Interview coaching is a service designed to increase your chances of success in a job interview. This makes sense at a high level, but how does interview coaching work to help you achieve that goal?
This blog will help outline how it can help you achieve interview success by providing an overview of each of our Interview Coaching Packages. It will give you a run-down on how the sessions in each package can get you ready for your next job interview.
See the different packages here!
Hopefully, it helps you decide if interview coaching can benefit you or if it is a worthwhile investment for you.
Interview Coaching Package 1: Preparation Package
The Preparation Package is 3 sessions long and will help you build a strategic playbook for your next interview. This playbook will help you effectively communicate your career story in an interview setting. Here’s how each session works.
Session 1
The first hour-long session will help you feel comfortable with talking about yourself and your experiences. It is really tough to feel confident that you are doing this effectively. Humans are socialized to not talk about themselves too much, not to be boastful, and to be modest and humble. These are great traits, but it also makes us uncomfortable to say anything about ourselves for fear of violating one of those rules. But, success in an interview will require you to learn how to talk about yourself effectively. This can be done while respecting those rules by focusing on how you can contribute to an organization. This session will give you the first building block in building those skills.
We will do this by spending our time learning about you. We will focus on you as a person, your professional history, and your achievements. Doing so will build a solid foundation for you to learn in the next sessions how to effectively craft your interview messaging in two ways. First, it will force you to talk about yourself. This is something that may be uncomfortable at first. Getting the chance to do so in a safe setting like this is an opportunity to start doing so without any negative repercussions. Second, it will give me the opportunity to get to know you and your career. This will assist me as your coach to help you tell your story as effectively as possible.
Sessions 2 & 3
The 2nd and 3rd sessions are both an hour long. In these sessions, we will do two major things. First, I will share experience as a Certified Interviewer and as an interviewer to teach you how an interviewer interprets your interview responses. Lots of people go into interviews speaking about vague generalities to try to impress. The truth is that specific information tells the most effective story. Knowing this will allow you to know how to communicate your story in a way that effectively relays specific information about your career.
Second, we will use a strategy based on this framework to build your own interview playbook. The playbook will be full of experiences and actions that you’ve taken to solve problems in your career and your life. You can use this as a study guide for your next interview. You will be able to go into your interview prepared and well-studied for the questions you will be asked.
Interview Coaching Package 2: Prepare and Practice Package
Some clients feel poised and prepared having made a playbook after the third session. Others would appreciate an opportunity to practice the playbook in an interview setting.
This package takes everything in the first package but adds 2 more sessions for you to do a practice interview and watch it back for feedback.
Session 4
In the 4th session, we will do a practice interview. We will re-create the interview setting either in-person or using video. Interview questions will be created based on what you might be able to expect for the types of roles you are applying for. This session will give you a chance to know what it feels like to put your playbook to practical use when you are receiving questions on the spot.
When it is your first time in an interview setting, you may have jitters. This is human, it happens when it is the first time we are experiencing a particular set of variables or setting. Getting a practice session will help you become more comfortable with the variables that exist in an interview setting. The feel and pace won’t be a surprise to you anymore and you will be able to focus on telling your story.
Session 5
In the 5th session, we will replay the practice interview from session 4. Once an interview is over, we often worry about how we did or if we came off well. You will feel the same after your mock interview. This session is here to get you that specific feedback, which is something you don’t often get from a company when you interview with them.
We will be able to see which of your answers used the framework we learned in session 2 well, and how you could respond more effectively. Also, we’ll offer insight into mannerisms during the interview. This is really helpful in the video setting where it can be easy to lose eye contact, for instance. From this session, you’ll have had the benefit of building your playbook, using it practically, then being able to watch it back to see how you did. You’ll head into the next interview even more poised and confident. Either it won’t be new to you anymore, or you’ll have gotten even stronger at something you have some experience with.
Interview Coaching Package 3: Practiced and Poised Package
The Practiced and Poised Package is designed to build on the practice interview we did together and keep you focused on the day of your actual interview.
Session 6
The 6th session is a coaching call between you and me on the day of your interview before you go in. In this call, we’ll keep you focused on the communication framework learned and practiced in previous sessions. We’ll also go over any last-minute questions, thoughts, or concerns you may have. You may find yourself needing to re-focus before you head into that interview. This session will bring you whatever focus you may need.
Session 7
The 7th session is a debrief after your interview. We will go through what you think went well, what you noticed during the interview, and answer any questions you may have about the interview process. Many times after we interview, we are nervous waiting for the interviewer to let us know if we are successful. It can be tough to sit on those emotions for days or weeks. This debrief session will help you process those nervous emotions more quickly and get you feedback that can help you be successful.
Each of these sessions has been carefully and deliberately designed to build up your interview confidence. You’ll go from not knowing the intricacies and mysteries of the interview process to being an unshakeable interviewee when we are done!
Hopefully reading how each session builds a solid base for your next interview is helpful in connecting how interview coaching works in making you successful.
If you need interview coaching help, or if you have any questions, you can book a call with me here!
If you have any questions, you can always email me at tim@bestculturesolutions.ca.
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