Just the thought of an interview makes my heart drop to my stomach, followed by sweaty palms and anxious thoughts… but the actual interview itself? I could simply crumble into a ball of nerves.

However, it shouldn’t have to be that way! Rather than creating a scene of total embarrassment or crippling disappointment, interviews can work in your favour and be most opportune in demonstrating your skills, confidence, and personality in front of a potential employer.

But let’s be honest… the nerves will most likely still linger.

The interview is one of the most critical points in the job search process. Whilst you look great on paper, you need to subsequently prove that in front of a recruiter.

Innes, 2013: 7

Sitting in the hot-seat can be fairly daunting, as there is an arguable urgency and sense of pressure to showcase the best version of yourself with little to no flaws. Even with the best qualifications and a perfected CV, the interview can quickly determine whether a candidate is truly suitable for the job – based on the content of their answers and overall presentation skills. Pretty intimidating, right?

Recently, I was given the useful opportunity to test and improve these abilities through a simulated question and answer experience, based on a real job application that I had found online. Although it wasn’t as scary or serious as a real job interview, this experience proved effective in giving me an insight as to how I should verbally approach my responses in front of an interviewer, as well as controlling my body language and keeping a level of consistency with the way I speak.

Looking back, the simulated interview went pretty well! However, there is still room for improvement.

In order to reflect and subsequently learn from this experience, I have decided to implement Boud’s Model of Reflection in order to understand what I did right… and what I did wrong.

It is not sufficient simply to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting upon this experience, it may be quickly forgotten, or its learning potential lost.

Gibbs, 1998: 14

Experience: What Happened?

As stated previously, the nerves tend to get the best of me when I’m placed in these type of situations. On the day of the interview, my feelings were more on the apprehensive side, as after each question from the interviewer I was attempting to quickly curate the answers in my head before blurting them out with regret.

I didn’t want to come across as a nervous wreck… so maintaining eye contact, along with keeping a levelled voice and trying not to restrict my body language seemed like a good way to go. By relaxing my posture and speaking in a regular, everyday tone I thought would create a friendly rapport with the interviewer and establish a good sense of engagement, which would hopefully give me an edge in the outcome.

You are in control of the way you come across during the interview. The way that you choose to act and sound and the answers that you decide to give, all contribute to forming the impression that the interviewer will be left with.

Corfield, 2009: 3

The application which I had brought to the interview was a position for a full time, trainee Costume Designer . Therefore, I aimed to respond to the interviewer’s questions with some indication of creativity and a sense of strategy in order to make my answers as relevant to the job role as possible.

Throughout each question, I further attempted to address my strengths and provided examples of these within and outside of the job specification. For example, I was asked about a time when I solved a problem creatively. I hadn’t prepared an answer for this type of question so I said the first thing that came to my mind: Once during a production, we were unfortunately short on lighting equipment and needed some sort of reflector to add more light to the scene. I came up with the idea to cover a parallel wall with sheets of tin foil in order to hopefully act as a makeshift reflector; this worked as a decent substitute and ended up saving the quality of the shot.

In that exact moment of blurting out an answer, my confidence slightly declined as I felt it wasn’t prepared or potentially executed with the greatest detail. However it seemed to translate well with the interviewer, and I hadn’t many other similar experiences in mind which I could have responded with.

Reflection: Attending to Feelings

Re-evaluating your feelings in experiences such as these seems to remain an important ritual, as it may bring an awareness to any positive emotions which were felt and, as a result, allows the benefits to be seen from these types of unnerving events.

In regards to the simulated interview, I definitely was on edge throughout the entirety of each question. Nevertheless, it always feels good to confront and accomplish a task which mentally unnerves you; I felt a sense of satisfaction and motivation after the interview for having the ability to give adequate answers with an appropriate amount of detail.

It is a natural drive to want to avoid these stressful feelings, so we reflect on what has happened in order to learn from our experience and change our behaviour.

Jasper, 2013: 15

My decline in confidence after giving an unprepared answer definitely ruffled my feathers. However, the feedback that I was given post-interview suggested otherwise, as the interviewer wrote: “The candidate successfully used real examples as well as related parts of his film degree to the expectations of the role.” Thus, this experience taught me that I should trust the examples in my head when asked an unexpected question, and how I simply can’t predict the perception of the interviewer(s) based on what answers I give.

My choice of speaking and relaxed body language also seemed to translate well, as my feedback sheet details: “The candidate was confident, and calmly answered questions and maintained body language. He took a pace which allowed him to be clear, coherent, etc.” As a result, this further increased my self-confidence and also suggests what choices I should maintain for future interviews. Overall, this enhanced my understanding of how events such as these are valid learning experiences.

Outcomes: New Perspectives

Returning to experiences and re-evaluating them is described as an iterative process that eventually should have outcomes such as new perspectives on experiences or changes in behaviour.

Prilla et al, 2020: 699

In conclusion, this simulated experience proved effective in demonstrating the customs of an interview and how I should verbally and physically present myself. Instead of vigorously rehearsing and stressing over potential questions, perhaps I should concentrate more on my delivery and trust whatever examples pop into my head. By doing this, I should also not let these type of responses affect my confidence and suffer the remainder of the interview.

Through feedback, I’ve learned that presentation is important, followed by decent communication skills in order to create some sort of rapport with the interviewer. Therefore, my aim now is to not let my nerves affect my potential to successfully overcome a real interview, and remember to apply myself within the job specification, as well as showing my strengths and strategies in other, similar areas.

References

Innes, James (2013). The Interview Question & Answer Book: Your definitive guide to the best answers to even the toughest interview question. London: Pearson UK.

Gibbs, Graham (1988). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Oxford Further Education Unit.

Corfield, Rebecca (2009). Successful Interview Skills: How to Prepare, Answer Tough Questions and Get Your Ideal Job. London: Kogan Page.

Jasper, M (2013). Beginning Reflective Practice. 2nd Ed. Melbourne & London: Cengage Learning.

Prilla, M., Blunk, O. and Chounta, I.-A. (2020). ‘How Does Collaborative Reflection Unfold in Online Communities? An Analysis of Two Data Sets’, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Vo. 29: No. 6. pp 697-741. [online] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344003449_How_Does_Collaborative_Reflection_Unfold_in_Online_Communities_An_Analysis_of_Two_Data_Sets#pf4 (Accessed 2nd March 2024).