The mock interviews that we did in Humanities eased many of the nerves I had going into the eminent person interview process. During the mock interviews, I had the opportunity to practice my interviewing skills and receive feedback. I tried my best to stay calm and conduct the interview more like a conversation rather than a question-and-answer session, which I believe I did well. This process has prepared me for interviews I am going to do in the future, whether I am conducting the interview, or being interviewed by somebody else.
We recently finished doing career interviews in Career Life Education and having that little bit of pervious interview experience made this mock interview less nerve wracking. I have noticed through the Career Life Education and mock interview in Humanities, that I am the most confident in my interviewing skills when I have practiced and when I have good questions prepared. I feel like the questions I wrote for the eminent person mock interviews we did in class, were very well written. This made me feel confident going into the interviews. Knowing that I feel more confident when I have good questions prepared has made me nervous because I feel I may not be able to create questions that are as good as the ones I had for the mock interview. Besides writing good questions, I feel like I need to gain more overall confidence by practicing my interviewing skills. I am going to do this by trying to set up a practice interview with some friends or family. In both of the interviews that I have done recently, especially the eminent person mock interviews, I have found that I begin feeling comfortable around halfway through the interview. Once I realize there is nothing to worry about, I tend to stumble on my words less and I am more confident in the questions I am asking, which makes the interview flow a lot better.
Watching other people conduct their interviews is also a good experience to have. I watched their body language and took inspiration from the questions that they asked each other. This was very insightful because the feedback I provided to the person that I watched interview someone else, was greatly applicable to myself. One piece of feedback that I gave the person that I was assessing, was to be more confident in themselves. I feel that I could apply this feedback while working on my own interviewing skills. In the few practice interviews that I have completed recently, a lot of what I say is all over the place. I ask concise questions and give concise answers when I am confident in myself and what I am saying, which will come with practice. Overall, I have enjoyed the process of the mock interview we did in Humanites, as I feel it has equipped me with the skills I need for my eminent person interview.