Interviews

[Guest JSS02]

Right now, most of the people I have asked about Ottawa's interview found it to be of the stressful type, in particular the "good cop/bad cop" variety. However, I know of some that did have a relaxing chat for an interview, and are now in the program. Are these people just particularly lucky because they got nice interviewers? Or does the school actually try to account for which interviewer you had when doing it's final rankings?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hey there JSS02,

 

That's a question (re: interviewer ratings) for which I'd love to hear some answers! However, the varied interview experiences are also a matter of interpretation and highly specific to the individual. For example someone may perceive two interviewers to be vastly different: one easier, one more challenging, resulting in the "good cop"/"bad cop" perception. Speaking from experience, one of my interviewers warned me that the next person I was to see was going to be really tough; that they'd had a lot of interviewing experience and that they'd attempt to trip me up and challenge me left and right. As much as I was bracing myself for it, and although I was asked some intricate and touchy questions, it was not anywhere near as "bad" as my imagination would have led me to believe.

 

Also, perception of the interviewer could have something very much to do with your performance in the interview as you go through it. Another personal example: one interviewer stated up front that they were there to challenge me, play devil's advocate and put me into scenarios that were going to be tough to deal with (potentially the same type of scenario involving the "bad cop"). They did do this, but again, feeling that I was prepared for their questions, it didn't feel antagonistic, brutal nor negative. On the contrary if you enter the same scnenario with slightly less preparation, mix with that some nerves and a nagging paranoia that every little thing you're doing is leading to points being chipped from your score, then your perception of the experience may be wholly different. From the interviewer's side too, if you're a little less well prepared, then they may have more fodder for rebuttal, which again, could be viewed negatively by the interviewee, i.e., "bad cop", but should not necessarily be so.

 

Cheers and best of luck to everyone with upcoming interviews,

Kirsteen