Water Cooler Talk: Interviewing Tips

B round for Coop opened this week and I know this makes a lot of people nervous.  You now have to go through the whole process of interviewing with different companies again.  Interviewing can be the most nerve racking part of Coop.  I have asked some of your fellow students, Hayley Zedeck, Kevin Rossi, and Brian Palmer, what their best advice would be when going to an interview.

According to Hayley, the key to an interview is confidence.  “Go into the interview and believe that you deserve the job and carry yourself that way because it’s noticeable whether you’re nervous or hesitant if you don’t believe in yourself.” I agree with Hayley and believe that confidence, even if you are not the most qualified for the job, can make the interviewer remember your name.  Go into the interview and talk like you deserve the job and you will get it. 

Kevin says that you have to treat the interview like a conversation.  This will make you less nervous and allow you to do a better job during the interview.  You have to remember that you are just talking to another person and you shouldn’t treat it any differently than any other conversation you will have.  As long as you know you do your research you will do fine.  Finally Kevin’s biggest advice was “It’s all about the handshake.”  A good handshake says a lot about a person.  This is also a good way to show how confident you are. 

Finally Brian offered up two bits of advice for an interview.  His first advice was “Be prepared…If you are prepared you are ready for any question and will most likely have good answers and be able to adjust.”  The second piece of advice was to separate yourself from everyone else.  “Everyone is going to have a good resume and good recommendations; you have to communicate what you do well to get a good job.”  I feel that the second piece of advice is really good to remember.  Your resume got you the interview now you have to prove why you deserve it more than anyone else.  If you can’t communicate you won’t be able to get the job. 

All of these tips will make you a much better interviewee.  Just go in there with confidence because confidence goes a long way.  My final tip that I would have is to dress to impress.  Even if you feel like the interview is going to be laid back, do not dress that way.  It is much better to be over dressed than underdressed.  My hope is that you guys take these tips and use them to get a job in B round.