Interview Skills

Objective: 

Participants will be able to understand and practice basics of interview skills

• Greeting – What to say when you meet the hiring manager 

• Responding to greeting- Addressing people 

• Introducing yourself- Stating information related to one’s identity 

• Seeking Introduction

Total Time: 90 Minutes

Material required: NA

Instructor Note: 

This session is the beginning of interview skills sessions. After learning and practicing basic conversations in different formats, our participants will now understand and practice interview specific phrases, etiquette and skills

Opening Protocol:

• Greet the participants

• Take attendance

• In pairs, ask participants to share with each other how they are feeling

• Recap the previous session by asking 1-2 participants to share with the class, what they learnt and did in the previous session

5 Minutes

Opening Activity:

• Ask participants, “what do you understand by first impressions? Can you share any examples of good or bad first impressions someone made on you?”

• Take2-3 responses 

• Tell them, first impressions can play a major role in how an interviewer perceives you as a candidate.

• Tell the learners that in this session they will be practicing how to establish an impressive first contact with a prospective employer by greeting and introducing themselves appropriately.

10 Minutes

Concept discussion and demonstration:

Demonstration:

• Ask 4 learners to volunteer for a role play-demonstration

• Ask Learner 1 to be the receptionist, Learner 2 to be the secretary and Learner 3 to be the hiring manager and Learner 4 to be the candidate for the interview. 

• Tell them that to demonstrate in 2 minutes how these 4 characters will interact with each other (ideally using English language). Give them 2 minutes for this

• Once this demonstration is over, give all the participants in the class to take 5 minutes to share their observations 

Concept Discussion:

• Divide the entire class in 3 groups and ask them to open their handbooks

• Ask group 1 to read the verbal tips, group 2 to read the Non-verbal tips and group 3 to read the other tips

• Give them 10 minutes to go through the reading material and discuss internally. Tell them that after 10 minutes one representative from each group will summarise the discussion in front of the class

• Get the representatives to summarize one by one and end the activity. When representatives summarise the concept, involve other students by asking questions to check for understanding 

20 Minutes

Activity 1: Role Play- First Impression

• When you go for an interview and greet someone what are the things you should take care of?”

Make groups of 4 through a number drill and ask learners to sit with their groups.

Give the following instructions for the activity:

• Each group will create a script and then dramatize a role play. 

• The role play should consist of four characters:

• The candidate appearing for an interview

• A receptionist

• A secretary

• Hiring Manager

• The script will be around the interactions of the candidate with the three characters 

• The dialogues will focus on greetings and introductions. 

• You have 10 minutes to complete this task.

• After 10 minutes, ask each group to come forward and dramatize their role play. 

• At the end of each presentation, any two groups (or more if time permits) will give feedback in the form of:

• One thing the candidate could have done better.

• One thing that the candidate did well

• Signal the start of the activity  

• Make a note of any common errors encountered 

• Signal the end of the activity after all groups have presented their role plays and call the entire group back together for the debrief. Share common mistakes they made and suggestions to improve 

50 Minutes

Closing Protocol: 

• Thank the participants for their time

• Announce the next time you will be visiting them

• Share the topic of the next session

• Collect 1-2 most interesting activity sheets/artefacts from students and show to Nodal officer and institution head after session

• Click pictures of the artefacts for documentation

5 Minutes