There were 2 role play interviews; the first interview was conducted in front of the class. Different jobs and criteria were created and put into a hat, which were picked out at random. I chose Care assistant for the elderly. There were specific criteria for the job, needs and musts that I had to fulfill to get the job, such as qualifications. I had to research into caring for the elderly, and prepare questions that could possibly come up and questions to ask the interviewer. During the interview role play itself, I tried to remain calm and composed, however because of my nerves I kept sniggering which distracted the seriousness of the interview. I also stumbled on some of the questions as the research I had done was incorrect, as I used a website that had old versions of caring, and therefore it was an unreliable source which looked bad for myself during the interview. Also I had forgotten some of the questions I prepared for the interview.
My personal performance could be improved by better and more reliable research, and also to be more relaxed but serious during the interview. As well as being better prepared remembering the questions I had organized.
In the second role play interview, which was conducted in a room with just the teacher. The degree I chose to be interviewed for was Diet and Health BSE at bath spa. Before the role play interview date, I knew I had to prepare some background research for the degree, so I researched the internet about facilities, accommodation and content of the course itself. I also prepared 5 questions which I might get asked, such as; tell me about yourself? What do your Access to higher education peers think of you? What are the main reasons you want to do this degree? What career would you like to achieve at the end? Tell me about equal opportunities? All of these questions I assumed I would be asked; therefore I planned answers to ready myself. I also arranged questions to ask the interviewer to get an understanding about the university and the course, questions I asked were; is there much popular interest in this course of mature students? Is there any specific research I could do before entry? Can I trail for the football team? What are the lessons structures like? And what is the most popular job students go into once achieving this degree?
The interview took place in a large room; I was sat close to the interviewer, with no table. This straight away made me feel comfortable, as I felt exposed. However I remained calm dealing with questions one at a time. Some of the questions I prepared to be asked arose, I felt extremely confident in answering them, such as tell me about yourself was directed, in answering I knew I didn't want to talk about myself in a broad aspect, I wanted to mention the things I knew were important such as science and the experiments that I have done such as enzyme and reactivity series to show interest as well as knowing that diet and health is a science based degree. However, negatively I didn't expand and didn't go into detail about the experiments. On one particular question I stumbled, which made me feel nervous throughout the rest of the interview.
The positives of my role play were, I was confident with the questions showing knowledge about the degree. I showed a good passion to why I wanted to do this course and help people who are overweight; also when asked about bulimia I understood that it's a psychological illness and would need to be treated delicately. My body language had positives and negatives; I gave good eye contact and nodded to show that I understood the questions.
However negatively I came across as sitting slouched due to the fact I'm tall, which may have gave the impression I didn't care or didn't want to be there. I also spoke to fast at times, rushing the questions.
When it came to me returning the questions to the interviewer, I felt confident, I took a pause to think of what I was going to ask, then spoke clearly and kept a cool posture and eye contact.
Targets to improve my interview approach and preparations, would be to research into the chosen subject further and also research more about the university itself, finding further information into what the degree is about and what kind of careers you can get out of it. Also another target I could improve on is to not rush straight into answering the questions; I should target on improving this by thinking about it longer and take a deep breath to relax. Another target for me to improve would also be not twitch hand and feet during the interview as this may show a sense of nervousness.
I evaluated Gareth's interview. Gareth was applying to Bristol University, and the chosen course was Primary school teacher. The room was small and away from all the outside noise, also there was a desk which allowed a shelter for twitchy hands and feet, this made Gareth look more confident.
The questions were well applied and allowed Gareth to answer positively with good verbal communication, he showed a range of knowledge for his own degree he wanted to go on, also body language was well displayed with constant eye contact, nodding to show understanding, as well as hand moving to express a point. It was evident that Gareth prepared for the interview, because he gave good responses and also had decent questions for the interviewer.
However the term 'erm' was used throughout the interview by Gareth and the interviewer as well. Suggestions to develop the interview to a make it more of a realistic interview would be having the interviewee waiting outside being called in and see how they would react to coming into the room, if they would handshake or just sit down straight away.
'Nonverbal communication, or body language, includes our facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, posture, and even the tone of our voice' [1]
The term non verbal communication is a type of communication which words aren't used, examples of this, hand gestures which could be a sign of anger, passion and many over feelings. Another type of NVC is body language or posture, the way someone's body is positioned can say a lot about how they are feeling, if they have their arms crossed it could indicate that they want to be left alone or they feel uncomfortable. Also dancing, clothing, hairstyles and facial expressions are NVCs of how people might be feeling.
In an interview situation there is a vast amount of body language that could be used. The nonverbal communication could also stem from how a person is feeling; during an interview the candidate will normally feel nervous which could lead them to making negative nonverbal communication. Popular NVCs could be hand movements, feet twitching, itching which could be seen as negative NVCs, but a healthy amount of eye contact shows confidence and that they are listening, nodding leaning to stress a point can be seen as a positive communications. Usually the non verbal communication during the interview is unknown to the person doing it. Other NVCs could be the handshake before and after the interview, the clothing of the interviewer and candidate, if it's an office job it's more than likely to be a smart dress code, but if it's a factory job interview it could be casual. If the candidate arrives early it sets a good tone throughout the interview. The importance of nonverbal communication is key during a job interview because the interviewer is only going to recruit the people he feels are confident and well presented for the job.
