4. Job interview

Subject title Job interview

Purpose of the activity The aim of this activity is to show youngsters approximately how a job interview is done, participate in it from both sides, as an interviewer and as an interviewee and also explore a job finding process challenges in a form of a theatre.

Duration 2-3 hours.

Location and tools Tables, chairs, writing tools, paper sheets.

Number of participants 10–20 participants.

Acquaintance/ team building methods The task is job interview simulation.

Small tables are arranged in one line in one row. Here, participants sit in a row next to a table, where two participants sit opposite of each other. On one side there are interviewers and on other side – interviewees. A job advertisement is given to both parties and the interviewer also gets a set of questions. 5 minutes are given for each pair to simulate a job interview. After the time, one line moves, either it is interviewees or interviewers, to one direction and pairs change. If the group is quite experienced in job interview process, then people can do job interviews simultaneously. However, if the participants in the group have not had many job interviews, the pairs have to talk in turn, i.e., only one interviewer and one interviewee speak at a time. They go through the questions and after the 5 minutes, listeners give comments, suggestions and feedback on the interview process. The participants then change and the audience become the participants. At the end of the task, participants share how they felt in the process while being in different roles.

Practical tasks Forum Theatre

Presenters must prepare in advance. The main aspect of the activity is that while the theatre is played out, the audience members can influence what is said in the stage and even change places with actors, and in such way improve story and use their analytical thinking. For this forum theatre session to be effective, at least 4 people should be present, but the play can also take place in the presence of 2 people. A story must be laid out and played out. One actor should play the villain, namely the bad boss, who acts negatively and impolitely during a job interview process, one is theinterviewee who seeks a job, one may be the mother of the interviewee and the fourth person can be the story narrator. For example, one story could be that interviewee, a student, talks to his/her mother and the mother says that she cannot pay for university, thus the student must start working. Interviewee goes to a job interview, where the boss tends to look for trailers and acts in a very rude way towards the interviewee. Interviewee tries to work this situation out, and then the job interview is over.

Practical tasks Following that, the mother and the interviewee walk down the street andnotice the boss who is looking for trailers. They start to talk to the boss, but the boss is still looking for trailers and doesn’t act any way nicer.

The forum theatre activity is special in that the audience can interact with the actors during the performance. When a play takes place, any person can raise his/her hand and change what the actor said, or swap places with the actor, except when talking about the boss who tends to look for trailers. The employer continues to hold his/her position in this story, he/she cannot be replaced by other actors and his/her statements cannot be changed either. The main aim of the audience is to try to act out how to deal with stressful situation. The narrator should coordinate the process and also in the end organize the reflection and discussion about what could have been different. It is important to energize people so that they would be active andparticipate in the activity.

End of session reflection methods

Notes to the leader At the end of the session, each participant shares their thoughts, questions, emotions, and what they take out of the session.

This workshop is meant for youngsters 16+ who already have done some job interviews or only will start applying for jobs and will experience job interview process. The goal is to get acquainted with what kind of questions will be asked, and how to answer or not answer them and how to deal with negative situations in a fictive job finding process through theatre.

Job interview process may both intimidate and delight young people because, firstly, they are invited to an interview, and that is a success in itself, but secondly, how should they act during the interview, which questions to answer and which ones better not to answer? Moreover, the youngster must also understand that job interview is not only one sided questioning, there must be also a space for questions in return, because for the candidate it is an opportunity to get to know the company and understand whether it is a good fit for him/her. Regarding how to act during an interview, there is no one clear answer, but there are some guidelines which one may follow.

First of all, a good research of the company and its policies and its formerprogrammes is always a good idea. Candidate may just google and get acquainted with all sorts of the information about the company locally and, if applicable, also globally.

Secondly, candidate must understand how to dress up for the job interview. It really depends on the outfit usually worn in that company. If that is bank, then one must wear quite formal wear, if that is an advertising

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company, it will be quite a casual outfit. It is even maybe better to wear a bit more formal clothing than a more casual clothing. Thirdly, one must always come on time for the job interview. Arriving 5 minutes earlier is perfect, arriving too early or too late is not a good sign to an employer.

Then, a job interview starts. The best is to just be calm and consider the conversation as a chat, not an interrogation. Interview usually starts with a very common question “Please tell us about yourself”. Here, the candidate must briefly provide basic information about himself/herself in about 1 minute, indicating what motivates him/her to work for a particular company and what he/she expects from that particular job. It is always good to just smile and be relaxed during a job interview. Then interviewer will ask other questions, which are very different percompany. Here are some key tricky questions and possible answers to them.

What are your biggest weaknesses? Here, the candidate should not necessarily reveal his/ her true weaknesses. The best is to tell about some trait,

which can be viewed both negatively and positively. For example, “I am often seen in my work as a perfectionist, I try to do everything as precise and correct as possible, yes, sometimes it takes a lot of time, but then I know that job is done perfectly”. An employer may not always consider such a trait to be very positive, but it also shows your good side when answering the above question.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Here in fact various answers can be made. The answer definitely should be truthful and reflect your career goals. It is not a bad sign if a candidate says that he/ she would like to become Director of this company or have a higher position in some other company. Personal goals to be pursued, such as having a family, moving to another country, or running a successful business, can also be named.

Why do you want this job? Here, the candidate must talk not how cool the company is, but why this particular position is suitable for him/ her and how the candidate is suitable for this position in both the short and long term. Tell me how you think other people would describe you. Here the best way is to really think how friends have complimented you and what were some special situations, where friends told you nice things about you. It’s best to share a few stories to show how you treated people well in those particular cases. Tell me about a situation where you made a mistake. In answering this question, the candidate must tell the truth and indeed talk about some mistake made in a professional field and how he/she dealt with it and solved it. It is definitely not a good option to give an answer like this: “I have never made mistakes,” because we have all made mistakes in the past. Candidate must be truthful and talk about the mistake in a positive light and focus on all positive aspects, namely on solving the issue.

What is your motivation to have this position? Never ever candidate must answer that money is his/ her motivation. People, of course, work to make money, but that shouldn’t be the main motivation to get a job. In terms of motivation, it is good to indicate new work experience, professional skills development, the desire to try something new and the development of your personality.

How do you deal with pressure and stress? Very often in job places tasks must be done very quickly and always occur some problems and issues, thus employer wants to know how candidate deals with such common situations. It is again not a good idea to say that candidate does not get stressed, or such situations do not happen, because it is not true. Better candidate should give an example situation and explain how she/ he pro-actively mitigated the crisis.

What do you like to do outside of work? Employer also wants to know about the candidate’s personal life, namely hobbies and interests, because no one wants to hire a workaholic who will burn out in first month of the work and quit. Here candidate is free to shine and express all kinds of interests and hobbies. One must only note to not dwell in this question too long to not show employer that he/she will only have free time and will not work at all.

Do you have any questions you would like to ask me? This is usually the last question and is really important. Candidate should use the possibility and ask something of interest to the HR specialist, in order to show compassion and real interest into the work of the company. Some typical questions could be: “What is something you enjoy the most about your job?” or “What do employees like the most about the company?”, or “Where do you seeyourself in 5 years?”. It all really depends what candidate wants to know, but one should definitely use this opportunity and ask something very valuable in order to also understand your fit to the company.

For notes, ideas, observations

Subject title

Purpose of the activity

Duration

Location and tools

Number of participants

Acquaintance/ team building methods

End of session reflection methods

Practical tasks

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