When a client tells you they have an interview coming up, the temptation is to pull out a list of common questions and start firing them. It feels productive. It is also the least useful thing you can do first, because practising answers before the client knows what the job needs and what stories they have to tell just rehearses vague answers.
Good interview preparation has an order. Here it is, laid out so you can run it in one session if the interview is close, or spread across two or three if you have time.
Step one: find out what you are working with
Before any practice, get the facts:
- The job posting, the whole thing, not the client’s summary of it.
- Who they are meeting, in what format — phone, video, in person, a panel, a recorded one-way video — and roughly how long.
- Which round this is, and what they know about the rounds after it.
- What they are most worried about. Ask directly. The answer is usually one specific question or one gap in their history, and that is where a lot of the session’s value will be.
Step two: read the job like the hiring manager
Sit with the posting together and pull out the three or four things the role actually needs. Not every bullet — postings are padded — but the requirements that show up more than once, or sit at the top, or describe a problem the team clearly has.
Then ask the client to research the organisation the way a curious outsider would: its own website, recent news, how it describes itself, and what people in similar roles there talk about publicly. The point is not to memorise facts to recite. It is to understand what this team is trying to get done, so every answer can connect back to it.
Step three: build the stories
Most interview questions are versions of “prove you can do this.” The proof is a story. For each of the needs you pulled out, help the client find one real example from their work where they did that thing.
A simple shape keeps stories tight. One common one is STAR — situation, task, action, result. Whatever you call it, the coaching job is the same:
- Shrink the background. Clients spend far too long setting the scene. Two sentences, then move.
- Make them say “I.” People describe team work as “we” all the way through, and the interviewer never learns what they did. Credit the team, then be specific about their own part.
- End with what happened. If there is a result they can state honestly, state it. If it did not work out, say what they learned and what they would do differently. Never help a client inflate a result they cannot back up.
Six to eight solid stories cover most interviews, because each one can answer several questions. Have the client write a one-line reminder for each, not a script.
Step four: the hard questions, on purpose
Now go straight at the thing they are dreading. A gap in their history. A short job they left. A firing. Changing fields. Being told they are overqualified.
For each one, help them build an answer that is true, short, and points forward: what happened, in a sentence, without blame or over-explaining; what they did about it or learned from it; and why that makes them a good fit now. Then practise it until it stops sounding defensive. The goal is for that question to become a non-event.
If the dread is bigger than one question — if interviews bring up something that sounds like more than ordinary nerves — that may be worth naming, and knowing when to refer is part of doing this work well.
Step five: practise for real
Run a mock interview, and run it straight. Agree first that for the next stretch you are the interviewer, not the coach — no encouraging nods, no rescuing, follow-up questions they did not prepare for. Use the format of the real thing: if it is on video, practise on video.
Then step out of role and go through it together. Ask them first what they noticed. Then add yours, and keep it to the two or three changes that matter most. A list of fifteen notes the night before an interview helps nobody.
With permission, recording the practice is worth more than any feedback you give. People hear their own filler words, rambling, and rushed endings instantly.
Step six: their questions back
“Do you have any questions for us?” is not a formality. Help the client prepare a few real ones that show they were listening and that help them decide whether they want the job: what success looks like in the first months, what the team is struggling with, how the role came to be open, what happens next in the process.
Questions about pay, schedule, and flexibility are fair. Help them decide when to ask, depending on the stage. When an offer arrives, that is its own conversation.
When a question crosses a line
Clients sometimes get asked about their age, family plans, religion, health, or other personal matters. Help them decide ahead of time how they want to handle it — redirecting to the work, asking how it relates to the role, or simply answering.
Stay in your lane on the legal side. You are not their lawyer. If a client believes a hiring decision was made because of something like age, disability, religion, sex, or national origin, point them to eeoc.gov, which explains federal rules and how to file, or to an employment attorney in their state.
The day before and the day after
The day before is for logistics and rest, not new material: the route or the link tested, what to wear, a copy of their resume, their story reminders, and a decent night’s sleep. Cramming new answers late makes people worse.
Afterwards, help them write a short thank-you note the same day that mentions something specific from the conversation, and then debrief with you while it is fresh: what went well, which question caught them off guard, and what to adjust for next time. That debrief is how one interview makes the next one easier.
If the client’s resume is getting them interviews for the wrong roles, back up a step — these resume fixes come first. And for more questions to open these sessions with, here are fifty.
This article is general educational information, not legal, tax, financial, or career-counselling advice, and reading it creates no professional relationship. We make no promise that you will earn any money or reach any particular result — that depends on your own work, skills, and market. Certification requirements, fees, and rules are set by the issuing bodies and change; confirm the current terms with the body itself before you rely on anything here.