16 Job Interview Tips to Stand Out and Get Hired

"I've had a handful of interviews and even gotten to like the bottom three and I wasn't chosen. And of course there's never any feedback that anyone can give you so you never really understand why."

Operations professional, on a free Huntr support call

Part of The Ultimate Job Search Guide

Interviews move fast once they start. In Q2 2026, the median gap was 6 days from application to interview and 10 days from interview to offer. Prepare before the first invitation arrives.

Before the interview

• Reread the posting and the exact resume you sent.
• Research the company's product, customers, recent news, and your interviewers' public work history.
• Prepare 3 questions you couldn't answer by skimming the website.

Build 5 stories

Have 5 stories ready: a strong result, a hard problem, a mistake, a disagreement, and something you learned. Tell each story with the STAR method:

• Situation: where you were
• Task: what you had to do
• Action: what you did
• Result: what changed, with a number

Include your part and the tradeoffs. Practice out loud until the answer sounds natural.

Questions to ask them

• What does success look like in the first 3 months?
• What makes the work hard right now?
• How does the team make decisions?
• What do the best people in this role do differently?

As I told HubSpot, "Ask questions about the best practices of people in the role currently." An interview is also your chance to find out whether this job works for you.

During the interview

Almost every hire has a personality part. You want them to feel good about talking to you and about hiring you.

• Spend a few minutes on small talk at the start instead of diving in. It loosens things up.
• Stay curious and ask questions.
• Make the interviewer feel their questions are the best you've heard, and mean it.
• Talk to them the way a coworker would.

When you keep finishing second

Many people I talk to reach the final round again and again.

"I'm consistently getting to the final round and I'm consistently getting second place."

Senior manager a year into a search for director roles, on a free Huntr support call

If you keep reaching final rounds, your resume is working. Look at the conversation instead:

• How deep your examples go
• Numbers in your stories
• Your answer to "why this role"
• Your references

Ask the recruiter for 1 piece of feedback. Many won't give it, but some will.

"I've been discouraged by the lack of feedback from positions where I was a finalist."

Senior-level job seeker, in a Huntr survey, December 2025

AI interviews

AI interviews are common now. In my October 2026 LinkedIn poll of 299 people:

• 56% had been asked to do an AI interview in the past 6 months.
• 21% dropped out.
• 11% said they'd never do one.

In a larger Greenhouse survey of 2,950 job seekers, 63% had been interviewed by AI, and nearly 4 in 10 US job seekers have walked away from a hiring process over one.

Do what others won't. Look for any edge.

• Sites that are hard to use, like GovernmentJobs.com, make many people give up, so fewer apply.
• AI interviews work the same way. Every person who drops out is 1 less candidate.

AI interviews are annoying, and whether to do them is your call, based on your values. But skipping one can cost you a real opportunity.

Prepare the same way. I've seen no evidence that you should prepare differently.

• Research the company, its problems, and every qualification and duty in the post.
• Use STAR and show how big your results were.
• Tie each answer back to this job.
• Expect less small talk.

I'll add more here as I learn more.

Follow up with a human. An AI interview still ends with a person deciding. Most people who do AI interviews won't follow up. Find the hiring manager or recruiter and send a short note:

• Thank them.
• Add a point you missed.
• Ask a clarifying question.

Take-home assignments

Before you start, ask:

• How long should it take?
• How will it be judged?
• Will they use the work?

You can offer a smaller sample if the request is unreasonable or involves confidential material. Guard your time. My essay The Cost of an Interview covers the expensive promises sold to job seekers.

After the interview

"A thank you note shouldn't just say thank you. It should be the start of the conversation."

Me, on a free Huntr support call

Your thank-you note is a second chance. "Almost nobody follows up after the interview with a thank you note and then addresses ... a better answer to the question that you were trying to describe." Use the note to:

• Give the clearer answer you wish you'd given.
• Share 1 thing you didn't get to say.
• Ask a question that came up after you hung up.
• Offer a follow-up, like a work sample or a short call.

I've seen a strong follow-up work from the hiring side. "Somebody just bombs the interview. They send me a really great follow-up email, and I said ... Let's give them another shot."

Send your note to the right person. The right person is often the hiring manager or recruiter. See how to find them in Networking and referrals.

Your action items

• Write 5 short stories using STAR.
• Practice your introduction out loud.
• Prepare 3 questions about the actual work.
• Line up 2 or 3 references who will answer quickly.
• After each interview, including AI interviews, send a note that adds 1 thing.
• After each final round, ask for 1 piece of feedback.
• If you're invited to an AI interview, prepare for it like any other.

Further reading

• The Cost of an Interview
• Q2 2026 Job Search Trends Report: time to interview and offer.
• Q1 2026 Job Search Trends Report
• Phone interview tips and video interview tips

Consult the experts. Luki Danukarjanto, a former Deloitte recruiting lead, coaches interviews and soft skills. Carrie Bryson coaches interviews for mid- and senior-level professionals. Teri Christine Akpovi brings 12+ years of hiring experience. More in the coaches I recommend.

Next: Job offers and negotiation

Pay, terms, and how to ask for more. Back to the guide home

How can I make this page better? Send me a quick note or email [email protected]. I read every one.

20% off Huntr Pro, plus a weekly call with me. Use code Sam20 for 20% off your first month at huntr.co/pricing. Pro subscribers using this guide get a weekly 15-minute job search support session with me. Email [email protected] to book yours.

Sam Wright

Sam Wright is the Head of Career Strategy at Huntr. Drawing on proprietary data from 1.7 million applications, 1 million job postings, 243,000 résumés, and a 1,049-respondent survey, Sam provides actionable, data-driven blueprints to help professionals navigate today's fractured hiring landscape. He has conducted over 900+ free support calls with job seekers, giving him frontline insight into today's job market. His work and insights have been featured in Business Insider, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and The Seattle Times.

Outside the tech world, Sam is a part-time farmer from a five-generation legacy of organic vegetable farming. He is a passionate advocate for farmland preservation.

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