Placement year- video interviews any tips?

[Makingsenseofitall]

Dd2 (19) has managed to get to be offered two video AI interviews as the next stage of the application process. She has done one or two before but been unsuccessful. Are there any tips on how to maximise her chances of getting through this stage at all? She has so much to offer but freezes when in front of her phone trying to answer the questions.

I've interviewed quite a few people in this age range. The ideas below are based on those experiences:

Has she watched any videos of interviews? It can often help to see what others do in an interview to get a sense of how long a response should be, the appropriate level of detail, formality, etc. After watching a few interview videos, she can move to pausing the videos after the interviewee responds and your DD giving her response (out loud). Then, after doing this a few times, with a different set of videos, your daughter responds and then watches how the person in the video responded.

It may also help to have a list of 5 ideas she's trying to insert somewhere into the interview. For instance, she might know that she can include the following: volunteer experience 1, volunteer experience 2, particular school project, particular school project 2, and her love for [something related to the job]. I think for this age group, it's hard to know what might be meaningful. Then, when questions are asked, she is trying to match it with something off this list rather than every life experience. Obviously, there may be a question that doesn't match at all, but it should help for many questions to simply have fewer stories/examples that she needs to be be able to share clearly and be excited about. If she's really nervous, the list can be on a sticky note next to her phone.

Similarly, she should know 5-8 words or phrases that she should be inserting into the interview. These should come directly from the job description.

Finally, if she's not placing her phone on a stand or securely in one spot, I'd suggest doing so.

Good luck to her!

Get them to check with uni careers service. DD’s uni offer sessions on this and other things.
I’d also suggest YouTube or instagram or tik tok. There’s content on from yp for law I assume same for other areas for vacation schemes etc.

She needs to look at the company website and find their company ‘values’ and corporate mission statement. These usually become ‘competencies’ for the interview. There will be questions on how she can demonstrate these ‘competencies’. For example, one might be collaboration - so she needs to think up examples from her life (hobbies, part time jobs, uni projects) where she can demonstrate she is good at collaboration.
Good luck to her!

Caveat - I’ve only interviewed for one company, so it might be different for others, but this is still a very useful prep exercise to do

As well as answers, is the DD being viewed by a human being? I’m out of HR now, but present yourself well and speak clearly. Try not to waffle but be clear and concise. Get advice from uni and try snd get into work
mode. Even being in interview clothes can help with this.

Hi, I'm a career coach at a university and help prep for video interviews.

Advice I share;

• Prepare for 'Tell me about yourself' question as tends to always come up. Understand how to sell your story - Use the (Favourite Part, Improvement Desired, Transition Made) Interview technique to summarise your story so far.
• Competency-Based Questions:* *Identify the competencies required for the role (consult the Job Description), and prepare examples from your past experience where you successfully demonstrated those competencies. Using CAR (context, action, result/outcome) spend the majority of time in A explaining specifically what YOU did highlighting the skills/qualities they've asked for. This framework keeps answers concise and focused.
• Have a clear answer about why this company/role - research website, recent news stories, mission, clients so it's specific. There will be a question on motivation like this.
• Utilise practice platforms through the careers service e.g. graduates first and hirevue have practice video exercises. The more she does the more comfortable she'll feel with the format.
• Don't just write out the above answers for prep, record yourself on your laptop to practice verbalising answers and check making eye contact with camera, body language, tone of voice.
• If freezing is an issue, write bullet point summaries of each answer on a post it note and put on a wall within eyeline behind screen so when asked a question she can quickly scan to access the best example of the question.

Success at this stage is all about practice and preparation! Good luck :)

Thank you so much

real life person interview comes next if she gets through this stage…. Thank you !