By my next blog post, I’ll have completed the three interviews I have scheduled for next week; there are lots of mock and campus interviews in my future.

I’m guessing this is likely the last year I’ll have to differentiate actual interviews from fake ones, and I feel fortunate to have CP&R as a resource that is able to provide the mocks. If you haven’t utilized their mock interviews I would highly recommend scheduling one. In my mock Fulbright interview with Gretchen, I was able to respond to questions directly related to the Fulbright and then go over how my answers could have been stronger. While I know we are all brilliant and qualified for the fellowships, internships, and jobs we’ll be interviewing for, it only makes sense to take advantage of the practice runs that are mock interviews. Having certain responses down, e.g. a challenging situation and how you got through it and grew from it, will mean you can focus your energies during the conversation on being articulate and engaging rather than scrambling for answers. This will make a huge difference, and I can tell you this with 100% authority as someone who interviews prospective students and sits through quite a few both very well prepared for and ill prepared for interviews every week.  For your viewing pleasure, this is one of my favorite interview scenes ever. Here’s hoping nothing like this ever happens to you!

This brings me to my next and quite related subject, which is interview and job attire. In honor of CP&R’s recent professional dress fashion show, I’ll be talking a little bit about what I’ve been wearing to work interviewing prospective students with the Scripps Office of Admissions. The fact of the matter is, I kind of always thought that I would hate wearing professional dress or even business casual because it would be restricting and no fun. Instead, it turns out I adore it. The secrets to the ease in which I’ve been dressing are two: Marshalls and Forever 21. At these two stores, I found a number of very inexpensive jackets, pencil skirts and flowy pleated skirts, and blouses (sleeveless, short sleeve, and button-up) in a wide enough variety of colors and patterns that even after a month of piecing together outfits for the office, I’m able to mix things up. Throw in fun jewelry like that wooden fish necklace I picked up at a garage sale this summer and some staples, namely black straight-legged trousers from Gap and incredibly comfortable black flats from Born, and I have lots of delightful outfits to wear to work.

How are other fellowship applicants feeling about the upcoming interviews? Which questions are you looking forward to answering and which are you dreading? And most importantly, should I do a work attire photo shoot for next week’s blog? Vote yes or no in the comments section. Have a great week, everyone!