Personal Narrative: My Mock Interview

One must always expect the unexpected. When I watched the Karate Kid, I never took into account that the meaning would impact my job career as much as it has. The beginnings of job searching is fun and exciting. I was optimistic and thought every place I applied for would call me for an interview or the position. Needless to say, I was wrong. The job seeking experience is now one that I do not look forward to at all. In fact, I dread job searching, but due to my recent enlightenment on everything I was doing wrong I can become a more competitive candidate for future openings. I have always been a well-rounded person and do well academically. This fact made me confident that most employers would want me, but this mock interview enlightened me …show more content…
I am accustomed to going through interviews and am comfortable with the process, but am not comfortable with behavioral interviews. I learned that this is in fact the most common type of interview for business professionals. These interviews are much harder than a typical interview, because there are steps to remember for each “question” asked. A typical behavioral interviewer will not “ask” a question, but will state the question. For example, “Tell me about yourself.” This is a common question asked in any interview from my experience. Through my mock interview I learned my main fault: I am too personal. When I was “asked” this question, I included my family, a fun fact about myself, and hobbies of mine. My interviewer was a career services employee at Sam Houston State University, so she critiqued me which helped me to improve my interview skills. She offered to me that in the future I focus on characteristics and skills of mine that relate to the position I am up for, but still keeping that fun fact in there to highlight my personality. In Chapter Four of our textbook, it covers Scripting Answers. In a behavioral interview, my interviewer taught me ‘The But Technique.’ I am familiar with the STARS technique (situation, task, action, result), but ‘The But Technique’ was new to me. Essentially, STARS is a technique in which you tell a story which includes, the problem, action took by you, and the outcome, whereas ‘The But …show more content…
I learned, from my interviewer, that leadership and teamwork are the top two qualifications employers look for. She told me that I have both of those qualities, so my main focus is to improve my interview responses and professional resume. The dress of an interviewee is important. First impressions are incredibly hard to change and the first thing the employer will see is your resume and second is your outfit. You qualifications and personality will show through your interview, but you want to make an impressive first and second impression. Your outfit can make or break your interview, but my interviewer commented that mine was tasteful. I wore a black and white dress to my interview with black, short heeled shoes. I was jewelry free and made sure to not wear distracting makeup. I have never had a problem with my interview attire and for the places I have applied to in the past a suit would have been considered too dressy. In Chapter Four of our book, I read the guidelines for a woman’s attire for an interview. I do understand that when I begin to look for a professional, business career I will need to invest in a suit with a skirt and black, closed toe heels no higher than two inches. I did not previously know the proper attire for women, but this enhanced my knowledge to complete my professionalism in future business