Practice for a job interview | Mock interviews | Youth Central

Practising job interviews is a good way to get used to talking about yourself and why people should hire you. Doing a practise interview can also help you to be less nervous when you go in for the real thing.

One way to practise for a job interview is to think about interview questions and answers. This means preparing and rehearsing answers to questions that might come up.

It’s also good to do a mock interview with another person before you do the real thing. This means asking a friend or family member to pretend to be the employer and ask you questions as if it was a real job interview.

Doing a mock interview gives you a chance to practise your answers out loud. It’s also a way to get someone else’s opinion on your answers so you can improve them if you need to.

Do some research on the employer and the job

Before you start practising, do some research on the employer and the job. Visit our How to research for a job interview to get some ideas about what kind of information to look for and where to find it.

Prepare some answers to interview questions

It can help to think about the different kinds of questions you might get in an interview. Examples of question types include:

  • icebreaker questions – these are questions that help the interviewer get to know you, like, ‘Tell me about yourself’ and ‘Why did you apply for this job?’
  • behavioural questions – these questions are about how you act in certain situations, like, ‘Tell me about a challenge you had at work and how you solved it.’
  • skill-related questions – these are questions that are used to demonstrate whether you have the skills for the job, like ‘What do you see as the safety requirements of this job?’
  • brainteaser questions – these are usually only used in interviews for technical jobs to show how you solve problems, for example, ‘How would you measure out four litres of water with only a three-litre and a five-litre jug?’
  • questions about your needs – these are questions about things like salary and starting date. Make sure you know the pay you should be getting and how much notice you need to give if you're working in another job.

For tips and advice on answering these and other kinds of interview questions, visit these pages:

Do a mock job interview

Once you've done your research and prepared some answers, it’s time to put them into practice. Here's a way you can set up a mock job interview:

  • Ask a trusted friend or family member to pretend to be the interviewer.
  • Get them to review our pages about interview questions (listed above) so they’ll know what good answers should sound like.
  • Ask them to choose some questions to ask you, based on the description of the job you're being interviewed about.
  • Set aside 30 minutes and find a space where you won’t be interrupted.

It's a good idea to practise how you'll behave as well as your answers. Things you could practise include:

  • how you’ll walk into the room
  • how you’ll shake hands with the interviewer
  • how you’ll sit during the interview.

It might even be good to dress in the clothes you’re going to wear on the day. Visit our How to dress for a job interview page for some tips and advice.

Ask your mock interviewer to keep notes as you answer the questions. When the mock interview is over, get them to tell you what you did well, and where you could improve.

Where to find more interview practice help

If you don't have any friends or family who can help you practise job interviews, you could try asking the following people and organisations for help: