Through Big Interview, I had the opportunity to “interview” my fellow Career Peer Educators at the Career Center. We all recorder ourselves answering the sample interview questions, and then we were tasked to each write an article about our experience.
Throughout all the interviews I looked at, the strongest answers were always concise. That’s a huge challenge, especially on the fly in the middle of a conversation. Rambling is way easier than trying to slow down and think. However, slowing down is probably the best thing you can do. When you are more conscious of what you’re saying, you can make sure what you’re saying is relevant.
As well, being able to tie your ideas together is great. If the question is “what is your greatest strength?”, and your answer is “kindness”, you should consistently be relating your kindness to the workplace and how it is used as a strength. That sounds redundant, but it is really easy to just go on a tangent about how nice you are. Then, the employer doesn’t get the chance to see how your strength is actually applicable to what you would be doing.
Confidence is also a huge thing! And honestly if you aren’t feeling the most confident, faking it until you make it is a real thing. Interviewers judge your everything. Your clothes, attitude, tone of voice, and even how you sit matters. You want to exude confidence from the second you enter the building. There are some small ways one can implement this into practice. Smiling is a big one! Smile at the interviewer, the person who hands you your coffee, everyone. The way you walk matters as well, and walking with a smile automatically shifts people’s perception of you in a positive way. Some other quick ones would be walking straight, use a strong handshake, and don’t be afraid of eye contact. In my experience, one of the biggest things that exude confidence is being yourself. No one has fun in an interview where the interviewee is robotic and too curated. Find ways to show them your personality, while maintaining professionalism. It isn’t as hard as you’d think!
Nowadays, many interviews are online. In that case,obviously some things change. You have to keep the interviewer engaged! The easiest way to do that is with your words. Avoid rambling as previously mentioned and focus, really focus, on what you are saying. Not so much so that you’re speaking in chunks, but so that you are concise. Don’t be afraid to use your hands when you talk, as it can help the interviewer stay engaged, but monitor it. You don’t want to be flailing your arms or using hand motions where it doesn’t make the most sense. It takes thought and practice with intentionality to understand it, but this is also not as difficult as it seems.
If the thought of recording yourself and watching it back makes you not the happiest, don’t worry, you aren’t alone. Big Interview is a great tool for interviewing, and getting comfortable with feedback. All of my coworkers that I interviewed through this platform are people I see everyday. It really wasn’t weird watching their responses. If you keep a professional mindset, you really can get a lot out of it. I highly encourage you to give Big Interview a try!
Good luck Lawrentians!
