Tag Archives: Job Search

Tales from the Trenches: Interview Stories

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It’s that time of the week again: story time with Emily! This week I want to share a couple of tales of the infamous interview processes that plague young adults today. Let’s just start this off by saying that I actually really enjoy interviews. I like meeting new people, I would like to believe that I’m fairly in tune with my workplace habits, and I can think pretty quickly on the fly. But just because I like interviewing, does not mean that I’ve consistently had an easy go of it. The following are a few of my favorite interview moments. I learned a lot from them, and I hope that you can too!

The Interview that Never Was
One of my first jobs was at a creative center that I had no previous experience working in. I was interviewing for an administrative position, but at the last minute, the job changed. I received an email saying that the position that I was originally applying for had been filled, but I was welcome to come in and “have a chat” about a secondary opening that they had. I needed a job, and wasn’t going to be picky, so I proceeded to schedule a time to “have a chat” with the director of the center. I arrived early at the office in interview attire, ready to sell myself and my work ethic, only to discover that the director had already offered me the job and wanted to meet to set up my schedule. I was relieved and excited, but the experience taught me to always clarify what meetings are for and what is expected of you. I could have saved myself a whole lot of time, energy, and worry but just sending a simple email.

When Personalities Collide
This experience is fairly unavoidable unless you can be friends with everyone, but it is still absolutely worth talking about. I was applying for a position in a gym, and I had experience up the wazoo. I’d worked in my dance studio, assisted in fitness classes, been a dancer and a runner for years, and had a personal interest in wellness, just to name a few of my talking points. However, I knew almost immediately that I wouldn’t be getting the job. The interviewer and I had very different personality types, and she seemed thoroughly unimpressed with every answer that I provided. I kept smiling throughout the interview, but I never received a phone call regarding the job, even after I followed up. Interview and application experiences such as these are (unfortunately) not few and far between. In this situation, I still encourage you to be yourself. If nothing else, a bad interview is just good practice for the next one!

Family Business 
My first job was the summer after high school. I was working as a camp counselor, and the camp was held in the park that I’d grown up playing sports in. My dad was then the head of the youth soccer organization and knew a lot of the people that I worked with. This didn’t even up effecting my work environment that much, but it makes things considerably strange during the interview for this job. On a couple of questions, the interviewers made comments about the nice things my dad had mentioned about me, how great my dad was, and how if I was anything like him, they knew that I would be a great addition to the team. This whole thing made me feel pretty weird, and I was honestly quite disappointed. I’d applied for the job all on my own, and it was really disheartening to feel like my merits and achievements were being looked over. Now, of course, I understand the importance of networking and using your contacts, but it’s equally as important to make sure that your work is being appreciated for you, not for your relationship with another person.

Those are just a few vignettes from my job experiences. Interviews are crucial learning opportunities, and I hope that these have provided some insight into the odd things that can happen during a job search. Do you have any funny interview stories? I’d love to hear them, so please share in the comments below!!

Debunking Internship Myths

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Internships are full of surprises and can be shrouded in mystery. We think we know what we are getting ourselves into, but often times, internships end up being completely different than we expected.  Keep reading to unpack some common internship misconceptions and hopefully learn something along the way!

  1. Internships are “one size fits all.”

number-one

The entertainment industry has portrayed internships in movies, tv shows, novels, and basically every other publicly consumed medium.  Growing up, I always thought that an internship was a highly coveted position that involved picking up coffee and dry cleaning.  I now know that this isn’t necessarily the case.  Some internships may involve balancing three trays of Starbucks drinks while running around making copies, but there are internships that involve video editing, phone banking, and even assisting in surgery.  All internships provide immense amounts of career insight and experience, but they are a lot less formulaic than we are commonly led to believe.

  1. Asking questions will make you seem like “the stupid intern.”

number-2

There are a few damaging stereotypes that can surround the idea of the workplace intern: overworked, incompetent, annoying, and useless.  These words couldn’t be farther from the truth when it comes to interns! Interns are some of the most engaged, thoughtful, and dedicated people in the business.  The purpose of an internship is to LEARN.  In order to do this, you have to ask questions and figure out the ins and outs of a workplace.  There is a learning curve, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t qualified to be there.  Asking questions doesn’t make you annoying, it makes you engaged and interested.  Yes, you probably will be overworked, but hopefully in the best way possible.  Don’t worry about the unfounded beliefs about your position, and go in each day willing to work your hardest and break down those unflattering stereotypes.

  1. Being an unpaid intern means that you aren’t qualified for a paid position.

number-3

Unpaid internships are still exist in the working world today.  Although more companies are paying interns, unpaid opportunities are still a very common way to gain career experience, and often can lead to a paid position at a place of work.  Many times, it seems an intern does the same amount (if not more!) work than an official employee.  Just because you are not being paid to be there doesn’t mean that you aren’t valued.  You had the skills to get the internship, and you will develop the skills to be employed in that field, if you don’t already have them. As much as employers benefit from having you there, you also benefit from taking an unpaid internship.  Your internship is a time for you to learn about a prospective career path and decide if it’s right for you.  You are there to gain experience and refine your career goals, and who knows, you might even end your internship with an official job offer!

  1. Interns are disposable, and if you mess up, you’re out.

number-4

While this may be true with some internships, the general truth is that the place that you are interning probably is in need of an intern and their primary role should  be to teach you.  Businesses use interns for a variety of purposes, and typically they are in need of an extra set of hands.  They aren’t usually going to throw out that extra person just because some documents weren’t collated properly.  It’s okay to make mistakes, and if you butcher something, it’s going to be fine, more often than not.  Employers appreciate honesty and dedication, and they understand that sometimes mistakes happen.  As long as you are up front about and understanding of what went wrong, it’s fairly likely that they will be too.

Finally, a fact about internships:

5. Interning is one of the best things you can do.

number-5

For better or for worse, internships provide incredible career experience.  Even a “bad” internship can show you what you do and do not want from your future career and that is invaluable. Internships are full of learning opportunities, and you don’t only learn about jobs, you learn about yourself.  Internships can be difficult and stressful, but you grow and evolve as an employee and person in the big working world. So next time you are offered an internship, go ahead and say yes!  Your future self will be glad that you did.

The Beginning of the Career Journey

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First off, hello! If you’re reading this, it means that you’ve taken some time out of your day to stroll alongside me as I endure the winding path that is my “career journey” into the professional and adult world. Right now, this means finding an internship that would occupy my summer in New Jersey, that I would hopefully enjoy doing and give me some professional experience. I should clarify, however, that while this is a journey, it’s a journey into what can be described as nothing less than the unknown. Currently, I see the professional world as the Fire Swamp in the Princess Bride, with the giant R.O.U.S.- or rodents of unusual size- being the possibility of me waitressing for the summer, just ready to attack me and leave me to die with no professional experience. While I have plenty of friends and family who believe that waitressing this summer wouldn’t be worse for me than being attacked by a giant rodent, I disagree. It’s not that I’m bad at waitressing- I’m actually quite good at it- it’s just that I’ve already done it for three years, all while experiencing its profoundly negative psychological effects. For example, even though I haven’t worked in a restaurant for several months, I had a stress-dream the other night that I served a customer a Diet Coke when he had asked for a regular one. I woke up in a cold sweat.

Luckily, I have the people at CP&R to prevent me from such fates. On Monday, I met with them to go over my résumé, and to just talk “professional things” in general. While I admit that this wasn’t the strongest strategy for productive discussion, I didn’t really know what else to talk about. I’m the type of person who is interested in almost everything, and I want to utilize internships as a way of trying out different careers and seeing what I don’t like, more than what I do like. As an English and Organization Studies double-major, I take classes in a wide variety of things, and have a variety of skills. I know I don’t want to do something with math or business, and do want to do something with writing and problem solving. Besides that, I’m basically stumped.

My visit to CP&R was incredibly helpful, as I learned to reformat my résumé in a way that clearly demonstrated my strengths to employers, and to use the online resources available for networking. I also learned that networking, apparently, isn’t just when you go out and blatantly ask alumni to hire you- it’s just talking to people to learn more about their field and what they do. This is a big relief. Networking is a big fear of mine, and will be discussed further in another blog post, when I start actually doing it. For now, my networking experience is limited to this guy my grandpa “knows in the city (New York),” who apparently has “crazy connections- and an office in Australia.” My grandpa, a county health inspector, “doesn’t really know what he does”, but thinks he “might have something to offer me.” In the future, I’m going to try and make connections outside of my grandparent’s vague circle of friends.

With my limited connections and job experience, it’s going to be difficult and potentially impossible for me to find an internship for this summer. However, I’m hopeful that this journey will at least teach me more about myself, and what my career goals are. I’m realizing that no one is going to come up to me and say “Wow! You would be a great P.R. person for this non-profit that helps tutor kids in foster homes!” or any other weirdly specific career path- it’s something that I’m going to have to figure out for myself. As Schmidt from New Girl said, “Without ash to rise from, the phoenix would just be a bird getting up.” I’m going to try and be more than just a bird getting up.

Just Do It

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Hello Scripps Community and welcome back for the spring 2016 semester! I hope you all had a very restful, reflective, and productive holiday season! I am very excited to be blogging again for CP&R during my last few months as a Scripps student. In a second semester senior fashion, I have already been late for one class and forgot to do reading for another. But in a different type of second semester fashion, I have been greatly motivated to use my remaining time at Scripps to prepare me for whatever is next. Readers, this semester I will be writing about my job search journey, from finding listings, calling organizations for more information, networking, cover letter and resume writing, taking advice where you want to (and don’t), growing from doubt and rejection, and even describing the quirky yet cool twenty-something ways I want to decorate my first place. The posts this semester will still be frequented with self-promotions for my senior thesis, music performance version – dropping April 24 – and more GIFs and photos that just get you.

Applying to jobs has thus far felt like applying to internships and most things with an application process, yet the end goal is much greater and has more implications for future directions. I have been coming up with future-oriented questions that have been helping me narrow and fine-tune my search:

What is an ultimate career goal of mine?

What type of issues or work am I passionate about?

In what ways have academics informed my work place skills and abilities?

An ultimate career goal of mine is to be doing work that provides opportunities for other people. Although that is vague, this question has helped me tailor my passions towards career possibilities. I love classical music, but I am not going to be a professional musician. I want to keep playing throughout my life and I can channel this passion by working for an organization that does music outreach or making music education more accessible.

Alongside the second question, I’ve also asked myself “What types of ideas keep you up at night? What types of ideas do you tend to think about or notice in daily life?” In myself, I have recently noticed that ideas about diversity and empowering underrepresented communities are often on my mind. Can these ideas translate into a career? The answer is yes!

One of the biggest bridges I am trying to build between my collegiate experiences and getting ready for the working world is an age old question, what will I do with my major? A huge positive of double majoring has been the exposure to two completely different disciplines (and I didn’t feel the weight of time consuming classes till thesis last semester, let’s see how I am in another few weeks). I have interests and skills both in music and psychology, and throughout managing the workload of both, I definitely have experience in managing multiple deadlines.

As far as actually finding listings, the internet has yet to fail me. I have been using LinkedIn to narrow my search by title and region (any hiring managers from Washington D.C. reading and liking what they’re seeing?). ClaremontConnect is also a great resource for job listings, especially since these companies are posting directly to the Claremont community. And finally, I am very lucky be surrounded by supportive people who pass along job listings (thank you Mom, Dad, and Austin).

This semester, I scheduled my academic workload while taking into considering set times job search related activities. I am reminding myself that no matter how much planning, how much talk about applying or searching does not mean much until anything is done about it. I have been rocking several mantras in the New Year. Some inspire, some simplify, and some say just do it.

Coffee Girl to the Rescue

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For my fellow high school classmates and I, the second half of senior year was an incredibly exciting (and nerve wracking) time. In addition to figuring out where we would be heading for the next four years of our lives, we also were finishing up classes a whole six weeks earlier than everyone else. I kept that image of sweet relief in my mind as I willed myself to do homework and to study hard to finish out the year strong, knowing that in just a few short weeks I would be lounging pool side (think Sharpay in HSM 2) while other students were sitting in calculus. 

However, there was a catch to getting out early: seniors had to participate in a six week “capstone project.” For my project, I had two ideas that took me quite a bit of time to choose between. On the one hand, I thought an internship at a publishing company would be perfect for me. The school had many graduates that worked for local companies and I could have done some networking (woo!) to weasel my way into an internship. On the other hand, the idea of pursuing something new really intrigued me. I have been singing my whole life, and while I had always possessed an interest in song writing, I had never really tried it before this time. In the end, I decided to design a song writing program for myself that consisted of voice lessons, piano lessons, song writing lessons, and open mic performances. 

Boy, do I regret that. 

I don’t regret it because it wasn’t informative for me— I realized early on that song writing is not something that I am either a. particularly good at or b. particularly motivated to do— but rather because I didn’t feel like it was benefiting me. I couldn’t help but feel that if I had chosen to go the other route and take an internship that I would be en route to solidifying my “life plan.” 

When I applied for internships last summer, one of them was at the publishing house I had wanted to work for senior year. I didn’t get it. And, honestly, a big part of me wonders if I had taken an internship there senior year, would I have received the internship?  

I spent my summer asking incredible women what advice they would give themselves or to others in college. I have learned an immense amount from these responses, but I have yet to ask myself what advice I would give myself. Looking back, I would tell myself to not worry about the “prestige” of an internship. I think a large part of me was scared about taking a six week internship because I didn’t want to just be on coffee run duty. I was afraid that in the short period of time I wouldn’t learn anything beneficial and wouldn’t really get any “good” experience. However, what I wish I had thought about is that maybe if I had done the six weeks and gotten through the “coffee stage,” I could have skipped it another summer altogether. Or, maybe, I would have just received some office experience in general and learned how the working world works. I didn’t take the chance because I didn’t think it really would do me any good. Now though, I try to not think about that when I am looking into internships. Yes, it would be incredibly cool to get  a highly selective internship at a top notch company… but I also know that is setting a very impractical standard for myself as a sophomore that has had one internship. I need to work my way up, even if that means starting as “coffee girl.” Plus, you never know where any career is going to take you and what opportunities it may bring! 

Did you work your way up to where you are now? Was your first position informative even if you weren’t directly involved in the company’s business?