Boost Your Interview Skills VESAUJCB2115 Colin Gardiner
Weekly outline
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Information taken from the course information sheet
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This course leads to a qualification. To gain the qualification you will have to achieve certain Learning Outcomes which are assessed according to meeting Assessment Criteria. Now, you don't have to worry about any of that because your tutor will be providing you with a range of activities on the course to make sure you achieve the qualification. If, however, you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me!
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Watch this short video with information about the friendly and helpful Employment Support we can provide you with here at ACL.
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Meet Alison Moore, one of our Information , Advice and Guidance officers who can tell you about some of the fantastic support she can gibe you to help you find your path to employment, learning and life!
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An ACL learner, Liz Collins, recently won the Festival of Learning 2020 national Return to Learning award. Hear how she and other adult students have benefitted from lifelong learning... just like you!
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See here for links to the jobsgopublic website and The Guardian Careers pages.
Jobsgopublic is really useful for finding jobs in the public sector, so local authorities, charities and housing associations.
The Guardian Careers pages have lots of tips and videos for different aspects of finding a job, preparing CVs and application forms and a whole lot more.
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Welcome to Week 1 of your Boost Your Interview Skills course.
This week I will be introducing you to Islington ACL, to the course, and to each other! How exciting does that sound?f
Then we will roll up our sleeves and start thinking about what we can do to improve our confidence in an interview situation. We will start of by getting rid of a few myths. To do that, I will be asking you 'what are the worst things about interviews?' And are those things really the worst things abut interviews? Really?
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These PowerPoint slides cover everything from Week 1 and have additional material for you to think about which we will be returning to and thinking about in future sessions. Any questions or comments be sure to tell your tutor!
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Please complete this initial assessment form and return it to me. It will give us both an idea of how confident you feel about some of the things we will be looking at while on the course. There's also space for you to tell me anything else you feel would be useful to you while working with us at ACL. Save to your computer, complete the form, save and attach to an email addressed to me.
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Welcome back to Week 2 of your Boost Your Interview Skills course.
This week we are going to start thinking about what interviews are for. Obvious, you might say. But have you really thought what the point of them is from the employer's interview. And then, while we are at it... why do you put yourself through interviews. What's in it for you and how do you go about getting the most out of the interview experience for yourself? All this - and a whole lot more in this week's Boost Your Interview Skills course!
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These PowerPoint slides cover everything from Week 2 and have additional material for you to think about which we will be returning to and thinking about in future sessions. Any questions or comments be sure to tell your tutor!
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Thinking about the job description and person specification you have chosen, please use the space below to outline some of the key information about that job you will need to focus on when making your application. Ask your tutor if you need help getting started.
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By now you should be working on your short presentation. Here's a reminder of what it should contain. Don't hesitate to ask for help if you are unsure about anything.
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Welcome to week 3! This week we will start by looking at how we go about 'promoting ourselves effectively' in an interview situation. I'll be looking for your thoughts on this and trouble-shooting where you perhaps have found this difficult to do in the past.
If you haven't done so already, I'll be encouraging you to submit a copy of a Job Description and Person Specification for a job you could see yourself applying for. It can be a real job that you want to apply for now, or one that you are interested in down the line. And don't forget, I don't just mean a job, this can be preparation for a course you would like to apply for at college or university or a volunteering position that you could do to gain experience or try out a new direction. So, for the course application in that case we are looking for the course description and application process/form.
In the second session this week we will be looking at the different types of questions that come up in an interview, where they come from and how you can prepare your answers in advance!
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As discussed in class, here is an example of a Mind Map for preparing for an interview. What would you add?
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Here is a short video which helps explain how to use the STAR technique for answering questions in an interview. It is a great way of preparing for the types of questions which will likely come up. We will be doing some work on this in class, but this will give you a head start!
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The questions you are going to be asked in an interview are going to be specific to the job advertised and the person specification that goes with it. Study your job descriptions and come up with 3 possible questions you might be asked at an interview for these jobs? How would you answer them?
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Welcome to Week 4! This week we are gong to continue our look at the questions that might come up in an interview. In particular, we will be looking at the questions we can predict coming from the person specification for the job you can see yourself applying for. This is where you will need to have the JD and Person Specification I have been asking you to source for the past couple of weeks.
Remember... interview questions are almost always 'open questions'. They invite you to give lots of detail in your answer. They start with the following word: who, what, where, when, why and how. They might also start with: 'tell me about a time' or 'describe an occasion' or 'thinking about'.But you get the idea; they want you to describe, to give detail, to... tell your story!
And in answering these questions, remember you are the STAR of the story: Situation, Task, Action, Result!
This week you should also be well on the way to completing your presentations, which you will be asked to deliver next week!
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We'll be talking in class about the importance of asking questions at the end of an interview. Here are some more for you to consider. Perhaps you could re-work them to suit your interview!
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There are all sorts of reasons why you might want to go for a job despite having little or no experience of the role or sector. But all is not lost! These practical steps can help you make your way.
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Please send me a formal email confirming your acceptance of and attendance at an interview for the position you can see yourself applying for. Confirm all the key details: time, date, location, position and company name.
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