Hello, welcome or welcome back. If you watched my video on how to prepare for
an internship interview, one of the things I mentioned is how important it
is to practice answering popular interview questions by doing mock
interviews. And that's what we're gonna cover in this video -- how to do a mock
interview. And more specifically, what nervous or negative behaviors you should
be looking out for when you're doing your mock interviews so that you can
learn to be aware of them and overcome them. If you're ready to learn, hit that
like button below. And if you haven't subscribed to this channel yet, I put out
new videos every Monday to help you take control of your future one internship at
a time. So go ahead and hit that red subscribe button as well so that you
stick around and stay in the loop with this channel. Hey there, I'm Jenna Rein
from theinternhustle.com, and this is Initiative Muscle Monday. Helping you to
start each week with an intentional step toward a successful future.
Let's do this! Alright, so you want to do some mock interviews. But you don't know
where to start. Well first you have to find someone to do them with. Like I've
mentioned before, you should be using your campus Career Center while you are
a student and you still can. If you're on campus, reach out and schedule a mock
interview with your campus Career Center. And if you're not on campus, set up a
virtual session with them. Career Centers are trained to do mock
interviews with students and this makes utilizing them a very efficient way to
practice. If your campus Career Center is not available to you, then I suggest
picking a family member or a close friend who will give you some honest
feedback. That part's important. You don't want someone who's just going to butter
you up and tell you that you did an amazing job, or not say anything at all.
We all have areas that we can improve so pick someone who will be upfront with
you on what your improvement areas are. After you have your mock interview
partner selected, it is time to jump in and actually do the mock interview. Can
it be a little awkward and uncomfortable to pretend to be interviewing? Yes. But
push past that and just dive in, because once you get the first one under your
belt they do get easier. Treat it like a real interview and practice
some of the interview norms in addition to just practicing your
interview questions and answers. And when I say interview norms, I mean things like
making eye contact, and a firm handshake and confident body language. Do not
slouch! Once you get into the question and answer portion, here are eight things
to practice. Really these are eight behaviors to specifically look out for
while doing your mock interviews. Catch these things in your practice sessions
so that you don't do them during the real deal interview. Number one: Don't go
negative on yourself. This is one of the mistakes I often see people make in
their cover letters as well. For some reason people feel the need to
explain or apologize for what they think they're lacking. But the truth is other
people aren't usually thinking about these things. They don't recognize them
in you (until you bring them up of course). And I've seen this a lot when I would
ask people who were close in age to me the popular "tell me about yourself"
question in interviews. They would immediately go negative on themselves,
and start telling me about how they'd graduated in 2008 and it was a really
bad economy and it took them a while to find a first job because of it. First of
all, why would you lead with that? There are plenty of other positive things that
they could have shared with me when answering this question, and there was no
need to bring it up. Second, they often didn't realize this (because they didn't
know how old I was), but I also graduated in 2008. In a shitty economy. But because
I worked my butt off to gain relevant internship experience while I was in
college, I had a job waiting for me when I graduated. Even in a recession. So now I
saw them as someone who dwelled in the past and made up excuses, not someone who
I wanted to hire for my team. Let that be a lesson.
Don't go negative on yourself. Don't apologize for things that don't need to
be apologized for. Don't bring up areas where you lack. Everyone has strengths
and weaknesses (and you'll get to pick a strategic weakness to speak to when the
question about your greatest weakness comes up). Instead, focus on the positives.
Focus on your strengths. Focus on the ways that you can add value to this
company. Do not sell yourself short. Number two: Don't act
unimpressed. This can come off in a couple different ways to the person
who's interviewing you. Either you're not engaged or really all that interested in
this opportunity, or you think that you're too good for this opportunity.
Both of these are not how you want to come off in an interview. One of my
favorite quotes is from Dale Carnegie, author of the book How to Win Friends
and Influence People. He said "To be interesting, be interested." So show
interest in the company, and the person interviewing you, and they will be
interested in you in return. Which is what you want in an interview. You want
them to be interested in you. Number three: Don't ramble. Sometimes when people
get nervous, they talk more. Don't do this. You want to be thoughtful and concise
with your answers. This is where practicing comes in. Watch this video for
20 of the most popular questions you are likely to be asked in an internship
interview. Then know what you want to say to these most common questions so that
you don't go off on tangents that are hard to pull yourself out of. The same
tangents tend to end with the super-awkward "So yeah, I think that
explains it." That's a non-close, close to an answer. So keep your answers relevant
and concise, and have a confident way to close off your answer. Number four when
it comes to behaviors that you want to look out for when you're doing your mock
interviews: Don't talk too fast. This is also a pretty clear sign of how nervous
someone is in an interview. It's okay to pause and to think about what you want
to say next so that you are giving thoughtful responses to their questions.
Speaking at a normal pace, and taking appropriate pauses, shows that you're
confident in your answers. Number five: Don't use filler words. Um or like are not
fun to listen to over and over again. If you've ever watched The Bachelor you
will know what I'm talking about. You will never want to hear the word
like used again after watching that show. Be conscious of how much you use these
words, and try to slow down and use thoughtful pauses instead. Have your mock
interview partner tally up how many times you use filler words. Or better yet,
film the mock interview and watch it back. You'll be surprised, and you may
even cringe at how many times you say the
word um. Number six: Don't fidget. Things like shaking your leg under the table, or
tapping your pen, or playing with your hair, or picking at your cuticles. I
hate to admit it, but that last one is one that I'm guilty of. Don't do it. Not
only are all of these things distracting (and in some cases kind of gross), they
also show the interviewer how nervous you really are. Number seven: Don't be a
robot. As in don't come off too rehearsed. Imagine watching me in these videos if I
had no intonation in my voice. Smiling also goes a long way here. Show
emotion, but don't over animate. So for the same reason that I tell you not to
use a bunch of exclamation points when you send a professional email to someone,
don't be overly animated in person either. You'll maybe scare them off. So
just like with filler words, this is a great thing to film yourself on and look
out for. Film your mock interviews. You're gonna notice how boring or robotic you
come across and where you can improve just by changing your tone or adding a
little bit of emotion to your answer. Remember, you want to be interesting. You
want to be someone that they want to work with. The final behavior I want to
share with you today is not something that is as easy to practice for in a
mock interview, but it is a skill that you will continue to develop over time
the more you interview in real-life settings. So number eight is: Don't be
oblivious. Learn how to read the room. Your ability to pick up on what is going
on around you, and practice self-awareness as well, this will take
you far. Knowing when something is heading south, and being able to pivot
and redeem yourself. Again, this is something that you're gonna get better
at over time, but only if you practice self-awareness. Be in tune with what is
going on around you and how people are reacting to you.
For example, maybe they don't understand your sarcasm, and something that you said
was just taken way out of context. Your ability to react quickly, and adjust as
necessary, can make or break an interview for you. So those are eight nervous or
negative behaviors that you should be looking out for when you're doing mock
interviews. Be aware of them. Take note of them. Ask the person practicing the mock
interview with you to take note of them, and then share that feedback with you.
Because this is how you're going to get better. Then practice, practice, practice,
with more mock interviews so that you can learn how to overcome these things.
Thanks for watching. Comment below and let me know what other questions you
have about interviews and how to prepare for them. And if this video gave you some
new insights today, please give it a like and share it with a friend or two. Hit
that red subscribe button below so that you don't miss out on future videos. In
support of your hustle, I'll see you next Monday.