LESSON
If you are not working already you probably will be in the near future. Your first few jobs even if they’re not the fields you planned to work in for your career are important. Not only do you learn skills and communication techniques, but you also gain valuable experience that can illustrate your work ethic and teach you time management.
It’s important to build good relations with your coworkers and your supervisor as they will serve as references for your future positions. An important part of the job search is the interview process. This gives you a chance to ask questions about the position and decide if it’s a job you wanna do.
It also gives the employer a way of assessing you as an employee to see if you would make a good fit. Interviews can be fun, interesting, but also a bit nerve-wracking. The better prepared you are, the more confident you will feel and the better your interview will go. In this project, you’ll be preparing for and conducting a mock interview and the instructions for this are included in the assignments.
Mock interviews simulate an actual job interview. You practice answering interview questions and receive feedback. This process helps you to answer some potentially difficult questions and prepare for how you might answer those questions. This is an excellent exercise before you ever walk into a real interview. Here, we’ll discuss the most common interview questions with some pointers.
Your assignment will be to prepare your answers to these questions and then conduct an actual mock interview as the potential employee. The first thing an employer will usually ask you is tell me about yourself. This question is a good way to break the ice, get you talking and for the employer to see your personality.
This is a good time to talk about a hobby or an interest you have, your education, any volunteer work you do or so on. Keep it fairly short, but make it long enough for the interviewer to get some idea of who you are. Some people like to use the past-present-future model of talking about themself.
This is well, what it sounds like? Tell a little about your background, where you are now and then your future goals. It’s a good idea to stay away from controversial topics, such as politics or religion. What is your greatest strength? Is another common question. Here is what you can talk about how your skills match the job you applied for.
A hint here is that instead of listing off your skills, give a story about how you used your skill or ability. A tough question, but almost always asked is what is your greatest weakness? Be careful in your answer to this question and try to turn it into a positive.
For example, explain that sometimes you get caught up in your work or that you tend to be a perfectionist. Another good way to answer this question is to discuss skills you have worked hard to improve. For example, you can discuss how you’ve worked to improve your organizational skills. Another common interview questions is why should we hire you?
Your answer here should be your sales pitch. Talk about ways you would make a good fit for the position and what you’re offering. Why did you leave your last job is something interviewers like to ask. They wanna know if you were fired, if you didn’t like the job or if you left to pursue another goal.
Why do you want this job is a question where you can show your enthusiasm for the position. You should show what you know about the job that you’ve done a bit of research on it and that you really are interested in this position. Frequently, employers will ask, how do you handle stress and pressure?
Employers wanna know that you’ll keep your cool and not engage in conflict with other employees or customers. Answering this question with an example of how you handled a stressful situation in a professional way is a good tactic. Along the same lines as the previous question employers may ask, describe a difficult work situation or project and how you overcame it.
This question asks you to give an example, so be prepared with one. Be careful not to focus on talking about specific people in answering. What are your goals for the future is a question employers really like to ask. Your answer will give the interviewer an idea as to how long you’re planning to stick around.
Employers wanna know that if they invest in training you for a position that you will be working for them for a while. Finally, employers will always ask if you have any questions. It’s always good to ask the employers some questions, so they know you are truly interested in the job.
While there might be other questions specific to certain jobs, these are the ten most commonly asked interview questions. Let’s review the key takeaways from this lesson. Interviews are an important piece of the job search process. It is important to prepare for your interviews as you will feel more confident and do a better job.
One of the best ways to prepare for an interview is to practice by doing a mock interview. Additionally, it’s important to anticipate and prepare answers to the most commonly asked interview questions. This lesson presents the ten most common questions asked in interviews. You’ll be asked to prepare your answers to these questions, conduct a mock interview and then receive feedback.
Be careful not to memorize your answers as you wanna be authentic during the interview. That’s it for this lesson on mock interviews. Remember you can review this video as many times as needed for better understanding. Thanks for watching.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS:
In this project, you will be preparing for and conducting a mock interview. Mock interviews simulate an actual job interview. You practice answering interview questions and receive feedback.
This process helps you to answer some potentially difficult questions and prepare for how you might answer those questions. This is an excellent exercise before you ever walk into a real interview.
Step 1: This is a mock, or practice, interview. You will choose someone who you trust to give you reliable feedback to be the person to interview you. Some suggestions include co-workers of your parents or other family members, other adults in your life such as teachers, coaches, relatives, or neighbors.
Since you are asking for help, it would be nice to make this easy for your interviewer. Provide this form Download this form to your interviewer as it introduces the assignment, gives him or her the list of questions you have prepared, and provides a place for the feedback, which is required for this project. Be sure to give your interviewer plenty of advance notice and to thank him or her for helping you.
Fill in your name on the form, as well as what position you are applying for (you choose any position that you might realistically apply for.)
(40 points – 4 points possible each question)
Step 2: Answer each of the following questions as these are the most commonly asked interview questions. Each of the following questions has pointers on how to answer them in the accompanying video lesson. Preparing ahead of time will help to give you confidence in the interview. However, don’t memorize your answers as you will come off a bit stiff and unnatural. Get feedback on these prior to your interview.
- Tell me about yourself.
- What is your greatest strength?
- What is your greatest weakness?
- Why should we hire you?
- Why did you leave your last job?
- Why do you want this job?
- How do you handle stress and pressure?
- Describe a difficult work situation or project, and how you overcame it.
- What are your goals for the future?
- Do you have any questions?
Look over the rubric for Step 2 to see how your teacher will grade each of your questions.
(50 points possible)
Step 3: Participate in the mock interview. Be sure to have your appointment set with your interviewer ahead of time. Show up on time, dress nicely, and conduct yourself as you would for a potential employer. After the interview, have your interviewer fill out the form you gave him or her ahead of time including the comments box, and signature and date fields. You will submit this form to your teacher.
Be sure to thank your interviewer.
(10 points possible)
Step 4: Reflection
This reflection will help you to solidify in your mind what went well in your interview and what you need to still consider improving upon.
Write one good paragraph for each of the following. A good paragraph includes a good topic sentence with supporting evidence as justification.
- What went well in your mock interview?
- What could you do to improve during an interview?
Look over the rubric for Step 4 to see how your teacher will grade each of your responses.