As an Instructional Designer with over 25 years of experience, I’ve observed that extensive practice enables you to handle multiple situations typically encountered or experienced during formal meetings with potential employers. Games and online activities prepare you to tell employers about your qualifications, get information about the employer, show how you can provide value, learn about the work environment, emphasize your strengths and respond to difficult questions about your past, such as prior arrests or terminations.
Need
If you have not gone on an interview before or it’s been a long time since you last applied for a job, playing interactive job interview games can help you prepare. Meeting with potential employers can be a scary and daunting challenge. Practicing in a non-threatening environment can calm your nerves and ensure your readiness. Playing games helps you develop interviewing skills to compete in a competitive job market.
Purpose
Interactive job interview games give participants immediate feedback on their performance. Games offer tips and techniques, such as how to give a firm handshake, make eye contact, listen carefully to questions, speak clearly, and maintain a positive attitude. Effective games present multiple opportunities to respond to challenging questions, such as describing what aspects of your previous experience prepare you for the role. Developing effective job interview skills means that you can describe your current responsibilities, plans for the future, and priorities for career development.
Interactive online job interview games typically provide a simulated experience, including selecting a job to apply for, submitting a resume, preparing for the interview, and handling a potential employer’s questions. This type of game allows you to rehearse your responses. To win, you need to answer professionally and get the job. Other games give you the employer’s role. By looking for desirable characteristics in other candidates, such as friendliness and enthusiasm, you learn how to project that type of image yourself.
Group job interview games prepare participants for a formal meeting in an informal, fun way. For example, I have conducted job interview games with groups of high school students from my local community. This works best with a group of 10 or more. To repeat this yourself, divide the group into pairs to act out interview roles. Start by instructing one person to play the interviewer and ask close-ended questions that require simple answers.
Close-ended questions include:
- What is your name?
- Where are you from?
- How old are you?
Then, reverse roles and repeat the activity. This time, the interviewer asks open-ended questions.
Open-ended questions include:
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
- How do your friends describe you?
The person playing the candidate has a chance to answer the questions with more details. Next, ask each interviewer to pretend to be a celebrity. Instruct each candidate to ask questions to determine the interviewer’s identity. The first candidate to guess his partner’s identity wins. This type of interactive job interview game helps participants improve their interviewing skills and develop confidence in a live setting.
