Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
I recently had an interview with a charity supporting people with disabilities. I disclosed my autism and anxiety in my application, and they were incredibly accommodating—they provided the questions in advance, which made the interview much more manageable. I didn't even have to ask! Although I didn't get the job, my experience was really positive with them.
While I’m always honest in interviews, my strategy of rehearsing answers word-for-word isn’t effective if unexpected questions come up. When this happens, I often get stuck.
How do you handle unexpected questions in interviews?
Also is my need to rehearse answers a form of masking?
It’s quite much like preparing a presentation or speech or having some oral exam. Here the main thing is knowing, what you want to say, but not learning the whole text to know by heart word for word, it’s enough that the interviewer asks you a question and you gonna loose the track. Then you sound as if you were reading it. How I do it, I try to say it in my own different words, each time it goes more naturally. I also try doing it in front of a mirror to see myself. My issue is forgetting words very often. It can be any word, but there are some words that I forget most frequently. So I prepare a small sheet with points what is relevant I wanna say and also the words (with synonyms) that I’m gonna most probably forget. I’m not sure if this forgetting words during the speech is normal or not or if it’s just me or something to do with autism, but I definitely struggle with that and it gives me quite much anxiety, that I will forget a word. It stresses me out and also annoys.
Alienatedhuman said:Here the main thing is knowing, what you want to say, but not learning the whole text
This is exactly the best way to do it.
When you read a rehersed script then it will always sound rehearsed and fake so don't waste effort on this.
Do as Alienatedhuman suggests - make your own bullet points to read on the fly during the interview to remind you of your talking points.
Another great tactic is to get someone to listen to you rehearse time and again (you may need to bribe them) until you stop making mistakes. It may take 5 attempts or 50 and it is best to not repeat exactly the same phrases so you get used to talking about them and really believe them.
This can be done virtually if it is more practical.
If you can do this on all the usual questions like "tell me about yourself", "why do you think you are a good fit for yourself", "where do you see yourself in 5 years time" and "tell me about a situaiton when you have to deal with a conflict at work" etc.