I am passionate about this topic. Anyone can hone his/her interview skills; it’s a critical soft skill that can give you an edge against your competition.
Why am I talking about interviewing skills when, increasingly, the college interview seems to be fading away?
Any time you talk to a person associated with the university you hope to attend, that’s an interview. And I am also sharing this information in the “life unit” portion of my website so you can refer back to it when you go for a leadership position in college, an internship in college, a med school interview, a residency interview, and/or for the all-important job interview after college or grad school.
So, when you go to a college fair and chat with an admissions person representing your dream school, that’s an interview.
When you go on a college tour and are chatting with the student who volunteered to take you on a tour of that campus, that’s an interview.
When you chat with a representative from a college in your guidance counselor’s office when they come to tell you about their college, that’s an interview.
So, how do you prepare for an interview?
🗝️ First, do your homework. Again, this is just like dating. You want your dream school to want you. Guess what? They want to be your dream school. They want you to be geeked out enough about them that you have stalked their website. You need to ask questions that reveal that you have done your homework about our school. Being from South Bend, Indiana, for example, I know that Notre Dame does not have a Greek system; they have dorms that function as their home base. My friends who are Notre Dame grads are close to the people who lived in their dorms with them. So, if you talk to a Notre Dame rep and ask them about their Greek life, that is a stupid question. You have just shown me that you care so little about Notre Dame that you don’t even know that they do not have sororities and fraternities.
🗝️ Let’s say you are interested in studying business at Wharton at UPenn. Stalk the Wharton page. Find something specific about their program that excites you so you can ask about it when you meet with the rep. He may not know the answer, but the rep will walk away knowing that you are really excited about that program.
So, don’t ask some generic question like, “tell me about your freshmen orientation program?” when you can easily find the answer online and it’s a question you could ask any college rep.
How else do you prepare for an interview?
🗝️ You need to review your resume, and do some self analysis prior to the interview. What do I mean? See my document about self analysis prior to the interview. Get out a highlighter, and highlight the two or three adjectives that best describe you, and then think of a story that exemplifies that quality about you in the margin.
What do I mean?
🗝️ First, let’s talk about how you use your resume to prepare for an interview. Look at your resume, and put yourself in the shoes of a person interviewing you. What is most impressive about you based on a cursory read of your resume? Maybe you are captain of a sport. Or you spearheaded a blood drive.
Clearly, I am going to ask about your leadership skills. If you have listed references, I may ask you what Dr. Guffin would say about you if I read his letter of recommendation.
If you are a captain of an athletic team, I may ask you what your team would say about you or what your coach would say about you.
If you studied overseas, I am obviously going to ask you about what you learned about yourself being away from home and living in a foreign country for the first time.
“Tell me about yourself” is a common opening question. You can prepare an answer to that. I always told my students that this question lets you introduce yourself.
This is your elevator speech about who you are.
If you are stuck on what to say, look at the self analysis sheet for an interview and share the two to three adjectives that best describe you, and then share a story about the quality that you think best gets at the essence of who you are.
Let’s say one of your personality strengths is your ability to connect with others. I need a STORY to make that quality about you stick.
Maybe you tutor kids in a local elementary school or you are a camp counselor.
Tell me about a specific kid whose life you touched.
So, let’s say I ask you what words best describe you. You might say three of your greatest strengths are your dependability, your ability to lead by example, and your ability to connect with others. Then you might say, “Of these three qualities, my greatest quality is my ability to connect with others. As captain of cross country, I try to help the young kids on our team. I developed a strong connection with Lucas, a freshman with incredible potential. When we run after school, I try to fall back and bond with him. I check in with him about how he is adjusting to high school, let him know that I see him and that I care about how he is doing as a human being and not just a runner.
During my thirty-three years as a teacher, I did a graded mock college interview with my students. It was shocking to me how many of them earnestly answered my questions at length without backing up their answers with stories even after I coached them to do so. And they were highly motivated to smoke the interview—they had 100 points on the line!
If you glean nothing else from this blog entry, it is this: Stories. Stick.
🗝️ If you don’t share a story for about every third answer, I am telling you that I will have forgotten your interview by the end of the day. When I was interviewing every single senior I taught when I was younger and had more energy, I interviewed five to ten kids a day. I would usually interview around seventy five students a year. And I had to go home and write up a narrative of what each student did well and what each student needed to work on.
It always stunned me how many of my kids who were the leaders in their class with a rigorous course load who failed to share stories after I explicitly told them they would not get an A on the interview unless they did so. These are high-achieving kids with high SAT and ACT scores.
So this is not necessarily something that comes easily to people.
If you start doing it as soon as you start going to college fairs and talking to college reps at your school during lunch, it will get easier and easier with practice.
I talk to my students not just about the quality of their answers but also about their nonverbal communication skills. When you greet the interviewer, that initial impression is everything.
🗝️ Look him or her in the eye. If they initiate a handshake, confidently grip the rep’s hand with a firm grip. I graded my kids on their handshakes. I had some kids who shook my hand limply—such a wimpy first impression. I had others who gave me the death grip and hurt my hand. Too aggressive.
🗝️ What I really liked was when students had the confidence to initiate the handshake. I coached them to do so. If the rep doesn’t offer his/her hand, have the confidence to smile, look him/her in the eye, extend your hand, and say, “Hi, I am Pam Fischer, and I have been looking forward to this opportunity to learn more about USC.”
🗝️ How you sit in the chair if it’s a sit-down interview matters. How you hold your body and what you do with your hands matter. If you don’t know what to do with your hands, invest in a leather folder that you can stock with copies of your resumes and questions for the interviewer, and rest your hands on the folder. Or lightly grip the folder so you don’t wring your hands during the interview.
🗝️ It goes without saying that you need to thank them for their time at the end of the interview.
Now, eye contact is telling. You have to have the confidence to look me in the eye while you are answering my questions. It is perfectly acceptable for you to break eye contact while I am asking you a question. And it is totally acceptable for you to pause while considering your answer before you answer my question.
Frankly, I am impressed with a student who has the confidence to pause and consider his/her answer instead of just blurting out the first thing that comes to mind.
Interrupting the interviewer before he/she has even had a chance to finish the question is not something you should do in an interview.
Yes, I want you to be eager and engaged, but don’t be desperate.
🗝️ It is critical that you get the name and contact info for the individual representing the school so you can send a handwritten thank you card within twenty four hours of the interview. Make this a practice that becomes second nature.
Every time you interview with a coach, go to an audition if you are a theater major, or attend a college interest session, send that thank you card promptly.
The most important advice I have for you sounds cliche, but it’s so important that you simply be yourself.
If you are a relaxed person who smiles easily and has a warm persona, by all means, bring that to the interview.
If you are a more formal individual who tends to have a resting bitch face, (pardon my French, but you know what I mean) that’s fine, too.
You don’t have to force a smile because you think it’s expected.
Your enthusiasm for the school/internship/job will come through in your earnest interest in the college. It’s fine to maintain that serious manner that you are known for with your friends and family.
I once had a senior girl with a stern facial expression. She once told the class she was sick of people asking her why she was always angry. She told us she had an eastern European background, and she was sick of being taken to task for it. I still remember her interview. She sat ramrod straight with a serious demeanor, and she nailed that interview. She had done her homework, and her thoughtful, detailed answers were impressive. If she had tried to come in and be bubbly and warm, it would have been a farce. That’s not who she is.
🗝️ Last, let’s talk a little bit about how you dress for an interview. Make an effort. When students dressed for their mock college interview for a grade, I told them they needed to make an effort. No jeans. No running shoes. Having said that, there is a massive range of appropriate dress for an interview.
Some kids invest in a power suit you might see at a Model UN conference, but others just wear nice khaki pants or a nice skirt. Dress shoes. If a school is visiting your campus in a one-off event on a random school day, then obviously you are wearing what you are wearing.
But if your school is hosting a college fair day, dress for success.
If you show up in torn jeans or leggings and look like you just rolled out of bed, I am telling you that you are undermining my impression of you.
Do you have to have a power suit or a power outfit, especially if you can’t afford it? Of course not. But everyone has a plain pair of pants and a nice top or a button down shirt.
Make an effort.
Show me you care.
🗝️ Tools & Resources Here is my guide to self analysis prior to the interview. Get out a highlighter, and highlight the two or three adjectives that best describe you, and then think of a story that exemplifies that quality about you in the margin. |
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