You might not have experienced many interviews before, but there’s no need to worry. Apprenticeship interviews are a great chance for an employer to get to know you, and for you to show off everything you’ve learned in your Traineeship or previous work experience. We’ve put together some top tips to keep you cool, calm and collected when you walk into your next interview.
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail…
An Apprenticeship interview is a very important stage in your career, and should be treated as such. You should head to your Apprenticeship interview knowing as much as you possibly can about the company and the role itself; this is easy to do with most companies being on social media, you can quickly get a feel for company culture.
Preparing for some common interview questions will help you to not get flustered in the interview; we think you should prepare an answer for these three main questions:
- Why do you want to work for us?
- What are your biggest strengths/weaknesses?
- Tell me about yourself…
These questions can strike fear into even the most seasoned interviewees, but with a bit of preparation you can breeze through these questions with ease!
Sell your skills
You’ll have many skills which you might not even realise! A weekend job, no matter how small gives you many transferrable skills which can help you sell yourself in an interview. If you worked in retail you handled cash, delivered customer service, managed stock, worked as part of a team and many more skills employers will find attractive; make sure you speak to your careers adviser and discuss which skills you should be highlighting at your interview.
If you’ve never worked, you’ll still have plenty of skills to talk about. You may have worked to deadlines while completing school work; you are developing skills all the time, so make sure you show them off in your interview! If you’re not confident in your skills, our Fast Track to Apprenticeships [LINK] programme can help you develop essential workplace skills to show off at your interviews.
Know your CV inside out
Knowing how the skills and experience listed on your CV match up with the job you’re interviewing for is a great way to set yourself apart from other candidates. Looking at the ways you are a perfect fit before the interview should also give you the confidence you need to perform well too!
Your Career Coach might have matched your CV to this role and put you forward for it, so speak to them about why they thought you were a match for this role and they can help you prepare to pitch yourself to the employer with mock interviews and support.
Relax and be yourself!
The interviewer isn’t there to trip you up, they just want to get to know you and whether you will be a good fit for their company. If you’re prepared, you’ll come across as relaxed and confident and the interviewer will see how well you can cope with pressure and how perfect you could be for the job.
If relaxing seems a difficult prospect, make sure you take a deep breath before answering questions and listen carefully to the questions so you have less chance of getting flustered.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help with an Apprenticeship interview, your Career Coach will be able to talk you through what to expect and how to answer any questions so you can make sure you make the most of this exciting opportunity; and finally, best of luck!
If you’d like to know more about Fast Track to Apprenticeships courses and Apprenticeship interview help, call on 01744 742045 or email apprenticeships@sthelenschamber.com
