Workshop - Interviews

Today in our workshop we performed mock interviews. In this session I was asked the following questions:

• Introduce yourself

This was quite a difficult question to answer, as I often struggle to say positive things about myself. For the future, I need to work on my confidence and make sure I am able to illustrate the best qualities I have.

• What research have you done in the company?

For this task I hadn't prepared this far. Following the job description that was posted on StudyDirect, the website for the company did not work, and I didn't do much effort to find any information elsewhere. In a real interview situation, I would make sure to follow research the company so that I don't seem unprepared for the interview, and also to make it seem as if I have a genuine interest in gaining a job with them.

• Describe your work ethic?

I believe that I have quite a strong work ethic, as I am always willing to go the extra mile to get work done. Sometimes I can be a bit of a perfectionist, which has it's benefits and drawbacks. The benefit is that I strive to have work done to a high standard, the drawback is that sometimes I can be too hard on myself, causing myself to become stressed.

• What experience do you have in this field? 

I realised from this activity that I don't have that much media experience outside of academic practices. Some other people in the group have done voluntary work for media companies which is something that I need to do to in order to stand out and show my passion for the field

• How do you manage working under pressure?

I think as students we can relate this since we have deadlines for our work to be completed. I am not the kind of person to leave all my work to the very last minute, and I have never missed a deadline. However sometimes I have found that I work much faster under pressure, as I have the determination to get it done in time.

Overall I think I conducted myself in a professional manner, despite being in an informal setting amongst my peers. I still tried to answer the questions as if it were an actual interview, and I did so with confidence.

It was also useful to be able to interview other candidates and see how I compare to them. In a real interview I am likely to be up against other candidates but I wouldn't normally know any information about them. Therefore this exercise was useful in finding out how I compare to other candidates.
I would say that some other people were quite nervous and underprepared, which in contrast I think I appear to be quite calm and confident in interviews. My drawback is that in comparison to others I am a bit inexperienced. Therefore I should work towards gaining more experience, in order to give myself the best chance at getting a job.