In Class: Interview Teaching Module
Interviewing is one of the keys ways to learn new and different skills. For this assignment, we will focus on communication, storytelling, core competency, presentation, adaptability, and critical thinking skills.
To best prepare for AI interview questions, specifically Quinn, students should be prepared for what types of questions she will ask:
Question 1: “Please tell me a bit about yourself.”
Questions 2 and 3: Students are tested on their ability to explain themselves
Questions 4 and 5: Either situational or behavioral questions
Questions 6 and 7: Students are measured on their critical thinking, communication, and adaptability
Communication and Storytelling Skills
When preparing for AI interviews, students need to prepare to answer any question with relevancy and conciseness. Students also need to be able to pull from each of their experiences to share with a potential employee what value they can bring to their organization/company.
For questions 1, 4, and 5, interviewees will be able to develop their communication and storytelling skills, as elevator pitches, situation, and behavioral questions are asking for these answers.
For question 1, “Please tell me a bit about yourself,” students should use the PPF (Past-Present-Future) method. They should talk about their past, present, and future as if they are telling a story about themselves while covering interesting facts, skills, and projects, and then tying it back to how they will bring value to that company. When telling their story, it’s important for them to be genuine and truthful in their response. From the change in micro-expressions and high engagement to maintaining a low count of filler words per minute, these are the critical aspects they will be graded on while telling a story.
The goal is not to have flags and get a score of 30 or above for these questions in the content area.
NOTE: this is one of the most critical areas of storytelling as all interviews and conversations will have this process of introducing themselves.
For questions 4 and 5, students should prepare to be asked situational and behavioral questions. For these questions, it is critical that they use the STAR method. When answering these questions, their ability to story tell is important. It is also important that the story and the results are relevant to the job or industry they are applying for by using keywords in their story.
Generally, students provide very high-level answers, but what is needed here is the use of specific examples and circumstances. By doing this, students can receive a score of 30 or greater. Even when students provide long answers, but their content is not detailed or specific, they will score lower. Students need to be using specific examples from their internships, university, part-time jobs, etc.
Communication Skills and Core Competencies
Being able to explain yourself in a clear and concise way is very critical for the success of every student in any situation.
For questions 2 and 3, students will be tested on their ability to explain themselves. These questions are asked to test a student’s background knowledge and experience. Students have to highlight why they are interested in a particular industry in addition to focusing on specific skills, such as leadership, teamwork, time management, entrepreneurship, adaptability, people management, and coachability. Students need to determine which of these skills are relevant to the industry (or position) they are pursuing and how they want to discuss and focus their responses around it.
These skills will show up in their personal word cloud if the student manages to achieve a positive response.
For these questions, using the WIT method (What-Impact-Takeaway) would be most effective. To do this, restate the question and concisely describe your story, explain how your story was impactful, and talk about what you took away from the experience while tying it back to what the employer needs.
Communication, Adaptability, and Critical Thinking Skills
Some of the hardest questions can be ones that don’t have a specific answer. That’s because when these questions are asked, interviewees are required to share their thoughts and logic.
For questions 6 and 7, students will be measures on their communication, critical thinking, and adaptability skills. Many of these questions are self-assessment, critical thinking, or creativity. To properly answer these questions, they require students to think outside of the box while providing detailed logical thinking and their thought process, instead of giving a canned response.
Sometimes these questions are unexpected, such as, “Tell me how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich” or “If you could be a pizza topping, what would you be?” and they seem simple, right? But these questions aren’t really about how you make a sandwich or what topping you would be, rather your thought process.
For these questions, the thought process of the response method is good to use. For this method, interviewers are looking for a thorough and thought-out answer. Take a deep breath and explain yourself!
For example, rather than listing the steps of making a sandwich, you would describe building a sandwich as multiple mini-projects. You could let the employer know that you could list off each step, like untwisting the bread bag, pulling out two slices of bread, etc., but it’s really about showing the interviewer how you think and process questions, in addition to what skills you have that you can bring to the job.