Career Prep Tip: Innovating the Mock Interview

To prepare students for professional interviews, many colleges and universities host mock interview experiences, where a learner can practice interviewing and receive feedback on their performance. The experience can build students’ confidence while helping them address common mistakes in the interviewing process.

A March report from Handshake and SHRM shows that 79 percent of HR professionals say interview performance is very important in hiring decisions for entry-level roles.

Inside Higher Ed compiled different and innovative tips higher education practitioners can use to improve the mock interview experience and assist students in career development.

• Simulate the experience. With the amount of remote and hybrid opportunities available on the job market, students may not be going in-person to meet a hiring manager. If the student is conducting their interview in-person, over the phone or via Zoom, the mock interview should take place in the same format, according to Stanford University’s training and resources for those in Oral Communication Tutor roles. Students may also need help navigating screening or group interviews, as well.
• Videotape the experience. By setting up a camera or a video session, career centers give students the ability to record the interview and watch it back, self-critique, and improve their skills.
• Provide a guide. California State University Channel Islands has a mock interview handbook students can review that highlights the purpose of the interview, how to prepare for the experience and how to navigate challenging experiences—such as negative or illegal questions or periods of silence during the interview.

• Divide the session in half. An interviewer can give students half of the mock interview questions, pause the experience to provide feedback and then resume the experience to give the interviewee opportunity to make changes in real-time.
• Utilize alumni. Calling on professionals within the university community can give students a taste of interviewing with a stranger while helping build their professional network through introduction to a new organization. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) recommends finding alums who haven’t visited campus for career work to invite new collaboration. The University of Notre Dame utilizes its professional network site to facilitate behavioral mock interviews between students and alumni.
• Guide best answers. Typical job interviews will include questions like “Tell me about yourself” or a situation-specific event, “Tell me about a time when …” A mock interview can be one place to walk through how to address the question completely in a way an interviewer might want, such as the STAR method (situation, task, action and result).

• Create industry-specific questions. For students who know their field of study and desired career path, more targeted questions about their discipline and how their experiences and college education play into their career readiness can be more helpful than general questions. The University of Chicago allows students to select between a behavioral practice interview, a case-consulting practice interview or investment banking practice interview to refine skills.
• Utilize technology. Virtual reality and artificial intelligence can serve as tools for students to practice their interviewing skills. Indiana University of Indianapolis (formerly Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) has VR headsets within the speech lab that provide mock interview experiences using generative AI to engage with and critique students’ performance. The University of Florida also has an online platform students can use to practice industry-specific mock interviews using their webcam. Florida State University gives students access to an online training and practice system to scour a database of interview questions and video training curriculum.
• Provide take-home feedback. An evaluation sheet can help guide interviewers as they notice what a student is doing well or needs additional work on, and this can also be a physical takeaway (either as a physical sheet or in digital form) for the student to review independently and continue to hone their skills.

Do you have a career prep tip that might help others encourage student success? Tell us about it.