Whether it’s your first interview or you’re looking to improve your technique, preparation is the key to success. In the ‘Mastering a Job Interview’ webinar, it explores the three Ps of interview mastery: predict, prepare and practise to help you answer interview questions with confidence and make a positive impression on employers.
1. Why great interview answers need both emotion and logic
Farrah explains there is a ‘Get Hired’ psychological formula for interviews, in which employers look for a combination of emotional connection and logical evidence when deciding whether to hire you.
Think of your interview answer as making two arguments at the same time. One appeals to the interviewer emotionally, while the other convinces them logically, and both are essential to become the top candidate as interviewers think about the following:
The emotional argument: why do they want to hire you?
Interviewers are asking themselves questions such as:
- Would this person fit into the team?
- Do they seem genuinely motivated?
- Can I picture working with them every day?
The logical argument: why should they hire you?
The logical argument shows evidence to back you and build confidence in the interviewer about you, and strong interview answers include:
- Clear structure that is easy to follow
- Specific examples from work, university or extracurricular activities
- Quantifiable results wherever possible
- Enough detail to demonstrate your contribution without overwhelming the interviewer
To present both arguments, Farrah explains it all comes down to how well you can tell a story and demonstrate passion, and being a great communicator and the three Ps can help you to do this.
2. Mastering Interviews with the Three Ps
One simple framework is the three Ps of interview mastery:
- Predict the questions you’re likely to be asked
- Prepare structured, compelling answers
- Practise until those answers feel natural and confident
3. Predict: questions you may get asked
The first step is to predict what questions you may be asked, as although every interview is different, employers draw from a small set of question types designed to assess different aspects of your suitability for the role.
1. Motivational questions
These questions explore your interest in the role and organisation.
Typical examples include:
- Tell me about yourself
- Walk me through your CV
- Why do you want to work here?
- What interests you about this role?
- Why should we hire you?
- Why the industry/sector?
Interviewers will feel the emotional argument of why you want to work for them and understand your motivation and whether you’ve genuinely researched both the organisation and the opportunity.
2. Competency questions
Competency questions ask you to demonstrate skills through real examples from your past and usually begin with “Tell me about a time you’ve…”
Examples:
- Tell me about a time you deliver excellent customer service
- Tell me about a time you solved a problem using data
- Tell me about a time you collaborated in a team
Farrah provides insight that in a well-written job specification, everything you need to know about competency questions is in there, such as the skills, the trade, and the ideal qualities they’re looking for in an ideal candidate.
3. Situational questions
Rather than asking what you’ve done, situational questions ask what you would do and how you respond and handle situations that may pop up in everyday life in the role.
Specific, concrete example: Imagine X situation were to happen. What would you do?
Abstract example: Would you rather do X or Y? e.g. miss a deadline or cut corners
Overall, employers are assessing your judgement, problem-solving skills and decision-making process. They’re interested in hearing how you think through a problem logically.
Watch clip to learn more>>
4. Technical or commercial questions
Depending on the role, you may be asked questions that assess your technical knowledge or understanding of the industry.
Technical questions test your knowledge of definitions or how something works in your sector, e.g. “What is a block chain and how can it be used in a business?”.
Commercial questions (asked in more consulting and business development roles) include: “What are the biggest trends affecting UK consumer banking right now?”
Refreshing your technical knowledge and staying up to date with industry news is great for answering these questions.
5. Strength-based questions
In graduate and entry-level roles where you may have a lack of experience, these questions tend to focus more on who you are.
Questions might include:
- How do your friends and family describe you?
- What’s your proudest achievement and why?
- What energises you at work?
- Describe your ideal day at work
- What do you find easy that others may find hard?
6. Wildcard questions
These questions aren’t asked to catch you out but rather to allow the interviewer to know how you think, how you respond in the moment to something unexpected, and see your personality.
Wildcard question examples:
- How many dry cleaners are there in London?
- What’s our CEO’s name?
- If you could be a kitchen utensil, what would you be and why?
- Which Disney character are you most like and why?
Predict: What are the four common interview formats and the questions to expect?
- Phone screening: motivational and competency questions
- Virtual interviews: motivational, competency and situational questions
- Technical/case study interviews: Technical/commercial, motivational, competency, situational, strength, and wildcard questions
- Live interviews (face to face and online): Motivational, competency, situational, technical/commercial, strength, wildcard questions
4. Prepare: let the job description do the hard work
Step 1: Analyse the job specification
Underline the skills, traits, and responsibilities on the job specification and break them down into buckets e.g. leadership, teamwork and collaboration, and communication. From here you can then narrow down likely questions.
Step 2: Picking your examples
Your examples need to be relevant to the role, impressive in getting results, and understandable so your example is easy to follow.
Step 3: Draft what you’ll say
Farrah recommends using the CARL method when drafting out answers instead of the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
Challenge: Begin with setting the scene and the challenge you faced.
Actions: Explain what you did and your approach.
Results: Share the results and if possible, use numbers, percentages and measurable improvements
Learning and Linking: Reflect on what you learned from the experience and connect it directly to the role you’re applying for.
Watch the clip for sentence starters using CARL>>
5. Practise: How to practise for your job interview?
Now that you’ve predicted the questions and prepared your examples, it’s time to practise. Farrah outlines three ways in which to do so:
- Self-practice: Record yourself, do run-throughs, watch it back, or practise in the mirror
- Practise with others: Run-through with a university career coach, family member or a friend
- With AI: Randomise questions, gain feedback, but best paired with human expertise
Practise: How to tell if your interview answers are working
To know if an answer is working or not, here are three things Farrah says to look out for:
- Understandable: ensuring your answer should be clear, well-structured and easy to follow from beginning to end and includes keywords
- Emotionally compelling: making the interviewer feel something positive towards you
- Logically impressive: Sharing the strongest results
Practise: should you have a script?
You can have a script; however, Farrah recommends having bullet points or a visual aid and encourages you to practise with them.
Watch clip>>
6. Q&A
- Do you have any advice for how we could perform well in an in-tray task?
- Do you think winning a competition is a quantitative result (after explaining the other elements in CARL) though it doesn’t show a number? How would you show a number in this if important, perhaps how many people were running for the competition that you won against?
- I’ve got an interview in a few days for a university library service admin job, I’m not sure what questions will come up, and are there questions applicable?
- I’d love your insight in my last interview feedback. The feedback I received was I’m confident in answering, communicated clearly, explained reasoning throughout, intro was good. Tailor answers to specific question asked. Focus on highlighting the skills/experience as outlined in the job description.
- My experience is in careers, but I want to get my foot in the door in HR. When I speak about my experience, do I say how the experience and skills in careers relates to HR, even though I’ve never worked in HR before?
- I struggle with the motivational questions especially as the first one – how much to say and what not to say
You can also watch our previous webinars ‘How to get a job with no experience’ and ‘How to build a personal brand on LinkedIn’. If you’d like to keep updated on any future Unitemps events, follow us on social media: LinkedIn, X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
For more interview advice check out our blog page for articles such as ‘What are the best questions to ask in an interview?’ and ‘Body language tips for your next interview’.
Meet the speaker:
Farrah Morgan, Graduate Careers Coach at Farrah Burke Coaching
Farrah (The Grad Coach 🎓) is an ex-hiring manager for a Times Top 100 Graduate Employer and seasoned careers coach for students & graduates. Since becoming The Grad Coach in 2021, she has worked with 200+ young professionals 1:1 and 4000+ more within online webinars and her job search community Career Launch Club. Her support has landed clients final stage invites and offers from 42% of Times Top 100 Graduate Employers and generated approximately £3.7 million in starting salaries. She is also an accredited psychological coach and alumnus of Warwick University (Theatre and Performance 2013-16).
Last updated on 17 July 2026
Share this article