Tell me about yourself….oh no!

“Fail to prepare, prepare to fail” is something my dad has said to me my whole life and something I believe in and follow for pretty much everything I do, including when it comes to job interviews. When I heard we were taking part in mock interviews I felt the panic the same as anybody else would, but was soon to tell myself that all I needed to do was prepare and I would get through it okay. When I was preparing for the simulation interviews, I found a job that really interested me, and that I could confidently fit the job description for, which was a podcast creator at BBC sounds Audio lab. To prepare for the interview I looked at the criteria for the job and tried to think of possible questions that could have been asked relating to this. I also looked at the star technique as I anticipated a question that related to a time in the past.

“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.”

Arthur Ashe

When I went into the room for my interview, I immediately was nervously awaiting the first question to be asked. The first question was of course the dreaded “Tell me about yourself”, asked at 99% of job interviews where all you can really think of is your name and what school you went to. Luckily in this case I feel that I answered it well, which then gave me more confidence and relaxed me for the rest of the interview. I then had a question which was “give an example of a time you handled conflict”. “Many companies use “BI(Behavioral Interviewing)” questions to help them identify the proper candidates for their positions. These questions are trying to tease out which candidates have the best people skills to mesh with their company culture.” (Fianchetto, 2023) for answering this question I was able to use the star technique which I previously learnt in preparation for this interview. 

“The STAR method is a technique used to answer behavioural interview questions in a structured and compelling way. Behavioural questions prompt job candidates to give specific examples of how they’ve handled past situations or challenges.” (Eatough ,2022) This method helped me get my point across and explain the situation clearly, so the interviewer would see that I handled the situation well. As this job is to do with storytelling, seeing that I can convey the story effectively and clearly would also have a powerful impact when relating it to the job.

When I finished the interview, I was relieved and happy with how I performed as although I didn’t let the nerves affect me or come through when I was going through the interview process, they definitely were still there!

I found it very useful being able to receive the written feedback I got from my peer interviewers and write down how I believed I had done. It was interesting to see if they picked up on stuff I had done that maybe I hadn’t noticed. The feedback was very positive as I received comments such as “relevant answers, did really well relating answers back to experience and how it would relate to the job” and “very well thought out and related to the topic of the question.” This was great as it meant that my preparation worked well, and I was able to get my point across without nervously waffling and forgetting my train of thought, which I feared might happen. Some constructive criticism I got was, “Spoke at a good pace, maintained eye contact, clear voice but could have used hands more.” I feel that I perhaps don’t use my hands when speaking in the interview due to me focusing so much on what I’m saying although since researching this have found out that, “A candidate’s verbal content only provides 7% of the message the interviewer is receiving from the candidate. Both the candidate’s body language (55% of the message) and the way the candidate speaks, such as tone of voice (38% of the message), are as important in interview answers.” (Karpaha, p.66) This shows that physical communication is a lot more important than I thought and something that I would bring forward in the future. I gained feedback saying I could have gone into more detail which is something I have always struggled with as I have got this feedback on every essay I have ever written!

Works cited

Bhatt, Ananya. “70 Attention to Detail Quotes and Sayings to Inspire You.” The Random Vibez, 14 May 2022, https://www.therandomvibez.com/attention-to-detail-quotes/. 

Eatough, Erin. “How to Use the STAR Interview Method for Success.” Better Up, 16 Sept. 2022, https://www.betterup.com/blog/star-interview-method. Accessed 21 Feb. 2023. 

Fianchetto, G. “Benefits of Mock Interview and 4 Reasons Why Launch Your It Career Faster – Clarusway.” Online IT Bootcamp; Learn Coding, Data Science, AWS, DevOps, Cyber Security & Salesforce, 31 Jan. 2023, https://clarusway.com/benefits-of-mock-interview-and-how-to-prepare/. 

“Gibbs Reflective Cycle.” MindTools, https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/reflective-cycle.htm. Accessed 16 Nov. 2022

Karpaha, N, et al. “Language in India.” The Importance of Dress Code and Body Language for Interview and Group Discussion, vol. 17, 11 Nov. 2017, pp. 61–68. 

Nadzeya_Dzivakova, et al. “Istock.” IStock, 2023, https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/interview-cartoon

“S.T.A.R Interview Techniques.” Babington, 19 June 2022, https://babington.co.uk/insights/help-guidance/star-interview-techniques/. 

Twins_nika, et al. “Istock.” IStock, https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/interview-body-language.