Impress potenital employers with the perfect interview

STORY BY STEF CASERTA

Don’t sweat about an upcoming job interview. Practise instead.

Every Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., the Career Centre in partnership with Sheridan’s peer mentors offer students a mock interview service, allowing them to come in and practise their interview skills.

“We run through an actual interview with them and then we give them feedback just so they can develop their skills and improve on certain weak points,” said Jack Leung, a peer mentor who assists with the mock interviews. “We also give them positive feedback too so they understand what they’re doing right. And then basically we just try to go through it and try to get them to have a really good interview.”

The mock interview is customized for each student, depending on their program and the job to which they’re applying. For example, students in an Accounting program may be asked if they are familiar with certain types of accounting software.

However, most employers start with a more standard question that catches a lot of people off guard: “Tell me something about yourself.”

“It was good hearing the feedback because you’re not aware of some of the habits you do until someone tells you.” – Jack Leung

“We definitely like to include, at least for any of the questions that we have, is ‘tell me about yourself.’ It’s that introduction type of generic question that most employers will start with. We really want students to practice that, which is more than just ‘hi, my name is…’” said Gail Collins, an employment consultant at Sheridan.

“That was probably the most difficult question for me when I was interviewing,” said Leung. “I wasn’t always sure what they wanted me to say. I’ve learned you’re supposed to say a little bit about yourself, some of your past experiences and your program. [Keep it] quick and simple.”

While Leung now assists in doing the mock interviews, he’s also been the interviewee.

“It was good hearing the feedback because you’re not aware of some of the habits you do until someone tells you,” said Leung. “You’re never going to get the employer to tell you so it’s good practice. I twitch sometimes with my hands so it’s not good to do that. I would have never found out unless someone actually told me.”

The Career Centre has been offering mock interviews for at least two years and they’re now working with professors to help spread the word.

“We’re working with instructors to let them know that that’s available as well,” said Collins. “I think a lot of the instructors are keen to know that that’s out there for their students so they can recommend it or support them to go and do that.”

With some students beginning to think about graduation, Collins says the Career Centre is beginning to see more interest in the exercise. The Career Centre also offers resume building and review, assistance with cover letters, job search strategies and helping to produce a solid Linked-In profile.

Students interested in doing a mock interview can sign up at the front desk of the Career Centre, which is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in D103 (Trafalgar Campus).

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