The following tips were contributed by a student in our membership.

1. Be yourself
The following tips MUST NOT contradict this one.

2. Be yourself
Seriously.

3. Remember that time you made your friend laugh?
Don't be afraid to show your sense of humour! The judges are going through some difficult decisions; any way to stand out AND make their day go by easier is a HUGE plus.

4. Be yourself
Again, it's better to be a person who admits to flaws than to ACT as a better person. Judges WILL be able to spot this, dead-on.

5. Stay confident
There's nothing worse than having your answer clearly organized BUT presented in a less-than-ideal manner due to nervousness. Remember, you MADE IT to the [interview] for a/many reason(s). It's NOT a fluke. Take your time to think about the question.

6. Body language
Your body language says a lot about you. Try not to show signs of nervousness. While getting questions fired at you that you have no answer to, ask the judges to clarify the question, or lighten the mood with a joke regarding the question, to buy you some time. Laughter WILL relax both YOU and the JUDGES.

Sit straight when you face the judges, make eye contact, but don't stare them to death. Don't do any unnecessary movement (shows insecurity).

DON'T fold your arms.

7. Speak clearly, and slowwwwwwly
Remember how your English teacher spoke in class? Keep that in mind.

8. Relax when you get an unexpected question
If you get a question like "what fruit would you be?" you should be smiling on the inside. Unexpected questions have no expected answer - meaning: you can't be wrong. My best advice is to use these opportunities to show your sense of humour while thinking up something you want the judges to know where you didn't have the opportunity to do so. After the laughter dies down a bit (trust me, they will laugh), you'll throw in your pitch.

If you want to "warm up" before your interview, think of the significant accomplishments you had and what you are PASSIONATE about.

Keep in mind that knowing the questions that will be asked during the interview will NOT help you. If you're constantly trying to find out the questions and thinking about how you'll answer, you'll sound "unnatural" (provided that you aren't an Oscar-nominated actor/actress).  Instead, you should spend your time reviewing your application, think of the details and WHY you’ve done what you've done, what DROVE you to do things.

Tips for telephone interviews:

7. Have your application in your hand during the call
It doesn't hurt to have it around does it?

6. Chair....water...action!
30 minutes is quite some time, you don't want to be shifting around in your chair and have yourself distracted. Prepare some water, again, if you ever have a 30 mins continuous conversation...you'd know how it feels.

5(1/2). Tick-tock, on the clock, but the party don't stop
Have a timer ready; the interview is 30 minutes long, plus minus 3 mins. This way you know your progress in the interview.

5. V-v-v-v-v-oice
Since body-language is not applicable in a telephone interview, take full-advantage of delivering a clear voice. Remember to slow down if you find yourself speaking above average speed. And also...make sure your phone works properly.

4. "...and then she smashed a cream pie right in my face!"
How to make 30 mins go by faster? Tell your stories! This is one of the pluses of a telephone interview; since it is much longer, you'll have the opportunity to turn a "Question/Answer" interview into a conversation. Some interviewers will deliberately make conversations, but some won't. Doesn't matter who's on the other end of your phone interview, it is advantageous to you if you can add a bit of "personal touch" to the interview experience. You'll give your interviewer a better impression of your charming personality.

3. "I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?"
If you ever need to buy some time to think about a particular question...use this line. The context validates the question.

2. Ek = Ep = Ee = Eg = Em = Eh
Energy; it comes in different forms. Your goal is to keep the energy flowing from the beginning through the end. Tell stories in a way that will benefit you. If you start out with too much energy, i.e. telling a super exciting story, it'll be hard to follow up. However, if you energize the conversation during the middle part or towards the end, there's a psychological phenomenon called the "recency effect" where your performance is based on the most recent, or in this case, the latter, part of the interview.

1. The "Bullet"
This is definitely the #1 tip for a telephone interview: stand out. Before the interview, write down a few points that you didn't have a chance to talk about in the application. i.e. personal struggles, family, obstacles you've encountered; use this opportunity to communicate your personal values, or you can let them know about any extracurricular that you left out the application because you used all the spaces provided.

Posted by: Runner43, Loran Laureate '09

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