Advice and tips please! I have 2 days to help shy and unconfident DS18 smash an interview!

[SilkySuky]

Hi there! DS has just been emailed that he has a face to face interview on Tuesday for an engineering apprenticeship that he really wants.

This will be the 4th stage of the process, he has been in to the business to do skills tests and hand speed tests as well as written personal statement and initial application.

It's with a multi national company with a very good apprenticeship programme.

We are guesstimating that he is down to about the last 30-40 applicants , there are 10 positions.

We have all day Thursday and Friday to prep.

We've watched videos, come up with some answers to common questions, talked about the person spec and how it fits with his strengths/ weaknesses etc.

No clues given as to whether it will be competency based situation type questions or? I'm self employed so haven't had an interview myself for over 15 years....I'm sure things have changed!

Is there anything else anyone can think of?

I really want to give him the best chance.

TIA

No advice just the best of luck to him, I hope he does well.

I have always loved it when interviewees ask this, I love where I work and I like sharing that with people.

DS has been applying for comp sci degree apprenticeships and has done lots of interviews - you definitely get better with practice! Ask him questions and practice with him - ask him questions he has prepared and then throw in one he isn't expecting or ask him to expand on something to help him practice thinking on his feet.

DS looked carefully at all the things he'd done outside A-levels and where he could potentially use them in an interview. For example his D of E expedition was good for 'a time he persevered' or 'overcame adversity', his EPQ was good for 'a time he researched something' and 'his biggest achievement' (he got very high marks), his volunteering was good for 'working with other people/helping others/outreach', he did a science project as part of a national competition as part of a school team which he used for the 'group work' questions.

DS pretty much always got asked about a time he worked in a group - sometimes when something went wrong and how it was overcome. Definitely have him think about a group situation he's been in and what worked well/what went wrong/what he learnt from it/what he'd do differently next time. Also have him up to date on something currently happening in the engineering world that he can talk about if needed. Plus a few strengths and a weakness - mine's weakness was generally 'presenting in front of lots of people' because it's often something people hate anyway. He then said some things he was doing/going to do to improve.

DS always had three questions written down to ask at the end. One of them was always 'what is the best thing about working at the company' one was 'what is the best/most useful thing I could do or learn before starting the apprenticeship' and then one was about computer languages used.

Be a little bit careful of relying on questions you find on Glassdoor as companies/managers may change them every year, just use them to give you an idea. If you rely on them it can be very disheartening if you find they don't ask any of the things you're anticipating!

Companies love the STAR method, a lot of them ask for you to answer in that style and send links to explain it so definitely worth doing.

Hopefully that helps a little! Good luck to your son, I told mine that even if he didn't get a place it was all really good experience and gave him an idea of what would be involved in getting a job afterwards if he went to uni instead. I think he actually learnt a lot from the process.

As well as eye contact, smile, etc - sit up straight in the chair and don't lean back or slouch. Slouching looks like you're not bovvered. Sitting up straight, or even leaning forward slightly as you speak, looks engaged and interested.

Oh, and make sure his phone is OFF before he goes in. I don't suppose they'd turn him down just because his phone rang during the interview, but it's embarrassing and a distraction and not something he needs to happen.

Hope the interview went well for your son, @SilkySuky!

@SpacesNotTabs it's on Tuesday, but we have had a packed weekend and I'm at work on Monday with sport on Monday night also so that's why we had Thurs and Friday only to prep.

We've done lots of role plays, and have taken a lot of the advice from posters.

We've got a couple of hours this afternoon and we're going to work on him extending his answers, as he tends to make one or 2 points in answer to a question then stop.

Not sure if this is right but I've said to keep going, and they will stop you if they need to move on.

We've made crib sheet notes with his elevator pitch, STAR, and examples/ behaviours in a table next to the desired criteria.

I'm trying not to put too much pressure on him but as I keep saying to him I want him to have the choice of what to do next in his life.

He's got uni places as a plan B, but for a variety of reasons I think this would suit him to a T.

I'll update on Tuesday 🤞

Best of luck!

This. Always
doesn’t matter if they don’t ask these type of questions, always answer with STARs. Way more powerful

the thing with STARs is it takes time to flesh them out and practice.i spent ages with my dc and even niece and some of dc friends, to go through their experiences at that age and pull togetherSTARs. So much of what they have at that age is not obvious to them or an employer so it takes time. They nend to note each down and practice. Out loud. Ideally to you.

They need to keep the S and T succinct and short. The A must be as “ I” statements, no “ we”, and should be clear step by step. But the most important bit is the R - what impact did it have.

The same STAR can be used for a number of different competencies - at that age it’s even more likely that they’ll need to. So make sure for each STAR you explore all aspects of it in terms of every possible competency it could be used for

i spent a lot of time with my youngest on how he came across, it was all a little bland, and factual and polite. I kept asking him why type questions and suddenly his passion and enthusiasm appeared. So I homed in on that too with him as we practiced, reminding him about enthusiasm…that’s tone of voice, speed of voice, posture etc. you can’t fake it really, he has to find the passion in the role he’s applying for and let that come across

when I interviewed I was always looking for curiosity, competence and confidence. Especially at the younger age group. Confidence isn’t the show off Bragg type-more a quite confidence that’ll they can figure out how to solve a problem, approach people with issues, ask dumb questions, and hold their own - even if they’re introverted or shy. Competence is about their drive to do a good job , wanting to do the best they can. And curiosity is what’s going to help hem deal with a learning curve, change etc throughout their career. Can’t go far wrong with recruiting folks that have those 3 characteristics.

if you don’t know STARs OP, google and then go at it intensely with him, it will take time but is a huge investment in his future.

Others have good suggestions, my one thing to add is to suggest he takes a bottle of water in - that way, he can take a sip if he needs a couple of seconds to think about what he wants to say and less chance of him just starting to ramble.

Ds and I were chatting about past interview questions. Every interview he's ever had seems to have had some sort of random question that threw him more than the work related ones. Like Who is your real life role model?, What is your favourite animal? What's the best film/book/tv show you've seen recently? I guess these are to reveal something about your personality or maybe they think they're easy questions that will calm your nerves but ds said those q's got him every time.
He's now working as an apprentice with a car mechanic. They asked him who his favourite superhero was.

Thought I would update everyone, the interview was yesterday and long story short we think it went really well.

Highlights were that the interviewers really seemed to like the notes that my son took in that had his elevator pitch, the STAR framework,a table with the desired criteria and examples, and questions to ask at the end. They took them and read them when my son joked that they hadn't asked some of the questions he had prepared for.

No competency questions, they mainly asked about hobbies, achievements, and why he was switching from his college subject ( science) to engineering. His answer was about how he enjoyed the practical aspect of science and how really he thinks it goes hand in hand with engineering. They seemed to like this , he said.

He had some very good answers to some questions we didn't prep for and I think all the role play helped him to think on his feet. There were a couple that he struggled to answer ( why should we employ you over someone else? Because I'm a nice person and can get on with everyone)

Closing date was yesterday and the main interviewer said people were at different stages of the process so it may be the end of may before he hears.

They took his sizes for PPE, do you think that's standard or a good sign?

We are cautiously hopeful, thank you all.

I'm glad it was a positive experience. Even if he isn't successful this time, he will have learned a lot from it.

my son joked that they hadn't asked some of the questions he had prepared for.

It's good that he felt at ease enough to speak 'off the cuff ' and not stick to prepared answers. I expect the interviewers liked that.

Even if he doesn't get this role, he might meet some of them again one day, and if they remember him, it will be for the right reasons!

Do let us know once your son hears back. Sounds like a positive interview, well done to him!

Sounds really positive, and a great learning experience for him whatever happens.

I hope he is successful. Great to hear how positively it went and the experience will stand him in good stead for future interviews.

Sounds as though your son did really well, Op, 😄

Sounds like he smashed him, he's lucky hi Jane such a supportive mum.

*to have! No idea where Jane came from

I hope your DS gets the apprenticeship. Our grandson achieved mediocre a-levels, but good enough to be shoe-horned into some not very useful degree in a poorly performing university and leave with a vast bill for fees.
Instead he obtained an engineering apprenticeship with a big international company, his pay is good, benefits including a car and pension etc are excellent and most importantly he loves it.
I think the measuring for PPE is a good sign. Almost the first thing DGS did was to be marched off to be fixed up with protective boots.

Ooh I'm hoping it was a good sign!

Thanks everyone for your input and well wishes, he's getting sick of me asking him to check his emails already 😂

Hi everyone, just heard by email that DS has been unsuccessful. No reasons given but a suggestion to apply for a qualification in engineering if he wants to apply again in future.

It's been good experience for him and we're now looking at options.

Thanks for your help

Sorry to hear that, we offer feedback to those who ask for it, might be worth doing?

Good luck to him anyway, he sounds like he would be a credit to whoever employs him.

Just popping back to this thread to let anyone interested know that DS signed a contract yesterday for a different apprenticeship with a much bigger company that has much more potential progression than the car manufacturer apprenticeship that I originally posted about.

He is absolutely buzzing and so are we! Waiting for pre employment checks to come back before he gets an official start date. I think the test run of the original interview helped him so much to prepare for this one, so again thank you to everyone who offered tips and advice. 😊

Excellent news! Well done to your DS!