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How to practice answers to common interview questions

Practice by speaking out loud

Many people make a huge mistake by never practicing their interview question answers out loud! Instead they write their answers down and then try to memorize what they have put. This is the worst way to practice for a job interview for three reasons:

1. There is a great deal of difference between the words that look good on paper and the words that sound right when we say them out loud. What trips us up is that the written word is far more formal than the spoken word. For example, suppose that you say: "It has been my life long ambition to master the art of ballroom dancing", it looks great on paper but just try to say it and you will sound like a pompous idiot! The words are too formal and stiff. In normal speaking we wouldn't use the phrase "It has been my life long ambition to" instead we would use less formal phrasing such as "I've always wanted to". The big problem of writing things out is that when we put lots of effort into making it look great on paper it comes out sounding as if we are full of ourselves!

2. If you write it down and you never say it out loud then you have never practiced your non-verbal language. Body language and voice tone is incredibly important in a job interview. You can write out "I'm the best person for the job" a hundred times and feel great while you are writing it but when you have to make eye contact in an interview you will have no idea how to look and sound convincing.

3. When you memorize the answers you get thrown for a loop if the question is asked in a slightly different way. For example if you have prepared to answer the question: "Why are you the best person for the job?" but the questioner asks "Why would you be better than anyone else for the job" you can't just trot out your memorized answer because now you need to include something about why you are better than other people and not just talk only about how you are a good fit for the job. 

 

Practice for the job interview with a friend

One of the most important things in an interview is how you will make eye contact. You have to learn how to look at the interviewer without glancing away every time a question seems a bit difficult. The eye contact should be exactly the same as it would be if you were having a friendly conversation with someone and not the way it gets when you are terrified out of your wits talking to someone who has your entire job career in their hands. I don't know about you but I can not practice eye contact when there is no one to look at! It is absolutely essential to practice answering questions with a friend who pretends to be interviewing you so that you can get used to making eye-contact, replying in a natural way and hearing the questions coming at you instead of just reading the question to yourself.

Tape record your practice interview

Tape record yourself practicing the interview with a friend. You will be amazed what you can learn from hearing yourself. Are you jumping in with an answer before the interviewer has finished? Are you making your answer to "What is your biggest fault?" far longer than your answer to "Why you are the best person for the job?" Are you "uming" and "ering"? Do you sound timid or strong? Really listen to yourself and try to improve. Yes, this may sound like a hard intimidating thing for me to recommend but after all the training and life experiences you have gone through to get to the point where you have an interview, why waste it all by not being prepared.