How to Get Excellent Interview Practice
Practicing for an interview helps you feel confident when you walk into the real interview. You will have gone through the process of planning some answers and practicing speaking in a professional manner. Use several strategies to get ready for the big interview and increase your chances of landing the job.
Practice By Yourself
Write out answers to common interview questions. Putting it down on paper forces you to see how long your response is and to think about each thing you could say in your answer. After you have developed an answer, read over it, set the paper aside and practice saying it to yourself in a mirror. Focus on not only the content, but also the delivery, particularly with regard to tone of voice, and pacing of the answer. This helps you get the flow of the answer and internalize what you wrote so you will be able to give a similar answer if the interviewer asks you the question.
Practice Phone Interview
One of the most difficult things about a phone interview is that you cannot use facial expression to mediate your responses, which forces you to be more careful with your words. In addition, you must speak very clearly so the interviewer understands you and listen closely so you catch everything the interviewer says. Get practice for this type of interview by having a friend call you on the phone you will be using for the interview and practicing going through a few questions and answers. Have the friend make up a few questions so you aren't necessarily prepared for them and practice listening to the questions and determining the intent. Then give your answer to the question. After you are done interviewing, confirm with the friend that he heard you clearly and ask for any tips about what you should do differently for your phone interview that is coming up.
Practice In-Person Interview
If you have a friend who works in human resources or a similar type of position in an organization other than the one you are interviewing with, ask that friend to run you through a practice interview in person. You can have another type of friend do this, but an experienced interviewer is the best option. Get dressed up and go to the friend's office if possible so you can practice getting ready and showing up on time. Have the friend pretend like he is interviewing you and ask you all of the toughest questions. When you are done with the practice interview, get feedback on what parts stood out as especially strong and what areas you faltered in. Find out whether this person would hire you for the job, and if not, what you could change to have a better chance in your real interview.
Videotape Yourself
One of the best ways to discover what you're doing badly in an interview is to videotape yourself doing a practice interview. When it is over, watch the tape back and put yourself in the perspective of the interviewer. Note what comes off as weak and what habits or tics you have that are distracting. Practice again afterwards while being attentive to the things you noticed in the video.
