How to Succeed at Interviews – University of Sheffield
This free three week course provides the tools you need to succeed at interviews and land your dream job or course place.
How to Succeed at Interviews – University of Sheffield
This free three week course provides the tools you need to succeed at interviews and land your dream job or course place.
Duration: 3 weeks
Weekly study: 3 hours
Overview
Being offered an interview is exciting but can be quite daunting. On this course, our experts from The Careers Service here at The University of Sheffield will make sure you are prepared for the big day.
If you’re still at the stage of writing your CV and submitting applications for a job or course, join our course How to Succeed at: Writing Applications.
Syllabus
Preparing for interviews
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Welcome to Week 1
In this introduction Careers Advisor Katie Casserly describes the objectives for the course, we welcome our fellow learners, and start the discussion by exploring our experience of interviews.
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Getting ready for the day
Being invited to interview can bring about feelings of both happiness and apprehension for many people. Share your thoughts on getting to interview via our poll.
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Thorough preparation does work
The key to a good interview is proper preparation. This section gives you handy hints to get you thinking about yourself and the recruiter in more depth, and how to anticipate the topics you might be asked about at interview.
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Summary of the week
As we reach the end of Week 1, Hilary summarises our learning from this week’s activities.
Dealing with interviews
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Welcome to Week 2
Katie explains how we will be looking at ways to turn interview preparation into interview practice on the day that you’ve been waiting for.
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Creating a positive impression
First impressions are formed from how you look as well as how you sound, so in this activity we’re going to look at setting the right tone. There’s more to it than just wearing a nice suit, as we’ll find out.
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Getting to grips with interview questions
The questions interviewers ask come in many different forms. We’ll now look at the different types of questions and give you strategies to deal with them, along with a chance to practise some answers.
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Closing stages
Ending the interview on a high involves asking intelligent questions. This can be harder than it sounds, so in this activity we’ll run through some questions and what to do when the interview’s over.
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End of week summary
We’ve now reached the end of this week. Remember to keep your work to help you prepare for questions at future interviews. But first test out what you’ve learnt by taking our quiz.
Handling different types of interview
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Welcome to Week 3
Interviews can be more than just a simple series of questions and answers. Find out more as Katie introduces us to the different ways that interviewers get to know their candidates.
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Successful telephone and video interviews
Technology means interviews often take place by phone or video. In this section we’ll look at top tips for handling interviews when you and the selector aren’t in the same room at the same time.
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Other non-standard interviews
From presentations to role play, there can be more to interviews than answering questions. In this section we look at the various types of individual or group exercises that some selectors use, and how to tackle them.
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End of course summary
Having reached the end of the course, you’ll have looked at how to prepare for, and master the interview process. So what have you learnt? Take our final test and find out how you’ve done.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to…
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Improve your chances of success in getting a job or securing a place on a university course
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Apply best practice techniques to enable you to tackle interviews for jobs, apprenticeships, placements and university courses more effectively
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Identify what recruiters are looking for by researching an organisation or institution thoroughly, and identifying what skills and attributes recruiters might be looking for
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Identify what questions you may be asked at interview, and how to approach answering different types of interview questions
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Develop a better understanding of your strengths, skills and key selling points to tackle interviews with confidence
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Develop an understanding of different types of interviews, from telephone and video interviews, to non-standard interviews, and how to tackle them
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for anyone applying for jobs or courses. It will be of particular interest to those in the early stages of their career, or those who are out of practice and need to update their skills. No prior knowledge or expertise are needed.
Who will you learn with?
Pamela Hafekost
Manages the Information Team, responsible for developing the Careers Service website and creating interactive resources. Also responsible for providing an information service to our users.
Alison Clay
I’m a Careers Adviser at the University of Sheffield Careers Service providing advice to help our service users become more confident when writing applications or approaching interviews.
Marcus Zientek
Careers Adviser. Writes and edits careers guides for the University of Sheffield and is Careers Service Co-ordinator for the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Katie Casserly
Careers Adviser at the University of Sheffield Careers Service. Also a qualified Librarian and former Careers Information Officer.
Who developed the course?
The University of Sheffield
The University of Sheffield is one of the world’s top 100 universities with a reputation for teaching and research excellence.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and learn at your own pace. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
