
I have recently had a telephone interview for a job back home in England. I have had many face-to-face job interviews before, and normally I don’t get particularly nervous. However, for a telephone interview, where I couldn’t see the interviewer, I was very apprehensive! I didn’t know what he thought of my answers, and it sometimes there were silences where he was writing down my answers, so I couldn’t tell whether he liked what I said or not!
My friends and family helped me prepare by asking me lots of questions before the interview. Sometimes, big companies ask strange questions unrelated to the job, such as, ‘what does your book collection say about you?’ or ‘if you were stranded in the desert, which three items would you take with you and why?’. The strangest question I have ever been asked in an interview was ‘if you could be a children’s TV character, which would you be and why?’.
I was especially worried about being asked to do a maths question on the spot, because maths isn’t my strongest subject! But luckily they didn’t ask me. When I applied for my first job in a cafe when I was sixteen, I was asked a maths question. Luckily, I got it right, but I was worried, because I paused to think about it for a long time!
My best interview was for my job at a café-bar at university. My interviewer was so friendly and I was the last person of the day to be interviewed. This meant that he wasn’t too rushed, and we got on really well. I knew I had the job when I left the interview room, even though he didn’t tell me until he telephoned me the next day!
I like writing, and so filling in a long application form doesn’t bother me. I’ve had some part-time jobs where I didn’t need an interview at all! But my favourite stage of a job application is when it gets to the final interview…then it gets very exciting!
In the future, my dream job is to work for a company I like, in a strong team of people, and to enjoy it! I’m looking at a career in marketing or something where I can be creative and fairly sociable. I love to talk, and so, although I don’t mind interviews, I wish they weren’t so nerve-wracking!
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Have you ever had a job interview? What would your dream job be, and why?