these articles from Handshake, The Muse and The Balance Careers for some very helpful tips for acing your video interviews.

Setting up for an asynchronous video interview is similar to setting up for a live video interview, but the interview itself may feel very different as there is no interviewer to interact with. Try to act as natural as possible in your video and not micro-analyze it after recording. Most interview softwares will provide the opportunity to retake your video multiple or unlimited times, so you can retry until you’ve honed your answers to your satisfaction. These articles from Job-Hunt, TopInterview and CPL provide some great suggestions for preparing well for your asynchronous video interview.