How to Practice a Mock Interview
Interview performances can vary depending on the amount of preparation, introduction by the candidate and the mood of the interviewer. Performance can be increased by rehearsing before the interview, using mock interviews.
What is a mock interview?
A mock interview is a rehearsal session like a practicing before football game. It mostly involves two or more people preparing for an interview. A mock interview is practiced by preparing the questions and creating an atmosphere for simulating a real interview. The important phases of a mock interview are questionnaire preparation, exact emulation and honest evaluation.
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Why mock interview?
Mock interviews give the candidate a leading edge in the performance during the real interview. It increases confidence and reduces interview stress. Interview stress is considered as the biggest weakness in the candidate that interviewers always utilize. Mock interviews prepare the candidate to answer tricky interview questions without getting provoked.
Practices :
The following are the practice steps in a mock interview.
- Research: To rehearse for a company's interview, the candidate has to perform a research about the organization. Information to be collected about the company include, company's products, best performing products, new launches, new launches by rivals, latest developments in the field, market performance, news about company, media interviews of company's top management etc.
- Questionnaire preparation: Questionnaire for the interview has to be prepared based on interviewer's expectations. It would be helpful to have a friend or a colleague who has attended the interview. The questions can be prepared by anyone other than the candidate. The questions should include stress related and tricky questions.
- Attire: Mock interviews are rehearsals, so interview attire is necessary. Rehearsing with the interview attire helps reveal uncomfortable parts of the dress, which can be altered before or avoided in the interview. Interview attire in mock interviews pumps up confidence.
- The interview session: The candidate should make sure that the emulation is close to reality, by taking the interview seriously. A friend or colleague can conduct the interview.
- Video mock interview: Utilization of video on internet can make the interview look real. It helps the candidate to improve body language, gestures and voice clarity.
Online mock interviews :
Conducting mock interviews through internet is a common technique followed by many job consultants these days. They are not face to face interview; still they appear to be a real one. It helps in developing communication skills.
Evaluation and Feedback :
Evaluation of the results should be honest to ensure a successful personal interview. The candidate should analyze the answers with the mock interviewer and come out with left out points. Areas that have to be improved, like technical knowledge, updates, voice, communication can be figured out from the evaluation. The feedback should be given in terms of candidate's body language, etiquettes, attire, confidence level, style, skills to handle any situation etc. Candidate's weak and strong points should be discussed openly. One should try to attempt more number of mock interviews to excel in real one.
