Examples of soft skills. Foto: Olha Kuzmyn
Sooner or later each of us faces this situation – a job application followed by a job interview, which should mean: sleepless nights, carefully thinking through each answer but, in fact, watching YouTube videos; asking friends for recommendations and begging them not to mention that party and your dancing skills; creating a better list of your hobbies and interests, though after an hour of struggle “drawing on cups from Starbucks” seems not that bad at all… A nightmare, right? Actually, only if you decide it to be so.
A job interview is, of course, a new situation that forces you to leave the comfort zone and make some extra effort, but it’s not the end of the world. Especially, if you are well prepared for this end 
To help you with it, our Career Service offers a number of workshops and seminars containing crucial information regarding the application process. Moreover, there is always a possibility to get an individual consultation about any issue that seems problematic for you. The students of the FAU can attend the workshops organized both in German and in English. In theory, everything looks flawless, but does this knowledge really help?
To test this hypothesis, I want to present a short overview of one of the workshops, namely “Self-presentation techniques in job interviews” that took place on December 11, 2016. The specialist invited was Corinna Marggraf, a career coach and consultant (more information is available on her website Knackpunkt). The description of this workshop promised that the participants would learn how to make a phone-call to a company to ask for more information about the job, how to do a successful telephone or Skype interview, and how to present oneself during the interview. This was quite a promising list, so I decided to give it a try and it was really worth it. Not to dive into too much detail, I would like to single out a few most important lessons I have learned:
- Internationalism is a benefit. Our group of participants was as diverse as possible in terms of nationalities and fields of study. There were students from India, China, Japan, Ukraine, Mexico, and Egypt. These students were studying most unrelated subjects possible: starting from international economics or linguistics up to chemistry, theoretical physics, and engineering. Some had no previous experience with job interviews, some were almost experts. This all created a situation where we learned from each other, namely from questions we asked, stories we shared, and problems we discussed.
- Always combine theory with practice. We had two practical tasks: a short introduction and a mock interview. Yes, you could expect those tasks and prepare something at home, but they were so trivial that you would decide rather to improvise something. But everyone was so focused and determined that this kind of competition made everyone work hard as hell. Yes, you could do the same at home, but only uttering the words in front of a group of strangers makes you actually analyze what you are saying and think of better arguments, words, or messages.
- Preparation matters. A job interview is really scary only if you have no idea what to expect. That’s why you should spend at least one evening analyzing the job description, company’s profile, and your own capacities. The main question to ask yourself here is “Why am I the right person?” because the answer to it touches on all your strengths, ambitions, plans, and possible benefits for the company if they hire you. The main points to pay attention to are: “I am” (experience and education), “I can” (skills), and “I want” (career goals). Do not skip writing an extra list of your soft skills together with examples that show how you acquired or improved them.
A few tips for your future job interviews:
- Body: smile; keep eye-contact; change your position (don’t sit still all the time); mind your gestures; don’t put your hands in front of your face.
- Language: avoid phrasing like “I would/could/might”; don’t speak with a monotone voice; occasionally address the other person with his or her name.
- Handling questions: don’t avoid questions but try to turn them in a positive way (reflect on the subject matter or connect it to something positive).
- Study your subject: look through the most tricky and common interview questions and prepare a few questions for the employer (about the company, your duties, or colleagues).
- Last-minute to-do list: don’t forget to get a good sleep the night before and bring your lucky rabbit’s foot (just kidding, you are your personal rabbit’s foot)
And finally, what do the participants think themselves about such workshops?
“I learned that German employers are interested in the character of a person and the capability to adapt to the situation as a part of the corporation. Also, making contact with the company before applying for a job can have a positive effect during the whole application process. Lastly, one must be careful with questions that seem unrelated to work because they reveal a lot of information about the personality of the interviewee.”
Camilo Cordero
“The workshop on „Self-presentation techniques in job interviews“ was quite insightful and compact. The varied perspectives towards handling interview challenges from fellow participants enriched my prior understandings to a great extent. The discussion also unveiled few points on which I need to ponder and groom myself to become more confident in the future interview sessions.”
Sourav Chatterjee