Reflection on Mock Interview and Application

Assignment three of the Leicester Ambassador Award required us to complete a mock application, attend a mock interview and then reflect on this process. I applied for the Trainee Investigator role because from studying criminology I’ve become more interested in crime and have considered this role as a career choice based on my experience with people and knowledge of crime. I had little time to complete the application because I replied late when requesting it, which relates to my careers reflection post that I should apply early when looking for a job to give me plenty of time to consider the role, conduct further research, then draft and redraft my application. I was however quite early for the interview and fully prepared for any questions with plenty of examples. In relation to my course and reflecting on my organization skills, I believe this shows that although I can be indecisive, when I’ve made a decision I become quite organised and prepared to follow through with that decision. 

I made the same mistakes during the interview as I did for my application. I either didn’t give enough detail or rambled on too much and didn’t answer the question. This wasn’t helped by the surprise question that I was not expecting. So although I thought I had plenty of examples, I actually only had a significant number of examples for the type of questions I was expecting. From now on I’ll consider any unexpected questions or any unexpected ways an expected question might be worded differently, depending on the skills the employer requires. I swapped my application with the ambassador who was also applying for that role and also had knowledge of crime from working with victim support.  I learnt from her application to give more concise and specific answers, her application seemed to show more confidence in her facts than mine. The feedback I was given proved this and was similar to the feedback gained for my interview. 

To summarise, I’ve learnt to be more prepared to answer a range of questions, to remember to breathe rather than ramble, to include an official covering letter with my application and I should find more ways of turning negatives into positives by focussing on the skills I developed and not the reasons I quit a job in the past. To build on this I will make a database of all the skills I’ve developed and make sure to reflect on this process when I next apply for a job role. To build on my skills to become a trainee investigator I’m keeping in touch with the ambassador volunteering with victim support. I hope to apply and volunteer myself to put my academic knowledge of criminal behaviour into practice by helping those who have been victims of crime. This should give me more relevant examples of my skills when applying to become an investigator.