Tricks of the Trade: Interviewing
I feel uncommonly blessed when it comes to my college experience for several reasons, but mainly, in regards to academics, because of the valuable relationships I formed with my professors and friends, or soon-to-be colleagues. I learned everything from the intricacies of public relations to the routines of interviewing to the practice of networking while soaking up the knowledge of my experienced professors and the tales of friends just dipping their toes in the world, learning from everyone and sharing what I could.
An important milestone was, of course, my first internship interview and for someone who has never been in the hot seat before, it can be a very daunting. I went to everyone and everything – professors, friends, family, internet – gathering all the advice I could before taking my first step in the professional world.
Now that I’ve had the amazing opportunity to sit on the other side of the table and be the one asking the questions, I realized that some students might not have the resources I did when preparing for an interview and while all were wonderfully to speak with, some either forgot or didn’t know some of the basics of interviewing.
I wanted to share the three things that no prospective employee should ignore:
1. Research the company/agency before the interview
2. Create a list of questions to spit out when asked the final “Do you have any questions for me?” question
3. Write thank you emails after the interview
While the above might seem rudimentary, the most common one to forget is writing a thank you note. This is a tried and true tactic that will remind interviewers about your interview, and allows you to repeat some of your best qualities that set yourself apart from others for the position. In terms of always having questions prepared, this is a piece of advice I heard from almost everyone and I believe helped me many times in my interviews. Even asking a question that you don’t necessarily need to know the answer to will show how interested you are and might also uncover some facts about the internship or company that you didn’t know about. When jobs are as competitive as they are these days, it’s the little things that set you apart from the rest.
