While practicing for my “real” interview, I was able to conduct an interview, be interviewed, and observe my peers. This process taught me many lessons and showed me what I need to improve on in future interviews.

First, I conducted my interview. Since I was the first person in my group to go, the beginning was awkward but improved as I moved on to the actual interview. Once we got started, I was calm and polite – one of my strengths written in my feedback. By being calm, it was easier to immerse myself in the interview and ask follow-up questions when needed. I also went off script many times, using only 4 questions from my original list. This made it more interesting and engaging for both me and the interviewee. Based on the feedback I received, the next time I do an interview, I should have a formal tone. I found this hard to do with classmates since I’m used to speaking in a casual tone. I intend to fix that in any following interviews I conduct. Overall, I improved my interviewing skills and had a successful interview.

Next, I was the interviewee. The biggest thing I learned from being on the other side of the interview was that answering the questions with insightful answers helped the conversation go smoother. When answering with one-word questions, it became a choppy interview because we were just jumping from question to question without a lot to work with. I can learn from this in my “real” interview by making my questions more open-ended so that there is no possible way it can be answered with a one-word reply. If I could go back in time, I would have been more insightful toward answering my interview question to helo my interviewer make the process smoother.

Finally, By observing my peers’ interviews, I learned some important things to include in mine, such as asking permission to record the interview, having a friendlier introduction/conclusion, and overall having a formal tone. As I stated before, the beginning was very awkward. I didn’t know how to friendy start an interview, and the interviewee blankly stared at me. I rushed through that part and forgot to even ask for permission to record. Recording the interview could be beneficial, so I can fully listen to the interviewee and not look down to type their answer. I observed from my peers way to make my introduction/conclusion better. For example, I would begin by introducing myself, asking their name, then asking how their day is going. In terms of how I was speaking and what tone I was using, I learned some different ways of saying common things. Instead of saying “in charge of,” “look like,” or “job,” I would say “responsible,” “resemble,” and “occupation.”

Overall, This process taught me not only about what I need to improve on but the things I did well to use in my following interviews.