Improve Interview Skills with Video Rehearsals

• 00:04 Now, we're ready to put some of this together.
• 00:06 I want you to do a practice interview, a mock interview,
• 00:09 ask someone who's already in your organization to come in.
• 00:12 I want you to treat that person as if they were an applicant from the outside.
• 00:17 And I want you to go through an actual interview,
• 00:20 especially practice your introduction, where you're talking about your company in
• 00:25 a positive way and you're not reading anything.
• 00:27 Asking questions where you're not reading things, but
• 00:31 you're looking at the person really having a conversation.
• 00:34 I want you to do this practice interview, and
• 00:37 I want you to pull out of your pocket, either a cell phone to capture the video.
• 00:43 Put it on yourself, you don't have to put it on the colleague you're interviewing,
• 00:48 or have your webcam on, but I need you to record this.
• 00:52 I don't want you to just practice it out loud, I want you to practice it on video.
• 00:58 Then I need you to watch it, and
• 01:00 I need you to figure out what do you like with how you're coming across?
• 01:04 What do you not like?
• 01:07 So if you sound like you're bored, or you're monotone, or
• 01:11 you're asleep, or you're nervous, or uncomfortable, note that.
• 01:17 But if you sound positive, engaging,
• 01:19 if you make the company sound like a great place, note that too.
• 01:22 I want you to be a harsh critic of yourself, but
• 01:25 I want you to be a fair critic.
• 01:27 And a fair critic points out the strengths and the weaknesses,
• 01:31 not just the weaknesses.
• 01:33 Now, the reason we're doing this is you need to know exactly how you're coming
• 01:38 across, and you need to know that you're coming across your best.
• 01:42 Because if you are nervous, if you are uncomfortable, far better to do it in
• 01:46 practice when no one else is seeing it or just a friendly colleague is seeing it.
• 01:51 Then you can correct it, improve it, make it better, and
• 01:54 you'll be completely confident for the actual interviews you do.
• 01:58 So please don't pass this step.
• 02:00 It may seem silly, it may seem overkill, but it really will give you that
• 02:06 extra added confidence to come across your very best in the job interview.
• 02:11 So, you've done your mock interview, you've watched yourself,
• 02:16 you've graded yourself, now, it's time to improve it.
• 02:19 Let's make it even better.
• 02:21 Get I want you so comfortable, and relaxed, and
• 02:24 confident with how you're talking, how you're presenting,
• 02:28 how you're essentially selling your company to this applicant, that it's as if
• 02:33 you're just having a chat with your best friend, although about business stuff.
• 02:38 This way, you can make a good impression on the applicant, and you can really be in
• 02:42 the moment thinking about them, listening to them, focusing on them.
• 02:46 And not wondering how you're doing or whether you're making sense or
• 02:51 whether you sound stupid or not.
• 02:53 So here's what I want you to do with that video you just saw in your list, you've
• 02:57 got a list of things you like, you've got a list of things you don't like.
• 03:00 I want you to pick just one thing that you don't like from that list.
• 03:07 It may be that you're speaking too quickly,
• 03:09 which people do when they're nervous.
• 03:11 It may be that you're speaking too softly because you lack confidence.
• 03:16 Or you will be perceived as lacking in confidence even if you are confident.
• 03:21 I want you to pick just one thing that you don't like
• 03:25 about how you looked and sounded in the mock interview.
• 03:30 I want you to do the whole thing again, don't try to correct every problem.
• 03:37 If you don't like your hair or your wrinkles, well, join the club.
• 03:41 I don't like my hair or wrinkles either, we're not focused on that.
• 03:44 I just want to make sure that you're comfortable with how you look and
• 03:48 how you sound and how you're communicating, the things we can control.
• 03:52 So let's focus on just one thing.
• 03:55 All the other things that you liked, do that, again, do more of it.
• 04:00 Let's do the whole mock interview recorded on video, don't just talk it out loud,
• 04:06 don't talk to the mirror, recorded on video, either through the webcam,
• 04:11 a tablet, an iPhone, or any smartphone, watch it and critique it again.
• 04:17 If you did what I asked,
• 04:18 you should have seen some improvement in that last video or the first one.
• 04:22 If you didn't, chances are you didn't focus on just one thing.
• 04:26 Where people get into trouble, is they see ten things they don't like about how
• 04:30 they're presenting, including things you really can't change, like your hair.
• 04:35 And they try to change all at once, and you end up just getting frustrated.
• 04:40 So ideally, you fixed one problem, you may have 20 other things you don't like,
• 04:45 you may only have one other thing you don't like.
• 04:48 But at least now, you have a system for eliminating the things you don't like and
• 04:53 how you present.
• 04:54 You have a way of boosting more of the things that you do like.
• 04:57 So I want you to practice the video again,
• 05:00 practice the mock interview, and record it on video, watch it.
• 05:06 And here's the trick this time.
• 05:08 If you like everything about how you're coming across this time, great,
• 05:11 you're done, you're good to go.
• 05:13 But if you're not completely happy with how you're presenting,
• 05:17 how you're summarizing your business, how you're sharing what you like
• 05:22 about your organization, I want you to keep practicing it,
• 05:25 keep recording it, keep critiquing it until you are happy with it.
• 05:29 It may take one more take, it may take 30 takes.
• 05:32 And at some point, you might not be able to practice with another colleague, but
• 05:35 you can at least practice your opening two minutes.
• 05:38 This is the number one way to get over nervousness.
• 05:40 This is the number one way to build confidence for any type of presentation.
• 05:46 It doesn't matter if you're sitting behind a desk, presenting in a one-on-one
• 05:51 interview to a job applicant, or giving a keynote speech to 10,000 people.
• 05:57 This is a foolproof method, and I absolutely guarantee it.
• 06:00 If you're feeling nervous at all when you're presenting and doing a job
• 06:04 interview, it's typically because you're not sure how you're coming across.
• 06:08 You're not sure if you make sense, you're not sure if you're boring,
• 06:11 or you're wondering what to do with your hands.
• 06:14 All of those things are solved.
• 06:17 If you practice on video until you like it, that's the ultimate test,
• 06:22 not whether I like it or you pass my test, it's whether you pass your own tests.
• 06:27 So practice again on video, record it, review it, critique it,
• 06:32 keep doing it until you like how you're coming across.

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