Interviewing tips (6 of 8): Preparing for the interview
Today we’re going to talk briefly about how to prepare for an interview. The reason we’re going to talk briefly is that there is not too much that you can do to prepare yourself for the interview process. In fact, one of the dangers of preparing at all is that you might overprepare. So let’s start there, discussing the hazards of overpreparation.
Overpreparation is what happens when you envision a set of questions which you’ll likely be asked, and then construct, ahead of time, an actual answer for each question. A candidate who is overprepared will tend to avoid the actual questions and instead provide the answer he or she has prepared – even if that answer goes with another question!!! This candidate will provide very beautiful, literate answers – but they won’t be to the questions asked. And that, obviously, is bad.
So, when we say “prepare,” the most important thing to remember is that we don’t mean for you to craft response ahead of time.
What, then, is good preparation?
There are two steps I think you could take that would be helpful:
First, review your application. Read your essays, read your recommendations. Many of the questions you will be asked will have their point of origin in your application, so the more informed you are about it, the better.
Second, spend some time reflecting on the reasons behind your decision to apply to the program. Try to get behind your reasons to the premises that underlie them. For example, you may have applied to KAEF because you wanted a top-notch education, but why did you want that? Why is that education important to you, particularly in the field which you chose? The answers to these questions may seem obvious to you at first glance, but if you spend some time thinking about it, I believe you will see that there is a complicated web of reasons behind your decision to apply for KAEF (or, in fact, almost any decision you make). That, ultimately, is what we as interviewers are interested in – not only about why you want to become a KAEF fellow, but also about why you want to study at a particular institution, in a particular field; about why you want to pursue a particular career; about why you hold a particular opinion.
This kind of preparation is easy. Think of an idea or an opinion that is likely to come up in the interview. Then ask yourself why you have that idea or that opinion. You will come up with more ideas and more opinions. Ask yourself why you hold those ideas. You will get more ideas – and ask yourself why you hold those, and so on and so forth, for as long as you can. (You may want to enlist the help of a 4 or 5 year-old in this process. They are very good at always asking the question, “Why?”)
This mental exercise will prepare you for the kind of self-justification we will ask of you in the interview itself.
Tags: applying to graduate school, how to interview, how to prepare for an interview, interview preparation, interviews, KAEF interview, the interview process