Good and Bad Interviews - Learn and Practice

Good/Bad Job Interviews

Lesson Plan

Purpose: To illustrate and practice bad and good interview behaviors

Materials: 

·        YouTube video   YouTube videos Job Interview: I Want to Learn and Job Interview: Sorry I'm Late

·        board and markers or chart paper

·        attached resource "Interview Survey"

Time: 30-40 minutes

Procedure:

1.     Set up a KWL chart and have a discussion with each participant about what they know, what to know, and might learn about job interview skills. Create two charts—one for good job interview skills and one for bad job interview skills. Take note of which ones are verbal and which ones are visual. Use a different color marker for each type.

2.     Tell the class they are going to watch a job interview without the sound. They need to watch for the good and bad behaviors in the interview. They should take notes to remember their observations.

3.     Play the first 42 seconds of each video WITHOUT sound.

4.     After it’s been watched, ask the audience if they noticed any of the behaviors that they had previously listed on their KWL charts. Add any new behaviors to the chart that may not have previously been mentioned.

5.     Tell them to watch the video again, with sound this time. Play each video all the way through. Have them again take notes, reminding them to also listen for what the interviewees are saying.

6.     Repeat the same de-briefing procedure with a class discussion on what they thought were good or bad behaviors.

7.     Put students into pairs. Have them take turns as interviewer and applicant. Encourage the applicants to use really bad interview behavior first. Keep this exercise to a timed 30 seconds for each applicant. This will get the students more aware of what bad behavior feels like and have some fun in the process. This should help relax any nervous tensions.

8.     Mix up the pairs again. This time, give each pair two different sets of 3-5 (depending on the size of the class) interview questions that might accurately reflect a real-world interview situation. These interviews will be videotaped. You can let the interviewees take a moment to look at and think about the questions since this is a learning exercise.

9.     If the class is small enough, have the entire class view each interview tape and fill in their survey sheets (available in the attached resource area) anonymously. These sheets are only given directly to the person being observed and commented upon.

Handouts

Interview Questions:

1.     Can you tell me a little about yourself?

2.     How did you hear about the position?

3.     Why do you want this job?

4.     Why should we hire you?

5.     What are your greatest professional strengths?

6.     What are your weaknesses?

7.     What is your greatest professional achievement?

8.     Tell me about a challenge or conflict you’ve faced at work and how you dealt with it.

9.     Where do you see yourself in ten years?

10. What’s your dream job?

11. Why are you leaving your current job?

12. What is a time you excercised leadership?

13. How would your boss and co-workers describe you?

14. How do you deal with stressful situations?

15. Do you have any questions for us?