Behavioral, Screening, Case, Informational?
What Kind of Interview Is It?

There are a variety of types of interviews, such as a screening interview, group interview, lunch interview, phone interview, and one-on-one. Then there are also styles of interviews, and the most common are the behavioral interview (questions about past behaviors as they are believed to predict future performance), the traditional interview (questions such as tell me about yourself or what are your strengths and weaknesses), and the case interview (format like a test, where you will be called upon to solve problems either individually or as part of a group):

A Little Background on Types
Types of Interviews, jobskills.info

The Phone Interview
Sometimes the phone interview is a screening interview conducted by an HR manager. Other times it can be the real deal. Check out ways to prepare and improve your phone presence:
Five Ways To Do Better in Phone Interviews, from the author of The Brazen Careerist, Penelope Trunk
How to Ace a Phone Interview, by Anne Fisher, FORTUNE senior writer
Telephone Interviews, pdf below

Case Interviews
Case interviews, often used by consulting firms to test your quantitative and problem-solving abilities, require a special kind of preparation. Two Vault Guides are of particular interest for this kind of preparation:
Vault Case Interview Practice Guide [Yale Library electronic resource] /Rajit Malhotra ... [et. ... al.]. prepare for your consulting case interviews with detailed step-by-step analysis of 18 cases
Ace Your Case! Consulting Interviews, Wetfeet Insider's Guide. Available to check out from CDO library.
Case Interviewing, pdf below

Preparing Your Interview Answers

Long before you are ready to go out on interviews, you will need to spend time preparing your interview question answers. How do you do this without knowing the questions? There are many sources available on typical interview questions, both of the traditional variety of interview and the behavioral-based interview. If you are interviewing for consulting firms, find out if they do case-based interviewing, and start preparing for case interviews.

Research typical questions and start working on your answers. Once you have your stable of ready answers to typical interview questions that showcase your experience, knowledge and abilities, you can spend more time on researching organizations and refining your goals. Here are a few resources to get you started:

Traditional Employment Interview Questions, from Quintessential Careers
Behavioral Interview, from About.com

Answering the Behavioral-Based Interview Question: STAR = Situation, Task, Action and Results
The best way to have people connect with what you say about yourself, and remember what you say, is to tell a story. Most people instinctively list details about their life, “I did this, then this, then this.” It’s not very interesting. Stories are more engaging, so get used to talking about yourself in stories instead of in lists.

Telling stories about yourself takes practice. A lot of it is trial and error. As you’re telling the story out loud, you’ll instinctively feel if it’s a flop or not. When you find a good story, hone it until you’re conveying what you want people to know, in a way they’ll enjoy hearing. -- Penelope Trunk, From Be Memorable By Telling Good Stories About Yourself, The Brazen Careerist

See STAR Interviewing Response Technique for Success in Behavioral Job Interviews from Quintessential Careers for more details on the method.

Behavioral interview questions ask you to refer back to or imagine a situation or problem and describe your actions and the results, and were developed because past behavior is usually a good indicator of future behavior. Instead of merely describing a skill, subject knowledge, a project or a personal quality, what you are really being asked is to tell a story. Your ability to construct a narrative is in itself a key element, and reflects your level of self-awareness, your logic patterns, creativity and communication skills.

Behavioral-based interviews will include open-ended questions where you are asked to "Tell us about a time when you..."

The STAR method is a handy acronym to help guide you through your narrative, which you may be developing on the spot.

Do a little research on behavioral-based interview questions and sample STAR answers (CDO has several books available with sample questions and answers). Then download our worksheet to help you get your answers down on paper. Once you have a few handy story/answers, you can start practicing them aloud.

Practice, Practice, Practice Interviewing With InterviewStream

Video interview technology for practicing interviews. Review immediately, and send to CDO, Mom or colleagues for review! Needs a computer with internet access and webcam, which you can borrow from CDO.

Researching the Employer

Having a good knowledge of who you are interviewing with is vital to successfully interviewing. The following pdf offers ideas and resources for your research.

References

Preparing your list of references in advance of interviewing is a key element of your overall job search strategy. The below pdf offers guidelines for gathering and communicating with your referrers.

Dressing Professionally and For the Interview

From Monster.com: Dress Appropriately
From Worktree.com: http://www.worktree.com/tb/IN_dress.cfm
From Princeton University's Career Office website: Dress Code

Anatomy of the Interview Process

Never interviewed before? The following document outlines the basics of a typical interview.

After the Interview

See the following pdfs for important tips.

a) Thank You Notes/Follow-up
b) Job offer evaluation
c) Salary Negotiation