Friday, October 19, 2007

Mock Interview Reflection

I thought the mock interview was a helpful way to prepare for a real interview in the near future. Mrs. Rogers asked us to bring a description of a job, internship, or graduation school description that we were interested in so that she could tailor the questions to each student. She did a great job of keeping her “professional” demeanor during the interview and asking us questions that we more than likely will be asked at an interview.

When I prepared for the interview, I tried to imagine some of the challenging questions I could be asked, like “greatest strength,” or “greatest weakness.” I was not asked those questions, but she did pull some things directly off my resume to ask me about that caught me off guard. “How do you think your minor in Psychology will help your career in Health Science,” and “Since you have been involved with primarily quantitative research, would you be willing to work with qualitative research?” were a couple of the questions she asked.

Having this experience of thinking quickly to respond to questions helped build my confidence that I will be able to effectively hold up in a real interview. I was nervous before the interview, but I grew more comfortable as it went on. Three important lessons I learned were to relax, focus on each question, and make eye contact (even if it feels uncomfortable).

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