Video: Speed interviewing boosts students’ confidence

Reported by Patrick Penner

Langara’s Co-op and Career Week added a new workshop called ‘speed interviewing,’ to help students manage the pressure of getting hired after college.

Amanda Hung, a program assistant for the Career and Development Centre, said the practise is meant to familiarize students with the typical questions they should expect during an interview.

“Interviewing is a big part of the job selection process, so we want to make students are prepared to be able to speak with employers,” Hung said.

Speed interviewing forces students to adapt quickly to employer questions as they cycle through four interview tables which represent different types of jobs.

This is the first time this type of training has been tried at Langara’s career week.

Melody Lin, a marketing and promotion assistant at Career and Development Centre, said faculty decided to incorporate the drill after observing its success at other post-secondary institutions.

“It’s almost the summertime, [students] might be looking for summer jobs, so I think this is great timing,” Lin said.

Langara student, Arash Davari, said although the exercise was challenging, he felt more confident afterwards.

“I’m gaining a lot of experience right now, interviewing with four different interviewers with four different criteria, with different questions, yeah I’m more experienced right now,” Davari said. “I have more self-confidence.”

The speed interviewing practise took place on March 13, one of several workshops ahead of Co-op and Career Week.