Interview resources
The method for structuring an answer, drills for how you deliver it, and what to do in the hour before and the day after.
The STAR method
Almost every "tell me about a time when…" question is answered well by the same four-part structure. Learn it once and you can handle a question you've never heard before, which is the real goal — you cannot memorise answers to every possible question, but you can memorise a shape to pour any story into.
S · Situation
One sentence of context. Where were you, when, and what was going on? Resist the urge to spend half your answer here — this is scene-setting, not the story.
"Last spring I was working concessions at our home basketball games."
T · Task
What was the problem or the thing you were responsible for? Make clear what was at stake or what was difficult about it.
"Twenty minutes before tip-off our card reader stopped working and we had a line of about forty people."
A · Action
This is most of your answer. What did you personally do? Use "I," not "we" — the interviewer is hiring you, not your team, and "we" is the most common way students accidentally erase themselves from their own story.
"I moved the cash-only customers to a second table so the line kept moving, sent someone for the backup reader, and started writing down orders so we could ring them up once it was working."
R · Result
How did it end, and what did you learn? Put a number on it if you honestly can. Never skip this part — an answer without a result feels unfinished, and this is the piece students forget most often.
"We cleared the line before the game started and didn't lose any sales. Now I check the reader an hour early instead of assuming it works."
Aim for 60 to 90 seconds. Under 30 seconds and you sound unprepared or evasive. Past two minutes and the interviewer has stopped listening. The mock interview tool times you and tells you when you drift outside that window.
Build your story bank before the interview
Don't script answers. Instead, prepare six or seven real stories from your life and get comfortable telling each one. Almost any behavioural question can be answered by reaching for the closest story in your bank and angling it to fit.
- A time you led something, formally or not.
- A time you failed or got it wrong, and what you changed afterwards.
- A time you disagreed with someone and handled it well.
- A time you solved a problem nobody handed you the answer to.
- A time you juggled competing commitments and had to prioritise.
- A time you helped someone who was struggling or upset.
- A time you learned something quickly under pressure.
Write each one as four bullets using STAR — not a paragraph. If you write paragraphs you will memorise sentences, and memorised sentences sound memorised. Bullets keep you telling it fresh each time.
Questions to be ready for
These come up constantly across every field. The mock interview tool draws field-specific questions, but these are the universals.
Opening questions
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why do you want to work here?
- Why are you interested in this field?
- What do you know about what we do?
Behavioural questions
- Tell me about a time you worked on a team.
- Describe a conflict you had and how you resolved it.
- Tell me about a mistake you made.
- Give me an example of when you had to learn something fast.
About you
- What are your strengths?
- What's a weakness you're working on?
- How do you handle stress or pressure?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
Practical questions
- What's your availability?
- Do you have reliable transportation?
- How would you handle an upset customer?
- Do you have any questions for us?
On the weakness question. Name a real one, then say what you're doing about it. "I'm a perfectionist" is a non-answer every interviewer has heard and it reads as dodging. "I used to put off asking for help until I was properly stuck — now I give myself twenty minutes and then go ask" is a real answer, and it makes you sound self-aware rather than flawless.
And always have questions ready. "Do you have any questions for us?" is a real question, not a formality, and "no" is the worst available answer. Bring two. Ask what a typical day looks like, or what makes someone successful in the role.
Delivery drills
What you say matters less than most students expect; how you say it matters more. These four drills each take under ten minutes and target the things the mock interview tool measures.
Kill the filler words
Record yourself answering one question. Play it back and count every "um," "like," "you know" and "basically." Then answer the same question again, and when you feel a filler coming, close your mouth and pause instead.
A silent pause feels enormous to you and reads as thoughtful to everyone else. That gap between how it feels and how it lands is the whole trick.
Fix your eyeline
On a video call, look at the camera lens, not at the face on your screen. Looking at the screen reads as looking down and away.
Put a small sticky note with an arrow right beside your webcam. In person, hold eye contact while you're speaking and let it break naturally when you're thinking — locked staring is as uncomfortable as no eye contact at all.
Slow down
Nerves speed everyone up. Read a paragraph aloud at what feels like an uncomfortably slow pace and time it — that's usually close to correct.
Take a full breath before you start answering. It costs you one second and it resets your pace for the whole answer.
Land the ending
Students often trail off — "…so, yeah, that's pretty much it." Practise finishing on your result sentence and then stopping.
Silence after a clean ending is the interviewer's turn, not a hole you need to fill. Let it sit.
The day of
The night before
- Re-read the job description and your own resume
- Pick which stories you'll reach for
- Lay out your clothes — dress one step above what employees wear
- Check the route, or test your camera and mic
- Write your two questions on paper
The hour before
- Arrive 10 minutes early; join a video call 5 minutes early
- Phone off, not silent
- For video: plain background, light in front of you not behind, laptop raised to eye level
- Water nearby
- Two slow breaths before you walk in
Afterwards
- Send a thank-you email within 24 hours
- Mention one specific thing from the conversation
- Write down what they asked, while it's fresh
- Note the one answer you'd redo — then go practise it
Subject: Thank you — position title
Dear Mr. Alvarez,
Thank you for taking the time to meet with me yesterday about the summer associate position. I especially enjoyed hearing about how your team trains new hires during the first month.
Our conversation made me more confident this is the right fit, and I'd be glad to answer any follow-up questions. Thank you again for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Your name
phone · email
Most candidates your age don't send one. It takes four minutes and it is remembered.
Know your rights as a young worker
Worth reading once before your first job, so you recognise it if something is off.
- California requires most 16- and 17-year-olds to have a work permit from their school. Ask the OLu counselling office.
- There are legal limits on the hours minors can work, especially on school nights, and they differ by age.
- Certain hazardous tasks and equipment are off-limits to minors regardless of consent.
- You must be paid at least minimum wage, and you're owed meal and rest breaks.
- A legitimate employer will never ask you to pay for training, equipment, or a background check as a condition of being hired. Treat that as a red flag and walk away.
- You never have to attend an interview somewhere that feels unsafe, and you can bring a parent to wait outside.
Wage rates, hour limits and permit rules change. Confirm current details with the OLu counselling office or the California Department of Industrial Relations before acting on them, and talk to a parent or guardian about anything that seems wrong.
Ready to practise?
Reading about interviews helps a little. Hearing yourself answer helps enormously — most students are surprised by their own recording the first time, and that surprise is the point.