I’ve always found it incredibly uncomfortable to brag, boast, or talk up myself. It’s something that I had been coached not to do, until I had to prepare for college and job interviews the past two years. With interviews, there are so many unknowns – the interviewer, the questions, the environment – that it feels impossible to prepare.
When I applied for my first job, I was so nervous. It was at the local library, a place I had been volunteering for year, and I wanted to step up and try for a paid shelving position. I had a friend that worked in the same job there, so I knew it was low-stress. It was the sort of job that you could wear whatever you want and listen to music on earbuds as you worked, and had relatively flexible hours. In short, the perfect high school job.
In preparation for the interview, I looked up practice questions online and spoke to my reflection, thinking about eye contact, body language, and tone (Tip #1: Scripps CP&R offers mock interviews http://www.scrippscollege.edu/careerplanning). Personally, I know I don’t always sit very still, so I tried to think about that as I practiced. (Anyone else a hand talker?)
Finally, the interview day rolled around, and I was still nervous, but a healthy amount so. I knew that I had done what I could to prepare, and I just had to get dressed and go. I knew that my work ‘uniform’ would just be street clothes and a name tag if I were hired, but I still dressed up in order to give a good first impression (Tip #2: Dress or overdress the part for the interview, aka always dress nicely)
When I got to the interview, I shook my interviewers’ hands (Tip #3: Have a firm handshake, not a limp hand or an aggressive grip) before we began to chat. I answered their questions honestly (Tip #4: Be real with your interviews, but also remember your audience) and worked in informational nuggets about my related experience and made sure to make myself shine (Tip #5: Show off yourself and why you’d be good at the position, but also try not to brag).
At the end of the interview, I shook hands with my interviewers one last time and thanked them for their time. Afterward, I sent an email to follow up, nothing long, just reiterating my thanks and saying that I was looking forward to hearing back (Tip #6: ALWAYS say thank you, it shows your interest, and it’s a nice thing to do. If you send an email, keep it simple).
After what felt like years of waiting, I did hear back with a job offer from the library. I responded right away to confirm my interest and subsequently celebrated the good news with my family (Tip #7: Respond promptly whether or not you get the job, thanking the person for the offer/their time).
Funny enough, after all of that, I found myself working a different job my senior year. The library position fell through because of conflict of interest problems – as a member of the Library Board I couldn’t work at the library. I interviewed at Hy-Vee, a Midwestern grocery store chain (“Where there’s a helpful smile in every aisle”), as a prospective Courtesy Clerk (aka cart pusher and grocery bagger) and was hired as a worker in the floral department. Even though I didn’t end up with my first choice of job, I ended up somewhere where I was still very happy (Tip #8: Be optimistic). My coworkers are fantastic and fun to talk with, my managers are nice, and I’m surrounded by flowers (as well as Italian and Chinese food – we’re next to those departments) every time I work. It could easily be worse.
I wasn’t kidding about the ‘helpful smiles’ bit! It’s part of my job description.
What’s your major? If you’re a sophomore, or even a first year, not only are you likely to hear this questioned, but you also might not know how to answer it. Everyone has to choose a major at some point in their college career. At first, picking a major can be overwhelming because it feels like you are committing yourself to that subject for the rest of your college career. Many people start college intent on majoring in politics and end up changing to history or chemistry, where the major you started with and the one you ended with are often completely unrelated. What I have recently discovered is that even after you declare your major, you can still change it. It is a preconceived notion that once you declare, you cannot change your mind. What I am realizing more and more often, is that there are very few things you can get involved in that will not allow you to change your mind if you decide it’s not for you.
I came to Scripps intent on double majoring in biochemistry and English. After taking an extremely challenging course my first semester, entitled Introduction to Biological Chemistry, or IBC for short, I got a glimpse of what science would be like for the remainder of my time at Scripps, and what it would mean for me to, not only be a science major, but pursue another major on top of that. Recently, I have been questioning everything. Should I double major? Should I dual major? Should I just do a major and a minor? Hearing my advisor tell me that I could change my major, even after I declared, was such a relief. Even if it’s not ideal, it’s still possible, and that makes it feel a whole lot less binding. There seems to be a preconceived notion that you can’t change your major, which makes the whole process seem that much more intense and stressful.
The truth is, it’s okay to not know what you’ll major in, or what you want to do in the future. The beauty of going to a liberal arts college is that you have the opportunity to take classes in so many different disciplines, and at the other colleges, that you can figure out what you like and what you don’t like. In addition, there are so many events and opportunities for internships and other jobs that might open a door to something that you end up falling in love with. On the other hand, if you are set on one specific major or field of study, it is important to keep your options open and be willing to fall in love with something new.
