The interviews went fairly well. There was little practice involved before the interview, though this interview is meant to be the practice, as well as the less serious nature lessens the need for preparation. This did, however, impact my performance and could be improved in the future. 

I think the feedback I received accurately reflected what I thought were my strengths and weaknesses in the interview. One of my weaknesses was lack of confidence while asking questions. This showed through posture and tone. This can be only really remedied by practice and conditioning, since it is a mental aspect with no instant fix. This, of course, means I will practice more before the actual interview to get more comfortable. Another weakness was voice, specifically tone and volume. Volume can be remedied just by speaking louder, as usually I am not aware of my own volume and speak too quietly. Also, during the actual interview, if it is digital, I should be able to use a speech recording program or the like to visually represent my own volume on my screen and adjust accordingly. As for tone, again, only practice will really remedy that. The problem was that I was not emphasizing or applying pitch changes to my words, which lead to a more “flat voice”. Again, this likely stems from lack of confidence, which can be fixed with conditioning. 

Some of my strengths were maintained eye contact and attentive posture. Not much elaboration is required for these; it just shows attention and is not exceptionally hard to accomplish, though eye contact can be uncomfortable. Another strength was how I took notes but was still engaged. When taking my notes, instead of quoting or writing entire sentences, I wrote a few words or phrases that formed into the general concept of the topic. These small phrases “trigger” memory and instead of entirely recording the topics in the interview, just make it easier for me to remember them, since I am already paying enough attention to remember most of the interview. This allows for much quicker note-taking and forces me to pay attention, both of which are good things. 

In future interviews and in the “real” interview, I will practice more and get comfortable and confident so that my weaknesses are less of a problem. I will also generally try to be more confident during the interview by keeping these things in mind. I will continue to utilize my strengths to aim for a more successful interview.