Interviewing

Interview with Confidence

Have an interview coming up? Want to build your interviewing skills so you’re prepared when you get that call?

Big Interview is an online interviewing system that combines training and practice to help improve your interview technique and build your confidence. Sign in to Big Interview with your Duck ID, and begin by setting up your profile.

Sign in to Big Interview

Learn

Find out exactly what interviewers are looking for and learn how to anticipate and properly answer the toughest questions.

Application and Interview Process

  • Know your deadlines
  • Gather references
  • Do your research on companies you’re interviewing for: Know their mission, values, key products, key leadership, industry happenings, and how the role you’re applying for plays into the big picture
  • Keep track of whom you’ve applied to, where you’re interviewing, and what stage you may be in within the interview process
  • Know your non-negotiables
  • Follow up — send thank you emails to key people you met in the interview process

When preparing how to answer interview questions, you can use the S.T.A.R. method

Here is a rundown of what this entails:

  • Situation — Describe a situation that relates to the question being asked.
  • Task — Describe the task that you faced in said situation.
  • Action — Describe the actions that you took, and what skills you utilized to complete the task.
  • Result — Describe what outcomes your actions achieved and what you learned in the process.

Practice

Once your answers are planned and refined, use the practice tool to make your delivery confident and natural.

During an interview, the interviewer attempts to gauge or measure candidates against a "model" employee in their organization performing this function. That doesn't mean that every manager is out to clone themselves. Given a baseline of necessary skills, diversity is highly valued by most organizations. The employer's ultimate goal is to seek the best possible candidate from an applicant pool.

There are three main areas of preparation for an interview:

  1. Mental
    • You — knowledge of self (skills and stories)
    • Them — use investigative research skills to learn about industries/employers. Study the job description and employer website
    • Marriage between what you can offer and what they are looking for
    • Identify your 7–10 best stories
    • Anticipate the questions you may be asked and plan responses tailored to the organization's needs
    • Prepare your questions for the end of the interview — "What questions do you have for US?"
  2. Physical
    • Be well-rested and comfortable
    • Dress well — better than organizational culture may require
    • Visualize body language — alert posture, good eye contact, a strong handshake, smile, and voice modulation
  3. Emotional
    • Build confidence
    • Control anxiety

Evaluate and Get Feedback

Use the built-in feedback tools for self-review and share your recorded practice interviews with a UO career readiness coach, professor, friend, or mentor to get feedback. With Big Interview, you have access to:

  • Challenging, virtual practice interviews for all experience levels and dozens of industries
  • A database of thousands of interview questions with tips on how to answer them
  • The ability to rate and share your interview answers for feedback
  • A step-by-step interview Answer Builder for crafting answers to behavioral question

Tips to Ace Your Virtual Interview

Schedule a Practice Interview with a Career Coach

Negotiate Your Salary

Feel confident in your first salary negotiation by knowing when and how to proceed. Here are some resources to get you started: