يستعد المرشح لمقابلة العمل.

Because this is a normal verbal sentence in Arabic. In Modern Standard Arabic, it is very common to start a sentence with the verb:

يستعد المرشح...
= is preparing the candidate... in literal order, but naturally the candidate is preparing...

Arabic often uses verb + subject order, especially in straightforward narration. You could also say:

المرشح يستعد لمقابلة العمل.

That is also correct, but it feels a bit more like you are highlighting the candidate.

يستعد means he prepares himself, he gets ready, or he is preparing.

It comes from the verb اِسْتَعَدَّ. This verb often has the sense of becoming ready or making oneself ready, not just preparing something else.

So in this sentence, يستعد suggests that the candidate is getting ready for the interview.

It is in the imperfect form, which usually covers:

• present: he prepares / he is preparing
• sometimes near future, depending on context: he will prepare / he is going to prepare

In this sentence, without any future marker like سـ or سوف, it is usually understood as present.

The لِـ here means for.

After يستعد, Arabic commonly uses لِـ to express what someone is preparing for:

• يستعد للامتحان = he is preparing for the exam
• يستعد للسفر = he is preparing for travel
• يستعد لمقابلة العمل = he is preparing for the job interview

So this is just the normal preposition used with this verb.

مقابلة is a noun meaning interview, meeting, or encounter, depending on context.

In this sentence, because it is followed by العمل, it means interview in the sense of a job interview.

So:

• مقابلة = interview / meeting
• مقابلة العمل = job interview

Because مقابلة العمل is an iḍāfa construction, often called a genitive construction or noun-noun construction.

In an iḍāfa:

• the first noun usually does not take الـ
• the second noun can make the whole phrase definite

So:

• مقابلة العمل literally means something like interview of the work/job
• naturally, it means the job interview or a job interview, depending on context

This is why مقابلة appears without الـ.

Yes, very much.

English often uses one noun directly before another:

• job interview
• school bus
• coffee cup

Arabic often expresses this idea through iḍāfa:

• مقابلة العمل = job interview
• باب البيت = the door of the house = the house door
• مدير الشركة = company manager

So مقابلة العمل functions like the Arabic way of building a compound noun phrase.

In full formal vocalization, it would be:

يَسْتَعِدُّ الْمُرَشَّحُ لِمُقَابَلَةِ الْعَمَلِ.

A few things are happening here:

• يستعدُّ ends with ـُ because it is in the normal indicative form
• المرشحُ has ـُ because it is the subject
• مقابلةِ has ـِ because it comes after the preposition لِـ
• العملِ also has ـِ because it is the second part of the iḍāfa and is genitive

In everyday printed Arabic, these short vowels are usually not written.

A careful MSA pronunciation is roughly:

yastaʿiddu al-murashshaḥu li-muqābalati al-ʿamali

A few pronunciation notes:

• ع in يستعد and العمل is the consonant ʿayn, which has no exact English equivalent
• شح in المرشح includes ح, a stronger breathy h
• the doubled شّ in المرشح should be held a little longer: murash-shaḥ
• the ة in مقابلة is pronounced as t here in careful reading because of the grammatical connection: muqābalati

المرشح means the candidate or the nominee.

It is a noun, not a verb. The الـ at the beginning is the definite article the.

So:

• مرشح = candidate
• المرشح = the candidate

It is masculine singular here. If you wanted the female candidate, you would usually say:

المرشحة

Yes.

The noun العمل often means work, labor, or job, depending on context. In the phrase مقابلة العمل, the most natural meaning is job interview.

So even though العمل by itself can be broader than just job, the whole phrase strongly points to that meaning here.

Yes, absolutely.

Both are correct:

• يستعد المرشح لمقابلة العمل
• المرشح يستعد لمقابلة العمل

The difference is mainly one of style and emphasis:

• يستعد المرشح... is a standard verbal sentence and feels very natural in formal Arabic
• المرشح يستعد... starts with the noun, so it gives slightly more focus to the candidate

Both would be understood the same way in this context.