Mock Interview & Reflection for Career Preparation

This assignment focuses on preparing for job interviews through a simulated experience. It includes selecting interview questions, conducting a mock interview, and reflecting on the process. The reflection covers challenges faced, areas for improvement, and insights gained from analyzing strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles. The document also emphasizes the importance of resume writing, self-assessment, and practicing common interview questions.

Running head: MY APPLICATION
My application
Name of the university
Name of the student
Author note

1MY APPLICATION
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Task 1:........................................................................................................................................2
Desired job description:.........................................................................................................2
Analysis of career path and goal:...........................................................................................3
Trend of HR employment in Australia:.................................................................................3
Employability criteria of HR:.................................................................................................4
Impact of technology on interview technology:.....................................................................5
Task 2: Cover Letter:.................................................................................................................6
Resume:..................................................................................................................................7
Task 3:........................................................................................................................................9
Description on Internship Position:........................................................................................9
Selection Criteria:...................................................................................................................9
Interview questions:.............................................................................................................10
Task 4:......................................................................................................................................11
Reflection 1:.........................................................................................................................11
Reflection 2:.........................................................................................................................11
References:...............................................................................................................................13
Appendices:..............................................................................................................................14

2MY APPLICATION
Introduction:
In this unit of my assignment, I can prepare myself for an interview. This preparation
will further help me to get a job in future. As I am a graduate and trying to start my career as
a HR manager, some basic things are important know. Firstly, I want to know the job
description and why I want to do this job. Secondly a proper cover letter and appropriate
resume are also important as it will provide a glimpse of my skills and ability. Hence, at the
end, I will show my reflection of experiencing interview questions and what I will ultimately
learn from this unit.
Task 1:
Desired job description:
International Business Machines Corporations or IBM is a multinational company of
technology, based on America. However, the company has its branches almost all over the
world. The company operates under the service sector. It makes hardware, middleware and
software of market computers. The company is offering an internship for one-year duration.
This job is offered for citizens and permanent resident of the country. IBM is offering this
full-time internship in various locations of Australia. These are Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane,
Melbourne, Hobart and Perth.
This job description is suitable for me as it offers job on Human Resource (HR).
Moreover, the company operates under a service sector. I would like to work in a service
sector as it contributes a huge portion of income to a country’s national income, especially in
Australia. Hence, this sector is very important for the modern economic condition of a
country. This sector offers more than 50% employment of Australia (Cascio 2018).
Moreover, there will be more job opportunity in near future. Hence, this job position is very

3MY APPLICATION
demanding. On the other hand, human resource is the most interesting position for me as it
gives the opportunity to directly contact with people.
Analysis of career path and goal:
As I want to do a job as the HR for any industry of service sector, this job
opportunity is very important for me. After analysing myself, I think that I have some criteria
that match with a HR (Cascio 2018). To work as a HR manager, I want to develop my
personal skills and technical knowledge. The chief criteria to become a HR manager are good
communication skills, teamwork, good networking skills and proper time management.
Moreover, good customer service, bookkeeping and event management. I think I have some
criteria to get this position. For rest of criteria, I can develop myself. I have some learning
styles, resilience and temperament to become a good employee. After analysing the strength,
weakness, opportunities and threat (SWOT) of mine, an outcome is obtained related to this
job. I can do this job properly and efficiently (Cottrell 2015). As I can interact with people
efficiently, it will help me to maintain a good relation between employees and me. I have
good problem solving skills. Hence, I can solve various problems related to employees. On
the other side, knowledge on digital technology will help to maintain database of everyone.
Hence, after analysing all those factors, I think that I am suitable for this HR position.
Moreover, it will fulfil my goal as I want to work under a service sector.
Trend of HR employment in Australia:
The trend of human resource jobs has increased steadily in Australia for the last few
years. According to the government of Australia, this type of job is giving a growing
professional opportunity. Hence, the number of HR recruitment has increased by 3% in 2016.
However, not all portions within the HR sector increased simultaneously for the last few
years. The job opportunity for recruiters and management has decreased by 22% (Cascio
2018). However, the overall value of HR recruitment and professionals has increased.

4MY APPLICATION
The HR job market in Australia has influenced by various political disturbance, low
business confidence and changing technological pattern. The HR professionals are facing
mixed implications by changing job pattern in this country (Kavanagh and Johnson 2017).
Mining and manufacturing sectors are decreasing continuously. On the other side, steel
industries, IT and health sectors are growing rapidly.
Employability criteria of HR:
At present, a person needs three criteria to become an efficient HR. These are
perfect personal knowledge, proper skills and abilities. The person should possess a
bachelor’s degree and for some companies, master degree is required. The degree should be
on human resource management, business administration or related field of management
(Cottrell 2015). The key skills of a HR are decision-making, organisational leadership, good
speaking skills and ability to use software related to human resource management. Hence, a
certificate course on chosen sector is needed (Guest 2017). This will help the candidate to
recruit new employees, maintain industrial relations and performance management. However,
the most important criteria of a candidate to become the HR manager is good understanding
on English language. As service sector operates internationally and IBM is an international
company, English language is very important.
According to those criteria, I should know computer knowledge to manage big data
set of a large company like IBM. Moreover, to improve my communication skill, I must learn
English language properly.
As the demand for HR job is increasing rapidly in IT sector, it will be helpful for me
to huge amount of employment opportunities (Guest 2017). On the other hand, I almost have
all employable criteria as a fresher. Hence, this will also be helpful for me.

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Impact of technology on interview technology:
Previously, interview process indicated a face-to-face conversation between
interviewers and candidate. However, at present, this interview process has changed due to
technological improvement. Video interview is one of those new interview processes that are
used hugely currently. By this method, a candidate can give interview from other state or
from other country. Various software tools are used for video calling like Skype (Weller
2017). On the other side, recruiters use application-tracking systems to manage all resumes
and to find out proper matches. Skill testing is also important for various specialised
positions, especially for software engineers. By using Hackerrank, Codepen.io and other
software tools, employers can measure the candidate skills through online (Sun, Lei and Li
2017). Moreover, e-mail and mobile chatting are also very important concepts to contact with
employees.
This technology helps a HR for operating his or her work. Technology helps a HR to
shorting job positions, faster response before time, review of job experience and finding
references (Cottrell 2015). Moreover, technology makes perfect match and maintain more
data for recruitment.

6MY APPLICATION
Task 2: Cover Letter:
XYZ
123, ABC Road
Australia- 12345
[phone]
[e-mail]
(Application Date)
Mr. John
Human Resources
IBM Company
Perth, Australia-12345
I have seen your internship program for graduate students in au.gradconnection.com. I am
excited to do my internship under a well-known internship company like you. This
opportunity will help me to implement my course work practically. As Human Resource is
my major subject at graduation level, I am very passionate about talent development and
employee relations. Moreover, my communication skills, academic background and
leadership experience will help me to prepare me appropriately for this position.
Academic coursework: I have finished my business management courses on strategic
human resource management and I have obtained good score.
Leadership experience: I played leadership role in my school days. I have performed as the
leader when my school performed various events.
Communication skills: I have developed my communication skill to interact with
international people.
I am very excited to contribute my theoretical knowledge to your organisation. I pursue
professional development intentionally. I also value non-stop growth by the internship
description.
I am enclosing my resume. It will describe my academic coursework, leadership experience
and communication skills. As I eagerly want to start my career as a HR, this internship will
help me to earn detailed understanding on this field.
Sincerely,
XYZ

7MY APPLICATION
Resume:
XYZ
Email: [e-mail]
Phone n.o- 00-0000
Mobile n.o- 00-0000000
Career Objectives:
My career objective is to start a career as a HR in a reputed company. Hence, I would
like to obtain this internship of HR with IBM. Here I can implement my HR knowledge,
which I have obtained from my educational degree. I also want to gather practical skills by
operating under the supervision of experienced HR managers and seniors. Moreover, I want
to apply my technical knowledge on data base management and improve my skills on event
management. This internship will help me to develop my career in future as I am fresher and
I do not have any work experience.
Education:
Bachelor’s Degree in Business Education
Deakin University, VIC- 3220
Major: Human Resources management
Extracurricular activities and volunteer work:
 Participated in annual sports in school
 School leadership in various cultural activities

8MY APPLICATION
 Volunteered for raising awareness about homelessness in Australian community
Personal and Technological skills:
 Interact with the external world
 Good problem-solving skills
 Good networking skills and effective communication with others
 Ability to do multitask
 Knowledge on database management
Interests:
Playing football and cricket, doing social work and internet surfing
Personal Information:
Date of birth: 88/88/8888
Address: 123, ABC Road, Australia- 12345
Language known: English, Japanese, French

9MY APPLICATION
Task 3:
Description on Internship Position:
I want to join IBM and do my internship in Human Resource management under this
company. The company is one of the largest companies in the world that deal with
technology and consulting services. As I would like to work within a service sector, this
company is suitable for me. IBM is offering internship for 12 months duration. I can gather
practical knowledge and experience a good working environment. As I want to start my
career as a HR manager, this internship opportunity will give me huge opportunities to
explore my career further. Moreover, the company is giving this opportunity to Australian
citizens and Australian permanent residents.
Selection Criteria:
Situation: In my school days, I worked as a leader in various activities. I represented my
schools in inter cultural activities for consecutive 6 years and in most of the cases I
successfully led my team and they won the competition. However, those competitions were
very difficult. The entire school and teachers were depending on me and they had faith that I
can take this challenge.
Task: Leading an entire group is quite difficult. However, I did it when I was only 14 years
old. As there were many participate from different schools, it was challenging me to control
entire team. To overcome that challenge, I needed to select an appropriate strategy with logic.
Action: To control entire team, proper strategic development was very essential. Moreover, it
was important to win the competition. Hence, I choose individual student for individual
activities. Each student, who will represent those different activities, were trained. They
trained their group for competition. There were some students, who acted as co-ordinator. I

10MY APPLICATION
was the supervisor and controlled every activities of each student. As I took every step
logically and my only motive was to win the competition, I dedicated my all potentiality to
win the competition. This dedication helped me and my school to win the game.
Interview questions:
Question 1: Tell me the one criterion about our company that you like?
Question 2: Why would you select this organisation and not some other companies?
Question 3: Where would you be in five years from now?
I select those three questions as these will focus on the candidate’s intension and
dedication about the job. These three questions are applicable for any job. The first question
will show that whether the candidate knows anything about the company, where he or she is
applying for job. It will show the dedication level of the candidate. The second question will
indicate the positivity of the candidate for the post and company as well. By asking this
question, the employer can understand that whether the candidate actually wants to work
under the organisation or not. The third question will state the self confidence of the
candidate. If the candidate will have self-confidence then he or she can answer it properly.
Otherwise, the candidate will fail to answer this (Cottrell 2015). This last question is very
common but tricky. This question will also help the employer to understand but the sense of
humour of the candidate. Hence, I choose these three questions as it will help me to
understand as an interviewer about the candidate’s knowledge, intension and dedication level.

11MY APPLICATION
Task 4:
Reflection 1:
The mock test was good enough as it was my first interview. However, I was quit
tensed as I was sitting in front of the interviewer for the first time. It affected me and I could
not make any eye contract with my interviewer. That attitude was not correct for a candidate.
However, I could manage myself to answer each question properly. At the time of interview,
I remained polite. The interviewer asked me some basic questions. They told me to describe
myself, asked to explain myself with my strengths and weakness. There were some basic but
tricky questions, which I could not understand first time. Hence, I asked to repeat those
questions again and I took some times to give proper answers.
As it was my first interview, I faced various difficulties. Hence, I should prepare
myself before attempting my next interview. I need to evaluate myself and also need to
evaluate basic interview questions for preparing myself. Those questions are available on
internet. As a fresher, basic and tricky questions are more important. Hence, I should chiefly
focus on those questions. Those questions will help interviewers to understand my
personality, ability and skills. Therefore, I should prepare myself to give better interview for
the next time.
Reflection 2:
This unit help m a lot to understand my capability and prepare myself for interview. I
have learnt many things from this unit to start my career in future. At first, I choose the career
option and sector under which I want to operate. Secondly, I write cover letter and resume for
applying in various companies. Moreover, I analyse myself to explore my strengths and
weakness for this post. This will help me to prepare myself for any interview. After this unit,

12MY APPLICATION
I have prepared a well resume that will describe my ability for a job. On the other side, tricky
questions also help me to prepare myself for the interview. As those questions are very
important for a fresher, proper answer is very important. Interviewers can understand my
personal skills, abilities and potentialities from those questions. Moreover, I can understand
my personal abilities by giving learning styles, personal resilience and temperament tests. I
can overcome those criteria, where I have weakness. Hence, this unit is very important for
me and for all fresher candidates. As it will be very difficult and promising for me to give
interview in front an interviewer, getting a new job will be very difficult for me. With the
help of this unit, I can easily crack an interview in future.

13MY APPLICATION
References:
Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Cottrell, S., 2015. Skills for success: Personal development and employability. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Guest, D.E., 2017. Human resource management and employee well‐being: towards a new
analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), pp.22-38.
Kavanagh, M.J. and Johnson, R.D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics,
applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.
Sun, J., Lei, H. and Li, Y., 2017. Research on Staff Recruitment Management of Modern
Enterprise. DEStech Transactions on Social Science, Education and Human Science, (eemt).
Weller, S., 2017. Using internet video calls in qualitative (longitudinal) interviews: Some
implications for rapport. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20(6),
pp.613-625.

14MY APPLICATION
Appendices: