How to Prepare for a Job Interview in the Netherlands

If you are imagining your interview as one conversation with one person, you are setting yourself up wrong. A graduate hiring process at most Dutch employers in 2026 has 3 to 4 parts. The first is often not even a person; it is an asynchronous video interview where you record your answers and an AI scores them before any human watches. Knowing this changes what you prepare and when.

This guide is the map. It walks through what the four parts actually look like, what each one is screening for, and a 7-day countdown to get ready. It also gives you the 80 percent version of the three interview types that get their own dedicated guides on this site: behavioural questions and STAR, async AI video interviews, and cognitive or aptitude tests. If you want the full deep dive on any of those, there are links in each section.

The goal here is to take you from “I have an interview booked, what do I do” to “I know exactly what is coming and how to prepare” in 15 minutes of reading.

A Dutch graduate interview process usually has 3 to 4 parts: an opening screen (often async AI video now), a hiring manager interview, a test or case (cognitive test, case study, technical, or presentation), and a final or team round. The hiring manager interview and the test can come in either order, or sometimes get bundled into one assessment day.

AI is now part of recruiting on both sides. Employers use HireVue and similar tools to AI-screen async video interviews, often before any human reviews them. This is most common in banking, consulting, Big 4, and large tech.

The 7-day countdown: research the company on day 7, prepare 5 to 7 STAR stories on days 5 to 6, run a mock interview on day 3, do a tech check on day 1, and rehearse your opening on the morning of.

AI is also a tool you can use yourself for prep. The line is using it to practise and structure, not to memorise scripts. Memorised scripts read worse than honest answers.

After the interview, send a short follow-up email within 24 hours. Most graduates skip this; it is a free win.

Most general interview advice talks about “the interview” as a single event. In a Dutch graduate context, it almost never is. A typical process has four parts: an opening screen, two screening blocks that can come in either order, and a final round.

Part 1: The opening screen (recruiter call or async AI video)

Traditionally a 20 to 30 minute phone or video call with a recruiter. The goal is to confirm your basics: language, salary expectations, availability, visa status if relevant, and whether your CV claims hold up under simple questioning. The recruiter is a screen, not a decision-maker.

In 2026, at large Dutch and international employers, this part is increasingly an asynchronous AI video interview instead. You record yourself answering 3 to 8 pre-set questions on a platform like HireVue, AI scores you on language patterns and response structure, and only then does a human look at the shortlist. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, BCG, IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon all use HireVue for graduate roles. Section 6 covers how to handle this.

Block A: The human conversation (hiring manager interview)

60 to 90 minutes with the person who would be your direct manager, and sometimes a second team member. This is the substantive interview. Behavioural questions (“Tell me about a time when…”), competency questions, and a deep look at your CV. This is where STAR or STARR matters most. Section 4 covers it; the full deep dive is in [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #12 STAR Method].

Block B: The test or case (assessment, cognitive test, case, or technical)

This is where the variation is largest. It might be a take-home case study (consulting, strategy roles), a live case interview (consulting), a cognitive or aptitude test (banking, Big 4, large corporates, most graduate programmes), a technical interview (engineering, data, software), or a presentation. Section 5 covers the 80 percent version; for cognitive tests specifically, the deep dive is in [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #13 Cognitive Test].

Part 4: The final or team round

Often a longer session with multiple people from the team, sometimes a senior leader, sometimes a panel. The official screening is mostly done by this point; this part is more about culture fit, your questions for them, and confirming the decision both ways. Less formal in tone than the hiring manager interview, but still a real evaluation. Some larger employers run an “assessment day” here that bundles role-plays, a presentation, and a final conversation into one session.

Each part is run by different people with different goals. What blows you out at one part is irrelevant at another. The table below summarises what each one screens for and what to focus your prep on. Block A and Block B can come in either order; check with the recruiter.

Opening screen
This is usually run by a recruiter, or sometimes first by AI and then by a recruiter. They are mainly screening for language ability, basic qualifications, CV consistency, and any obvious red flags. To prepare, have tight 60-second answers ready for standard questions and make sure your audio is clear if it is an asynchronous video interview.

Block A: hiring manager
This part is usually run by your future direct manager. They want to understand whether you can actually do the job and whether your behavioural style fits the role. Prepare 5 to 7 strong STAR or STARR stories, know your CV in depth, and have role-specific examples ready.

Block B: test or case
This stage is often outsourced or scored automatically. It typically screens for cognitive ability, structured thinking, or technical skill. To prepare, practise with the specific test format and work on your time-boxing discipline.

Final round
The final round is usually run by team members, a senior leader, or sometimes a panel. They are looking at culture fit, the quality of the questions you ask, and whether there is mutual confirmation that the role is a good match. Prepare sharp questions for them, refresh the key role context, and bring strong energy.

Two things follow from this. First, do not prepare your final-round culture-fit answers for the opening screen; the recruiter does not care, and overlong answers waste their time. Second, do not show up to Block A with vague stories; the hiring manager is the one whose ears actually prick up at concrete numbers and specific actions.

Adjust the timeline if your interview is sooner. The order matters more than the day count.

Day 7: Research the role and the company (60 to 90 minutes)

Read the job description twice. Pull out 4 to 6 specific competencies it implies. Read the company’s About page, two recent news stories, and one product or service page deeply enough to ask one question about it. Look up the people you will meet on LinkedIn and note any shared background (same university, same prior employer, similar career path) that could come up naturally.

Stop after 90 minutes. Going deeper does not help. The interviewers are not going to quiz you on the founding date.

Days 5 to 6: Build 5 to 7 STAR/STARR stories (2 to 3 hours total)

This is the highest-leverage block. Map your 4 to 6 competencies from day 7 to specific stories from your past. One story per competency, ideally drawing from group projects, internships, side jobs, and student board roles. Write each one as a STARR (Situation, Task, Action, Result, Reflectie). See [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #12 STAR Method] for the structure and worked examples.

Day 3: Run one mock interview

With a friend, family member, or any of the AI tools designed for this. The format does not matter. What matters is saying your stories out loud, hearing what falls flat, and tightening. Most graduates discover their first attempts run 4 minutes when they thought they were 90 seconds. Cutting comes from doing it once, not from re-reading the notes.

Day 1: Tech and logistics check

If video, test your camera, microphone, and connection 24 hours in advance, on the same browser you will use. If in person, plan the route and add 30 minutes buffer. Lay out clothes. Have water nearby. Print a copy of your CV in case the interviewer wants to refer to it. Confirm the meeting link or address.

The morning of: rehearse the opening

Read the job description one more time. Rehearse out loud the first 60 seconds: how you introduce yourself, how you answer “tell me about yourself,” and how you say why this role. The opening sets the tone for everything; if it lands, the rest is much easier. Eat. Hydrate. Show up a few minutes early but not so early that you are awkward in reception.

Behavioural questions exist because past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour at work. The interviewer is not just asking what you did. They are testing whether you can describe it clearly enough that they can imagine you doing the same on their team.

STAR vs STARR

• STAR: Situation, Task, Action, Result. The international standard, four steps.
• STARR: same plus a fifth step, Reflectie. What you learned and what you would do differently. Almost universal in Dutch interviewing; taught by werk.nl, Tempo-Team, Indeed Nederland, and most Dutch universities.

If your interview is at a Dutch employer, default to STARR. If you are not sure, use STARR anyway. The reflection step rarely hurts; missing it in a Dutch context often signals an incomplete answer.

The 80% rules

• Aim for around two minutes per answer. Most graduates run long; record yourself once to find out.
• Use “I”, not “we”. Dutch interviewers in particular score for individual contribution.
• Concrete numbers in the Result. “Attendance went up 30 percent” beats “it went well.”
• Honest reflection in the last step. “I would have started that conversation in week 1, not week 3” lands much better than a polished moral.

Have 5 to 7 stories prepared, each tagged to one or two competencies (teamwork, conflict, leadership, failure, initiative, deadline pressure). When the question comes, scan the index, pick the story, and run it.

Block B changes a lot by sector. The four common formats:

Case interviews (consulting, strategy, M&A)

You are given a business problem and asked to think through it out loud. Structure is more important than the right answer. The standard approach: ask clarifying questions, lay out a structured framework, walk through it step by step, do quick mental maths, recommend, summarise. Practice 5 to 10 cases before a real one. Free resources at Case in Point, Management Consulted, and PrepLounge are reasonable starting points.

Cognitive and aptitude tests (banking, Big 4, large corporates)

Numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, sometimes logical reasoning or situational judgement. Common Dutch test providers include SHL, Cubiks, and cut-e. The tests are timed (often 20 to 30 minutes per section) and the difficulty is calibrated so most candidates do not finish. Practising the specific test type for 4 to 6 hours before the real one materially improves your score.

Take-home assignments and presentations

Common in marketing, communications, design, and product roles. You get a brief, you have a few days, you produce something. Two rules. One: scope ruthlessly. The brief looks bigger than it is and over-investing here drains the energy you need for the live conversation. Two: explain your reasoning when you present. The deliverable matters less than how you talk through your choices.

Technical interviews (engineering, data, software)

Live coding, SQL questions, system design discussions, or data case studies. Format and depth vary widely. Your CV implies what they will test; be ready to demonstrate the tools you listed and the problems you have solved with them.

There are two video formats you might face, and they are very different. Live video interviews (over Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet) work like in-person interviews with worse acoustics. Asynchronous video interviews are different: you record yourself answering pre-set questions, the recording is scored by AI, and a recruiter looks at the shortlist.

Live video interviews

The opening screen, the hiring manager interview, and the final round can all run on live video. The main differences from in-person: you have to think about lighting, framing, and audio; small reactions read differently on camera; and the natural conversational rhythm is harder. Look at the camera lens, not at the interviewer’s face on screen, when you are speaking. It feels unnatural and reads as eye contact.

Asynchronous AI video interviews

This is the format that has changed most in the past two years. You receive an email with a link, log in within a window of typically 3 to 7 days, and answer 3 to 8 questions. Each question gives you 30 seconds to 2 minutes of prep time, then 1 to 3 minutes to record your answer. Some platforms allow one re-record per question; some do not. The total session takes 20 to 30 minutes.

HireVue is the most common platform globally and at large NL employers. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Deloitte, BCG, IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon all use it. Smaller and mid-market employers in NL more often use Spark Hire, Willo, or Vidcruiter. The mechanics are similar.

What the AI actually scores

This is the part most graduates get wrong, because of how HireVue and similar tools were marketed and reported on a few years ago. Earlier versions of these platforms claimed to analyse facial expressions and emotional cues. After heavy public criticism (and a 2020 EPIC complaint to the US FTC), HireVue removed facial analysis from its scoring.

As of 2026, the AI analyses verbal content, language patterns, response structure, and pacing. It is, in effect, doing a structured pass over your transcript: looking for relevant keywords, behavioural-question structure (the AI is built to recognise STAR/STARR shape), specificity, and clarity. Worry less about whether you are smiling enough. Worry more about whether your answers have a clear arc and use the words the job description uses.

How to prepare for the async AI interview

• Record yourself doing 3 to 5 practice questions on your phone before the real one. Listen back. Most people are surprised by how flat or how rushed they sound.
• Use STAR or STARR structure explicitly. The AI is calibrated to recognise it. A clear Situation, Task, Action, Result, Reflection answer scores better than the same content delivered as a stream of consciousness.
• Use the job description’s language naturally. If the JD says “stakeholder management” and you say “dealing with people,” the AI is less likely to pick up the match.
• Look at the camera lens, not at yourself on screen. Same as live video. Treat the lens as the interviewer’s eyes.
• Do the technical setup an hour before, not five minutes before. Test the platform on the same browser you will use. Some platforms recommend Chrome specifically.
• If a question gets you flat, do not panic. The platform’s scoring is per-question, and a weaker answer to one question rarely sinks the overall result.

Watch out

Do not memorise scripts and recite them at the camera. The AI does not score for memorisation, and reciting a memorised script reads as flat to humans (who do see the recording afterwards). Practise the structure, then let the wording vary.

Do not record in low light, with a fan or street noise behind you, or with strong backlighting. The AI parses the transcript primarily, but a noisy or unclear recording can produce a worse transcript, which lowers the score indirectly. Clean audio matters more than fancy video.

These work for the hiring manager interview, the case or test where there is a Q&A, and the final round. For the opening screen (recruiter call), keep questions short and logistical. Pick two or three of these for any given interview. Avoid asking things easily answered by the website.

Strong graduate-level questions

• “What does success in this role look like in the first 6 months?” Specific, signals you are thinking about delivery.
• “What is the team’s biggest open question or challenge right now?” Invites a real answer; tells you something the website does not.
• “How does feedback work on the team? How often do you do one-on-ones, reviews, that kind of thing?” Useful information, signals you take growth seriously.
• “What have people in this role done well, and where do they typically struggle in the first year?” Almost no graduate asks this; the answers are unusually informative.
• “Could you walk me through the next steps in the process?” Practical, professional, and tells you what to expect.
• To the hiring manager directly: “What would you want me to focus on in the first 30 days if I joined?” Strong because it is forward-looking and assumes the hire.

Questions to avoid (and why)

• Anything answered by the careers page (“What does your company do?”, “How many employees do you have?”). Reads as zero prep.
• Salary or benefits in the opening screen or the hiring manager interview. There is a time and place; this is not it. See [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #14 Salary Negotiation] for when to bring it up.
• “What is the company culture like?” Too generic. Reframe as a specific question: “How do decisions actually get made on this team?” is much sharper.
• “Do you have any reservations about my candidacy?” Once respected as a power move; now widely seen as scripted. Avoid.

The 24-hour follow-up email

Within 24 hours of any interview, send a short email to whoever you spoke with (the recruiter at minimum). Three to four sentences. Thank them for their time, mention one specific thing from the conversation that landed for you, restate your interest in the role briefly, and close. That is it. Do not send a 400-word essay; do not include new arguments for why you are great. Most graduates skip this entirely; sending it is a small but real differentiator.

Worked example: “Hi [Name], thanks again for taking the time to walk me through the role and the team yesterday. The point you made about how the team handles cross-functional projects gave me a much clearer picture of how I would work day-to-day; that was genuinely helpful. I am looking forward to next steps. Best, [Your name].”

If you bombed a question

It happens. You forgot the example, your story did not land, you went blank. Do not catastrophise. Interviewers expect a bad moment in any 60-minute interview; one weak answer almost never sinks an otherwise good interview. You can also, sometimes, address it briefly in the follow-up email: “One thing I wanted to add: when you asked about [topic], I gave a thinner answer than I had in mind. The example I should have used was [one-sentence version].” Use sparingly; one of these is fine, two is too many.

When to chase

If the recruiter said “we will get back to you within 5 working days” and you are at day 7, send a polite check-in. “Hi [Name], following up on our conversation last week. Has there been any update on next steps? I am still very interested.” Three sentences, no pressure. Beyond that, give it a week between follow-ups. Repeated chasing rarely helps.

Using AI for your own preparation

Most graduates in 2026 are using AI to prep for interviews. The interesting question is no longer whether to. It is how to use it without flattening your voice, which is the failure mode.

• Good uses of AI for prep: drafting STAR stories from your raw notes, pressure-testing your answers, generating likely behavioural questions for a specific role and company, simulating an interviewer for practice rounds, and helping you tighten an answer that is running long.
• Bad uses of AI for prep: asking it to write your final answers and memorising them, having it write your follow-up emails verbatim, or copying its first draft of your introduction. AI-written prose has tells that recruiters increasingly recognise, and memorised answers always read as memorised.

The rule of thumb: AI can do the structure, the brainstorming, and the pressure-testing. The words that come out of your mouth in the room (or on the camera) should be yours. Practise enough that the structure is internalised; do not practise enough to recite a script.

Interviews are not a test. They are a structured conversation about whether you and the team would do good work together. The preparation that actually moves the needle is not memorising answers; it is doing one or two run-throughs out loud, with someone or something giving you honest feedback.

Aurora, GradGuide’s free AI career coach, can do that across all four parts. She can run a mock recruiter screen against your CV, generate likely behavioural questions for the specific role you are interviewing for and pressure-test your STARR answers, simulate an async AI video question for you to record against, and help you draft the 24-hour follow-up email in your own voice rather than hers. She can also help you map which part you are at and what to focus on next.

Try it at gradguide.nl/aurora and bring the role you are preparing for.

Internal links

• [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #12 STAR Method]: full deep dive on behavioural questions, STAR/STARR, and 6 worked examples by skill type.
• [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #11 Video Interview]: full deep dive on async AI interviews, per-platform setup, and what specific employers ask in 2026.
• [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #13 Cognitive Test]: full deep dive on Dutch test providers, the Schmidt & Hunter research, and a practice plan.
• [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #5 How to Write a CV That Stands Out]: the document interviewers will be holding.
• [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #6 Cover Letter That Gets You Noticed]: how you got the interview in the first place.
• [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #14 Salary Negotiation]: when and how to bring up salary.
• [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #17 Discover What You’re Good At]: how to translate strengths into interview answers.
• [LINK PLACEHOLDER: post #8 Should You Apply for a Job You’re Not Qualified For?]: deciding whether to apply in the first place.