Written by Cath Hope, Emerging Talent Lead UK&I for Atos and Eviden.

Recently, I supported Lancaster University Management School first-year students by conducting mock interviews with them and giving them feedback on how they could improve their technique.

What if you’re a student who hasn’t had the opportunity to experience this and want some tips on how to perform to your best in interviews? Well, have no fear! I’ve pulled together my top 5 tips. These are based not just on the students I’ve seen recently, but from across my time in Early Careers.

Tip number 1 – As preparation for the interview, look at the job description, person spec and the company website and social media posts to find out what transferable skills you’ve gained so far that will help you to be a good fit for the role and the organisation. Don’t feel that because you’re a student, you don’t have any valuable skills or experience. Remember: employers hiring graduates or students for placements won’t expect you to already know everything. They will expect you to be able to talk about what skills and attributes you have that you can use to help you be successful in the role.

Tip number 2 – For competency-based questions, when you’re asked for a specific example, think across all aspects of your ‘life’ so far. This can include college/university, volunteer activities, clubs or societies, part-time jobs and even home life (for example caring for siblings or relatives). Make sure you explain the situation that you’re describing in full. Use the S.T.A.R. model to help you construct your answer in a logical way—you may want to do some research on the S.T.A.R. model before an interview—and remember to highlight what YOU did in the examples you give.

Tip number 3 – Being able to remember situations and the skills you’ve learned from them during an interview can be difficult, especially if you’re nervous. Keep a diary or log of experiences or situations and note down how they made you feel, how successful you were, what you learnt from it, and what you would do differently next time. When you’re going for an interview, you can look back through your log and have examples clear in your mind to use. Remember, even when things don’t go as planned or expected, it can lead to learning, so you can share those examples too, and explain what you learnt and how you’d apply the learning in the future.

Tip number 4 – Questions about your interests, likes, dislikes and motivations may come up in an interview. If they do, there isn’t a right or wrong answer. The employer wants to find out more about you, so take the opportunity to talk passionately about things that interest you and why. Sharing this information can help the employer get to know you as an individual, which is what they want.

Tip number 5 – Don’t panic if you can’t answer a question immediately. Take a moment to think, maybe take a sip of water, and let the interviewer know you’re considering your answer. Sometimes, the urge to answer can mean that you don’t give your best example, or you can start to waffle and not really answer the question that you’ve been asked. If you take a little time before giving your answer, you won’t look back after the interview and think ‘I wish I’d have said that.’

These are just 5 tips, and your Careers Service will be able to help you with more. The more you practice and prepare, the more at ease you’ll feel when going into an interview.

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The opinions expressed by our bloggers and those providing comments are personal, and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lancaster University. Responsibility for the accuracy of any of the information contained within blog posts belongs to the blogger.