I. Preparatory work
Many students are excited and happy to see the interview email, but at the same time, don't forget a small gesture, that is, to reply to the interviewer with a thank-you email, which is the most basic social etiquette. The next step is to carefully confirm every message in the email.
1. Name of the interviewer. If you are a school worker, you can generally search for relevant background information in the school official website, and some of them are accompanied by photos; If we are MBA students, we should be inclined to prepare for MBA interviews when preparing, and many will ask some questions related to MBA applicants based on past experience.
2. Time conversion. The timetable of the United States is divided into western time, mountain time, central time and eastern time, which are slower than Beijing 16, 15, 14 and 13 hours respectively. Moreover, it is daylight saving time from April to 10 in the United States, and the clock needs to be put forward one hour. These basic rules need to be remembered by every student.
Second, matters needing attention
1. Selection of interview tools. Generally speaking, we often have telephone interviews. Now with the emergence of Skype, more and more schools will tend to use Skype, which is equivalent to our QQ video chat tool. You only need to download Skype software from the Internet, register your account and recharge it, and you can enjoy much cheaper charges than making international calls with fixed telephones. Moreover, through face-to-face conversation, the interviewer can clearly see the students' expressions, expressions, eyes and other details, and it is easier to narrow the conversation distance between them. However, this method also has some shortcomings, that is, the effect is much worse than that of fixed telephone, and the requirement for network speed is higher. If students use the campus network, the call effect will be even more ignored. So our suggestion is, if you choose Skype, try to ensure better campus network speed; If you choose a telephone, we strongly recommend a fixed telephone, which can avoid the situation of unclear signal and no power, and the call effect is the best among these ways.
2. skirts. Because it's a video interview, you can't dress carelessly. Since it is face-to-face communication, decent and generous dress also conveys the message of respect and attention to the interviewer. We suggest that students can wear formal clothes. If not, you can choose some clothes that suit your age, don't dress up in fancy, don't make up, and don't look like a nouveau riche.
3. Adjustment of mental state. Many students should encounter signs of nervousness, rapid heartbeat and sweaty palms in the early stage of the interview. This requires us to have two or three simulation experiences before the formal interview. We can find classmates and friends in the dormitory to simulate the scene at that time, ask questions, chat or ask questions. After several simulations, I believe many students will be more stable, confident and less nervous and worried before entering the formal interview.
Third, the interview process
Many students may have been interviewed, but what is the function of the interview and why do you want to interview? Students who have really thought about these problems should not be in the majority. If you don't even know the purpose of the school interview in advance, then you will be more passive in the whole interview process, unable to show your due characteristics and attract the interviewer's attention. So, let's discuss the purpose of the interview:
1, let the applicant show other talents. These talents are invisible in all the materials submitted by the application. Only through the interview can the applicant express his thoughts, opinions, views on the school, plans for the future and attitudes towards life more intuitively and vividly.
2. Learn more about some details. If the interviewer is interested in some materials of the applicant, he will bring them up during the interview, or ask for more detailed information, which requires students to have a clear understanding of every material they submit, and don't be ignorant and forget what activities are written on their resumes, which will make a fool of themselves.
3. Proof of oral English. Some schools will interview students whose TOEFL score is lower than 100 to further confirm why the TOEFL score of the applicant is lower than 100 or why the oral English score is not high. Then, students should seize this precious opportunity to prove their English ability, let their fluent spoken English dispel the doubts and worries of the school, and prove that they can study and live smoothly in a foreign country with practical conditions. Language communication is not an obstacle at all.
Fourth, ask questions.
At the end of the interview, the interviewer usually asks the candidate what he needs to ask. Sometimes, unique questions will interest the interviewer, and then they will praise your good questions and answer your questions enthusiastically. If we look closely, we can see the questions that other candidates have asked before from the online interview. At this time, you should avoid asking these bad questions, such as when the results will be made and how many international students will be recruited. Instead, we should think about some unique, distinctive and targeted questions in advance, such as "under the financial crisis, the business school itself has to bear certain responsibilities, so what relevant measures will the school take?" These macroscopic and overall problems can indirectly reflect the applicant's own cultural literacy and knowledge accumulation.