EP Practice Interview

Matthew | November, 2021

Through the practice interview, I had lots of fun and learned several valuable lessons that I’ll be able to use in my ‘proper interview.’

While I have been interviewed before and have watched countless interviews in my free time, being the interviewer was a first for me. This made me a lot more nervous than I think was necessary, especially considering this was just a practice interview. That point leads me to one of the lessons that I learned through these practice interviews: understanding the audience. Had this been an actual interview, my nervousness probably would’ve been appropriate, and I trust there would’ve been a more professional character to it. For this practice interview, I think I got my level of professionalism to fit the situation fairly well.

I also think a large part of my apprehension was due to me doubting my interview questions, and my ability to follow up on the interviewee’s answers. The nervousness quickly died down once I started interviewing my partner, though I believe the initial skepticism of my interview questions’ quality was justified. Some of my interview questions were undoubtedly badly worded and confusing for the interviewee. That’s something I’ll keep in mind and try to work on when I do my actual interview. As for the worry about being able to follow up on questions, I can’t say the extra thought was unnecessary either. However, I believe I did better following up on questions than forming the initial question(s).

Looking back on my interview, I believe I lacked a lot when it came to body language and posture. I previously claimed the level of professionalism during my interview was pretty good, and it was. If it wasn’t for my body language, it might’ve been spot on. While I was genuinely invested in the conversation/interview, I find it awkward to look directly at someone when talking (weird, I know), so for most of the interview, I wasn’t making eye contact or turning to face my partner. Again, something I’ll have to sort out and work on before the actual interview.

Overall, I had a lot of fun doing this activity – both as the interviewer and interviewee. I got to get to know a little more about a classmate, which was awesome. Thanks to this practice interview, I also got a chance to check what my ‘strengths’ and ‘stretches’ are as an interviewer – which will be valuable information going forward. I had lots of fun doing this, and look forward to more activities like it as well as the real interview!