How to Hold a Mock Interview, Part 4

These last few posts, we have discussed why to hold a mock interview and how to do so in order to benefit you the most before your actual job interview. Now we’d like to offer you some closing thoughts on why these mock interviews are so effective.

Psychological Theory of Habituation

Mock interviews build one of the most well-known theories in psychology: Habituation

Habituation is when a stimulus (in this case, the interview) evokes less response because you are used to its presence. Habituation happens every day with humans and animals alike. You were probably nervous the first time you drove a car after you got your license, but then you got used to driving and it became less stressful. That’s habituation. You may have been nervous on the first day of a new job, but over time that nervousness went away. That’s habituation.

By holding all of these mock interviews, especially if you take the time to simulate an actual job interview, you become more used to the interview process, and while you will always be nervous, the degree of nervousness will be less because you have habituated to what being in a job interview is like.

Mock Interviews are a Great Preparation Tool

Researching the company and planning out as many interview answers as you can are two of the most crucial ways to prepare for the job interview. Both of those vastly improve your chances of getting the job.

Yet while they do a great job preparing you for the individual components of a job interview, they do little to prepare you for the actual stress and pressure of the job interview experience. Mock interviews solve that problem, by providing you with an interview simulation that allows you to get used to the interview process so that it has less of an effect on your abilities. They are a tool that may not be vital, but will go a long way to reducing your interview mistakes.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Mock interviews are great.
• They are better the more you simulate a real interview.

How to Hold a Mock Interview, Part 3

Over the last few posts we have gone over some of the many reasons to hold mock interviews, and who to select as your mock interviewer. Today, we will start looking at the best way to conduct a great mock interview.

Any Mock Interview Is Better Than None

Once again, it is important to note that any mock interview is better than no mock interview. So if you can’t find someone that will agree to all of the tips below, it is still beneficial to do a mock interview anyway. Mock interviews of any kind will help prepare you for the experience of being in a real job interview. All of the advice below is simply designed to improve that preparation.

Prepare Lots of Questions – Both You and the Interviewer

You should prepare as many questions as possible for your job interviewer, ideally on notecards that they can look through. However, your questions are not enough. You should also have the mock interviewer prepare questions of their own, based on the job description, the company, the type of job, and common interview questions both in general and in the field. You don’t want to only use questions you have prepared for, so that you can simulate the experience of answering questions you have not prepared for.

As many questions as you can come up with the better. At least 100 questions if possible. You do not need to answer all of the questions at the mock interview. Rather, the interviewer can pick questions out at random, so that you never know which questions are coming next. You cannot prepare for every question in the actual interview, or the order of each question, and this method is the best way for preparing for the real interview experience.

Additional Mock Interview Tips

• Introduce yourself, shake hands, etc.

You should be simulating every aspect of the real interview. That includes introductions, talking about the weather, and more.

• Come dressed up

In order to best simulate the actual interview, you (and possibly your interviewer, if they are willing) should be dressed up in job interview clothes. You want to experience the same discomfort that you will experience at the actual interview to prepare for the feelings you will have throughout.

• Give your interviewer a list of things to look for

Throughout this website you will find hundreds of interview tips for a successful interview. Write a lot of them down and give them to the mock interviewer. Have them look to make sure that you are successfully doing the things you are supposed to be doing, and avoiding the things that you are supposed to be avoiding. This includes things like posture, crossing your arms, etc.

• Use a business space

See if you can find a room that looks and feels like the room you may get your interview. Again, the more your mock interview experience simulates the actual interview, the more prepared you will be.

• Hold new interviews over and over again

If possible, don’t stop after just one interview. Hold a new interview again, shaking hands, introducing yourself, sitting down and getting asked random questions.

In the next post, we’ll add some closing thoughts about these mock interview tips and why they are so effective.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Simulate the real interview experience as best you can.
• Have the interviewer come up with questions of their own.

How to Hold a Mock Interview, Part 2

Last post we discussed some of the benefits of conducting mock interviews. Mock interviews can be an important tool for:

• Reducing the stress of job interviews.
• Learning how to speak your answers clearly and confidently.
• Getting feedback from the interviewer without a job on the line.

In this post, we will discuss who you should choose to conduct your mock interview so that you receive the greatest benefits.

Does it Matter?

No, not really. You can choose anyone to give you your mock interview and you will still receive many of the benefits. However, if you can find an interviewer that has any (or all) of the following qualities, you are more likely to get the benefits you want from the interview.

• Someone Honest and Perceptive

Mock interviews allow you to benefit from feedback, so you don’t want an interviewer that is not going to pay much attention or is not going to give you criticism. You want someone that can tell you what you did well and where you need to improve. Ideally, it should be someone intelligent whose judgment you trust, and who has a good understanding of both people and business. Your dumb, clueless high school friend that you keep around for giggles is not going to be as good a mock interviewer.

• Someone Older

If you are a younger business professional, you may want to try to find a mock interviewer that is older than you, to help simulate the experience of the actual interviewer. Interviewers are rarely in their early 20’s, and part of the mock interview is to prepare you for the actual interview environment. Someone with a lot of work experience is going to simulate that feeling better.

• Someone Less Comfortable

Not everyone chooses to go this route, but it can be extremely beneficial. Interviewing with someone whom you are not that comfortable is a good way to simulate the job interview experience. A good choice would be a family friend that you barely know but are on good terms with. The less comfortable you feel in the mock interview, the more you will get used to the discomfort in the actual job interview.

• Someone Intelligent and Confident

We briefly mentioned this before, but it’s usually a good idea to interview with someone that is both intelligent and confident – someone that is going to represent the same qualities that the interviewer has. Dumb, shy people don’t usually make good interviewers. Most likely your interviewer is going to be a talkative, loud, and bright individual, and ideally your interviewer should be too.

Anyone is Better Than No One

All of the above qualities are useful, but not necessary. Simply holding mock interview for yourself provides enough benefits that it is worth doing even if the only person you can find to do the interview is an inattentive, unintelligent stoner that is 15 years younger than you and couldn’t hold a job in the fast food industry. Still, finding someone that has the above qualities can be useful, so if you can find someone that meets any or all of the above criteria, you will find it beneficial.

Next post we will look at some of the tips for how to best conduct a mock interview.

Take Away Interview Tips

• You don’t need someone that is older, intelligent, confident and perceptive.
• It helps though.

How to Hold a Mock Interview, Part 1

Interview preparation is crucial for success. The more you prepare, the more likely you are to answer questions effectively, remain confident, and show the employer that you are ready for the position. Part of preparation is simply planning answers to common interview questions and researching the company, but while that will supply you with good answers, they are not preparing you for the interview itself. All they are preparing you for are the questions.

Interviews are stressful. You sit in a room, alone with a stranger. You have to answer expected and unexpected questions knowing that each answer may affect whether or not you get the job. You not only have to share the answers you prepared, but you have to share them with confidence, in a way that interview appreciates.

That’s hard. That’s stressful. No matter how many answers you prepared, the experience of being in a job interview is much different than writing down answers for yourself. That is why to reduce that stress you should strongly consider holding some mock interviews.

Benefits of a Mock Interview

Mock interviews allow you to simulate real interviews with someone that you are comfortable with. They still require that you try to answer questions effectively, but your employment is not at risk, allowing you to answer them with less stress.

Benefits of mock interviews include:

• Learning to answer interview questions to a real person.
• Getting used to the interview environment.
• Garnering feedback from someone you trust.

Mock interviews can prepare you for the experience of a real interview in ways that few things can, making them highly beneficial for applicants preparing for a tough job interview. In the next post, we’ll take a look at who to choose to conduct the mock interview, followed by a post on the best way to conduct your mock interview effectively.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Mock interviews have a lot of benefits.
• Studies have shown that mock interviews reduce the stress of real interviews.

How to Prepare for Job Interview Stress

Job interviews are stressful. Your fate is in the hands of a person you have not met, judging you on answers you have not yet given, comparing you against competition you have not seen. Your job interview is like a blind date with an attractive, intelligent, funny model. You know they have the qualities you want, but you have to prove that you have the qualities they want.

Preparing for the Stress

USNews recently had an article in their health section on how to prepare for general stress in life, like test taking, first dates, etc. We’ll take their advice and show you how to use those tips for job interviews.

• Practice

Practice is the best way to prepare for the stress of the job interview. The more you prepare, the less helpless you will feel. If you are a particularly stressful person, you should also try your best to hold mock interviews with a friend or family member. Getting used to the interview environment and how to come up with questions on the spot is the best way to be ready for what occurs in a real interview.

• Confront Your Demons

The article advises jotting down your worries on a piece of paper. We agree. However, you should build on that in two ways. First, jot down a few of the things you will do if you don’t get the job – like places you will apply, and the next steps in your job search process. That way you show your brain you have a plan, and you are not dependent on getting this job. Second, apply to one or two jobs the day before your interview. It doesn’t matter if you get them, what matters is you are teaching your brain that the interview is not your last hope.

• Free Up Your Brain

Learning mnemonics is a good way to remember your job interview answers, and you should also plan generic answers for questions you may not have prepared for. For example, plan an answer to any question about leadership if you are faced with a question you didn’t expect. Or prepare an answer to a question about communication for similar reasons. That way you have stock answers you can use if your planned answers don’t end up working.

• Think Win, Not Lose

Confidence is extremely important at the job interview. Even if you are not the most confident person, fake it. Pretend like you are. Make sure that you act like you are definitely the right person for the job. Job interviews are not a place for doubt, and even when you fake it, your confidence will shine through. The more doubt you give with your answers, the more doubt you will feel during the interview, leading to more stress.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Stay confident.
• Practice often.
• Plan responses.
• Write down your fears and solutions.

Job Interview Dress Code Tips – A Response

Recently we came across an article by King5 News in Seattle about the “Dos and Don’ts of Job Interview Dress”. Though a little poorly written, it does highlight some important aspects of dressing for your job interview. Yet the article itself has a few flaws. We will discuss the article below.

Where the Article is Right

• Wrinkles can affect your job interview chances.
• Cleavage or tight fitting shirts are inappropriate.
• Heavy perfumes or colognes should be avoided.
• Dark bras under a white top are too visible.
• Makeup is not a negative, but too much is too much.

Where the Article Misses the Mark

The reality is that you should generally avoid any perfumes or colognes. Too many people these days are allergic. If you are worried about smelling, use a subtle deodorant, but cologne and perfume make it appear you have dressed up too much, and the possible allergies make it a little bit of a risk.

Also, wrinkle free dress shirts are great, but they’re not actually wrinkle free. When you wash then, the collar can still shrink up. You’re going to need to either use an iron, or hope that your collar doesn’t shrink, but it’s a bad idea to assume that just because a shirt is wrinkle free it won’t look awkward. It can. Also, you can find wrinkle free shirts at any cheap store for less than 20 dollars. Buying an 80 dollar one is not necessary. They are not hard to find.

Overall Thoughts

The article is correct, but the information is fairly basic. As stated in the article “it’s not a fashion show” so the article doesn’t contain any detailed information. Overall, remember that the key is to dress professional, but not be fashionable. You want to be so professional that your outfit is boring. The key is to do your best not to be noticed.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Most scents should be avoided.
• Wrinkle free isn’t necessarily wrinkle free.

How to Prepare for an IT Job Interview – A Response

Tech jobs are in high demand. Most companies use computers for almost every aspect of their company. Not only is it used for sales and marketing. It is also used for communicating, scheduling meetings, holding meetings, keeping track of databases and so on. Sometimes the product itself is computer based, like a software program or service. IT jobs are everywhere.

They are also harder and harder to find, because a number of college students decided to go into IT and computer programming specifically because it was such a good market. The more people there are applying for these jobs, the harder it is for you to get the job you want. So when we saw an article by Business Insider entitled “How To Prepare For A Tech Job Interview” we decided to check it out and see if they were supplying you with sound advice.

Just the Basics

The article itself is useful, but only covers the basics of IT job interviews, and not in much depth. It also gives some advice that’s questionable:

Don’t panic if you don’t know a technical answer: most recruiters are more interested in how your brain works than in the actual answer.

… Maybe, but that’s not really true. There are so many IT professionals seeking jobs these days that companies are finding it harder to find employees that actually know how to do the job. The market is filled with workers that are ill equipped for the tasks needed by the company, and a bad coder or someone that doesn’t understand networking can set the company back for months.

Solving Problems

Problem solving is a large part of Tech job interviews, as noted in the article, but the companies want to know that you actually can problem solve. It’s not good enough to simply show that you will be patient, as the article implies. You should be ready to give a logical, problem solving answer. Companies like Microsoft ask logic puzzles completely unrelated to IT because they give good insight on how an applicant solves problems. Other companies will supply you with an actual problem that may occur, and you will have to try to solve it.

IT job interviews are not easy. They can’t be, because there are far too many unemployed Tech workers that aren’t able to handle the jobs the companies need. The only way to filter them out is with a difficult interview. We feel the article itself downplays how hard these interviews are. You need to be ready, which means studying your field and making sure you apply to jobs in which you are knowledgeable in the work they will need.

Take Away Interview Tips

• IT job interviews are difficult.
• Continue to study your specialty until you are employed.
• Apply for jobs when you are a good fit.

How to Choose a Men’s Button Shirt Color for Your Job Interview

We say it time and time again. The goal of dressing for a job interview is to not be noticed. You don’t want the interviewer to notice your dashing suit or amazingly expensive black shoes. You don’t want them to notice your fantastic tie or your gelled black hair. You don’t want them to notice anything. You want your clothes to be professional and boring so that the interviewer is focused on your abilities, and not your style.

The same is true for your shirt. The shirt you choose for your job interview needs to be unremarkable. You need to choose a shirt color that has the interviewer thinking “wow, this applicant has a great resume!” instead of “wow, that’s a bright pink!”

Colors Not to Wear With a Suit

The most boring colors are white and an unremarkable blue. Those are the colors you should use a your shirt. The colors you should stay away from are:

• Bright colors
• Unusual colors and patterns
• Deep colors (deep blue)
• Black

For most jobs, you will also want to stay away from traditionally feminine colors as well, like light pink or purple. These colors are fairly unremarkable, but you do not want your interviewer to notice your shirt color, and they are likely to notice a pink or purple hue. Remember, it’s not about the color meaning something – it’s about the color not being noticeable at all.

The two safest colors are a boring light blue (not baby blue) and white. Ideally you should choose a white shirt.

Colors You Can Wear Without a Suit

You have a little bit more leeway if you are not wearing a suit jacket to the job interview. You can get away with some of the deeper colors, like blue or black, but you should still avoid any bright colors or unusual colors, and make sure that the tie you choose matches.

Size Matters

You should also make sure the shirt is fitted correctly. The neck line should fit you perfectly and there should not be a lot of fabric hanging outside of your belt because the shirt is too big. You should also make sure the sleeves fit you well, especially if you are going without a jacket.

Choosing Your Attire

Boring is always better. Again, the goal is to not be noticed. You don’t want your clothes to play any role in your ability to get a job. The more the interviewer notices your clothes, good or bad, the less they will pay attention to the content of your interview. Dress well, but dress boring, in order to make sure the interview is about your abilities, and not your style.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Boring is better.
• Bright colors are bad.
• Words that start with “B” are fun to say.

Choosing a Tie for an Entry Level Job Interview

Oh yeah. You’re stylin’. You picked out some sweet suit jacket. Grabbed a belt and a pressed shirt, and you are ready to pick your tie. You’ve got a box of your dad’s old ties and you’re checking yourself out in the mirror.

-          This one is too pink.

-          This one is too flowery.

-          This one has the Green Bay Packer logo.

Most of them don’t work. They’re old person ties, or oddly colorful ties that never suited your dad’s personality anyway, but he bought them because he’s old. It doesn’t look like any of them are going to work, so you need to go to the store and buy a new tie for yourself. Your entry level job interview depends on it.

Picking a Tie

The rule with all job interview attire is that none of it gets noticed. You don’t want to pick a cool tie or a stylish tie or one that makes you look like a clubber. You want to pick a tie that is boring. You want to pick a tie that the interviewer ignores. That means that your tie:

• Cannot have any bright colors.
• Cannot have any fancy designs or images.
• Cannot have any crazy patterns.
• Cannot clash or stand out against your shirt.

Your tie needs to be boring and lifeless. It needs to be a tired color, like blue – but not bright blue or deep blue. It needs to be a boring old blue, with a boring old pattern. It needs to be boring. You should be bored just thinking about how boring the tie will be.

Avoiding the Power Tie

Power ties are not boring. They are useful for high paying sales jobs and executive positions. That’s not you. You are applying for an entry level jobs, and entry level jobs are boring. Power ties may be tempting, but they are for higher up positions. At your job interview, a boring old blue is advised.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Choose a boring blue tie…. Zzz……

What to do if You Need to Take a Call at the Interview

In the post a few days ago, we discussed what to do with your cell phone. Namely, that it should be both on silent (not vibrate) and off completely. However, in some rare cases you may need to take a call during the interview. Perhaps you have a sick relative or a family member is having a baby. Whatever the reason, there are going to be some rare, rare cases that you need to have your cell phone on and with you during the job interview.

What to Say

Before the interview begins, you need to explain the situation to the interviewer. Right after you introduce yourself, let the interviewer know the situation:

“Before we begin, I just wanted to let you know that I may need to answer a phone call during the interview. A good friend of mine is very sick, and I am her emergency contact should something go wrong at the hospital. I’d like to apologize in advance for any inconvenience.”

Your reason needs to be something like the one above. You also need to make sure that you do not give away personal information, for example “My wife is having a baby.” This type of personal information can play a role in your ability to get hired. If your wife is having a baby, say “a family member is having a child and she is 2 days late for her due date. I may need to drive her to the hospital if she goes into labor.”

What to Do

Your cell phone either needs to be on vibrate, or you need to turn every single ringtone for every one of your contacts off except for the one person that you are waiting for. Most phones allow you to set a ringtone of “silent” and then personalize ringtones for contacts. You do not want to check your phone because it is vibrating or ringing, only to find that it is not the person you are waiting for.

If the person calls, you first say to the interviewer “I am so sorry, I need to get this, it is the friend in the hospital” and only answer if they give you the nod. Then make sure you speak as briefly as possible, and you if you need to leave, apologize to the interviewer and ask to reschedule.

What to Expect

This is going to affect your ability to get the job. There is no way around it. If you are lucky, they may give you another chance, but do not expect it. Even the best excuses are still excuses. You should have rescheduled if there was a risk of you getting a phone call.

The advice above will help minimize the damage, but it will not negate it completely. If you present yourself as a great employee throughout the rest of the interview, you may still have a chance, but expect that the phone call has hurt your chances.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Warn the interviewer ahead of time.
• Turn the cell phone on vibrate or give only the one contact a ringtone.
• Expect it to hurt your chances.