The dreaded interview…

This is the stage many applicants will fail at, and rightly so as it will likely be your first time at a professional interview and it can be incredibly nerve racking. My first interview went horrible, and it was over the phone, so do not think you did the worst out of the applicant group or anything - you are in the same position as 99% of the group.

The main way to get better at interviews is to just… do them. There is no instant trick to get better, but there are ways for you to feel more confident.

Here are my main tips in these interviews:

• Practice, practice, practice. I used to get my friends to pose as an interviewer and answer how I would in normal circumstances. This will help you get an idea of areas you need to improve on, and what questions you need to be prepare for. IMPORTANT: Don’t just be the person responding to the questions, be the interviewer! What I mean is that when you are practicing, assume the role of the interviewer as well, to get an idea of how people answer questions - this will allow you identify the “goods” and “bads” of a good response.
• Research a lot. Go over the company and pick out points that appeal to you, and is relevant to the role, as they will always ask you “Why us.”. Every interviewer will know you applied to other companies, so do not be standard and say “It’s a leading firm”, it is okay if you say that but expand. Talk about specifics, such as their inclusivity and diversity agenda, or talk about their recent project in technology and how that has interested you - it can be anything it just needs to show a genuine interest.
• Go over your CV. They will want you to expand on your CV, and ask you questions based on that. Even if they don’t, it is good to know what you wrote, so you can talk about it in your interview. A good habit I picked out was tailoring my CV so that it could answer the basic questions, like “When did you display teamwork”, stuff like that. This helped me to respond to these questions as I could easily picture my CV and use that as a guide.
• Finally, and possibly the most important tip. Do. Not. Make. It. Robotic. The interviewer is human, so do not just make it almost like an AI chatbot, put some energy into it and make it a conversation. My best interviews were when I could relate to the interviewer, make them laugh, and ask them questions as I would be genuinely interested in what they are working on.

Note: You may be required to do a HireVue interview, which is a type of interview where you record yourself answering the questions shown, you will get about a minute prep time.

https://www.hirevue.com