I was thinking about ways that I can contribute to Clraik that doesn’t involve coding or neopets. I don’t have a lot of technological skills, but if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s professional development
Keep in mind that these are for more technical job positions, ones you would be looking for outside of college or university. You likely won’t need to work this hard to get a minimum wage job, as you could end up looking overqualified!
Ah Interviews, one of the most nerve-wracking situations a person can throw themselves into. Relax! You got the interview! That’s one step above everyone else who applied. They picked YOU! And probably for good reason.
One of the most important aspects of an interview is to stand out, and one of the best ways that you can do that is by preparing for your interview!
Lets pretend we are attending an interview for an entry level management position, think project coordinator (what I do!). It doesn’t have to be that specifically though. It can be an entry level engineering job, business management, environmental… A job that requires you to go a little bit above and beyond.
Core Values
So where do we start? Well, we should probably get to know the company we applied to. Do we even want to work for this company? What if their values don’t align with us? Do we know what our values are? This is the tricky part, getting to know yourself and what your core values are.
Once we understand our core values, we will want to do a bit of research (yes, research) on the company. What do they do? What is their mission? What have they accomplished? Here’s a few examples:
The Job Description
So now we know that the company aligns with our values, great! Since you already have the interview, you know that you are qualified to do the job, but now you have to prove it!
Start by combing through the job description. What skills are they really looking for? What stands out? Here’s an example job description I grabbed online for an Environmental Consulting Firm called Stantec for the Junior Environmental Technologist/Industrial Hygiene Technician position
Don’t worry about the Key Responsibilities for now, let’s look at Capabilities and Credentials. Stantec wants you to have a technical background. Lets pretend we don’t have much working experience (maybe you worked in your field in the summer) but are preparing to graduate from a college with an Environmental Science diploma. Experience gained from school counts as technical experience, so we can use that! Say we have experience in the sampling protocols (the second and third bullet point), but don’t have experience in building systems or building construction. That’s okay because these are hard skills. Skills that can be taught. What we really want to look at are the soft skills. These are skills that an employer cannot teach you and are instead built from your core values and experiences.
The soft skills listed are strong verbal and written communication skills, ability to work on your own as well as a team, and taking initiative (notice how they say work on your own initiative). They mention Health & Safety as an asset, but really it should be included as a core value because the health and safety of yourself and others is critical with these kinds of jobs. You likely won’t see Health & Safety come up in corporate jobs, but the nuance still stands.
Lets go back to key roles. These are the items that you will be expected to do when you are in your role. It doesn’t matter if you know how to do all of them, because you can be trained. Not having a lot of experience can be an asset because they will likely want to train you to their protocol. It’s easier to train someone fresh compared to someone who has done things their own way for years.
A few things to point out:
1. Notice how health and safety is the first bullet point? This shows that it’s a very important aspect of the job, and you should use that to your advantage in the interview
2. The last two bullet points say that evening and weekend work may be required, and travelling will be required. These are the red flags that I mentioned earlier. Are we okay with this? Does this align with our values? Lets pretend that we are okay with it
Assuming that you we know how to do a few of those things really well, lets take note of them so that we can use them to our advantage later on. Let’s say that we can do all of the sampling, testing, assessments, and reporting/proposals listed.
Elevator Pitch
Now that we know our core values and skills and have applied them to our job position, we can now start thinking about our elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a brief way of introducing yourself, getting across a key point, and making a connection with someone. Having this prepared will help you with answering one of the most daunting interview questions “Tell me about yourself”.
There are three things you’ll want to include. Remember, this is a professional setting so tailor your pitch to the setting
1. Who you are – In a professional sense, who are you? What is your background?
2. What you do – What do you want the person to remember? This is where you can draw on your skills, values, and passions
3. What your professional goals are – What are you trying to gain from applying to this position? And “to make money” is not a good answer
(you need an account to see links)
Lets put this together
“Tell me about yourself”In some situations, the more information you give, the better chance you have at landing the job. You can build on this elevator pitch to include other aspects about yourself that you like. You can find other aspects in the mission statement of the company’s webpageI am a college graduate in the Environmental Science Program from ___ College and graduated with a ___GPA. I am passionate about the environment, take initiative, and strongly value social connections through communication and ensuring the safety of myself and others. My goal is to gain experience in the environmental field so that I can one day become a leader.
Conflict Resolution
Since this is a professional business setting, you can almost guarantee that you’ll be asked about your skills in conflict resolution. You should have a few stories lined up so that you can pick one when they ask. Your story should be brief, clear, and concise, and include the problem, what skills you used to address it, and the resolution. You can use examples from school or work. Here’s an example:
“When I was in school my group and I were tasked with writing a proposal to assess the health of a nearby stream. One of the group members and I had a disagreement about the sampling protocol for water. They suggested ____ while I suggested ____. Rather than getting frustrated, we discussed the pros and cons of each sampling method, and with the help of my team, came to an understanding. By active listening and communication, we were able to come up with a resolution”
Anticipating Interview Questions
There really isn’t a great way of anticipating interview questions unless you have done similar interviews in the past. Experience will really be your friend in this situation. Keep note of the interview questions and put them in an “interview question bank” so that you can draw on them later. Some questions will likely be technical, which you will have to use your experience from that situation in order to answer the question. The job description should be able to help you determine what technical questions they will ask. In this case, they might ask you
or“what’s the difference between a ___ sample and a ____sample?”
Since Health & Safety is mentioned multiple times in the job description, we can assume that a Health & Safety question will come up. For example“how would you ensure a sample doesn’t get contaminated?”
There will also likely be scenario-based questions which would include “name a time when you…”. One of the hardest interview questions I ever got was:“how would you keep yourself safe in ____ situation?”
Why would they want me to talk about my shortcoming??? They want to know how I failed? Not exactly, they want to know how you overcame your failure, and learned from that experience. Your core values and skills will come into play here.“Name a time you thought you would succeed in something, but it didn’t work out”
Another one could be:“When I was in school, I took an interesting course that ended up being very difficult. I typically do very well in my classes, but this one was so challenging that I had to work harder than usual so that I could maintain my standards. My writing and organizational skills were challenged, so I frequently asked for help from my classmates, TA, and professor. In the end, I didn’t get the grade that I wanted, but my skills improved greatly. I later learned that this course was notoriously difficult and graded very harshly specifically so that we would improve.”
You get the idea, you made a mistake, but what did you learn from it?“Name a time you made a mistake. What happened and what was the outcome?”
Asking Questions at the end of the Interview
At the end, your future employer will likely ask if you have any questions. Do not say no. You need to stand out and asking interesting questions will do that. You can ask questions about the work environment, the company, or even about the employer themselves. This is another opportunity to see if your values align with the companies. Questions like:
“What is an accomplishment that you’re proud of?”
“How do you support your employees when they are going through a hard time?”
“What happens when an employee takes time off?”
“How do you deal with conflict?”
“What is the work culture like?”
The Follow up
Once the interview is over, thank them for their time. You can ask when you can expect to hear a response if they don’t already tell you. Also make sure that you get their email address so that you can send a follow-up email.
With 24 hours, send them a follow up email thanking them again for taking the time to interview you. Reiterate your skills and core values and include anything you may have wanted to include in the interview. Make sure your email is enthusiastic and let them know you’re looking forward to the next stage of the interview process. A follow-up email will make you stand out and remind the employer of you.
Networking
Have you ever heard of the invisible job market? It’s the interviews/jobs you get without having to apply. The job that I have now was from the invisible job market. But how do you access it? It’s nowhere to be found online! The answer is through networking!
For this to work you have to talk to people, so put that social anxiety away! You have to get out there and make yourself known! However, you can’t go into a conversation with someone with the intent of getting a job out of them, it doesn’t work like that. The goal is to build a relationship with someone in the field that you’re interested in, so that you can ask questions. I don’t really use it often, but (you need an account to see links) is a great tool to use for networking. It’s a great way to keep in touch with the people you connect with!
There are tons of ways you can meet likeminded professionals
- Career Fairs
- Professional meet ups
- At school
- At work
- Calling companies that you want to work for
When networking, you can use your elevator pitch to introduce yourself. Just make sure to change it up to match the setting
Closing Thoughts
One major point that didn’t really fit in anywhere else was the importance of practicing what you are going to say. Practice your interview in front of your mom, your dog, your stuffed animal committee, your friend, your other personality, anyone who is willing to lend an ear so that you can say your lines and feel confident with what you have to say. Going into an interview with a plan is one of the best things you can do for yourself to ease anxiety and get your point across!
Here’s a couple extra tips to help you stand out:
- Dress nicely. You don’t have to wear a suit, but make sure your outfit and overall appearance is clean, even if its an online interview
- If you are doing an interview online, make sure that the background is clean. It will help with your overall professional appearance
- Don’t be afraid to make a light joke at the start. It helps ease tension and might make you feel more relaxed
To summarize, this guide builds on key points such as understanding your core values, researching the company to ensure they align with your values, analyzing the job description to ensure you present yourself as qualified, preparing your elevator pitch, anticipating interview questions, networking, and practice. I hope that this guide helps prepare you for your future interviews and lands you your dream job!
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