First Job Interview

The One Thing You Must Do Before Your First Interview

Practice. Before you go through an actual interview, you should first go through a mock interview. Nearly every college campus offers access to a career counselor who can take you through a mock interview (also known as "interview coaching"). Sadly, fewer than 5% of all graduating students take advantage of mock interviews. And fully 95% end up stumbling through several interviews before they have any practical sense of how they are doing--because that is when the rejection letters start arriving. And those rejection letters offer you nothing in the way of constructive criticism toward future improvement other than point out to you in the starkest terms that you failed your interview.

The mock interview is more than just a chance to work out your interview jitters. It is an opportunity to practice your interviewing technique and answers live. It is also a chance to hear constructive feedback from someone who can guide you toward improving your interviewing style and presentation.

Just one mock interview will result in a marked improvement in your interviewing skills. Why? For the same reason that a speech is not a speech while it is still on paper or just floating around in your head. It is not a speech until you give it verbally. The first time you give it in front of an audience (remember your first speech in Speech 101?), it will come out nothing like what you prepared. It is the same with interviewing. It is not enough to look at an interview question and say, "Yeah, I know the answer to that one." You need to practice your answer. Live. In front of someone else. This is not the time to talk to yourself in the mirror. Seek out a professional and practice. Ideally, have the session videotaped. That way, you will have two opinions--the mock interviewer's and your own. Remember that there is a totally different perspective in listening to yourself saying something contemporaneously versus the "out of body experience" of watching yourself later on videotape. Just as your voice always sounds different on tape, so do your answers. "Did I really say that?" Yes, you did. Aren't you glad the image is captured on tape (which can later be erased), rather than in a potential employer's mind's eye? Yes, you are.

Go through at least one mock interview. For maximum effectiveness, review your answers and then go through a second mock interview. Even if you ace the second mock interview, it will be well worth it since it will give you confidence in your first real interview.

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