XTRA CREDIT

Extra Credit

Carrie Brooks with Career service

How to interview for a job.

On Tuesday April 9, I attended a short workshop/lecture that was geared towards showing students better ideas for how to present themselves and prepare themselves for interviews.  Interviews are very important, because they are involved in a lot of the things we do.  There are jobs, internships, fellowships, marriages (if you are marrying someone from out of the country), and there are also interviews for clubs organizations and even to get into grad school.  If you really think about it, a first date is pretty much an interview.  So, if you aren’t good looking and you wanna get laid…. Learn to interview!

The meeting went like this.  Carrie handed out some phony resumes for a character named Jonathon Doe and she also posted his resume on the overhead projector.  She ran through the ideas of how to have a proper and organized resume to fit the job (etc.) that you are applying for.  She went over ideas of how to not use the first person or any person when listing the ideas and duties that you want to get across.  For example:  Don’t say “I” took care of guests in the restaurant.  And, she also talked about ‘fluffing’ the language up for the resume.    Example:  you should say…. “Exceeded guest expectations in fine dining establishment.”  This not only makes your experience look better, but it also makes you as an employee look like you value your job.  She said it is important to include any job, and told the way she got her first real job at MCA because she had waited tables.   Customer service is an important field to be a part of, and it is not easy. 

As we went over this she said her interviewee was late, and where was he?  This was all a set up.  In walks Jonathon Welden, the EPA guy, and he’s wearing nylon sweats, tennis shoes, a MCA t-shirt and he’s got his cell phone out.  She asks him some questions.  He talks about how he has had a hard time getting into college but that he is a hard worker and even though he failed a couple classes, he is persitent and moved on til he got his degree.   Jonathon actually did a really good job at showing some of the things that might seem innocuous, but can really become detrimental to your work interview.  With each positive, there was another negative that deflated his chances.

Jonathon left and Carrie said she had another interview at 140.  At precisely 140, in walks Jonathon again.  This time he is dressed appropriately, he has a notebook and takes notes, and he really seems eager and positive to work for Carrie’s fake company.   He gives her what seems to be all the right answers, he makes eye contact, he engages her, and he asks questions that show a true interest in the company and the position, not just the money and getting a job.