Job Interview Practice – Interview Rehearsal

A job interview can be a frightening idea. It doesn’t matter how good you are. The idea of facing a stranger with questions regarding your career life or personal things can be terrifying. People have come up with innovative tactics to beat the stress that arises in the event of an impending interview. One of these tactics is rehearsing the interview process. So how do you rehearse interviews? Learn more about how to rehearse a job interview.

While you don’t want your answers to sound premeditated, you also don’t want to be caught off guard and raise your nervousness levels. Despite how confident you might be with your abilities rehearsing, your interview helps immensely.

There are things that you must do before, during, and after rehearsing your job interview.

How to Rehearse a Job Interview

1. Identify the aspect you want to rehearse for

A job interview is a complex process involving many diverse sections. If you choose to rehearse a job interview, it is important to identify what you want to rehearse. When picking the aspect, you want to rehearse, you have to do so about the particular job you have applied for.

Mostly the largest part of an interview is being asked questions and providing answers in return. There are, however, other aspects as to how you sit, stand, or dress. In other careers, such as modeling, even how you walk is important.

It is advisable to pick the aspect for rehearsing based on how confident you feel about it. You should pick the areas you are less confident in and invest more time in rehearsing them.

One should not make the mistake of being overconfident and failing to rehearse some areas. Once nervousness kicks in, even the parts you are confident in start becoming doubtful. Rehearse a particular aspect regularly and, more importantly, just before you go to the interview venue.

2. Decide whether you want an audience

It is crucial to decide whether you want someone to be watching you while you rehearse or you need a serene atmosphere with as little distraction as possible. It is, however, important to consider that the interview will be a two-way process, and in some cases, there are panelists watching the interview.

You can let your audience critique or give some honest opinion. If you decide against having an audience, it is advisable to record yourself for assessment after the rehearsal.

If you are not aware of the person you should pick to assess your rehearsals due to the biases of family members and friends, you can hire career and interview coaches.

3. Research on rehearsal questions and their answers

Every job has areas that are emphasized greatly. Conduct extensive research on the areas that companies are interested in and rehearse them. Some questions are common such as:

• Why do you think we should hire you?
• What are some of your weaknesses and strengths?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?

These questions apply to an individual, and you should practice greatly on how to answer them. Questions on your skills and qualifications should be rehearsed with the view that there might be a request for a short demonstration.

Pick something that you are really good at, even if it is not sophisticated. Time yourself and decide the amount of time you would prefer the demonstrations to take.

4. Understand the interview process

The interview process sometimes involves more than one day or action. There are various parts of an interview, such as the phone interview, the questions and answers sections, the demonstration, and/or the audition.

Once you have understood which parts will be tested in the interview process, rehearse them separately and subsequently.  Make sure that all your ideas and actions are in proper sync and that none of them contradict each other.

Sometimes employers try to test you by asking you a question with an ethical angle only to ask for a demonstration that might end up compromising the ethics you defended. It is advisable to look out for leading questions that the interviewer might ask you and rehearse how to navigate them.

5. Always practice

It is advisable to rehearse how you will be groomed and how you will sit or portray yourself in the interview. Develop a practice of wearing the outfit you have settled on for the interview regularly. This helps you to grow into the outfit, especially if you are not used to it.

When it comes to other careers in modeling and the fashion industry, the aspect of grooming takes a new direction. There is more emphasis on what you wear and its appearance. If you are interviewing for these jobs, work intensely on the outfit.  Rehearse about it and consult the opinion of the third party with expertise in these particular industries.

6. Play the role of an interviewer

Many people fail to familiarize themselves with how an interviewer sees things. This is a recipe for failure. It is advisable to view yourself in the employer’s shoes and decide on some of the things you will be looking for in a potential employee. Pick someone you can role-play with and assume the role of the interviewer.

This aspect of rehearsing is very hard because as you role-play, you have to assume two characters. You have to act as the interviewer and, at the same time, observe yourself from the view of the person playing your role. To conduct this process successfully, it is advisable to have a notebook divided into two sections; what you like and what you don’t like.

Once the rehearsal is over, go through the interview, then rehearse again in reversed roles. Advise your partner to note things as you did. Try to improve on your techniques by getting rid of the things you disliked and incorporating those that pleased you. This should be repeated severally to satisfaction.

Conclusion

Practice makes perfect. It is, however, to note that interviews will not always turn out to be as rehearsed, so it is crucial that one adopts an open-minded approach and expect any eventuality.

Common Job Interview Questions & Answers

Below you can find a list of common job interview topics. Each link will direct you to an article regarding the specific topics that discuss commonly asked interview questions.

Furthermore, each article discusses why the interviewer asks these questions and how you answer them!

1. Accomplishments
2. Adaptability
3. Admission
4. Behavioral
5. Career Change
6. Career Goals
7. Communication
8. Competency
9. Conflict Resolution
10. Creative Thinking
11. Cultural Fit
12. Customer Service
13. Direct
14. Experience
15. Government
16. Graduate
17. Growth Potential
18. Honesty & Integrity
19. Illegal
20. Inappropriate
21. Job Satisfaction
22. Leadership
23. Management
24. Entry-Level & No experience
25. Performance-Based
26. Personal
27. Prioritization & Time Management
28. Problem-solving
29. Salary
30. Situational & Scenario-based
31. Stress Management
32. Teamwork
33. Telephone Interview
34. Tough
35. Uncomfortable
36. Work Ethic