So the Career Fair is over...now what?
Make sure you check your Job Finder account because a lot of deadlines for bigger companies are approaching quickly (or have already passed by!). How do you do this? Log into your Job Finder account, click on the jobs tab on the top, and then use the search feature to search for jobs, internships, or interviews. Go check it out, now. No, really. I know you're all super busy (I know I am!), but if you wait too long you're going to miss out on some companies.
So what to expect when you actually get an interview? Interviewing can be nerve wracking, but it gets much easier with a lot of preparation and a little practice.
So what are they going to ask you? Here are some questions that are frequently asked by employers (provided by the CDC's Career Guide) :
1. Tell me about yourself.
2. What are your hobbies?
3. Why did you choose to interview with our organization?
4. Describe your ideal job.
5. What can you offer us?
6. What do you consider to be your greatest strenghts?
7. Can you name some weaknesses?
8. Define success. Failure.
9. Have you ever had any failures? What did you learn from them?
10. Of which accomplishments are you most proud?
11. Who are your role models? Why?
12. How does your college education or work experience relate to this job?
13. What motivates you most in a job?
14. Have you had difficulty getting along with a former professor/supervisor/co-worker and how did you handle it?
15. Have you ever spoken before a group of people? How large?
16. Why should we hire you rather than another candidate?
17. What do you know about our organization (products and services)?
18. Where do you want to be in five years? Ten years?
19. Do you plan to return to school for further education?
20. Why did you choose your major?
21. Why did you choose to attend your college or university?
22. Do you think you received a good education? In what ways?
23. In which campus activities did you participate?
24. Which classes in your major did you like best? Least? Why?
25. Which elective classes did you like best? Least? Why?
26. If you were to start over, what would you change about your education?
27. Do your grades accurately reflect your ability? Why or why not?
28. Were you financially responsible for any portion of your college education?
29. What job-related skills have you developed?
30. Did you work while going to school? In what positions?
31. What did you learn from these work experiences?
32. What did you enjoy most about your last employment? Least?
33. Have you ever quit a job? Why?
34. Give an example of a situation in which you provided a solution to an employer.
35. Give an example of a time in which you worked under deadline pressure.
36. Have you ever done any volunteer work? What kind?
37. How do you think a former supervisor would describe your work?
38. Do you prefer to work under supervision or on your own?
39. What kind of boss do you prefer?
40. Would you be successful working with a team?
41. Do you prefer large or small organizations? Why?
42. What other types of positions are you considering?
43. How do you feel about working in a structured environment?
44. Are you able to work on several assignments at once?
45. How do you feel about working overtime?
46. How do you feel about travel?
47. How do you feel about the possibility of relocating?
48. Are you willing to work flextime?
So to prepare for an interview, you first want to research the company and the position to know what to expect and what to ask. Then you should look at these questions and come up with a good answer to each one (you never know what you'll be asked to its helpful to be prepared for all of them).
Think you have a good answer for a question? Practice saying it out loud. It might not actually come across as great as you thought it would.
How do I know this? I recently had a Mock Interview with the CDC. At first I was really nervous because 1. it's an interview and 2. they film it. I hate being on camera. And even more than that, I hate watching myself on camera. But after I got over that initial uncomfortableness, I ended up being extremely happy that I did it. Because it went well? Of course not. But because it was extremely helpful to see what I liked about my interview and what I didn't, so I can be even better when it comes to the real thing. I was able to see what mannerisms I liked, and which ones I should be more conscious of and try to avoid next time. It was also really helpful to hear myself answering the questions because I could see what questions seemed to trip me up a little, and which ones I had great answers for.
So check out your Job Finder account, research companies, and brush up on your interview skills because I know you don't want to miss out on anything.
Good luck!
And enjoy the weekend. :)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Did you know you only have TWO days left?!
That's right. The Career Fair is this Wednesday! It's from 1-5 in Harrington Auditorium.
So here are the last few steps that you should be taking to get ready:
1. Polishing up your resume. Fix the changes that were suggested at Resumazing!, or if you didn't go, take a look at the CDC's packet on How to Write a Resume to make sure yours is finalized. You can find this packet either in the CDC itself, or in your Job Finder Account (you've signed up already, right? If not, check out my last post).
2. Talking about Job Finder....log into your account and check out the companies coming. Make a list of the ones that you definitely want to talk to, and take note on what their company does so you have something to talk about.
3. Make sure that you have a professional outfit ready to go (and if you don't have one at school, wear the next most appropriate thing. First impressions definitely do count!).
Good luck! And I'll see you there. ;)
So here are the last few steps that you should be taking to get ready:
1. Polishing up your resume. Fix the changes that were suggested at Resumazing!, or if you didn't go, take a look at the CDC's packet on How to Write a Resume to make sure yours is finalized. You can find this packet either in the CDC itself, or in your Job Finder Account (you've signed up already, right? If not, check out my last post).
2. Talking about Job Finder....log into your account and check out the companies coming. Make a list of the ones that you definitely want to talk to, and take note on what their company does so you have something to talk about.
3. Make sure that you have a professional outfit ready to go (and if you don't have one at school, wear the next most appropriate thing. First impressions definitely do count!).
Good luck! And I'll see you there. ;)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
So Who's Going To The Career Fair Anyway?
Well, in addition to you of course, there are already 107 companies participating in this fall's Career Fair.
That's a lot of companies, and you're obviously not going to have enough time to talk to everyone. But then again, why would you want to? Only a portion of the companies coming relate to your major or the field you want to work in, so why not make the most of the Career Fair and talk to all of these companies that actually relate to you while skipping by the ones that don't?
So how do you do this? Luckily for you, the CDC had already made this information available. If you log into your Job Finder Account, click on the events tab at the top, and then select 09careerfair, you will be able to see a list of all of the companies coming. In addition to that, this list also provides a link to the company's website, a short description about what they do, what majors they're looking for as well as to what types of jobs they have (summer internships, co ops, full time, etc). Companies love it when you already know some information about them and you get major points for being prepared. Plus, then you'll be able to ask the questions that actually matter instead of surface questions like "What do you do?" or "Are you looking for any interns?". You get the point.
So what if you don't have a Job Finder Account yet? Don't worry, it's really easy to sign up. You can find a link to Job Finder in the left column of the CDC's main web page. From there your username is your Student ID and your password is the first four digits of your Student ID plus your birth month and date. So, for example. If you Student ID is 333444555 and your birthday is February 14,1990, your password would be 33340214.
If you already set up your account and don't remember your password, just stop by the CDC and someone working there will be able to reset it for you.
So check out the companies coming and polish up your resume (Resumazing! is on Thursday in the Odeum from 1-7), and get ready because the Career Fair is only 8 days away!
That's a lot of companies, and you're obviously not going to have enough time to talk to everyone. But then again, why would you want to? Only a portion of the companies coming relate to your major or the field you want to work in, so why not make the most of the Career Fair and talk to all of these companies that actually relate to you while skipping by the ones that don't?
So how do you do this? Luckily for you, the CDC had already made this information available. If you log into your Job Finder Account, click on the events tab at the top, and then select 09careerfair, you will be able to see a list of all of the companies coming. In addition to that, this list also provides a link to the company's website, a short description about what they do, what majors they're looking for as well as to what types of jobs they have (summer internships, co ops, full time, etc). Companies love it when you already know some information about them and you get major points for being prepared. Plus, then you'll be able to ask the questions that actually matter instead of surface questions like "What do you do?" or "Are you looking for any interns?". You get the point.
So what if you don't have a Job Finder Account yet? Don't worry, it's really easy to sign up. You can find a link to Job Finder in the left column of the CDC's main web page. From there your username is your Student ID and your password is the first four digits of your Student ID plus your birth month and date. So, for example. If you Student ID is 333444555 and your birthday is February 14,1990, your password would be 33340214.
If you already set up your account and don't remember your password, just stop by the CDC and someone working there will be able to reset it for you.
So check out the companies coming and polish up your resume (Resumazing! is on Thursday in the Odeum from 1-7), and get ready because the Career Fair is only 8 days away!
Monday, September 14, 2009
9 Days and Counting
Wow. I think people are finally starting to realize how close the Career Fair actually is. (If you're not one of those people, it's on September 23rd. That's only 9 days from now!)
The reason why I'm saying that is that I finally got my resume critiqued. Instead of making an appointment like I was planning on, I decided to go to walk ins last Thursday instead (they're every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1-3). I showed up at 1:o5 and there were already about 6 people infront of me. Who thought it'd be that busy already?!
Even though I had to wait a little for my turn, it was definitely worth it. I thought my resume was pretty good because I had it critiqued before, but they had a lot of really helpuful suggestions. If you're a junior like me, it's really important to take all of your high school information off your resume. And the harder part that I had to learn is that there is a difference between what activites/experiences you felt were important in your life and what activities/experiences are relavant to you getting a job in the future.
So the main point that I'm trying to make is that even if you think you have a good resume (which you might), it's still helpful to get it critiqued because they may have suggestions on how to make it even better (and who wouldn't want that?).
Although you can still try to go during walk ins, or email your resume to cdc@wpi.edu, your best bet at this point is to go to Resumazing! which is this thursday from 1-7 in the Odeum.
And if you haven't started your resume yet or have a lot of work left to do on it - get started! And good luck!
The reason why I'm saying that is that I finally got my resume critiqued. Instead of making an appointment like I was planning on, I decided to go to walk ins last Thursday instead (they're every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1-3). I showed up at 1:o5 and there were already about 6 people infront of me. Who thought it'd be that busy already?!
Even though I had to wait a little for my turn, it was definitely worth it. I thought my resume was pretty good because I had it critiqued before, but they had a lot of really helpuful suggestions. If you're a junior like me, it's really important to take all of your high school information off your resume. And the harder part that I had to learn is that there is a difference between what activites/experiences you felt were important in your life and what activities/experiences are relavant to you getting a job in the future.
So the main point that I'm trying to make is that even if you think you have a good resume (which you might), it's still helpful to get it critiqued because they may have suggestions on how to make it even better (and who wouldn't want that?).
Although you can still try to go during walk ins, or email your resume to cdc@wpi.edu, your best bet at this point is to go to Resumazing! which is this thursday from 1-7 in the Odeum.
And if you haven't started your resume yet or have a lot of work left to do on it - get started! And good luck!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Summer's Over?
Hello!
So I’m one of the new bloggers for WPI’s Career Development Center. :) I’m a junior Mechanical Engineering major who’s concentrating in the area of Biomechanics (hence the name). Although I’ve had a vague idea of what I’ve wanted to do since high school, it took me a little while to figure out the details. I’ll write more about that another time.
Junior Year. Wow. It’s so hard to believe that I’m halfway done with college. It definitely doesn’t feel like it’s been two years. For me, WPI’s seven week terms make everything seem to fly by. But, even though I’m halfway done, I still haven’t made up my mind on how I feel about these short terms. On one hand, I love the fact that you only have to focus on three classes at a time, and if you have a class that you don’t like, you’re done with it in less than two months. But on the other hand, we’re only a week into A term and I’ve had two major tests and a lab report. It definitely doesn’t feel like I was on summer vacation a week ago.
My summer was nice and relaxing, but not quite as productive as I would have liked it to be. For the first half of the summer I was a nanny, and for the second half I worked for a tutoring program. I really enjoy teaching math and I love the feeling of having a positive impact on kids’ lives, but I know that this was definitely my last summer working there. Because next summer is my last summer before graduation (which is a REALLY scary thought), I want to get an internship that is related to my field.
To make sure that I’m able to get an internship that I want next summer despite the bad economy, one of my goals for the year is to start looking really early. Although a lot of smaller companies don’t start looking for interns until Winter or Spring, a lot of the bigger companies have Fall deadlines which is one of the reasons why I’m looking forward to the Fall Career Fair on September 23rd. I have a lot to get done before then though.
The first thing I have to get done is to update my resume. I need to add employment details from this summer as well as make sure that all of my club and activity info is up to date. Once I finish that, I’ll set up an appointment with one of the CDC staff members for a resume critique to make sure I’m not missing anything. Plus, what college kid doesn’t love a free t-shirt? :P
So what’s with this whole t-shirt thing? The first 250 WPI students to get their resume critiqued by the CDC get a free royal blue t-shirt. And although I’m going to make an appointment, there are other easy ways to get your resume critiqued. You can either drop it off in the CDC’s resume box on the front desk or email it to cdc@wpi.edu, and it will be edited and ready for pick up within four days. You can also stop by during Walk-In hours which are 1-3 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Or you can just set up an appointment like me.
So pull out your old resume (or start one!) and get it edited so you’ll be ready to go by the 23rd (and have another t-shirt in your drawer).
And enjoy the long weekend!
So I’m one of the new bloggers for WPI’s Career Development Center. :) I’m a junior Mechanical Engineering major who’s concentrating in the area of Biomechanics (hence the name). Although I’ve had a vague idea of what I’ve wanted to do since high school, it took me a little while to figure out the details. I’ll write more about that another time.
Junior Year. Wow. It’s so hard to believe that I’m halfway done with college. It definitely doesn’t feel like it’s been two years. For me, WPI’s seven week terms make everything seem to fly by. But, even though I’m halfway done, I still haven’t made up my mind on how I feel about these short terms. On one hand, I love the fact that you only have to focus on three classes at a time, and if you have a class that you don’t like, you’re done with it in less than two months. But on the other hand, we’re only a week into A term and I’ve had two major tests and a lab report. It definitely doesn’t feel like I was on summer vacation a week ago.
My summer was nice and relaxing, but not quite as productive as I would have liked it to be. For the first half of the summer I was a nanny, and for the second half I worked for a tutoring program. I really enjoy teaching math and I love the feeling of having a positive impact on kids’ lives, but I know that this was definitely my last summer working there. Because next summer is my last summer before graduation (which is a REALLY scary thought), I want to get an internship that is related to my field.
To make sure that I’m able to get an internship that I want next summer despite the bad economy, one of my goals for the year is to start looking really early. Although a lot of smaller companies don’t start looking for interns until Winter or Spring, a lot of the bigger companies have Fall deadlines which is one of the reasons why I’m looking forward to the Fall Career Fair on September 23rd. I have a lot to get done before then though.
The first thing I have to get done is to update my resume. I need to add employment details from this summer as well as make sure that all of my club and activity info is up to date. Once I finish that, I’ll set up an appointment with one of the CDC staff members for a resume critique to make sure I’m not missing anything. Plus, what college kid doesn’t love a free t-shirt? :P
So what’s with this whole t-shirt thing? The first 250 WPI students to get their resume critiqued by the CDC get a free royal blue t-shirt. And although I’m going to make an appointment, there are other easy ways to get your resume critiqued. You can either drop it off in the CDC’s resume box on the front desk or email it to cdc@wpi.edu, and it will be edited and ready for pick up within four days. You can also stop by during Walk-In hours which are 1-3 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Or you can just set up an appointment like me.
So pull out your old resume (or start one!) and get it edited so you’ll be ready to go by the 23rd (and have another t-shirt in your drawer).
And enjoy the long weekend!
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