What does graduate interview coaching involve?
Why do graduates benefit from interview coaching?
- As the assessment process for students and graduates is so competitive today it is essential that students receive some interview coaching to maximise every interview opportunity they have. Being rejected at many interview lowers confidence and causes interview anxiety.
- Often there is only a short window of opportunity to apply to leading internship and graduate schemes such as the Civil Service Fast Stream or legal Training Contracts so graduates need to be fully prepared in advance of the deadlines.
- As well as being very competitive the application process is very long and includes a series of online tests, video interview and an assessment day. If the applicant gets rejected they may need to wait for another year before they can reapply or look elsewhere for an internship or job. Ideally, a student should aim to get through to at least 3 assessment days to maximise their chances of success.
- Interviews are no longer just competency based but include competency and strength based questions. Many organisations such as Magic Circle law firms put a greater emphasis on strength based questions so knowing how to handle both types of questions is important.
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I am emailing you to let you know that I have received a job offer from Arup for the Graduate City Economics position! I am so happy that things have worked out so well – I can’t believe it! Thank you so much for all your help!! I honestly don’t think I could’ve done it without you. This job means so much to me as it was my first choice since the beginning and, in fact, the more I got to know the company and learnt about the role, the more I liked it.
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Graduate & student interview coaching
Interview coaching works and at Interview Skills Clinic. We see great results with leading organisations such as KPMG, Deloitte, CapGemini, Earnst & Young, John Lewis, Goldman Sachs, Atkins to name but a few.
One to one coaching is tailored to each client; the role you applying for, the organisation and application stage. It often involves two stages:
- Interview Preparation Coaching. A student would not expect to get a high mark in their university essay or assignment without understanding how they are being marked but most students attend interviews without understanding what organisations are looking for. Preparation coaching is tailored specifically to the internship, placement or graduate role students are applying for. Learn to prepare for competency interviews and strength based interviews.
- Mock Interview Coaching. Most students practise for an interview by looking for typical questions and writing out their answers. This is the wrong approach and at best results in a wooden response and at worst leads to brain freeze. Students and graduates need to learn how to adapt their answers to a variety of different questions aloud, project confidence and good communication skills.
Interview coaching is tailored to the application stage
Interview coaching is tailored to each stage of the application process:
- CV and application
- Video interviews are increasingly being used at the first interview stage rather than telephone interviews. It is a particularly challenging interview as the interviewee needs to answer text or video recorded questions. Many applicants get rejected at this early stage.
Read this article to prepare for some typical video interview questions. - Telephone interviews
- One-to-one assessment day interviews, competency interviews and strength interviews
- Assessment day presentations
Interviews for first year & second year students
It’s the early bird that catches the worm! Ideally first year students need to spend time securing a place on an Easter Week or Spring Week Internship. This is a ‘stepping-stone’ to getting a summer internship. A summer internship is very important as many organisations such as Goldman Sachs offer a proportion of their interns a permanent job at the end of the internship. A lucky student might start their third year at University knowing that they have a job when they finish! Either way an internship or placement is going to give a student excellent experience which will help them prepare for competency and strength interviews in their final year.
Where is coaching available?
Coaching is available Monday – Saturday in:
You can decide whether you want face-to-face coaching, available in London or Bournemouth or Skype coaching.
Coaching fees
A one to one coaching course can be designed for you or you can choose coaching in 1 hour sessions as your application progresses. Click here for details on coaching fees. A discount is available for students.
Free consultation
The best approach is to schedule a free consultation so that we can discuss your objectives. Click the Free Consultation button below or click Contact.
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