Friday, November 9, 2007

"Remember it's just an interview not an execution" --Conrad Fink, Grady College, UGA

As my job search ensues, I am looking for any tips on how to interview well and how to craft an appealing resume and cover letter. I have found some basic tips on these matters through blogs, but some of the best tips I've gathered have been from professors. These are just a few:

  • If your hair tends to get in your eyes, pin it back. You don't want to be nervously pushing it away.
  • If you find yourself rambling while answering a question, but don't know how to conclude your response, repeat the question with a short answer to get back on track.
  • Send hand-written thank-you notes!
  • Think of details that may set you apart before the interview so that you can pepper your responses with these facts.
Obviously you should not forget standard best practices during an interview, but these were just a few tips I found that were out of the ordinary. Please let me know if you have any to add!

2 comments:

Katherine Strate said...

One thing my professor told me about thank-you notes was to:
1. send them within 24 hours
2. if you had a special topic of conversation, or you want them to remember you by something special, send it in your note. An example would be a UGA bumper sticker or something.

Anonymous said...

After my first interview for a (real) marketing job I was shocked at how rigid it had been. After mentioning it to a prof she told me that during interviews employers, esp women, put their coldest faces on. No smiles, no laughs, no emotions. She said that they don't want a possible employee to think that they can be walked over or disregarded if hired. The manager had been a woman and she def was as cold and sharp as you can imagine. I had no way of knowing what this woman's impression of me was until she called me in for a follow-up interview and I was offered a position. SO, I wanted to share this experience with you so that you can have your guard up when you go in for a professional interview. If you make a joke and they don't laugh or if you smile and they don't crack a smile in return, DON'T take it personally.