How to Prepare for an Interview: A Step-by-Step UK Guide

A step-by-step plan for preparing for a job interview in the UK, from researching the employer and decoding the job description to STAR examples, video interviews, the day itself and following up.

By Tony Musso on Sun Oct 18 2026

Knowing how to prepare for an interview matters more than being naturally confident. Most interviews in the UK follow a predictable pattern: questions about why you want the job, questions asking for past examples, and a chance for you to ask your own. If you prepare for each part, you walk in with something to say, rather than hoping the right words arrive on the day.

This guide sets out a step-by-step preparation plan, from the moment you get the invitation to the follow-up email afterwards. It works for most jobs, from retail and admin roles to graduate schemes, the NHS and the Civil Service.

A preparation timeline at a glance

You will not always get a week's notice, so squeeze or stretch this to fit the time you have.

Step 1: Research the employer and the role

Interviewers notice quickly when someone has not looked beyond the job advert. You do not need to know everything, but you should be able to answer "What do you know about us?" in a few confident sentences.

• Read their website properly. Look at the "About us" page, their services or products, and any recent news or announcements.
• Understand who their customers or service users are. A housing association, a private nursery and a supermarket chain all care about different things.
• Check their values. Many UK employers publish values and use them in interview scoring, especially in the public and charity sectors.
• Look at the team and the interviewers. If you know who is interviewing you, a quick look at their professional profile tells you their role and what they might care about.
• Note one or two things that genuinely interest you. These make your answer to "Why do you want to work here?" specific rather than generic.

Step 2: Pull apart the job description and person specification

The job description says what you will do. The person specification says what kind of person they want, often split into essential and desirable criteria. Together, they are the closest thing you will get to the interviewer's marking sheet.

Print them or copy them into a document, then:

1. Highlight every skill, quality or piece of experience they ask for.
2. Next to each one, write a short note about where you have shown it: a job, a course, volunteering, a caring role or a hobby.
3. Mark any gaps honestly. For each gap, think about something related you have done, or how you would learn it quickly.

If the advert says the interview will assess particular skills or behaviours, those are your priority. Public sector employers often state this outright.

Step 3: Prepare your STAR examples

Most interviews include questions such as "Tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult customer" or "Give an example of when you worked under pressure". The best way to answer these is the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result. Our full guide to the STAR method shows how to balance each part, with worked examples.

From your job description notes, build a bank of six to eight examples that cover the main skills. Good examples usually include:

• Teamwork: a time you helped a group succeed.
• Problem solving: something that went wrong and how you fixed it.
• Customer or service focus: a time you helped someone with a difficult need.
• Working under pressure: a deadline, a busy shift or competing priorities.
• A mistake: what happened, how you owned it and what you changed.
• Learning something new: how quickly you got up to speed.

Write them in note form rather than full scripts. Notes help you remember the story without sounding rehearsed. If the role uses competency-based interviews, our list of competency-based interview questions helps you check you have every skill covered.

Step 4: Practise the common questions

Some questions come up in almost every interview. Prepare a clear answer for each:

• Tell me about yourself.
• Why do you want this job?
• Why do you want to work for us?
• What are your strengths?
• What is your biggest weakness?
• Why are you leaving your current job?
• Where do you see yourself in a few years?

Our guide to interview questions and answers explains what each of these is really asking and how to answer well.

Practise out loud. Say your answers to a friend, record yourself on your phone, or talk to an empty room. Answers that sound good in your head often run long or wander when spoken. Aim for about two minutes for example-based answers and under a minute for simpler ones.

Step 5: Prepare questions to ask

Nearly every interview ends with "Do you have any questions for us?" Saying "No, I think you've covered everything" is a missed chance. Prepare three or four questions, expecting that some will be answered during the interview.

Good questions are about the work itself: what a typical week looks like, what success would look like in the first few months, how the team works together, or what training is available. Leave questions about pay and holiday for later, unless the interviewer raises them. See our list of questions to ask at the end of an interview for ideas that work in most roles.

Step 6: Sort out the logistics

Plenty of good candidates are thrown off by things that have nothing to do with their answers. Check:

• The format. Is it face to face, by video or by phone? Is there a test, a presentation or a task? Who will be on the panel, and how long will it last?
• The location. Plan your route, check for engineering works or roadworks, and aim to arrive 10 to 15 minutes early. Find out which entrance and who to ask for.
• What to bring. Employers in the UK must check your right to work before you start, and some ask to see documents at interview. Bring what they ask for, plus a copy of your CV or application and your notes.
• What to wear. If you are unsure, ask the person organising the interview. Smart and comfortable is rarely wrong.
• Adjustments. If you are disabled or have a health condition, you can ask for reasonable adjustments, such as extra time, an accessible room or questions in advance. Under the Equality Act 2010, employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates.

Preparing for a video or phone interview

Video interviews need the same preparation as face-to-face ones, plus a few technical checks.

• Test the platform the day before, using the same device and link type. Check your camera, microphone and internet connection.
• Choose your space. A plain background, light in front of you rather than behind, and somewhere you will not be interrupted.
• Set the camera at eye level, and look at the camera rather than the screen when you are speaking.
• Keep notes nearby but brief. A few keywords on a sticky note are fine. Reading a script is obvious on camera.
• Have a backup. Keep your phone charged and the interviewer's contact number handy in case the connection drops.

Some employers use pre-recorded video interviews, where you answer questions on screen with a time limit. Practise speaking to your phone's camera with a timer so the format feels familiar.

For phone interviews, stand up or sit upright, smile while you talk, and keep your notes and the job description in front of you. Our guide to telephone interview questions lists the questions screening calls usually cover and how to answer them.

The day itself

• Eat something and allow extra time. Rushing in late and flustered is hard to recover from.
• Be polite to everyone. Receptionists and other staff are sometimes asked for their impressions.
• Listen to the whole question. It is fine to pause, or to ask the interviewer to repeat it.
• Answer the question asked. If they ask for one example, give one good one rather than three rushed ones.
• Be honest about what you don't know. Saying how you would find out or learn it is better than bluffing.
• Close well. Thank them, and say briefly that you are interested in the role.

If you have an assessment centre rather than a single interview, our guide to assessment centres explains the group tasks and exercises you might face.

After the interview: follow-up

Within a day, send a short email to thank the interviewer or the person who arranged it. Keep it to a few lines: thank them for their time, mention one thing you enjoyed discussing, and confirm you are still interested.

Then write down every question you were asked and how you think you answered. Whether or not you get this job, those notes make your next interview easier. If you are unsuccessful, it is reasonable to ask politely for feedback. Not every employer gives it, but when they do it is often the most useful preparation you will get.

Know your strengths before you walk in Career Strengths shows what you are naturally good at and gives you the words to describe it, which helps with "What are your strengths?" and your STAR examples.

Take Career Strengths

Not sure which direction fits? A career test can narrow the field, if you pick one that shows its reasoning.