GDC is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

View, browse and sort the ever-growing list of sessions by day, pass type, topic, and format. With this Session Viewer, you can view GDC 2023 session details and speakers, and share your favorites via social media. You will be able to build your schedule and access it during the show via export or Mobile App, once live. Sessions do fill up and seating is first come, first serve, so arrive early to sessions that you would like to attend.

Game Career Seminar: "Soft" Skills Are Hard! Acing the Non-Technical Interview Questions

Sonia Michaels  (Department Chair, Humanities & Social Sciences, DigiPen Institute of Technology)

Location: Room 3016, West Hall

Date: Friday, March 24

Time: 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Independent Games Summit Pass, Friday Only Expo Pass

Topic: Game Career Development

Format: Lecture

Vault Recording: Video

Audience Level: All

The technical aspect of a job interview is stressful enough, but for many people, the "soft skills" (interpersonal) portion of an interview is even more challenging.

This talk will present tools and strategies for managing interview anxiety—preparing compelling responses to various types of situational questions, turning weakness and failure questions into opportunities, establishing potential fit and contribution, and designing good questions to ask interviewers at the end of the interaction. It will also examine how a wide variety of factors can affect interview performance: including age, gender, ethnicity, neurodivergence, and even vocal tone.

Even the most introverted and anxious applicants can manage a great interview, with adequate preparation beforehand, and this presentation will help job seekers balance their technical skills with a solid foundation of communication skills, thus making them more competitive in an especially challenging global economy.

Takeaway

Attendees will leave with a solid foundation of skills and strategies for handling the most challenging interpersonal aspects of job interviews, including managing the internal and external effects of interview-related anxiety, how to prepare for situational questions, handling weakness and failure questions effectively, and much more.

Intended Audience

This is for students, new graduates, and early to mid-career developers, as well as anyone at any level who suffers from interview anxiety or wants to brush up on their interpersonal interview skills.