Job Interview Discussion Strategy: Explanation
This activity is best used towards the end of a unit of work.
Explain to your class that several learners will be applying for jobs as experts in the topic of study.
Then, divide the class into groups of four.
Each group must nominate a job applicant.
These learners leave their groups and sit together. They have ten minutes or so to go over what they have been learning in recent weeks.
The rest of the class must develop interview questions.
Explain that the purpose of the interviews is to generate a discussion through which the panel can assess whether their applicant really is an expert in the field.
Questions should be a mixture of closed and open-ended. It is the open-ended questions that will really help stimulate discussion.
When the time is up, groups re-form and arrange the classroom as follows:
Each group needs a table and four chairs.
Three of the chairs are placed on one side of the table. The remaining chair is placed on the other side.
Learners sit down. The interviewers fill the three chairs. The job applicant sits in the single chair, on the other side of the table.
The interviews commence, with the interviewers taking it in turns to ask questions.
Discussion ensues, and the ‘job applicants’ do their best to answer the questions posed by the interviewers.
Job Interview Discussion Strategy: Example
Topic: Shakespeare’s Macbeth
In this example, let us imagine that learners have been studying Macbeth for a few weeks.
As a result, they are all familiar with the play and have spent plenty of time analysing, interpreting and evaluating it.
The class is put into groups and the job applicants are identified.
They go off to one side of the room to prepare.
The remainder of the class come up with questions that will:
- Stimulate discussion.
- Check learners’ knowledge and understanding of the play.
Examples of open questions include:
- What do you feel are the most important themes in the play?
- In your opinion, what characterises the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?
- What does the play suggest about the nature of ambition?
Closed questions include ones like these:
- Who killed Duncan?
- How many witches are in the play?
- What is the name of Banquo’s son?
The risk with this activity is that learners ask too many factual, knowledge-based questions that are closed and, therefore, tend not to stimulate discussion.
It is worth emphasising this point to learners and encouraging them to focus on open questions.
One option is to display some model questions on the board, as a scaffold.
Another option is to set a ratio for learners.
For example: three open questions for every two closed questions.
In this activity, closed questions aren’t bad per se. It’s just that if the balance tips away from open questions, discussions are likely to be lower quality.
Job Interview Discussion Strategy: Extensions and Developments
- After the interviews are completed, ask the job applicants to stand up and join another interview panel. A second interview commences. The level of discussion should be better as learners will already have had a first attempt.
- Allow learners to experience both sides of the activity by having them swap roles. This works particularly effectively when you are using the activity towards the end of a unit of work. Learners will be more familiar with the topic and therefore won’t need as much time to prepare themselves for interview.
