some interview tips

[Guest thefro]

just had my interviews, they went well for ubc (whew!) and it's a huge load off. I just thought of some extra tips for anyone who has an interview coming up...

 

if you have access to, say a video camera or tape recorder, ask someone to give you a mock interview with some of the standardized questions that they'll ask you. The way you present yourself in an interview is very important, and if you're constantly picking your nose, saying 'uh, uh, like, you know', crossing and uncrossing your feet, sitting on your hands, whatever, it makes an impression on the interviewer. For sure!

 

Also, I found it really helpful to interview someone else. By asking the questions, you can gauge what you would like to hear, you can better evaluate what the person has to say (if you're answering questions, it's sometimes hard to be objective about your answers while you're talking), you can pick up on their interview quirks, etc etc, and then you can apply those changes to your own presentation.

 

One more tip, the most important thing for me was to be concise and be right on the ball with examples from your life. If, for example, the interviewer asks, so, froman, what kind of changes have you made in your life as a result of your travel experiences? one answer, which wouldn't really be very good, would be to beat around the bush and say, well, I'm really aware now, and I don't throw away food and I really appreciate my basic rights to speech and assembly (I went to Africa where these things were absent). A better answer would be, well, I spread awareness about what I did - I gave presentations on my experiences in Zimbabwe in front of hundreds of people, I incorporated some of my Kenyan experiences into my environmental studies project, etc etc. I'm probably not being concise in this tip! how ironic. anyway, the point is to give direct examples, from your life, of what you did, of who you talked to, etc, not some ramble.

 

cheers Ian, your site kicks ass!

fro

[Guest BCgirl]

thefro,

 

were you at UBC's curriculum talk on Mar. 7th and the wine and cheese? I saw a guy there who would fit the description of "thefro" The guy I'm thinking of came into the talk a little late and sat in the upper group of seats at the info session.

 

Good advice about having examples for everything. Somehow the topic came up in my interview about people come to me for advice. Of course, he said, "give me an example". I couldn't think of a great answer at the time, so I rambled (not too much though ) about my sister coming to me with guy trouble.. aahh... it was pretty funny

[Guest thefro]

no I wasn't at the wine and cheese...so that fro was an imposter! well maybe if I can get in then we can be fro buddies. how do you feel the interviews went? was there really good information at the wine and cheese? were there a lot of interviewees there?

 

yeah I hope you could come up with examples. I know for my interview, the interviewer probably said "can you give me an example?" about 63 times. I think with about 3 minutes in I finally clued in. good luck BC girl!

cheers

[Guest BCgirl]

hey fro,

 

I think my interviews went well... both were really relaxed, sort of "get to know you" style - nothing to get stressed out about at all. But, honestly, if they're like that with everyone, then I have no idea what my score would be. How did yours go?

 

The wine and cheese was pretty good. It was the night before my first interview, so I didn't have as much fun as I would have otherwise - talking to a couple people that had already interviewed sort of freaked me out a bit (but I would have been able to relax more if I knew then how laid back my interviews would be).

 

Good luck to you too