It’s important to feel confident during real interviews with employers and for that, you should polish your interviewing skills with mock interviews. Mock interviews mirror the actual job interview and help you prepare professionally.
Mock interviews help you assess your answers to interview questions and other factors such as your dressing, gestures, and body language.
As you practice your interviewing skills, it will help you understand your weak points on which you need to work. This guide will cover the benefits of mock interviews and how you can prepare for one.
How mock interviews can help you?
Firstly let us understand why mock interviews are important and can be of great help.
- With a mock interview, you can practice in different interview environments and increase your self-confidence. As practicing under different scenarios helps you stay calm during the real interview.
- You can ask any of your friends or family members to take the mock interview, this way you will get honest feedback and you can also make notes for further improvement.
- Preparing with a professional mock interviewer can be great for you, as you can ask them to mark your negative scores and to help you with their professional suggestions for the original interview.
- With mock interviews, you can also prepare yourself for different interview questions, this way during the real interview you will look natural and conversational. Besides, preparing yourself to accept criticisms can improve your shortcomings.
How you can prepare for mock interviews?
Although a mock interview is just a rehearsal, still you will have to be serious about it. Here are a few things you should keep in mind while preparing for your mock interview;:
1. Choosing the right mock interviewer:
You can easily choose any of your family members or friends to take the mock interview and they are not a bad option to opt for. But choosing someone professional over your family and friends can be more beneficial for you.
You can even choose someone who works in your industry. They will give the most honest review without any judgment and will help you improve your shortcomings.
2. The interview setting:
Whether it is a face-to-face interview or a phone or video interview, it will give you more benefits if it looks close to the real one. The point is that if the mock interview setting is close to a real interview setting then you can be best prepared. Because sometimes even the environment and vibes make us nervous during interviews.
And preparing the mock interview with the real interview scenarios will make you more confident and relaxed during the real interview.
For a phone or video interview, make sure you have a good connection and your phone or laptop is completely charged. And also you must select a good area with no network issue or sound disturbance, as with these problems it becomes tough to communicate during phone interviews.
3. Keep all the necessary items at hand:
At the real interviews as well, the employer will ask you to bring along your CV or work portfolio and any other relevant documents. Make sure to do the same in the mock interviews.
Take along all the needful documents you think you may need, to show the employer your achievements and qualifications.
Ask the mock interviewer to tell you if you are well-prepared or not and what else you may need to carry in your real interview.
4. Dress well:
Make sure to wear the same kind of attire you will wear in the actual interview.
Clothes leave a lot of impression on the interviewer, if you are visually professional and well prepared, then it means that you are all set for the interview and it also reflects your personality and confidence, hence dressing up well is very important.
But make sure to wear comfortable attire so that you can be at ease during the interview.
After the mock interview, ask your interviewer to remark on your attire, if it was formal enough to wear in a real interview or you need to change something.
5. Record the interview and review it:
Unlike a real interview mock interview allows you to do some things that can surely help you in all your future interviews.
Recording the interview is one of them. Though you can also take notes, verbal review works better.
With recording the interview you can check;
- Your tonal quality
- Were you attentive or not throughout the interview?
- Were you interrupting or waiting for the interviewer to finish, to ask questions.?
- If you were sounding enthusiastic or overeager.
Once you review yourself you can make notes of the areas you need to improve.
Remember interviews are the highest bar to cross to get the job, and if you can cross that bar without any problem then you can fight your nervousness in any situation.
Conclusion:
As mock tests help you prepare for the actual test, mock interviews simulate a real interview.
Assessing your capabilities through a mock interview will help you improve and set your expectations for yourself. By the time the actual interview arrives, you will be prepared for the interview with your best.
But before landing an interview for yourself you need to impress the interviewer on paper with a perfect resume, which you can create through cvDragon.
