“How do I ace a job interview?” is one of the most frequently asked questions we get at Maxme, and it’s not difficult to understand why. It takes a LOT of work to land a job interview, let alone ace it! With the employment market more competitive than ever, the ability to verbally ‘sell yourself’ in an authentic, memorable way has never been more important.

On our mission to support as many individuals as possible to thrive in work and life, we’re spreading the magic of human skills as widely as possible - through immersive apps, coaching, experiences and partnerships, but also through rich conversations. The Other Side is a mini podcast series by Maxme where our Founder Renata (Ren) Sguario chats with recent graduate James (Jimmy) Oana on the experience of making the leap from Uni to work, and thriving on the other side.

Over 9 episodes (including a bonus intro chat), Ren and Jimmy cover Gen Z career building essentials like what makes a great CV, acing a job interview, seeking and giving feedback, the importance of self awareness, networking, body language and more.

In Episode 5 of The Other Side, The Mock Interview, Ren and Jimmy mock up an interview scenario with Ren as interviewer, and James under the spotlight. This fun episode comes jammed with tips, tricks and plenty of real-world tactics you can start practicing today, to apply in interviews from tomorrow!

In just over 35 minutes, you’ll discover how to perform in typical interview scenarios, and respond to common interview questions such as:

• “Tell me a bit about yourself …” - how to use an elevator pitch in your interview response
• How to use ‘prepared’ answers, without sounding like a wrote-learned / ‘standard’ response
• Shining the light on strengths, and comfortably talking about weaknesses
• How to use pause, and take your time with interview answers
• How to handle curve-ball questions in interviews - it’s ok not to have an answer, but try to provide relevant information or a perspective
• “What are your key areas of development?” … - a perfect opportunity to demonstrate lifelong learning and a curious growth mindset
• “Give me an example of when you’ve had difficulty working with other people, and how you overcame these difficulties?”
• “What brings you to this organisation, and why are you keen to work here?”
• The importance of demonstrating your interest in, and background knowledge of, the company, but don’t regurgitate what they already know - weave in your own stories and make it relevant to you
• “Do you have any questions for us?” - how to use prior research to ask about possible direction of company (e.g investments), strategy, employee benefits, social impact etc.