The question of "What can I do to prepare for my interview in English?" comes up over and over again. One of the most important keys to success, in my experience, is not thinking about the questions that you might be asked in the interview and preparing answers, but rather to think about which are the most important points you can make during the interview.
In this blog, I want to share with you one of my favorite Coaching activities. This exercise will help you develop some ideas on what you could speak about in your next interview in English.
Let's imagine you're touring in Croatia...
Before we get started with the interviewing exercise, we need to set up an example of what you're going to be doing in this exercise. First, imagine you're touring in Croatia. You're walking through the streets and this is what you see:
There's a lot to take in! Lots of history, scenery and visual stimulation.
From this view, we can understand some things about this town: it's historic, it's well maintained, clean, the streets are narrow, and there's lots of gray stone.
But then, you decide to fly a drone 100 meters in the air to get a better view of the town you're touring, and your view changes from what you see in front of you to an aerial view.
When we look at the aerial view, we're able to understand a bit more about the town: there is a harbor, it looks like the town receives tourists on cruises, the town has lots of trees, and the town is not that large.
When we change our point of view from a street-view to a drone-view, we're given more context to quickly understand and make hypothesis about what we're trying to understand.
So, what does walking around and flying drones in Croatia have to do with job interview preparation?
The Drone Shot of Your Career
As you're preparing for your interview, aim to explain yourself and your career from both "street view" to "aerial view." With that, I want to make two points:
Don't focus your communication only on what's in front of you right now, but also the reasons and events that have led you to the place you are today, and
Be able to explain your career journey not only as a pedestrian would see it, but also as how a drone would see it.
Right Now versus Overall
One of the common pitfalls I see with my Coaching Clients is that they're able to explain confidently what's going on right now in their career, but it's more difficult to explain and encapsulate their overall career in an easy-to-digest answer.
While it certainly is important to be able to explain what's happening now in your career, an essential part of interview preparation is being able to move away from the right now and fly a drone 100 meters in the air and take a look at the past, the present, and maybe even the future.
This is especially valuable for questions such as Tell me a bit about yourself in which you must give an overview of your career in just a few minutes.
Think and See as a Pedestrian, and as a Drone
As an exercise for reflection and in your preparation, ask yourself "Is my answer content as a pedestrian would see it, or as a drone would see it?"
Both viewpoints are valuable, but it's been my experience that most candidates do not take the time to think about their "overall" career, as a drone might see it.
Once you're able to "fly a drone" above your career, ask yourself some questions:
What are the most important moments in my career journey?
What am I proudest of?
What were some of my most positive experiences?
What were some of the negative experiences?
Which have been my successes and failures?
How have those positive experiences, negative experiences, successes and failures enhanced my understanding of how I approach certain aspects of my career? What have I learned from those experiences?
When were my best examples of teamwork and leadership?
When and where did I develop my strongest soft-skills? Be ready to give examples!
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