Tag Archives: Job interview
The Freddie Factor: Tales from one of Indiana INTERNnet’s own
An internship, as defined by Websterâs Dictionary, is âa student or recent graduate who works for a period of time at a job in order to gain experience.â The goal of Indiana INTERNnet is to be an internship-matching program linking employers, students, high schools, colleges and universities. It worksâwell, it did for me!
Hereâs how:
Ever since my arrival as a freshman student at Indiana University, internships have been stressed by faculty and staff as important learning experiences. Not wanting to disappoint, that very year, I went on- the-hunt for the mighty internship. The process seemed straight forward: make a great resume, apply, and interview. How do you find the internship, though? Most colleges have career services, which provide help locating internships and jobs, as well as preparing your resume for career fairs and interviews. These services are invaluable. In addition to checking out my collegeâs career services offerings, I …
âWinners donât have to explain themselves. Only losers do.â
As many of you may already be aware, actor Charlie Sheen has been working with internships.com to hire a âwinningâ summer 2011 social media intern to monitor and manage his social media marketing campaigns â imagine having that experience listed on your resume…
If this is your first time learning about the internship, donât get too excited; the competition/interview process is already in its third round, narrowing the some 82,000 applicants down to 250 individuals who have proven to have #tigerblood thus far.
21-year-old Julia Hatmaker is one of the 250 left. She has made comments to The Patriot-News about her experience:
In the first round, she was asked to tell why she thought she should get the job. Her response was a twist on Sheenâs own words: âWinners donât have to explain themselves. Only losers do.â
âI guess they liked that,â she said.
Although this answer is …
Want to Perform Your Best at Your Next Internship Interview?
Entry by Pat Patterson
Aside from the usual interview preparation â researching the organization and opportunity, preparing answers to questions, dressing in appropriate professional attire, etc. â the key to performing your best at your next internship interview is to get enough sleep the night before, so be prepared to catch some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzsâŠâŠâŠ
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According to studies discussed in Brain Rules, a book by molecular biologist Dr. John Medina, sleep helps our brains function at peak performance:
To highlight this, Medina refers to a study in which math graduate students were given a problem and told the way to solve it.Â
âIt was a bonehead solution,â Medina says. âUnbeknownst to students, there was a much more elegant way to solve the math problem.â
The researchers, who wanted to study the effect of sleep on cognition, broke the students into two groups, Group A and Group B. With 12 …
Students: Common Interviewing Mistakes
Entry by Pat Patterson
The âdead fish handshakeâ â Always shake your interviewerâs hand firmly and confidently (just make sure you donât over do it).Â
The âpoker faceâ â When you answer questions, do so with a smile on your face and at least appear as if you are enjoying yourself. A pleasant attitude is contagious, and your interviewer will remember you as a positive person if you are pleasant.Â
Forgetting to breathe â I donât mean literally forgetting to breathe and passing out (I hope no one is that nervous during an interview) â I mean try not to talk too quickly. Take some deep breaths and slow your speech enough to be understood. If you think you may be speaking too quickly, there is a good chance that you are. Practice answering questions with a friend to gauge a good talking speed.Â
âThanks Tom, uhhâŠI …
Employers: Non-traditional Interviewing Approaches
Entry by Pat Patterson – from the January 2011 INTERNnetwork
Non-traditional Interviews
Virtual Interview
With today’s technology, interviews do not necessarily need to be face-to-face. If you are unable to meet with students for interviews or vice versa, conducting an interview via video/audio equipment may be a viable option. Many career services offices have webcams and Skype accounts to accommodate students and employers for virtual interviews. If your organization typically conducts preliminary phone screening interviews, you may even consider a virtual interview as a substitute.
Meal Interview
If you have a client-focused organization that regularly involves interacting with different individuals, including lunch or dinner meetings, consider interviewing students over lunch or dinner. By doing so, you may be able to gauge a student’s social skills and mannerisms in a more relaxed setting. Even if you are not a client-focused organization, conducting interviews over meals may …
Interview Like a S.T.A.R.
Entry by Pat Patterson
From the January 2011 INTERNnetwork:
In internship interviews, employers commonly ask behavioral interview questions that focus on past events in your life and your responses. Since a student will typically not have much work experience, behavioral interview questions are open-ended questions that focus on past performances to assess behavior â in particular, how you may respond to similar situations in the future. âCan you tell me about a goal you accomplished at a previous job?â is an example of a behavioral interview question.
Since behavioral interview questions are open-ended, they can be difficult to answer. Therefore, you need to be prepared. The S.T.A.R. technique for interviewing is a method for thoroughly answering behavioral interview questions. Using the S.T.A.R. technique, you describe your actions in past situations to answer behavioral questions.Â
S.T.A.R. is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result.
Situation â Provide some …
Students: What Employers Want
Entry by Pat Patterson
Before an internship or job interview, it is important to learn as much as you can about the particular opportunity and organization. The more you know about an opportunity and organization, the more you can understand an employerâs needs, and how you may address such needs if hired. However, in general, employers will look for certain skills/qualities in potential hires. According to NACEâs Job Outlook 2011 survey, employers listed verbal communication skills as the top quality they look for:
Survey respondents indicate that verbal communication skills topped the list of âsoftâ skills they seek in new college graduates looking to join their organizations, followed by strong work ethic, teamwork skills, analytical skills, and initiative.
Employers Rank Top 5 Candidate Skills/Qualities
Verbal Communication Skills Strong Work Ethic Teamwork Skills Analytical Skills Initiative
Read more.Â
To hone your verbal communication skills, make sure you practice your elevator …
The #1 Interview Question: âTell me about yourself.â
Entry by Valerie Petrey, Public Relations & Event Planning Intern, Purdue Liberal Arts Career Development
Preparing for an interview, whether for an internship or job is stressful. Itâs simple to answer questions about yourself, right? The hard part is answering those questions in a way that will convey your specific skill set to an employer.
When answering the infamous question, âtell me about yourself,â you must limit the answer to a minute or two. Also keep in mind your future employer doesnât care about your obsession with the Chicago Cubs, that you like music or if youâre double jointed, UNLESS you can turn those things into experience that would benefit the job you want to do for that employer. In which case it would make you stand out among the hundreds of other candidates.
A fabulous guest speaker came to my class this week and told us the story of …