Interview reboot

Today I had an opportunity to participate in one of @SFUMBA Mock Interview sessions which the Career Management Centre arranges for its students. Interviewing me today was an SFU MBA alumni who had graduated recently and has gone on to work with a local consulting firm. This firm is particularly focussed on communication and public speaking training and so we, the interviewees, were able to receive immediate, constructive feedback on our interviewing ability.

For anyone who has interviewed for a job (that means, um, everyone over 15!), it is a rare, basically unheard of, privilege to be able to hear what the interviewer is thinking about you right away. Without the pressure of a "real" interview (although I'm sure many mock interviews have lead to real jobs), students are able to practice answering the tough requests like "tell me about a time that you really failed" or "tell me about the most difficult interpersonal conflict you've ever had at a job..." Today, I got to hear from the interviewer what he liked about my responses and what could be improved upon. Even more fortunately, this interviewer was an expert at providing feedback. He's trained to listen, observe and keenly attend to my body language, eye contact, hand gestures, the speed of my voice (definitely too fast), and the quality of each response. And, I got to hear all of this feedback right away. He coached me on ways to strengthen my responses and to sell my abilities clearly and honestly.

I don't think that I've ever had such a useful session of feedback. There was no performance review on the line, no promotion at risk, no boss to impress...only this individual observing me, listening to me, critiquing me.

To this man and to the Career Centre staff I say a huge thank you.