As a student in the Career Preparation course, doing the mock interview was inevitable. In the past, I have been less than exceptional when it came to practicing for interviews. One of the major factors being my highly self-conscious mindset. While practising, I would stutter frequently and overthink questions. Answering a single question would take me at least ten minutes, and I would result to winging real interviews.

For obvious reasons, this assignment has provided me the building blocks to ace interviews. Erin, the professor of the course, has made questions to practice our mock interview with. Here are a few examples:
- Give me an example of a goal you've reach and how did you reach it?
- How did you solve a conflict with a coworker?
- Tell me how you deal with pressure.
With the questions provided, the class was given a week to come up with answers. Answers are supposed to be approach with a "SAR" technique. The acronym stands for "Situation", "Action", and "Result". The following class was set up as a real one-on-one basis setting. Students were required to look back on their experiences and how it applies to the positions they're applying to. Tips on how to act during an interview were also taught. Here are some guidelines:
- Pay attention to body language
- Relax and have a positive attitude
- Be professional
- Be at the interview 10-15 minutes early
As for my own mock interview session, I surprisingly answered the questions very well. The interviewer liked how I was properly groomed, how I tied back my answers with real life examples, provided solutions, mentioned my past experiences while mentioning the establishment names, and asked realistic questions about the interviewer's company. The interviewer said I could improve on mentioning more of what I've learned.
In terms of practising, I skype called my friend for a whole evening to go over possible questions. We also based our answers from the resume we wrote and the position that we wanted to apply to the future. Not to mention, we also learned how to be mentally prepared for an interview.
All in all, I think this is an excellent experience for my graduating year.
Comments