It’s spring semester, and most of us have already either gotten internship offers for the summer or are undergoing the interview process. As I was applying to a few software and web development internships in NYC, I got a couple offers for an interview. I’m glad I attended this small informational seminar by Sara and was able to get some feedback on how others approached their interviews. Generally, I like to prepare my questions and answers beforehand because I’m not very good at thinking on my feet, or improvising my answers at the spot. I always thought this was the only way I could prepare for my interviews to optimize my experience, but some might think formulated answers might sound robotic or not as genuine. Some of my peers in the seminar agreed that they felt their interviews went well if they prepared their answers in advance because they did not want to stutter or seem unconfident. However, a few people in the room thought their interview experience resulted in a better outcome if they answered the questions without preparing because it made them seem more sincere. Although I can see why this can be a better approach for some people, I have always felt more comfortable if my answers were a bit scripted. I tend to stutter when I can’t think of an answer right away and that small slip up would make me nervous throughout the entire interview. Overall, I thought this seminar was useful for helping people decide their own personal approach on how to interview with potential employers and gain perspective on how they can improve their experience.

Being an AEM major, I’ve been hammered with various interview tips that are presented as methods to help you “Ace the Interview”.

“Script stories that tell your strengths”, “Always look them in the eye”, “Make your weakness genuine, insightful, and then back it up with how you are working on your weakness”, “Separate yourself”, “Everything in your stories and experiences should connect back to why you want to work here, why you can contribute to the team, and why they should pick you”. These are just some of the various tips that I heard.

While these tips do make sense and are extremely helpful, I can’t keep myself from asking at what point do you stop being your best self and start to be a person you are not to get the job you think you want? At what point does “fake it till you make it” start to hurt you? What percentage of people force themselves into something only to be miserable working day to day? While we focus a lot of attention on performing well on interviews, we hardly ever hear about the fit and happiness of those who receive the jobs after. I am curious if there is a difference in interview experiences between the people who are happy and people who are unsatisfied with their current occupation.

That being said, I am also wondering about the effectiveness of interviews. At some point I feel like it may become similar to that of standardized testing needed to be admitted into college. Ultimately it may depend on whether a person is a good public speaker, well practiced, have the talent at talking to a semi-stranger, and is good at promoting themselves. While some of these qualities are necessary on the job, some may not be. In fact, skills that may be needed are often hard to detect. I wonder if there are certain types of interviews that are more effective compared to others.

I guess ultimately the best thought to keep in mind is something that Sarah brought up – remember to be yourself and that you are interviewing them too. Try to be the best version of you while still being you.

Last week was another great seminar involving career advancing tips. It was interesting to talk about the process of interviewing with a company. Having been interviewed and given interviews in the past I learned alot of information that I wish I had known. One interesting point was to ask the interviewer questions during the interview. While the purpose of interviews are for the company to get to know you, it is also a good opportunity for you to get to know the company you may be working at. This also allows the interview to become a two-way street which, as Sara described, is very beneficial.

Flashbacks came back when Sara discussed how some companies would use brain teasers to test the critical thinking ability of the candidates. When I conducted interviews in high school for the national honor society, my job was to go online and find brain teasers and unique questions to try and stump the candidates. Some of them were able to get them while others it seemed this would throw off their whole interview.

One of the main areas of discussion surrounded the extent to which one should pre memorize a story or monologue when speaking with the company. I am sort of in the middle when it comes to this debate. While I think it is good to have something to say prepared, I feel that an answer may be more genuine if it comes from the top of their head. That being said, I dont think you should just walk into the room and wing it. There is a gray area between being a robot and winging it. This is the area where i believe you need to be.

Ill have to use some of the advice that George Costanza taught us. One of my career goals is to get a job involving sports and George did a good job of doing that. Maybe Ill walk into James Dolan’s office and give him a piece of my mind about the team. Unfortunately, instead of getting a job, I think i would end up being dragged across the floor and out the door by a bunch of security guards.

In the end, this was a great seminar and I hope to attend more like this in the future.

An interview is often the first impression that your future employer will get of you. You want to do well, to impress your interviewers and make a lasting impression. However, during this seminar, I also realized that it is just as important to be yourself. You want to know that the company is truly a good fit for you, and if you change your behavior to match what you think the interviewers want, you could be getting yourself into an office environment that is nothing like what you want. The idea of being yourself in an interview seemed a bit contradictory to me at first, of course you don’t want to be too casual or come off too strong but you still want to be bubbly if you re an outgoing person or even serious if that is how you normally are. It is important to show your future employers what they would be getting when hiring you.

Another topic I found interesting from this seminar was the idea of negotiating wages and benefits. As a first generation student, I knew nothing about this topic. Both of my parents work jobs where they are paid hourly, not by salary and any negotiation attempts would not be tolerated. When hearing about negotiations I worried as I would have to do a large deal of research to be able to know what would be a fair salary. I know the amount I could live on, what I would need to cover the necessities but when it comes to negotiating a fair salary, I become pretty clueless.

Overall, this event was very helpful. I was able to hear from other people about what they do in interviews as well as hearing from Sara and all of her interview experiences.

GRF Sara discussed the art of the interview and how important it is to perfect when searching for research opportunities, jobs, and internships. We started the discussion by sharing what we would need interview skills for, and the answers varied around the room. Some of us were interested in finance, while others were interested in STEM research and art jobs. Sara started off the conversation by discussing what makes someone a good interview candidate. The main points she believed that would make or break an interview were fit and personality. If one doesn’t feel like they would fit into a company’s personality then it will come out in the interview. The experience will just not feel as natural as possible. Sara also brought up the fact of staying true to yourself during the interview. If you try to put on a persona, you might get an authentic vibe from the place you would like to be hired at and your possible employer will definitely not get a sense of who you are as a person as well. We watched some videos from Seinfeld that depicted a character being himself and not putting on a persona when going into an interview.  The character instantly got the job, and it was funny to see someone being unapologetically themselves get rewarded for it. We then discussed other factors of interviews, like dress codes and confidence. To be the most confident one has to feel comfortable, and this level of comfort can stem from how one looks and feels during the interview. We finally discussed whether we should prepare questions and answers, or just go in and try to get a general feel. This question got the conversation going, as many had differing opinions on whether to prepare or not. Personally, I like to prepare responses just to calm my nerves when going in to an interview. This session was very helpful for setting the groundwork and beginning steps to get ready for an interview.