You've done your interview preparation, now what's the best job interview practice?
You've done a great job of interview prep, put together a great resume / CV, and don't want to let this excellent work go to waste. But now what... you want the most effective way of ironing out any possible errors so you can confidently go forward and ace your interview.
Before going into the detail of your best interview practice techniques, I just want to confirm you have done your job interview preparation?
It's critical that you have researched the marketplace your target employer operates in, the competitors, the company itself, the department you're interviewing for, and the role itself.
Don't stop your research yet dig a little deeper to uncover employers are really looking for; in terms of what skills employers look for, and what personality traits employers value most. These are really important things to find out before you pitch up at interview.
Your interview prep should also cover the types of job interview you may face, and the types of interview questions that'll be coming your way, how to answer those tough interview questions and the best questions to ask your interviewer.
Your job interview preparation needs to prepare you for group interviews, panel interviews, competency and behavioural based interviews, and the different type of questions that may be asked.
I like the STAR Method technique for answering those difficult behavioural and competency interview questions, as it gives the interviewer exactly what THEY want, and is easy for you to remember under interview pressure.
Wow!
If you've done all this you should give yourself a pat on the back, or celebratory glass of your favourite tipple, because you've done more interview prep than most would... You're well on your way to acing your job interview!
But how will you perform under the scrutiny and pressure of the interview itself?
This is where diligent job interview practice will help you seal the deal.
Job interview practice isn't easy, as it's nigh on impossible to do yourself.
So you're likely to need to draft in a friend, relative or colleague to help you. If the role is valuable enough you can also go to a pro interviewer, who for a fee will put you through your interview paces, and coach you to a better performance.
This option isn't cheap, so most people opt to draft in a friend relative or colleague to run through a job interview rehearsal.
You can take the list of commonly asked job interview questions and lists of the tougher behavioural interview questions, and give them to your kindly stand-in interviewer.
You should also blend in some specific technical questions, and by technical I mean your key technical skills if you're an account, lawyer, doctor, project manager, there will be skills associated with the profession and associated qualifications that you will need to know about.
By running through this form of practice interview, you'll be able to practice you're prepared answers, and see how they play out in an interview rehearsal situation. Though the pressure won't be the same this will enable you to flush out problem areas, and fine tune your interview technique.
This level of job interview prep will also help your confidence no end.
There are a couple of interview preparation techniques that you can practice on your own. Firstly when building your STAR method answers to tough interview questions, I would suggest writing them down and saying them out load, because what often looks brilliant on paper doesn't always translate so well into natural language, and it's vital your answers trip naturally from your tongue.
I would also suggest using visualization, all top athletes use visualization as part of their training routines, and though this may sound a little airy-fairy this stuff really works in building clarity and confidence.
Visualization is like day dreaming with purpose, take your time and enjoy the experience of running through your job interview in your head, see yourself smiling and confidently greeting your interviewer, see your interviewer enjoying the interview with you, run through some of your answers...
I know visualization may seem a bit strange but trust me; it's a great form on job interview practice.
There is now also an interactive on-line practice service that is designed around specific jobs, and is a fantastic option if you'd prefer to do your job interview practice on your own.
Thanks for reading