Mock Interview Drives
Feedback only helps if something changes afterwards
After a mock interview, most students read the feedback once, feel either relieved or discouraged, and carry on as before. This session shows them how to read it calmly and turn it into two weeks of specific practice.
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Written feedback is the part students rarely get, and often waste.
Real interviews seldom explain a rejection. A mock interview drive gives students something they can act on: a note on what worked and what to practise.
Students tend to react in one of two ways. Some argue with it in their heads, and some conclude they are not good enough. Neither changes the next interview.
The students who improve are usually the ones who choose a small number of things and practise them daily for a short stretch.
From feedback to practice
19 topics across 5 areas. Five parts, in order.
Read It Twice, A Day ApartThe first reading is mostly feelings.4
- Read it once and notice your reaction
- Leave it for a day
- Read again and underline what is specific
- Separate facts from opinions
Look for PatternsOne comment may be a taste. Repeated ones are information.4
- Comments that appear more than once
- Comments that match what you already suspected
- Comments from different areas, such as answers, communication or preparation
- Praise worth keeping, so you do not lose it
Choose Two or Three ThingsA short list gets done.3
- The one that would change the most
- The one that is quickest to fix
- Leave the rest for later
A plan with eight priorities is usually a plan with none.
Build the Two WeeksSmall, daily and checkable.4
- A specific daily task of about half an hour
- One practice question or answer said aloud each day
- A second mock with a friend or senior in the second week
- A short note at the end of each day on what felt better
Check Whether It Is WorkingEvidence, not a feeling.4
- Record yourself answering the same question on day one and day fourteen
- Ask a listener to point out one change
- Adjust the plan after the first week
- Ask for feedback again at the next opportunity
Examples of common feedback, and a practice for each
- "Went silent on a hard question" becomes a daily habit of thinking aloud
- "Could not explain the project clearly" becomes a rehearsed two-minute explanation
- "Answers were too long" becomes timed answers
- "Little knowledge of the company" becomes a short research routine
What students leave with
- Their own feedback, marked up
- A two-week calendar
- A practice partner agreed
- A date for the next mock
How the session runs
A volunteer from industry explains how interviewers write feedback and what they hope students will do with it. Students then bring their own feedback, mark it up, choose their priorities and draft a plan in small groups. It works best in the week after a drive, in a classroom or online.
What your students leave with
- A calm way to read feedback, including the uncomfortable parts
- Two or three priorities chosen from their own feedback
- A two-week plan with a small daily task
- A way to check if the practice is working
- A habit of asking for feedback again, later
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Two weeks of small practice is worth more than one long evening of worry.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.