Mock interviews
The opportunity to practice interview skills with an experienced interviewer can have an enormous impact on student career outcomes.
Conducting an interview and offering feedback provides valuable insight into the recruitment process and allows you access to students eager to succeed.
It can also help build your organisation’s brand on campus as all interviews are widely advertised through various media channels.
Please note: We have a limited number of mock interview dates available for the 2025/26 academic year.
Get in touch
Please contact: employer-events@exeter.ac.uk to discuss with the team.
Students! This page is aimed at employers. Please visit Handshake for our upcoming mock interviews.
Further information
Interviews take place throughout the academic year.
Virtual mock interviews take place Monday-Friday in Microsoft Teams, our preferred platform. Alternatively, depending on availability, a room can be booked on campus for in-person interviewing.
Typically a day of mock interviews commences at 10:00 and concludes at 16:00, with a lunch break scheduled.
An interviewer could expect to see 7 students in total during this timeframe. Interviewers can also opt for half days, where they would see between 3-4 students.
We allow 45 minutes per mock interview slot which consists of 20 minutes for the interview, 10 minutes feedback and a further 15 minutes to allow for overrun/comfort breaks.
The interviews are completely neutral and therefore students are not expected to have knowledge of the interviewer’s company or sector. As a result, questions posed should be competency-based and of the sort that could be asked at interview with any company, regardless of the sector the student may be interested in or that the interviewer works in.
Students are advised that questions may be drawn from the information provided in their CV. They should be encouraged to ask questions during the feedback period as well as expecting the interviewer to give useful tips.
Please note: Interviewers must be experienced in the recruitment and interviewing of staff.
We operate an online booking system which requires students to submit their CVs to secure an interview slot. The students' CVs are sent to the interviewer approximately a week before the interviews take place to allow for preparation.
Mock interviews are advertised via:
- The Career Zone website
- Handshake, our internal events platform
- An email circular to over 20,000 Streatham and St Luke’s campus students
- Via our social media channels.
- Faculty-based marketing, where relevant
- Book early to secure your preferred date – the most popular slots (especially in October, November, and February) fill up quickly.
- Maximise your publicity – booking in advance gives us more time to promote your event to students.
- Notice required – a minimum of 6 weeks’ notice is needed for all events, and at least 8 weeks ahead of high-demand periods (October, November, February).
