ENG 333 Communication for Science and Research

Jamie Larsen, Instructor

Interviewing

The interview is where you get the job. Unfortunately, this is a subjective process so your goal is to increase your chances to get a call back interview so you can have more exposure to various people who will be in decision making positions. I like to tell a true story in my classes, which illustrates exactly when the interview process starts.

Read the story if a young man interviewing for a job . The moral of the story is it's just as important to listen, as it is to be heard!

The best advice I can give about the whole interviewing process is to practice. The more interviews you go on, the better you will be. I remember that as a senior at Rice University and setting out to find a job, I went on as many interviews as I could schedule. I made friends with the ladies in the placement office and they would often hold spots open for me for an employer coming to campus looking for someone who matched my degree and skills. By the middle of my last semester, I could have wall papered my bathroom with the rejection letters I had received. BUT I ended up with two job offers, one from Union Carbide, and one from IBM, and I was in a position to negotiate!

Practice questions that you are most likely to be asked. Be ready with well thought answers and try to create a dialog. Good interviewers want to get off question and let you shine. Have an agenda and be ready to talk about what you want most to leave in the interviewer's mind about you.

In a class room setting, I usually have my students "play interview" and I will throw out certain questions that they need to be ready to answer. Here are a few that you should think about:

• Hiring is tight this year. Why would you make a good employee for my firm?
• What do you think your best skills are?
• What is a weak area of yours? (Be ready for this one. This is where you can turn a low GPA into an asset. If your GPA is not where you want it to be, you can address this proactively by answering this question by saying something like, "Time management was a weak area of mine early in my academic career so my GPA is not as high as I would like. But I have improved in this area and my last semester's GPA was ____ - or my major's GPA is ____." Run your numbers.)
• What salary are you expecting? (At a first interview, if you hear this question then bells should go off in your head. This is not the time salary is usually discussed, or set, so if an interviewer asks you this, he/she is trying to see how savvy you are - do you answer with too low or too high a number? A good answer to this question that can, again, facilitate a dialog is to say "Salary is important to me, but I am also interested in other aspects of the job. What kind of professional development opportunities (or educational opportunities) can I expect?" The interviewer can then begin talking about the company and position - something most interviewers like to do.)
• What has been a challenging project or class that you have had? (You want to "stand out" in the interview process, especially if you are in a Placement Office setting where the interviewer is talking to many people and trying to decide the two or three that they will call back for interviews within the company. Bringing a copy of a project that you have worked on, or a paper you have done can help make you memorable to the interviewer. You don't have to leave this with the interviewer but such "show and tells" will set you apart from others.)

Access the following information about interviewing using NC State's Electronic Reserves .

1. Type in larsen for the search by instructor's name.
2. Click on LARSEN, JAMIE
3. Click on ENG333.
4. Select the item listed as ENG333 Larsen Class Assignment Sheets and In-Class Worksheets .

• Read the following helpful hints. How to Survive and Succeed in the Interview, page 27
• Questions Frequently Asked in Job Interviews, page 29
• Interview Questions, page 30
• What Offer Should I Accept?, page 31

For a lighter side of the interview process, read the following Interview Lowlights for what NOT to do.