UCL CAREERS SERVICE

If you've been invited to any type of interview, you can see a Careers Consultant for up to an hour for a Practice Interview. The session would generally involve:

• a role play exercise based around typical interview questions for whatever it is you've applied for*
• feedback from the Consultant on all aspects of your performance in this exercise such as your general interview technique and the suitability / strength of your answers for the role in question
• advice and tips on further preparation and how improve any weak areas
• time for you to ask additional questions or address any other concerns you have about the real thing

We aim to make practice interviews as similar to the real thing as possible so you must have a real interview invite before booking.*If you don't need to practice your interview technique in this way, you can use a 30 minute appointment if you just have a questions about what to expect and how best to prepare for the real thing.

For most interview types, we can put together a realistic Practice Interview based on what recruiters are likely to ask.

Technical Interviews
Our Consultants do not have specialist, technical knowledge of different industries or on individual research areas. If you're expecting these types of questions as part of the real interview, we can provide advice and tips on how to approach these but we'll be unable to provide examples of specific questions that might be asked or suggest suitable answers for you.

Telephone Interviews
As the Practice Interview session will also include a period of feedback and further discussion after the interview part, we're unable to conduct practice interviews over the phone.

You should treat the Practice Interview like the real thing in terms of preparation. The resources suggested in the Interviews section of our website will highlight a range of materials available through the Careers Service which provide detailed information on how to prepare and what to expect during the interview process in terms of typical formats and the types of questions that recruiters are likely to ask.

Booking

As soon as you receive an Interview invite, you can download and complete the:

• Practice Interview Booking Form

The form is used by the Consultant to identify how you would benefit from a practice interview. They can then focus the session appropriately so make sure you answer all the questions in as much detail as possible. Failure to do so will delay the booking of your appointment.

The form can then be returned to the Careers Service, preferably by email*, with the supporting documents requested on the form which are:

• the application form or CV that you used for your application
• a copy of the job specification or course details
• confirmation of the interview offer

This additional information is vital for the Careers Consultant to prepare for the session so Practice Interviews will not be booked without it.

When we've received the required paperwork, we'll contact you to arrange a mutually convenient interview time before the real interview.

*If you're unable to email the documents, they can be printed and handed in at the Careers Service in person or sent by fax / post as detailed on our Contacts Page.

Practice Interview appointments run all year round* during the following times:

• Monday to Thursday: 10am - 12pm or 2pm - 5pm (NOT on Fridays)

Due to the preparation time required by the Careers Consultant, we're unable to offer appointments at short notice, (i.e. on the same day that we receive your booking form), but, subject to availability, they can be booked with a day's notice or as far in advance as you'd prefer.

Please note however, appointments are always booked on a first come, first served basis, so we can only confirm availability of appointment times once we have received the required booking form. 

If there are no appointments free before your real interview when we receive your booking form, we will keep it so that we can contact you if there are any cancellations of appointments.

As an alternative, you can then check availability of the 30 minute appointments for Research Staff for a discussion about interview techniques or use the 15 minute Short Guidance appointments which are available to UCL staff and students.

*Excluding UCL Closure Days

If you're invited to a real interview with too short notice to book a Practice Interview, you can make use of the wide range of resources suggested on our Help With Interviews page and/or book a 30 minute Research Staff Appointment or a Short Guidance appointment to discuss interview preparation on a 1-1 basis.

If you arrive more than 5 minutes late and the Careers Consultant doesn't feel they can do the practice interview effectively in whatever time is left of your appointment, you will be asked to re-book for a later date if there are still free appointments before the real thing.