How to prepare for a second-stage interview

If you have reached a second interview, the employer already thinks you can do the job. The second stage is about whether they want you to do it there, with them, and whether you want to. Prepare for that conversation, not for a repeat of the first one.

Know why the role exists

Ask your consultant, or ask the panel. Someone left, the team grew, a project started. The answer tells you what the first six months will look like and lets you talk about the actual work rather than the job description.

Bring one worked example

Not a list of achievements. One piece of work you led, told from the problem to the result, with the part that went wrong included. Panels remember the one example far better than the list, and the part that went wrong is what makes it believable.

Three questions to ask

What would make the first ninety days a success? What happened to the last person in the role, or the last person who was promoted out of it? What is the one thing the team is currently bad at? The third one tells you more about the culture than anything on the careers page.

Afterwards

Call your consultant the same day. We will have spoken to the panel by then and can tell you what they thought, what they are worried about and what to do about it before an offer is made.