| Tags | employability-sprint |
Landing an interview is only half the battle won. The next step is to prepare for your interview. This can cause major anxiety – especially if you are new to the process.
The next milestone is getting from one interview round to the next. Companies generally interview multiple candidates at every stage, so it’s to be expected that you won’t always advance to the next round. The good news is that you can increase your interview success rate by practicing and preparing.
Interviewing for a position can be scary, but this is an amazing opportunity to sell yourself. The first five minutes of an interview set the tone and could get you the opportunity – or lose it.
You really want to ace the interview, and with that in mind, you need to practice. Don’t take it easy or simply ‘wing it’ – you want to be ready to answer those difficult questions.
There is a lot that can go wrong in an interview, and since you’ll be nervous, you want to make sure you do everything you can in advance to help it go right.
If, during the interview, you are asked something that you don’t know, the best approach is to admit that you don’t know, but show a willingness to do some research and get back to them. Don’t ever try to misdirect your interviewer by telling them about cool things you know that don’t answer the question, stay on topic.
Never ever try to bullshit your interviewer, don’t misrepresent your skills, don’t say “that’s what I meant” if your interviewer corrects one of your answers. Be honest and represent your skills accurately.
If you are ever unsure if you have answered a question accurately you can say “does that answer your question?” or even “Sorry, I’m a bit nervous, what was the question again?”
There are some wonderful platforms that facilitate mock interviews with peers or mentors. Some of the peer-driven ones are even accessible for free and can be incredibly helpful – especially if you take individual bits of feedback with a pinch of salt, but pay close attention to which bits of feedback remain consistent across multiple interviews.
If you can afford to buy some time with a more seasoned interview mentor, it can be well worth it. The perspective they bring “from the other side of the table” can be invaluable.
Try out one of the below interview prep tools in order to make sure you are ready for your next interview.
Interview Warmup is a great tool to help you prepare for interviews. The tool transcribes your answers to interview questions in real time so you can review what you said and learn from insights uncovered by machine learning.
Your responses aren’t graded or judged and you can answer questions as many times as you want. It’s your own private space to practice, prepare, and get comfortable with interviewing.
When used correctly, the tool can assist in reducing the anxiety that comes with interviewing for jobs. Regardless of the field you’re in or the role you’re applying for, the tool coaches you by giving you insights into your responses to help you improve your interview skills.
You can also visit Hiration’s interview preparation section that includes the following:
This great article should help you choose the right platform: More Mock Interview Platforms
Also go through the tech specific content if you are preparing for a technical assessment or interview:
TOPIC: Technical Interview Preparation