Overview.
Listen to Interview Coaching Sessions.
Audio. Tell me about yourself.
Audio. Tell me about a time when you mentored someone.
Services & Pricing. Interview Coaching.

Overview. Interview Coaching.

Hi! My name is Leah Derus. I’m an MIT Sloan MBA who has helped hundreds of professionals write their own ticket in the job market through resumeSTORY.builders and still hundreds more MBA candidates make it into the ranks of Harvard Business School (and other top MBA/EMBA programs) through fxMBAconsulting.com How? By crafting story-based resumes and interview material that conveyed a coherent, desirable and unique story.

As an interview coach, I can help you identify ways to improve your answers to common (and uncommon) job interview questions so that you come across as thoughtful and poised in the mind of your interviewer. There are very few purchases you will make that will have as high of a ROI as a mock interview session (or story-based resume). Coming across as on-the-ball, thoughtful, and poised will significantly improve your chances of being asked back for a follow-up interview and will ultimately result in greater leverage when negotiating salary, perks, and position.

Depending on your preferences, during the mock interview, we can delve into traditional job interview questions like Tell me about yourself? What are your goals? What attracted you to this role?, Strengths/Weakness? as well as behavioral interview questions which tend to begin with Tell me about a time when…? .

Employers often believe that past behavior is an excellent predictor of future behavior. Hence the growing popularity of behavioral interview questions (also known as event-based interview questions) like Tell me about a time when a team you were on struggled. Tell me about a time when you didn’t see eye to eye with your boss. During interview coaching sessions I help clients develop a set of three to six core stories and then I teach them how to leverage a single story to answer multiple behavioral interview questions.

Listen to Interview Coaching sessions.

Mock Interview Audio. Tell me about yourself.

This client was a seasoned internal auditor who had worked for two players within the high-end hotel industry. He wanted to transition to audit in a big four firm and had an upcoming interview with KPMG for a Senior Associate role in internal audit. Several weeks after our mock interview session, this client emailed to say:

Just wanted to thank you for helping me with content development for my KPMG phone interview around a month ago. After several follow-up interviews with different partners and managers, I finally received an offer from the firm today! In addition, I received an offer for a SOX Audit Manager position from XYZ Capital last week and got a counter offer promoting me to manager at my present employer after I notified them yesterday of my intention to leave. As you can imagine, I’m quite excited about the next steps and am struggling to decide between the three choices!

Part 1 – Client’s Initial Answer | Tell me about yourself.
Part 2 – Interview Coach Feedback | Tell me about yourself.
Mock Interview Audio. Tell me about a time when you mentored someone.
Part 1 – Client’s Initial Answer | Tell me about a time when you mentored someone.
Part 2 – Interview Coach Feedback | Tell me about a time when you mentored someone.

Services & Pricing. Interview Coaching.

The Mock Interview Service costs $150 for a 90-minute session. Clients can choose between a session that focuses on traditional interview questions, behavioral interview questions or a 50/50 mix of the two. Most clients feel comfortable with their new skills and stories after just one or two interview coaching sessions. Sessions are either conducted over the phone or via a video call platform like Skype or Zoom. At the end of your mock interview you’ll receive an audio recording of the call.

An interview is a performance, and, as any actor will tell you, a good performance boils down to content (that’s the writing) + delivery (that’s the acting). The goal of a mock interview will either be to help you a) develop content or b) refine your delivery of that content.

Interviewing is a skill you develop, a muscle you build through repetition. Ironically, it’s usually the ‘A’ employees who have the most trouble interviewing. Why? Because they’ve often been promoted internally for a number of years. An interview coaching session can help you develop logical and well-thought-out answers to the practical and behavioral questions put to you. In a great interview you’ll also manage to:

  • Control any insecurities
  • Radiate a positive attitude and polish/executive presence
  • Demonstrate that you will bring value to the team and the company as a whole
  • Crush any negative judgments or preconceived ideas the interviewer may have about you