How do you sell yourself to a company and answer difficult questions about yourself and your experiences? Interviews can be overwhelming, whether it’s for a full time job, internship, or on-campus role. However, interviews are also incredible opportunities to reflect on your strengths and unique abilities when applying your experiences to a given role. Most importantly though, an interview is a great chance to be yourself and have a conversation about how you may fit with an organization. Dale Austin, the director of Career Development, splits interviews into three pillars:
- Practice the Process
- Put in work ahead of time and understand the process. Know and understand the organization and role. Do your research and know the job description inside and out.
- Schedule a mock interview with a staff member at the Career Development Center.
- Use Interview Stream, an online resource that can be found through Jobstop. It’s an automated question and answer system that videotapes you through your webcam and allows you to re-watch your interview. You can also use Interview Stream on your phone if it has a camera. It’s a free system and there are various question sets, dependent on your major or area of interest! Simply login to Jobstop and you’ll find the Interview Stream icon on the left side of the webpage. Click here to login and get started with Interview Stream: Jobstop Login
- Have Confidence
- When an employer realizes you’re confident in yourself and your abilities, seeing that you know you would be a great fit, he or she will make that connection.
- Know yourself and be authentic. Reflect on your background, values, and experiences to build a connection between you and the company.
- Take Examples from your Experience
- Understand how your experiences have shaped you. Be able to give concrete examples of how they apply to the role or organization.
- Context, action steps, and results. Offer the context and background surrounding your experience, the steps involved, and the overall outcome.
Once you take the time to go through these three pillars and fully understand them, you will be in great shape to wow whatever organization with which you are interviewing! Lastly, don’t forget to send either a thank you note or email to follow up with an interview. If you’re looking to schedule a mock interview or want to learn more about interview prep, please call our office and schedule an appointment at (616) 395-7950, or stop in for a drop-in appointment between 3:00pm-4:30pm any weekday. We can’t wait to work with you!