With the Career Fair last week, the Career Center feels like a
revolving door for on-campus interviews – in the past few hours that I’ve sat in the
Career Center typing this post, I’ve seen almost a dozen students come in and out of
interviews with at least three different employers. As it’s been a while since
this blog has covered interviews, I thought that I’d focus my post
this week on the interview process – specifically, on preparing for an
interview. I’ve been interviewed many times before, and I even had the opportunity to be an interviewer when the
Career Center was hiring a new social media intern last spring. So, here
are my tips, supplemented with my experiences on both sides of the interview
table, on interview prep.
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| What you can avoid by doing prep work! |
Practice answers to common questions. Interviewing is just
talking about yourself, right? I do that all the time, right? I don’t really
need to rehearse talking about myself, right? WRONG. No matter how confident
you feel about the position you’re applying for, interview prep is a must.
Of all of the interviews I’ve had in my life so far, all of the ones that ended
in me not getting the position were ones that I didn’t prepare for. Write down
and practice a small script to answer questions you know will be asked – common
ones like “Tell me about yourself” and “Why are you interested in the position?”
Even if you can’t recite your answer from memory, having a few well-constructed phrases in your head can improve the cohesion and clarity of your answers, and leave a stronger impression on your interviewer. If this feels unnatural,
practice your answers until they become natural.
Do your research. If you want to show an interviewer
that you’re suited for their position, you need to demonstrate that you know what the position and/or organization is all about. You might even get a
few questions about the company or its products that you’re expected to answer,
such as “Who’s our CEO?” When I was helping with the interviews for a social
media intern last year, one of the most common questions we asked interviewees
was whether they’d read our blog and if they had a favorite post. The
candidates who had read the blog stood out much more to us. A quick tip that I've found really helpful for interviews is to read the company's mission statement. Then, match your experiences and skills to parts of the mission statement to show that you are a great fit for the organization.
Review and update your resume. Your interviewer will have
your resume in advance, and will most likely have a copy of it with him/her
when you arrive. (Extra tip: be sure to bring copies of your resume so
that you can offer one to your interviewer if they don’t have one!) Because of
this, it’s important to know what’s on your resume, and to be prepared
to verify and discuss every line of it. Make sure it’s up-to-date and accurate – stop by the Career Center for a resume critique if you want an extra
pair of eyes on it!
Pick out your interview outfit in advance. This is a common
tip, but it’s so easy to do and so worth doing that I had to mention it. Picking out an outfit on the
day of the interview is just additional stress that could take away some of
your energy from the interview, and that’s the last thing you want.
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| Whether it's an interview or a first date, make sure you're putting as much thought into your outfit as Leslie Knope. |
Make sure you know where the interview is, and give yourself
enough time to get there early. One of the worst ways to start off an interview
is to be late; in addition to making a bad impression, it can stress you out
and make you feel flustered and unprepared. To avoid this, make sure you know
where you’re going, how you’ll get there, and how long it’ll take to get there. Leave early
to account for any unforeseen traffic or other delays. If the interview is
on-campus or nearby, you might even want to go to the location beforehand, just
so you can be certain when the big day arrives.
The purpose of interview prep is to minimize stress during or immediately before the interview, and thus to improve your confidence and your chances of having a successful interview. For more tips on interview prep, and interviews in general,
check out the Career Center’s website – they have a whole page devoted to interviews! But, as we all know too well, there's more on the Internet than just the Career Center website. There are all sorts of interview dos and dont's lists out there - like this extensive one from LinkedIn. Interviewing may seem easy, but there’s an art behind
it that, if mastered, will really set you apart and let you present the
best possible version of yourself to an employer.
Until next time,
Sean Boyden
Class of 2017
