Interview

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I am sooo nervous! My son has an interview next week for a mini (high) school program we applied at. I'm not sure if all students who applied get an interview or if they pre-select students as a second phase. Any advice on how to teach interviewing skills???? He really wants to get into this school and there are only so many seats offered.

Practice. Also one important thing is to make sure he gets a good nights sleep before so you don't feel bad as that can lead to bad body language and won't help on the interview.

Thank you!!

"Practice" is proving to be challenging at the moment. Apparently, my son knows everything and doesn't need to "practice". I'm trying to get him to understand that he has never had an interview before and it's always best to prepare himself in advance so he doesn't become "stuck" when a question is asked. He just wants to "wing-it" and it'll show his lack of effort at the interview. I suppose if he doesn't get chosen, because of it, he's simply not ready to take this on.

Trying to be optimistic and understanding, here. Not easy!

I agree that practice is by far the best way to prepare. If he thinks he knows everything, ask him a really tough question to prove that he doesn't . The hardest question I've ever been asked on an interview was "Describe a situation in which a personal mistake has caused harm or misfortune either to your company or to those around you". I initially answered that I had never been in such a situation before, but he said that that was an unacceptable answer, and that I had to provide a detailed situation/analysis.

Wow, that's harsh. What did you end up saying? lol

My son didn't do so well after all. He probably has 0% chance of getting into this program. The process was interesting though and it took courage for him to face his first 4-hour exam and interview (separate days).

We talked about body language and how to carry yourselves during an interview. He gave a nice handshake (his first "real" one) and tried his best to maintain eye-contact. Other than that, knuckling the edge of the table like a pro boxer, probably wasn't the best way to deal with nerves.

Lol I gave a pretty terrible answer...since I couldn't think of anything to use from my own experiences, I started talking about how mistakes in Congress have caused failings in our government...and yeah it just went south from there. Sorry to hear that your son didn't do so well, but hopefully it will be a learning experience for the both of you!

congress? I'm assuming you didn't get the position? Lol
My son will be fine. We'll find out mid February.

He should have prepared.

People who succeed don't usually do so by luck, or through winging it. They prepare very carefully and strenuously, so that when it comes time to perform, they've already done it a hundred times.

This can be a lesson for your son, or another excuse for him to blame a seemingly capricious world for his own failures.

He did eventually practice. He even filled out a "test" from an interview app from his iPad. It helped with his eye-contact and hand shaking.

Hand shaking and stuff is nice, but what about the actual questions he was asked?

Well, he seemed to have misunderstood the details of the questions. That's ok. It was great for him to challenge himself, even though he didn't do so well.