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.