Work on The Mistake after The Interview

Experience  

The main purpose of an interview is for the employer to get an in-depth information about the personality and ability of a potential employee to determine whether they are qualified enough to join their team. However, this practice interview has given me the opportunity to find out more about many aspects of my personality. When I have read that the “recorded interview is not graded”, I subconsciously assumed that would it was going to be easy and I have not put enough effort to prepare for it. I also expected that the interview questions were all going to be generic interview questions like the ones I am used to being asked for previous job applications hence the engineering related questions caught me by surprise. This is the main reason why I became anxious and started to panic a bit when I was asked certain questions during the interview.  For example, when I was asked the question “What is one current issue facing the Engineering industry?”  There were many answers in my head, and I was unable to pick one specific as answer to this question as there are currently too many considerable issues. This confusion and inability to pick one specific answer made me feel unsettled and nervous.  

Reflection 

In hindsight, I would have been able to handle the questions better if I had prepared for the interview in advance rather than assuming it would just be like any other typical interview. I should have spoken to my professor and asked more questions regarding the interview to at least get some idea of the type of interview it was going be. That way I would have prepared more specifically for engineering related questions. Even though I tried to improvise and answer all questions, I must admit that at the time I could not help but feel self-conscious about the way I answered some of the questions. If this had been a real interview, I think that I would have felt even more anxious being so unprepared and alarmed by some of the questions. As a chemical engineering student, I am aware that I am expected to know my field in great depth, and I expect the same of myself. Nevertheless, I now know that I can get startled when being spontaneous in unfamiliar situations. Having experienced this practice interview, allowed to know more about my weaknesses and what I need to do in the future so that my ability to handle is stressful situations can improve significantly.

Action 

I believe that practice situations such as this recorded interview gives students the ability to grow academically and mentally prepare them for real life situations. Overall, I am very grateful for this practice interview as it was not graded, it allowed me to acquire more detailed knowledge about my weaknesses and my personality in general. This knowledge and experience have been very essential and useful to my personal development. I now know that I should do full research and seek the advice of experts before participating in any unfamiliar situations. This would save me any uncertainty and anxiety that can be caused by unknown/new events. I know that this was only a practice interview and I was speaking to a computer screen instead of a real person but I expect that a real interview would have been more profound and nerve-racking if I had been so unprepared. In the future, I plan ask more questions in advance and do more research about what to expect in any serious event which is related to my academic projects and employment. I plan to participate in practice situations like this so that I can be familiar with these types of circumstances and develop a greater self-awareness. I know that for anyone to reach their full potential they must try new experiences which means sometimes failure is inevitable and one must fail in order to grow and develop new skills. However, being well prepared can reduce the likelihood of failing at something. With all the knowledge and skills, I have developed during my academic projects, I am confident that I can handle when any similar situation arises in the future. Instead of being quick at making assumptions about unknown circumstances, I will do more specific research and study related topics. As a chemical engineering student, I will learn practice any possible questions that can come about in any engineering related interviews. I will use the experience I have gained from this practice interview to handle any future unfamiliar questions with confidence.