Most candidates prepare for what to say. They rehearse their experience, think through their career history, and make sure they can answer "tell me about yourself." That's necessary — but it's not what separates a good interview from a great one.
After 30 years of placing people in trades, technical, engineering, and operational roles, I've sat on both sides of this process more times than I can count. The candidates who get the offer are almost never the ones with the longest resume. They're the ones who walk in prepared to think, not just to recite.
Know the role — actually know it
This sounds obvious, but most candidates don't do it. Re-read the job ad the morning of your interview. Not to memorise it — to understand what problem this company is trying to solve. Every hire is a business decision. The person interviewing you has a gap they need to fill. Your job is to show them, specifically, that you're the answer to their problem.
If the ad mentions they're scaling a maintenance team, think about a time you've worked in a high-volume maintenance environment. If it references a specific piece of equipment, be ready to speak to your experience with it — and if you haven't used it directly, be honest and explain how you've picked up comparable systems quickly.
The best interviews I've ever seen weren't the slickest. They were the most honest. Interviewers in technical roles can smell prepared answers from across the table. What they can't resist is someone who clearly understands the work.
Prepare your STAR examples before you walk in
For trades and technical roles, vague answers kill interviews. "I'm a hard worker" or "I'm good with my hands" tells a panel nothing. What they want is evidence — specific, structured, real.
The STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is the most reliable way to give it to them. Before your interview, prepare two or three strong examples from your own experience:
- Situation: What was the context? What was at stake?
- Task: What were you specifically responsible for?
- Action: What did you do — not the team, you?
- Result: What was the outcome? Include numbers where you can — downtime reduced, cost saved, deadline met.
Include scale. "I managed a shutdown" means nothing. "I managed a 12-day planned shutdown across three production lines, coordinating a team of 18, delivered on time and $40k under budget" — that means something.
Use "I", not "we"
This is one of the most common mistakes I see from candidates who've worked in teams their entire career. We're conditioned to say "we" — it feels more humble, more collaborative. But in an interview, "we" hides you.
The panel is not hiring your team. They're hiring you. Use "we" when you're genuinely referring to the collective effort. But be very clear about what you personally did, decided, led, or delivered. That's what they're evaluating.
Prepare to handle pressure
In technical and operational roles, interviewers often deliberately test how you handle being put on the spot. You may get a scenario question — "what would you do if a piece of critical equipment failed an hour before a shift started?" You may get a question you genuinely don't know the answer to.
In both cases, stay calm. Think out loud. "I haven't encountered that exact situation, but here's how I'd approach it" is a completely acceptable answer. What they're watching is your thought process, not whether you've memorised every possible scenario.
If a question catches you off guard, take a breath. Silence for three seconds while you think is professional. Rushing into a half-formed answer is not.
Close strong
At the end of the interview, when they ask if you have questions, ask something that shows you've thought about the role seriously. "What does success look like in this position in the first 90 days?" or "What are the biggest challenges facing the team right now?" are both strong options.
And then — say you want the job. Don't assume they know. A simple, confident "I'm genuinely interested in this role and I'd like to move forward" is something fewer than 20% of candidates actually say. It matters.
Call me straight after. We'll debrief together and I'll be ready when the client calls.