Interview Prep

[ToothbrushMan]

If you had been told you had a 2nd interview at the first meeting and was just waiting on a date and time would you start your prep immediately or only once that interview confirmation had been received?

I was told a few months back that the company wanted me to be involved in the 2nd round of interviews only to be told just before Xmas (great time to be told) that they had recruited internally. On that occasion I am so glad I never wasted any of my time mugging up on the company again or doing more prep work.

What are your experiences / what would you do?

I am of the view that its best to just forget about any past interviews and only prep when you have a date confirmation in your hand for round 2 or 3. You usually get at east 2 or 3 days notice anyway so it shouldnt necessarily incur last minute panic preparation.

[petrolbloke]

I agree. Would be thinking about it in the background as soon as the date was confirmed, but not actually do the prep until 1-3 days before.

[Integroo]

Depends on the job. Research on the company itself is often only a small part of the preparation; preparing for competency questions, knowing your own experiences inside out, those sorts of things, are universal to all interviews and worth keeping on top off so it is not a mad cram with a few days to go. Unless you are very very busy on other important things, I see no harm in preparing early - preparation is key to ace interviews.

[toon10]

I do all my interview preparation when I know I have one. I've spent some time in the past on this after initial "they're really excited about your CV" type conversations only to be told later that they don't wish to pursue.

It happened last month, I had a really good interview before Christmas and the panel seemed really keen. Lots of talk about the next stage, etc. I didn't do any extra work and then found out I wasn't going through to the second round. Whilst the initial rejection can be hard to take, the thought that I didn't invest any extra effort before another interview eased the pain.