Experience Interviews Standing out from the crowd
Mentor’s Guide
Experience Interviews Welcome to “Experience Interviews”. Thank you very much for offering to support the students today. This program provides an opportunity for students to experience the interview process with real business people. The aim is to familiarise students with some typical assessment and interview processes as well as recreating the “feel” of a typical interview. The mentors’ role is to support, encourage and provide feedback to the students. The day will replicate, as closely as possible, a formal, structured assessment day that may be carried out in a typical business.
Your support will help the students to prepare for interviews in the future.
If you have any questions or concerns during the day, please ask one of the MoCo team who will be happy to help.
Welcome and Briefing for the Day The students will be briefed centrally about the format and expectations for the day.
During this introduction we will explain that they will be scored on their performance during the challenges.
Each student will have brought a CV to refer to specific, individual examples where possible. During the day mentors will be looking and listening out for evidence of the students:
Reliability Responsibility Communication Skills Teamwork
Students will be supplied with an envelope and a candidate number which they will keep for the day. They will collect feedback from the various challenges in these envelopes which will be gathered in at the end of the day.
Ice Breaker The first exercise is designed to break the ice, relax the students and also to familiarise them with the importance of a strong first impression. We will introduce the importance of eye contact, a smile and a good hand-shake as a strong opener to any interview process. To practice this, the students will each be given a card with a name on it. They will need to move around the room introducing themselves to other people as this name, until they find a “pair” to their name. E.g. “Salt” will be looking for “Pepper”, “Tom” will look for “Jerry” etc. In order to find their “pair” they must randomly move through the room, using eye-contact, a smile and a handshake saying; “Good morning, nice to meet you, I am Tom,” to which the respondent will say “Good morning, nice to meet you, I’m Pepper”. They will keep moving and introducing themselves until they find their partner. Once they do find their partner they must return to their original seat. Feel free to offer feedback, support and advice to all students. This activity in not individually scored.
Introductions to Mentors This is an opportunity for the students to say a little bit about themselves to the mentors. Either working your way around the table, or encouraging a whole-table discussion, encourage the students to say a little bit about themselves. They may wish to share information about:
Family Subjects at school Hobbies Music Books / films they like Job aspirations Etc
After this activity you will have the opportunity to make a brief summary on each candidate and provide a score out of ten. During activity we are looking for: How well / confidently the candidates communicated The general attitude (behaviour) during the exercise Their involvement of others (listening to others and letting them speak too)
Profiling Assessment The candidates will be provided with a “team roles questionnaire” and challenged to complete and score their own version. Once completed, this exercise will provide them with information about their strengths and allowable weaknesses as part of team. This is a typical activity (based on Belbin‟s Team roles) that may be used during an assessment process. We will send details of the results to all students after the day as part of their feedback. During the day, mentors can support students and assess them based upon their ability to undertake a written task. Students may ask for clarification if they are stuck. During this activity we are looking for: The ability to work on their own The ability to follow written instructions Any clarification questions being asked in an objective and positive way The general attitude (behaviour) during the activity
The Zin Obelisk This is a team communication challenge, in which each table will be presented with a copy of the Zin Obelisk rules, a set of information cards, a calculator and some rough paper. The team must work together, following the rules of the challenge and resolving the question: “On which day of the week was building the Obelisk completed?” Deal the cards randomly, and as evenly as possible, between all candidates on the table. Once they have received the cards, they may not show each other or swap cards, but they may say what is on their cards. Do not appoint a leader. calculator.
Anybody may use the
During this challenge we will be looking for evidence of:
Teamwork Listening to others Contributing to the exercise Assertive behaviour Non aggressive behaviour
Telephone Interviews The telephone interviews will be completed by one table at a time. A separate area will be provided as a “break out” room in which to conduct the telephone interviews.
Each candidate will be provided with a telephone and a telephone number to call for their telephone interview.
The interviews will last three minutes per person. The feedback and scores will be emailed to MoCo and will be shared with the candidates in their overall feedback after the event.
The candidates will be assessed by the telephone interviewer on:
Confidence on the phone Clarity of responses Ability to use examples from real life / make reference to their CV
Team Challenges Whilst the telephone interviews are being completed, the teams will be faced with various scored challenges. The teams must try and complete as many of the challenges as they can in the time allocated. There is no time limit for each challenge and the teams may move between challenges as they wish. Each challenge will be accompanied by a set of instructions – some detailed and some brief. The teams must work out what to do for each challenge and then work together to complete them. The challenges are:
Wooden puzzle Cup pyramid Foam rectangle Newspaper sort Memory challenge Rice race Tiddly winks Ditloids Animal count Impossible paper
During these activities we are looking for: Ownership of the challenge A willingness to partake Positive competitive approach
Example Interview(s)
The candidates will have an opportunity to sit back and relax for a short while, as they watch a short „staged‟ interview.
It will not be all relaxation however as they will need to write up their own feedback form on how well the interviewee has done and to score the interview. Candidates will be encouraged to comment on:
Appearance First impressions Body language Rapport Relevance of answer Pace and tone of answer Use of specific examples Clarity of communication Overall Score out of 10
Once completed candidates will place their feedback sheets in their individual candidate envelopes.
1:1 and Panel interviews This section gives each candidate the opportunity to complete a 1:1 Interview with a business mentor. For this exercise the mentors will change teams so that candidates are interviewed by someone they have not met before (replicating a more realistic scenario). Whilst candidates are conducting their 1:1 interviews, the remaining candidates on the table will be holding a scored panel interview. A large selection of interview questions will be provided. Pick four questions from these and use them for the 1:1 Interviews. The person to the left of the empty seat, vacated by the candidate in the 1:1 interview, will be on the receiving end of the panel interview. The person to the right of the gap will be scoring the interview and providing written feedback on the form provided. The questions will be asked, one at a time, by the rest of the table, starting to the left on the interviewee and working clockwise around the table. The interviews will last five minutes, after which a gong will sound and the candidates will rotate. Mentors will score each 1:1 interview.
Speed Test The candidates will be briefed that this challenge is to be completed strictly in exam conditions. The candidates will be presented with a “speed test”, placed face down in front of them. They will be given four minutes to complete the test. Once completed the candidates will be instructed to sit quietly until the end of the four minutes. After the four minutes has been completed the candidates must place their completed sheets into their individual envelopes. Mentors will score this exercise, looking out for: How well the candidates follow the “exam conditions” instruction.
Self-Evaluation.... The final challenge for the candidates, is to complete a self evaluation form. This form is NOT an evaluation of the day, it is an opportunity for the students to evaluate their individual performance during each of the challenges. Candidates will be provided with a structured feedback form, which, once completed, must be placed into their individual envelopes.
Thank you Thank you for your support today. We hope that you have enjoyed the experience and taken as much from the day as you have put into it. Your involvement in this program adds a vital element of realism for these students, helping them to prepare to any future interview experiences. As a mentor, please make the most of opportunities to network, develop skills and promote your own businesses through the various MoCo Mentor events. Please ask one of the team or join the MoCo Mentors Facebook group for more information.
MoCo is an innovative training and development company who works closely with businesses and educational centres throughout the UK. MoCo uses a unique flexible, three-stage, training approach to engage learners of all abilities and backgrounds. Our development methods vary; the results are consistent – a significant improvement in relevant knowledge, skills and attitude reinforced with a real sense of empowerment.
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