Why Your Interview Coaching in Only as Strong as Your Network

As interview coaches, we spend a lot of time telling our clients that networking is the secret weapon of the job search. It’s how they get their foot in the door, understand the shifting reality of their industry, and align themselves with what decision-makers are truly looking for.

I’m here to tell you: we must practice what we preach.

Formats, expectations, evaluation criteria—they’re all shifting constantly (thanks, AI.). If our coaching is going to be credible, relevant, and effective, we cannot afford to rely on expired information or secondhand generalities. We need current, specific, and firsthand intelligence from the people who actually do the hiring. 

A strong network isn’t a nice-to-have. It is core to our ethical responsibility to deliver accurate insight to our clients. We simply cannot coach clients to compete successfully if we don’t know how the game is played and what it takes to win. 

My own network has come to the rescue in high stakes coaching scenarios since the very beginning of my career. Each person has provided that insider knowledge I simply would not have gained without going directly to the source.

When I first started my business ten years ago, my earliest clients were high school seniors prepping for competitive college admissions interviews. Naturally, these were the easiest clients to find, since many of my friends’ kids (and kids’ friends) were applying to college at the time. But, I wasn’t about to go into those sessions blind. Luckily, I had two friends working in admissions at two different schools, and several friends who conducted interviews at a variety of institutions. I grilled them all about what impresses them most in an interview, and what candidates could do that would absolutely blow their chances.

Like many early-career coaches, I initially assumed the most important component was detailing achievements. I was dead wrong.

It was never about what the applicant had done—it was about fit. The only way to stand out in a sea of overachievers? Leave the interviewer thinking: “This student belongs here.” My clients needed to communicate how well they knew the school and how they would contribute to that specific community. That insight fundamentally changed how I coached my first clients, teaching them to focus on values alignment, not just credentials. My own research was key to their success and that year, every one of them was accepted at their first-choice school.

A few years ago, I landed a client interviewing at a fintech startup. I thought I was out of my depth: blockchain, Web3, tokens, validators. Huh?! My initial online research only compounded the confusion. So, I tapped into my network and set up a meeting with a friend who worked in the bitcoin world. His intel was gold: I didn’t need to understand cryptocurrency. I needed to understand the interviewers.

In this high-growth sector, the messages my client needed to land were not only technical specs. They were skills and values alignment: a passionate commitment to decentralization and financial freedom, coupled with extreme comfort with volatility. That insider perspective locked down my client’s critical messaging (and saved me weeks of chasing unnecessary crypto rabbit holes).

From coaching aspiring Ivy League professors and medical residency candidates to preparing jobseekers for coveted tech roles, the principle is the same: I went straight to the source. You cannot coach for a high-stakes, specialized role successfully without direct, current intelligence from the people who make the final call. 

One of the best examples of why interview coaches must have access to insider perspectives came during the PARWCC Interview Institute session on November 19th, led by Chaz Flood: “Inside the FAANG Interview: Coaching Clients Beyond the STAR Method.” (FYI members can watch recordings of PARWCC sessions on the Knowledge Base).

Chaz walked our community through crucial details that coaches cannot guess or infer without direct exposure:

• How FAANG-level systems use levels to determine expectations for success stories.

• Why a level’s scope determines what a “strong example” truly looks like.

• The emphasis on core value alignment inside technical storytelling.

• Why the STAR format is insufficient for these hyper-competitive environments.

This is exactly the kind of information interview coaches need to acquire: specific, current, and rooted in real hiring practice. As coaches, our credibility is built on our ability to coach with accuracy. That means understanding:

• How interviewers actually make decisions today.

• What signals they look for (and what kills a candidacy).

• How interview practices differ across all levels and industries.

• What matters today, not what mattered five years ago.

This kind of intelligence doesn’t come from generic lists of “top interview questions.” It is earned through relationships. It is secured through conversations. And it comes from staying connected to the people who hire and to the professional community that keeps us informed.

Our clients trust us with career-making, high-stakes moments. We owe them more than intuition. We owe them certified insight. So networking isn’t just our clients’ secret weapon. It’s ours, too. 

But with one difference.

Our clients must network within their targeted industry. Us? We must network across every industry. We can’t just rely on our own coaching peers or community. We need those cross-industry connections to scale. 

Let your network provide that panoramic view of the job market. Then go transform those high-stakes moments into calculated wins. 

The PARWCC Interview Institute is committed to raising the bar for professional mastery by bringing real-world hiring insight directly to coaches. And our new live Certified Interview Coach (CIC) program gives you the exact blueprint to coach with irrefutable authority. The first session starts on January 8th, and it’s not too late to secure your spot.