Introduction

Interviews never fail to make my palms sweat. There’s a large part of me that struggles with imposter syndrome and job interviews seem to be nothing but a catalyst for those doubtful feelings as I start questioning if I have any of the right experience and if the employers would ever even want me. Even in the case of mock interviews that stress acts exactly the same way, if I can’t succeed in a simulated interview from my peers then how could I ever succeed in an actual interview? This stress is crippling however I feel I’ve learnt how to utilise this stress for the better. I’ll be using Bortons reflective technique to look back on and analysis my simulated interview experience. Jessica Robinson (2022) writes about Borton’s technique 

“as one simple model of reflection that focuses on three questions to help individuals reflect on their experiences and better understand what happened, why it happened, and what can be done to improve things in the future”

What?

The assignment was that in groups of five we each had to find current job listings for industry jobs we were interested in. We then had to feed back to the group and create questions for each other as well. This meant that we would be both the interviewee and the interviewer. As I started looking for jobs I began to stress, I couldn’t find the perfect job for what was only a mock interview. I tried to find a listing that fell directly into my niche director or screenwriter ambitions. Then I remembered my previous blog post, after all it was titled “Broadening My Horizons” and it focused on my personal growth and how not allowing myself to step outside of my narrow ambitions was hazardous to my growth. At this moment, I needed to take my own advice. So I did. I found a job listing for a social media manager for a car company. Was it perfect? No. However, it looked creatively varied and satisfying so it did the trick for what I needed. As we all started to inform each other of our chosen job listings, I started creating questions for the other students. However, I’ll go into more detail on that in the Why portion of the blog post. The next process for myself was prepping for my interview, I began rehearsing what questions I might be asked and how I might answer them. Personally, I was doing this less so I knew how to answer to their exact needs and more so I could answer with confidence. I believe that confidence is a major selling point in interviews, sometimes even more than experience. If I have passion and confidence for work I’ve done in the past, there’s no reason that same passion and confidence can’t transfer to this new job. This constant rehearsing, while stress inducing, relates back to my comment on utilising stress. This specific type of stress comes from the fear of not wanting to fail, so I harness that stress to make sure that doesn’t happen. If I fail now then I’m going to have to go through this experience again. I use the stress as less of a hindrance and more of a muse to prove myself wrong.

Going into the interview I had a few points to remember:

• Speak with confidence
• Don’t sell yourself short
• Stay calm

“What previous experience do you have in a team leading role such as this one?”

Well I come from a background of writing and directing, directing of course being a heavily team leading role. There’s a difference between managing and leading a team and that difference makes or breaks said team. To be more specific, in secondary school I was hired to make all promotional videos for my final three years of school. All of which gained thousands of views and are still used as the schools main source of advertising. This answer I thought hit all my main points of interest, I spoke clearly and confidently. I didn’t sell myself short, I spoke of some personal highlights that I look back on with pride. I knew I was off to a good start and if I kept going with this rhythm I would do well. In fact, when we finished all my feedback was positive, my peers were super impressed with my interview.

Why?

So what? I did well on a fake interview that on the surface meant nothing. Well, it obviously works as experience. Not only was the interview a good experience but it taught me how to properly prepare for an opportunity like this. It taught me how to weaponise my stress. As previously mentioned, not only was I an interviewee but I was also an interviewer. This was a massive learning moment for me. I took that step as seriously as I took my interview. I did research on each of the companies to create questions that were challenging and insightful. This process was incredibly insightful and it helped me realise what it is companies look for when hiring new starts, which further helped inform me as the interviewee. David Boud (1985) writes 

“Reflection in the context of learning is a generic term for those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations.”

The why isn’t just that it got you experience. The experience itself isn’t what is important, it’s what you do with that experience. If you gain experience then brush it off and move on, it’s good for nothing. However if you look back and pinpoint your successes and your failures, that is how you grow. 

What Can I Learn?

To start, I think it’s important to acknowledge that these mock interviews aren’t flawless. Having peers interview each other for jobs and companies they know next to nothing about doesnt create a truly authentic experience. Most companies want their interviewees to pander a little, they want someone who is enthusiastic for the company. My feedback came back extremely positive, I don’t remember there being any negative feedback. However, I know if this was a real interview I would have lacked enthusiasm and interest in the company so I knew to keep this in mind for future reference. Speaking of which, very recently (this week) I had a real life interview to be promoted from Team Member of my current job to Assistant Manager. This wasn’t just some half-assed interview I did with another manager in my centre, I had to travel to England to be interviewed and compete against other people wanting the same position in other locations. This did not help my stress or imposter syndrome. However, despite having dismissed the mock interviews up until now I found myself reflecting on them quite a lot. Both the positive and negatives. I used my confidence as a selling point, I talked about my recent success directing my current short film and tied it into how I would be a successful team leader for the company. I also learnt from my previous shortcomings by taking the company’s core values and specifically talking about how I can apply these to different situations and how those values directly align with my values as a leader. Using everything I had learnt from the simulated interviews, I had confirmation less than twenty four hours later that I had got the job. 

Conclusion

Simulated interviews are far from perfect. Especially when done on a peer to peer level. However, the interview itself isn’t the area you can learn the most from. It’s how you approach the interview. How to prepare yourself and how you learn to speak about yourself confidently. Even if the interview goes poorly, you’ve still taken steps to learn how to sell yourself that you can further apply next time. Interviews will always be stressful, even if they aren’t real. However, that stress is not a roadblock, it’s a weapon. 

Bibliography

Robinson, Jessica (2022) ‘All-inclusive Guide to Borton’s Reflective Model’:

Exploring Different Types of Reflection Models with Examples

D. Boud, R. Keogh, D. Walker (Eds.), Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning, Kogan Page, London (1985)