Mock Interview Reflection

My mock interview was for a dietetic internship at the University of Houston on October 10, 2007 at 10:40 am in Strode tower. The mock DI director was Mrs. Rogers.

First of all, I learned that my very energetic personality magnifies my display of enthusiasm and interest in the internship to the DI director. This was very encouraging. What I learned from the interview coincides with what I would do differently. First of all, I would not have prepared my cover letter 30 minutes prior to my interview, and more than that, I would never turn in an incomplete cover letter. I also would not ever again leave the responsibility of printing my cover letter to a public printer. Instead, I would make sure I had all my materials prepared the night before. I also would never schedule another meeting within a hour of my interview. I had a Tigers for Haiti meeting at 10:00 am and an interview at 10:40 am. I completely got distracted and was running to the interview in my high heels. That will not happen again in the situation of a mock or professional interview. I learned that the 10-15 minute arrive early window is meant for a reason. Furthermore, I learned that I somewhat stumble over words and begin to talk somewhat fast in an interview. If I could do things differently, I would still be energetic and upbeat, but I would try to slow down my words and pause a moment or two after being asked a question. This would give me a moment to calm down, gather my thoughts, and not just blurt out the first thing that comes to my head.

However, there are some things that I would not do differently or that I felt like I knew. The night before the interview, I reviewed possible interview questions, brainstormed answers, and practiced questions with a friend. I felt like this helped prepare me for the interview. I also would not change the fact that I did talk a lot in the interview. I would change the speed at which I spoke at, but I think it is good to have an answer to all questions and be willing to talk about your answers by giving examples. I think this shows your interest in the internship. Finally, I knew that it was expected to have researched the internship and the location of the internship. I was able to answer questions about how I would feel living in Houston, Texas and why I wanted this particular internship because I had done my research.

After the interview, I felt like the interview had went well. I felt very comfortable with my interviewer. I felt like I had answered the questions to the best of my ability and there was nothing that left that I wanted to say. Overall, I felt that the mock interview was very beneficial to me, a student soon to be entering the work world. I learned what I liked about myself and what I need to improve on.

Presentations Review

This week each student in the class gave a 5 minute presentation on any topic they desired. All thought all the projects were interesting and everyone did a really good job. However, to me there was one presentation that stood out above all the rest and that was Joel's presentation on Invisible Children. It actually brought tears to my eyes. He showed a very powerful and emotional video in the begining and just told the facts about the non-profit organization. I think he did an excellent job analyzing the audience. Invisible Children was started by college students and he was correct in the assumption that this is a passionate generation. I feel like his powerpoint appealed to everyone. We want to to change the world and we can. He used powerful quotes and his powerpoint complemented the message. He used fade in on the quotes and fade out which I think was very dynamic. He also used neutral colors (gray) that were very calming but at the same time a little dark. The final reason why I loved Joel's presentation was that it has actually made me want to find out more about Invisible Children and become concerned and involved with the organization. Great Job Joel and everyone else!!!

Resume Tips

I read two articles giving tips to resume writing. One article was named "How to Pinpoint Accomplishments that will make your Resume Shine." In this article it said that displaying results on your resume was 3 times as important as displaying responsibilites. It said that you should intergrate the results into each job listing. The article gave 5 tips for making your resume shine. The tips were as follows: ditch the modesty, review a performance checklist, use job evaluation, measure your results, and cite recognition. What I got most from this articles was 3 questions as a way to determine your accomplishments. Sometimes its hard to think about what your accomplishments are. The three questions are:
What was your impact on your division, company and group?
What would not have happened if you hadn't been there?
What are you proudest of during your time with the company?
I also learned from the article that being appointed to head up a special project or finish projects ahead of time can also count as accomplishments. It is also good to use numbers to quantify your results.

The second article I read was "Finding the Right Keywords to get your Resume Noticed." It gave 6 tips. The tips were to first of all use the job posting to find keywords to use in your resume. I found this interesting. This way you make your resume sound like the perfect fit for the job they are looking for. The article also recommended that you should visit similar job postings and looks for words that are repeated. This way you know what keywords to include to get the job title you desire. The second tip was to use golden keywords such as communication skills, problem solving, team work, leadership, business development, computer skills and other golden key words. A later tip, however, said not to go overboard using keywords that do no technically apply to you and your skills. Another tip said to use keywords that describe your value such as "driving gross" or "increased efficiency." This goes along with what the previous article said about quantifying your results. Another tip was to still use action verbs. Even if a resume is electronice and nouns are supposed to be used, it is still okay to incorporate a few action verbs in the description. This allows your resume to be positive and active. Finally, the last tip says to "Go with a text file" when posting your resume online.

I found it interesting that in both of the articles it referred to online resumes not paper ones. I am a traditonal person and would much rather do things on paper. However, through these articles I found that I am going to have to do things electronically or else I will limit myself from many job opportunities. Needless to say the times are definitely changing.