With the end of the school year and summer quickly approaching, many students are anticipating their CLOGs to open up officer applications for the next school year or even thinking of doing summer internships—both which typically require applicants to go through an interview process.
Interviews can be quite jarring and stressful if you aren’t prepared or do not know what to expect. Here are a couple of tips to help you ace your next interview..
1. Do research on the organization you are applying to.
When applying for an internship or club position, you should research the organization’s mission to see if it aligns with your goals and to better understand why you are interested in that particular organization. This helps prepare you for possible interview questions such as:
- Why do you want to be a part of this organization specifically?
- Which part of our mission stands out or resonates with you?
- What do you believe is our organization’s mission?
2. Prepare to talk about your hard and soft skills.
Hard skills are skills that can be taught and are typically specific for the job or position you are applying for. This includes operating lab equipment if you want to work in a lab, or being skilled at using graphic editing programs such as Canva and Procreate if you are applying for a marketing or design internship.
On the other hand, soft skills are personal attributes that help individuals demonstrate that they are a good fit for the company culture. These skills include leadership, communication, adaptability, patience, and other social skills.
Both skills are very valuable, and it is always best to identify your hard and soft skills. Also be ready to describe those skills in length and “sell them” to your interviewer. Pointing these skills out and applying them shows how you will excel in your desired job position and will make you stand out as a candidate.
3. Prepare to be asked about your strengths and weaknesses.
It’s important to know yourself well, and know what you have to offer to the employer or recruiter while also acknowledging what you need to work on. When asked this question, you should emphasize your strengths, and minimize your weaknesses. While talking about your strengths, explain why your specific skill set is important for the position you are being interviewed for and connect them to the tasks you might be doing.
When asked about your weaknesses, you should be careful not to say anything that severely prevents you from doing well at your job. Instead, you should talk about non-essential skills, and how you have been actively trying to improve on your weaknesses. The purpose of the question is for the recruiter to get a scope on how you face new challenges.
For instance, if you were being interviewed for a graphic design or web editor position, you should not say your weakness is working with technology or creativity, as these are essential to your job, and having such a weakness will make you a terrible candidate in the eyes of employers. Instead, you can say that you have trouble being too detail oriented, which leads you to take longer on specific projects or tasks. You can also turn this weakness into a strength, making it positive by explaining how being very detail oriented ensures you always turn in high quality work.
4. Think about your qualifications in advance
More often than not, candidates are typically asked to explain what differentiates them from other candidates. Here, the recruiter is asking, “Why should we choose you over someone else?” To answer this question you need to understand why you are interested in this opportunity. Talking about your previous experiences that are valuable to this role, as well as how the organization’s mission personally resonates with you, are also good ways to make you stand out and answer this question well.
5. Practice through mock interviews.
Although it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what will be asked during the interview, you can prepare by asking your friends or family members to conduct mock interviews. There are many questions that are commonly asked by interviewers, and they can be found by doing a quick Google search. Practicing through mock interviews will not only prepare you for the pressure you will face during a real interview, but it will also help you understand your weakness and allow you to improve.
6. Prepare questions to ask the interviewer.
At the end of your interview, it is very likely that the interviewer will give you a chance to ask them any questions you may have. I typically take advantage of this opportunity to ask them, “Do you have any hesitations or concerns towards me and my ability to succeed at this job/position?” If the interviewer does have any concerns, I try my best to address them and explain in case there were any misunderstandings so that there is a larger likelihood that I will get the position.
You can also ask the interviewer questions regarding company culture: what your responsibilities would look like, and what is their favorite and least favorite part of their job. Asking these types of questions will give the interviewer a better understanding of your passion and interest in the job in question.
