The more prepared you are for an interview, the more confident you will be. A job interview is too important to leave to chance. A winning job interview is the result of hard work and practice on your part.
You can gain valuable interviewing experience in a couple of ways: You can prepare your responses to the questions you anticipate and then ask a friend or trusted colleague to role-play the interview process with you, or you can videotape one of your practice sessions.
Role-playing an interview
You're ready to ask someone to help you practice the interview process by role-playing after you do two things:
- Complete the worksheets in this chapter.
- Prepare a list of questions and answers you think you may have to deal with in an interview.
There may be interview questions that are specific to the industry or company you are approaching. Do not stop with the questions touched on in this chapter. Ask friends who have recently interviewed about the questions they were asked.
When you ask someone to role-play the interview process with you, make the setting of the role-playing as similar to the real office scene as possible. The person role-playing the interviewer should be at a desk. Ask that person to prepare a list often questions to ask you. You might give that person half the questions, but the interviewer should have some surprise questions for you to give you some practice in thinking on your feet.
Practice the introductory small talk as well as your concluding remarks in your role-played interview.
After role-playing, go through a debriefing session. Ask the "interviewer" for feedback. Share with that person what you think went well and what you think you need to improve. If your friend is willing, ask if you can practice again after you work out more satisfactory responses for the practice interview.
Videotaping a practice interview
If you can, videotape one of your practice interview sessions. (If you think that the video camera will make you more nervous, Chapter 4, on dealing with the jitters, may be helpful.)
Whether you're nervous or not, reviewing the video helps you become more objective about how you come across in an interview.
When you review a videotaped interview, look for things described in the following checklist and then work on correcting them. Evaluate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the best) on each of the following points. You might also ask others to view the videotaped practice interview and evalu-ate your interviewing skills.
- Initial appearance
- Body language (smile, handshake, posture, nervousness)
- Handling initial introductions and small talk
- Response to question(s) about strengths
- Response to question(s) about weaknesses and failures
- Response to question(s) about background
- Response to question(s) about difficult situations
- Response to question(s) about accomplishments
- Response to question(s) about career goals
- Response to close of interview
Things I want to improve:
Practicing for your important job interview is the best strategy for having a winning interview.