Interview Tips and Advice: How to set up and conduct a mock job interview

One of the best ways to prepare for a job interview is to do a mock. If you know someone who is experienced in interviewing people, they might be able to help you. If not, don't give up on the idea: one way around this is to run your own mock video interview.

If you have a video camera, a camera on your mobile, or a webcam on your computer, then you already have the necessary kit. You may feel slightly nervous or embarassed about seeing yourself on video (everyone does, you're in good company), but it's worth getting over this shyness as it can be a powerful way of improving your interview performance. You can be your own interviewer if necessary – read the questions out to yourself before answering them on camera. You could even pre-record your questions and play them back during your mock interview.

Here's the process you should follow:

1. Select your interview questions and their order
2. Record yourself asking these questions
3. Get the footage onto a computer to act as a virtual interviewer
4. Record yourself answering the questions
5. Play it back and review your performance

Pick your questions

Use a mixture of common interview questions with ones that are tailored to the role you are applying for, using the job description and personal specification to guide you. For example, if the person specification says the recruiter is looking for "excellent customer service skills," then the question may be: "Tell me about a time when you have delivered excellent customer service following a complaint". Questions that ask you to give examples of situations in previous work are common as they allow you to present evidence of a skill.

Start the interview with "Tell me about yourself," and finish with "Are there any questions that you would like to ask before we finish?". Six questions is a good start – though the more preparation the better.

Record your questions

This doesn't have to be too sophisticated – it's just a prompt for you to answer, but playing back recorded questions is closer to an actual interview than simply reading them out as you go. Leave a few seconds between each one so when you are playing it back you can pause it.

Record your answers

Play the questions, pausing after each one, and answer them to the camera, as if it was the interview. Try to be concise and speak for no longer than a few minutes on each one. For the "Tell me about a time when…" questions, you may want to use the STAR acronym to structure your answer Here's an example:

S – situation – describe the problem you encountered
T – task – what was required of you
A – activity – what you did to solve the problem
R – result – how brilliantly the situation turned out.

Review your performance

Don't do this immediately: take a break, return to the footage after around10 minutes and watch it twice.

The first time, pause between answers and make notes, answering the following questions:

• How fully did you answer the question?
• How convincing was your answer?
• Is there anything you would change if you were asked it again?
• How long was your answer? Could it be more concise?
• How was your body language? Did it match your words? Did you fidget?
• Are there any words that you repeat excessively? Most people have an "um" or an "actually" that they over use when they are nervous.
• Where did your eyes go? Were you maintaining eye contact with the camera?
• How was the pace of your answer?

The second time, go back and watch through from beginning to end again, without pausing. How would you rate yourself overall? If there were three things you would change, what would they be?

Then give yourself a pat on the back – and invite yourself back for the second round and repeat tomorrow.

Michael Higgins is a career coach at This Is My Path and author of Pit Stop: A Career Review for Busy People.