On May 12th, Simona El Khoury, holder of a Master of Arts & Design and faculty member and lecturer at the Notre Dame University – Louaize, facilitated a workshop on interviewing skills for her last year students entitled “express to impress”.
Job interviews can be stressful for job seekers, especially if they don’t feel fully ready for them. A mock interview can be useful to reduce the stress of this process before they are in front of real companies.
QMS Engineers conducted a workshop that included in its major part a practice interview, a kind of simulation of an actual job interview.
It provided necessary practices and tips for job seekers before having a real-world job interview, creating an opportunity for them to get feedback about their interviewing skills.
Attendees learned to put a huge effort into searching for the company they are applying to work at, building out a portfolio, polishing their digital footprint, and preparing their resume. They also learned that it is important to make sure that they spend the necessary time prepping their interview skills, thoroughly understanding the interview process, being prepared for tricky questions by understanding the underlying message interviewers are trying to uncover, as well as minding their own body language and understanding nonverbal cues as sent by interviewers.
The workshop stimulated attendees’ learning of how to answer specific interview questions and get comfortable with those answers, and how to develop appropriate strategies by refining their communication skills and reducing stress.
The attendees’ feedback showed a great deal of how much this learning experience was important and useful for them. Some of the comments read as follows:
“It was an excellent insight for me. This workshop gave me a very good initial understanding of what is involved. Thank you so much!”
“Teaching is clear, making a great combination between theory and practice.”
“I thought it was a really well presented, engaging, and inspiring seminar.”
“I’m currently applying for job interviews, so this workshop really helped me on what to pay attention for and how to adjust my approach.”
QMS Engineers’ Managing Director who personally provided this workshop, since she believes in empowering youth through learning how to self-manage in potentially stressful situations, thanked Mrs. Simona for her trust and for this unique opportunity to be invited as a guest speaker at NDU! She also wished job seekers all the best in their job hunt and hoped that they will put into practice skills gained from this workshop.
Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) is a private, Lebanese non-profit Catholic institution of higher education. The university adopts specific values and beliefs and seeks to enhance these values through the liberal education it offers and the career preparation that caters to the real needs of Lebanon and the region.