Through our round table discussion of preparing for an interview, what to say during the process, and how to follow up, I couldn’t help but think that I had heard this advice more than a fair share of times since beginning the college admissions process almost two years ago. Dress the impress, don’t stutter, know your material, don’t forget to send an email within a week, and most importantly: BE CONFIDENT! It seems like interviewing for a job seemed to have a trivial counterpart to speed dating in real life. During our discussion, I couldn’t help but connect the parallels between the two: in both situations, you have a brief and intimate encounter with someone whom you wish to impress, and within that 30 minute to an hour period, you must be able to communicate your credentials through your wardrobe, your speech, and your personal experience. Even though we’ve all heard the spiel over a dozen times in our young, developing professional career, and will continue to learn and memorize the interviewing drill, I’ve learned that perhaps that the whole process is not so scary. The interviewer sitting across the table from you is, in fact, unchangeably a human being, and all you can present to him/her is your best self. And at the end of the day if it doesn’t work, as they say with dating, there are plenty of other fish in the sea!

I attended GRF Seema’s seminar on interview preparation hoping to learn some new tips to relieve my anxiety when it comes to interviews. I, like most people, do not look forward to interviews at all because of the pressure that every question puts on me. I have trouble thinking of answers on the spot and it is extremely difficult to try and cater my responses to what the interviewer would look positively on. Over the past few years, I’ve gone rounds of interviews for college selection, job application, and internship possibilities. Through each and every interview, I’ve learned at least one thing that I could work on for the next interview. And although my fear of interviews has not gotten that much better over the years, I would like to think that my overall performance is significantly stronger over the recent interviews than the first.

I had reflected on a couple of interviews that I had been on and applied GRF Seema’s ideas with my past experiences. My first ever interview was about 3 years ago during my junior year of high school. The interview was going relatively well until the interviewer had asked me a question that I simply blanked on. I could not think of an answer and there was an awkward silence for about a minute and it was the most excruciating silence ever. After I had given an offhand response, my morale had sunk. I believed that the interview had ended at that moment and it was obvious to the interviewer with my change of attitude. GRF Seema told us to not think so hard about the mistakes that we make during an interview. Perhaps if I had ignored the mistake totally after the question had passed, the interview may have gone so much better.

A more recent interview I had gone was during the last summer for a highly intensive and competitive marketing internship in New York City. The process was composed of three interviews with the first and third being relatively short and straight to the point. The second interview was an extremely tough challenge, with the interviewer asking us questions tailored to critical thinking in the marketing world while completing certain tasks. Coming from a very weak background in marketing, the interview pushed me to my limits. The interview lasted about six hours and had a lot of downtime in between. I made sure to leave a good impression with my interviewer and keep casual conversation to let him know that I am personable, a trait extremely important in marketing. GRF Seema emphasized to keep a certain professional and casual relationship with the interviewer depending on the situation. I recalled my second interview during this and will know to keep this strategy going on in the future.

On Thursday, November 8, 2018, I attended GRF Seema’s seminar on interview preparation. Granted, I never looked forward to interviews. And I most likely never will. Interviews often put people on the spot, forcing them to think critically and spontaneously. They test people’s behavior and composure under the burden of watchful eyes. Most individuals, including myself, can remember instances in which they cracked under the pressure and were consumed by nervousness.

However, GRF Seema explained that a person does not have to and should not enter an interview blindly. She emphasized that are many ways to build confidence by preparing for an interview beforehand. For example, I could check the recruiting company’s website for information about the open position’s qualifications, responsibilities, and goals. Then, I could tailor my responses to the specifications that the company is looking for, highlighting experiences that would make me appear like a good fit. Additionally, I could practice by formulating personal responses to sample questions that I find online. Thus, I can familiarize myself with all types of behavioral questions that an interviewer could ask, decreasing the likelihood of any unwanted surprises.

With this in mind, I still did not like the idea of stepping into an interview room by the end of the seminar. But I will certainly try to be more prepared.

I remember how dreadful my first interview was when applying to colleges. I froze. I didn’t know what to respond or to ask, and I couldn’t focus.
Since then, I’ve always seen interviews in a bad way. When preparing a resume and all other written parts of an application, I always had time to think, rethink, write, rewrite, and make every single change I wanted to make, no matter how small. And I’ve always thought of interviews as the exact opposite of that: as a fast process, in which spontaneity and speed are as important as everything else. A process in which “selling yourself” means more than in any other part of an application. And since I dislike this concept, I saw that as one more reason to put in my box of reasons to hate interviews.

However, understanding that I’ll have to be interviewed in the future, I decided to attend GRF Seema’s Interview Prep Seminar.

During the seminar, Seema showed us how, for most parts of an interview, there could be (and should be) a careful preparation. Even for aspects which I otherwise considered more “generic”, such as questions about goals, there is plenty of room for preparation: researching about particular (even if small or specific) ideas/goals/news of the company and linking your experiences and hopes to them or using them as basis for your argument can go a long way. Although I saw these small news/facts as interesting in creating a sense of belonging, I never saw them as important enough to be mentioned in interviews. But they help interviewers to understand you better, which is very positive.

Probably the most important thing about the interview for me, however, was to see the process a bit more through the other side. Since I get very anxious in interviews, it’s easy for me to not see the interviewer’s viewpoint in an accurate way (for example, I tend to simply imagine them judging me and noticing every small mistake of mine). In this sense, seeing a bit more from their perspective and what they are looking for when asking different kinds of questions (for instance, how they can ask some unexpected questions just to see how you respond, or how questions about previous experiences and motivations serve for them to not only link your information to a person but also to remember the information altogether) was really useful to help me see interviews in a more subjective and humane way.

Overall, the seminar helped disproving some of my initial misconceptions of interviews (by, for example, showing how there can be a really careful preparation for more details than I otherwise imagined) and helped me to see them in a more positive light, so I’m really glad to have attended it, and I think it’ll be helpful for me, in the future! (I’m not saying it made me like interviews or something like that. I don’t. But I dislike them a bit less than before because I understand them a bit better now =) )

Last Thursday I attended GRF Seema’s mini-seminar on acing your interview. In the past, I’ve consistently found interviewing to be the most difficult part of the application process; everything else is so much more structured. As for resumés, there is specific template that employers like to see, and there are very specific rules to follow (e.g. have as little white space as possible). The same goes for cover letters and other similar parts of the process. With interviews, however, there’s so much more that’s left out in the open. You can have technical interviews, more casual interviews, phone interviews, group interviews, panel interviews… the list goes on and on, and it’s difficult to keep track of all the intricacies of each.

This event really helped to assuage my fears and misgivings about the process. I think my biggest takeaway from the event was that the people conducting the interview aren’t robots—they’re human too, and, most importantly, everything they do is for a reason. For example, I had no idea that the reason the first thing they ask is almost always, “Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?” is because it helps them remember you and put a face to the application. It seems like common sense in retrospect, but knowing this now definitely has helped me to feel much more relaxed about the process. All in all, this event was very helpful, and I’m genuinely glad that I attended.

One of my most productive nights last week was probably going and learning about how to present myself professionally. As Cornell students, we are always preparing for an interview for one reason or another, and I found that hearing a panel reflect on their experiences would really improve my presentation of myself. This was a great event to attend and more people should take advantage of more of these professionalism seminars.

The seminar series on interviewing was extremely informative and beneficial. The instructor went into depth from start to end of the interview process and provided very specific dos and don’ts for different situations. I have sat through interviews before and felt comfortable in doing so. However, it was still beneficial to think about the technical aspects of interviewing. I found the panel example to be very helpful because I have not personally experienced that kind of interview but know it is common for certain positions. I feel as though I will take away many tips and tricks from this presentation and apply them at my next interview!

This week I went to the seminar on how to better interview for jobs or internships by GRF Seema. As I intend to go onto graduate/medical school, I would have appreciated a little more information on how to interview for medical schools, but the information Seema provided was still very helpful, especially as I do not have much formal interview experience. One of the main points that she stressed was to prepare for the interview. This could be by researching the company’s website, their social media sites, the specific employer, and/or looking up information about the position. This is useful to know, considering that in many of the interviews I have done (while rather informal) I have used a “wing it” strategy. Another point that Seema made that I thought was really great was to anticipate some of the questions that the interviewer may ask, and then to answer those questions in preparation. While this may seem simple, or even obvious, I believe it is commonly overlooked, and is a great way to prepare for an interview. Of course, you will not be able to anticipate every single question the interviewer will ask, but thinking of some of the more general questions they may ask could help you feel more prepared. This is something that I will certainly remember and utilize in the future, especially for open ended questions like “tell me about yourself” or “why do you want to come to X medical school”. I often have trouble putting some of these answers into words, especially on the spot in an interview setting, and I think that preparing this way would help increase my confidence, and hopefully improve my interviewing-ability.

I went to the interview event on Thursday to learn about more tips from GRF Seema. First, we talked about how to effectively prep for an interview. On top of reading the job description, job/internship seekers should go to the company’s website, social media pages, and LinkedIn. We should know what the employer is looking for in candidates and we as candidates should know how our skills and experiences could be valuable for the job. Seema also talked about how eye contact and dressing professionally is very important and contributes to how you present yourself. Candidates should remain calm even if they are thrown off by a question. She stressed how important practice is and how mock interviews or even just recording yourself can show potential struggles and places to improve on. During a panel interview, there may be a person that looks at how you’re dressed, another that looks at body language and sees any signs of nervousness, and others who are interested in the answers to the questions. I will be sure to think about these things the next time I have an interview!

Today, I attended the seminar on interview prep. I learned that there are various factors that go into preparing for interviews. Therefore, I believe it is crucial to remember that if an interview doesn’t go well or if you face rejection after an interview to not get down on yourself as you put your best effort into preparing. Especially with technical interviews, many of the questions are arbitrary and they do not determine your worth and value, and it is very important that you realize that there was only so much you could prepare for. Thus, the best kind of prep for an interview should be recognizing your worth and that you are putting your best effort.