This is a great book geared towards helping you get through a universally hated ordeal: a job interview. While this is definitely geared more towards people who work in an office type setting there is some useful information on how to approach any job interview and how to practice for the many questions thrown your way during one.

Thanks to the author and publisher for the e-arc I received in exchange for my honest review.

In I Hate Job Interviews, Sam Owens tried to help readers to land their interviews well and to help you get the job you are wanting. He realized that many people had interviewing and they stressed when they are faced to play the dreaded winner takes all game. There are no do overs. He explained how he entered business school and he had high hopes in landing him a good job. He had a good resume and worked for a well known consulting firm. He shared how he interviewed and tried to intern at top business places and had quite a few rejections. He did eventually get on with a top food company. They did one interview with him and typically there conduct multiple rounds but they were in a bind to get an intern quickly. He studied how to improve his own interviewing style and created comprehensive lists of possible questions. He learned the master of tailoring each answer no matter what style he faced. In 2015, he shared his techniques online via LinkedIn. This has led him to now writing a book about it.


The first big key lesson he teaches readers is that we have to first believe in yourself. You need to believe that you are an excellent candidate. He helped readers to build their confidence. Interviewing is a learned skill and anyone can learn how to do it. He encouraged everyone to give themselves ten hours to prepare. He also shared how the shy person is able to formulate answers to the questions. They need to learn to show more enthusiasm. He also taught readers the SPAR model and this will help you to provide better stories and the SEE model to answer truthfully the questions about you.


This book was very helpful to me in reading about how to interview and the principles he included was life changing. I liked how the teach readers the SPAR model and he walked readers how to offer a compelling result and the actions we took to bring about a result. He referred to it like a Disney movie and we have to walk our interviewees through a compelling story. He enclosed a few examples on how to do just that and how that will assist us in displaying our skills. I appreciate how he looked at behavior style questions, knowing yourself questions, answering the strength and weakness, and much more. I plan to use these next time I interview.

I've come to a new understanding about my interview skills. While I used to believe I struggled with interviews overall, I now recognize that I excel at certain aspects, such as effectively sharing stories about myself and my abilities, and thorough preparation through research. However, I've pinpointed my stumbling block: unexpected or scenario-based questions. In these moments, nerves kick in, and my slower processing speed leads to stumbling over my words. Despite this, I've realized there's a solution: after the interview, I can email the interviewers with a more detailed response to the scenario question, allowing me to showcase my abilities in a clearer manner.

I'm grateful for the detailed approach outlined by the author, which empowers me to maximize my chances of success in interviews. Additionally, I've learned the importance of conducting practice interviews that closely mimic real-life scenarios, as opposed to simply providing my friend with questions to ask me. This more authentic simulation will better prepare me for the unpredictable nature of interviews.

Takes a lot of the stress out of the job interview process, especially for those to whom it doesn’t come naturally. Lots of practical tips for the whole process.

This book promises a confidence-boosting methodology for mastering job interviews. Career coach Sam Owens shares his system, honed through personal experience and coaching thousands, offering practical frameworks and techniques to tackle various question types from introductions to hypotheticals and salary negotiation. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a nervous graduate, this book could equip you with the tools to deliver a winning interview performance.

I got a lot of great tips and wound up creating my own mindmaps and worksheets based on the concepts for quick reference of the frameworks, along with my expereinces/stories to go along with them.

As someone who struggles with nerves and interviews I wanted to get better at them, to give me the confidence to apply for more jobs.

A great insightful book that covers all aspects of job interviews to really support people no matter what is thrown at them.

Interesting and insightful read. Subject matter attracted me to read this book. Subject content was thoughtfully explored and well written.

Was a pretty insightful book on job interviews and will definitely help me get better at it in the future

In "I Hate Job Interviews," Sam Owens delivers a practical and empowering guide that transforms the often stressful process of job interviews into a platform for success. Drawing from personal experiences and a commitment to overcoming early failures, Owens shares a proven methodology that has propelled him to build a successful career coaching business, helping thousands prepare for interviews.

The book is structured to empower job candidates with the tools and confidence needed to navigate various interview scenarios. Owens covers an array of question types, from introductory to hypothetical, opinion-based to self-awareness inquiries. The comprehensive guide ensures that readers are equipped to handle any curveball an interviewer may throw their way.

I was excited to read this as I have a few interviews coming up. Sadly I was expecting some new advice and tips, but these are things I already know or have found on Google search. Thank you for the copy.

I was drawn to this book because of the title, because, honestly, I hate job interviews too. The author is asking you to commit to 10 hours of preparation to research, formulate, and practice for your interviews. In the grand scheme of things, 10 hours is a small commitment if it means you'll enter the interview room feeling prepared and confident. After a hiatus from my analyst position with the federal government to raise my child, I'm ready to go back to work and this book contains everything I'll need to navigate the process.

Many thanks to Sam Owens, Harper Collins Leadership, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

I decided to read this book because I had an interview and it’s been 6 years since I had an interview. Interviews have always been hard for me. I had my interview today and it went really well because of the tips in the book. I still have to get thru a 2nd interview. After reading this, I’m not as anxious anymore. Definitely buying a copy for a few of my younger cousins

Well spoken and admirable among the ranks of great minds and philosophers with great potential of a promising future built of successful and well thought out strategy.

Wow! This was such a helpful book. I am currently looking for jobs and this really helped me get ready for interviews.

I used to say "I'm bad at interviews" but have realized in more detail that I'm actually really good at interviews, at telling stories about myself and my skills, and at researching and preparing. where I get thrown off track a lot is with "surprise" questions, which he calls scenario questions, because I'm nervous, I'm a slow processor, and have too many examples written down to choose from in the moment so I fumble over words. however, I've also realized there's nothing wrong with emailing the interviewers later with a more detailed answer I thought of after the interview.
I appreciate his detailed approach to controlling my interview chances of success as much as I can.
I also have done a practice interview before, but I gave my friend the questions to ask me, when I should have, like the author suggests, made it more like a real interview simulation.

not a critique of this book necessarily, but general self-help is often too general. I work in academia where a lot of these practices wouldn't help me, but in other fields they might be the most beneficial. also the end of chapter summaries are superfluous, but I did appreciate the larger interview checklist at the beginning that gave me the structure for the entire book and what my preparation process could look like.