By: Carla Mandiola (M.S. in Data Journalism ‘24)

This is the best chance to get feedback, meet WiCS board members, and find resources for your career. If you are a Columbia/Barnard student, sign up HERE.

But what is a mock interview? A mock or practice interview emulates a real job interview scenario. It allows job seekers to rehearse their interview performance and obtain valuable feedback on their skills.

Taking part in a mock interview helps you get comfortable handling tricky questions, fine-tuning interview strategies, improving communication skills, and easing pre-interview nerves, all of which contribute to feeling more relaxed and prepared for an actual job interview.

After signing HERE, you can choose between four WiCS members to do your mock interviews. One of them is Seyoung Ree, who has started this semester and has done behavioral and technical interviews, and tells us more about it:

How is the structure of the interviews?

It depends on what the student wants. I typically ask for the style of the interview they prefer, i.e., behavioral or technical. If it’s behavioral, we would go through a few behavioral questions that interviewers typically ask. I think it’s most helpful to treat it like an interview so that students can feel more prepared for the interview environment, as there can be a lot of anxiety leading up to it. Then, I give constructive feedback at the end of the interview. If it’s technical, the best structure is to go through 1-2 LC problems (difficulty depending on the student’s preference). After the first one, I suggest giving constructive feedback they can use for the following LC problem. Then, we review the next LC with the first one’s feedback in mind.

What are the main topics you talked about?

For behavioral, we talk about questions that behavioral interviews typically ask. I aim to typically ask questions that need some time to think so that students can have a more polished answer prepared if asked those questions. We also talk about how to present yourself and questions to ask the interviewer at the end. I think it’s important to just be yourself during an interview and make sure to present your ideas clearly and calmly.

Why do you think it is important for students to participate?

Practice is invaluable for interviews. I know many students, myself included, get anxious and overwhelmed with how to prepare for the interview. But once you try a mock interview and pretend it’s a real one, you can feel better and more prepared going into your actual interview.

 

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