PRACTISE MAKES PERFECT
Ace your job
interview by Winston Middleton With graduate recruitment turbo-charged into the virtual space, Career Update reflects on their useful tool that students must use to ace their job interview. YOUR FIRST JOB INTERVIEW will be unnerving. However, practise makes perfect. With much competition in finding your first job, students must learn to confidently ace the job interview. Interviews require diligent preparation - analyse the job advert, conduct company and sector research, prepare responses to possible questions and compile questions for the interviewer. Also, a self-analysis will help you in responding to difficult questions. Many students practise in front of a mirror – this is ‘old school’ as feedback is not possible. Others ask a friend to conduct an interview. Your Careers Service office has provided an efficient Mock Interview Tool on Career Xplora. Asiphe Cetywayo, a UWC Law graduate, found this tool phenomenal and enabled him to take his interview preparation to the next level.
You can repeat the mock interview until you are satisfied. During my preparation, I had two interviews scheduled and ACED both. I received offers from both firms’. 52
| UWC CAREER UPDATE 2020
There are two options - take a pre-structured interview for your specific discipline or create your mock interview by selecting questions. You then record your interview, play it back and request others (or Careers Service) to review it. The pre-set questions focus on your discipline and personal-behavioural competencies. Asiphe was asked questions at his interview similar to those he selected for his mock interview. On reviewing his mock interview, he identified critical mistakes such as too many ‘uhms’, lack of eye contact, speaking too fast, and inappropriate posture and facial expressions. He shares that ‘you can repeat the mock interview until you are satisfied. During my preparation, I had two interviews scheduled and ACED both. I received offers from both firms’. Remember to check out the various interview preparation resources available on Career Xplora under the ‘UWC Careers Service Resource Centre’ tab of your menu bar on the left of your Career Xplora homepage (https://uwc-csm.symplicity. com/students). CU
