I think it’s helpful for everyone to understand how VI’s are usually assessed to strategise your approach with these. Looking back on my time in grad rec (years ago - so it could have changed) VI’s were assessed in line with tone/delivery, consistency, and depth of answer in line with the skill they were assessing e.g. teamwork, communication, organisation etc. They’re not assessing perfection or amazing achievements, they’re assessing very basic communication techniques and strength of your skills. With that in mind, my advice has always been to treat it like a normal conversation, as though you’re catching up with a very successful friend you want to big yourself up in front of a little.
Practice by all means, but practice to ensure your tone and delivery, consistency and depth is there - not recollection. It will serve you no good when you’re hit with a curveball of a question and mentally you’re trying to fit an answer in that just isn’t there. Memorisation is just a recipe for disaster, and you’ll actually stress yourself out the second you can’t recollect two words - which results in warped consistency and a struggle to go in depth.
My suggestions are as follows:
PRELIMINARY PREP
1. Study the classics (the firm, why you, key skills they look for if any, and your experiences).
2. Make bullet points, but don’t memorise (just in case you need to refer to these).
3. Practice by having a conversation with yourself on camera (but your reflection is that “successful friend” about what you studied in number 1 - keep it within a similar time limit as the VI.
IN THE ASSESSMENT
1. When you read the question, think about what skill they’re assessing for - sometimes we rush into answering or trying to pull out a pre-prepared answer to fit the question and fail to actually answer what they’re looking for. Is it teamwork, is it communication, is it organisation etc.
2. Use the prep time to think about what you’re going to say (not verbatim, but just the general jist) and consolidate your bullet points if you struggle.
3. Once you’re in, remember, you’re talking to a friend, so relax yourself and answer like a human not robots and the tone/delivery/consistency will become slightly easier to maintain because you’ll feel a lot more comfortable and less stressed.
4. Hopefully by now you’re comfortable looking at yourself and treating it like another person, but if not, feel free to blur your vision a little - because for some of us, the most nerving thing is seeing our reflection whilst we try being “professional”.
