Week 10: Informational Interviews

You have spent hours working your resume; researching ways to make it more powerful and meaningful. You learned how to write a convincing, focused cover letter that will make you stand out to an employer. Now, we're taking a look at interviewing skills. With today's job market, we need to be extra prepared when it comes to interviews. And like most things in life, practice is definitely key!


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By preparing properly, your interview does not have to feel like this...


There are many resources available to UCF students to better hone your interviewing skills. The career center is a great resource (http://www.career.ucf.edu/categories/Students/Undergraduate_Students_50_30.aspx) for students who are uncomfortable with interviewing or those of us who just want to see how we can do a bit better. You can walk in or make an appointment and one of the advisors will sit down with you and go through a mock interview. This will allow you to get familiar with standard questions employers ask, such as "Tell me about yourself" or "What are you goals" etc. Would you be willing to try this out? Why or why not? And if you are really excited about it go and interview with them and let us know what you got out of it!

Below are the instructions for this week's assignment. We’re really looking forward to your feedback and questions!

1.) Review further information about informational interviews by clicking here (http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2002/summer/art03.pdf). Also, review some information from UCF"s Career Services by clicking here (http://www.career.ucf.edu/UserFiles/File/Plan%20for%20the%20Interview/player.html).

2.) Log on to Perfect Interview (http://www.perfectinterview.com/ucf/). For "Your Level of Experience," choose the level that fits you the best.

3.) Complete one "short" interview where the selections are chosen for you. Complete one "short" interview where you make the selections. Choose at least three areas you'd like to work on the most. Note the options of the "Alternate Response" and the "Coach" that can be used.

4.) You may choose to either use video capture or no video capture. If you choose no video capture you will be required to type your responses. Save both interviews.

5.) Draft a reflection about your practice interview, commenting on the questions asked and your responses to the questions. You might comment on what questions were problematic. What were the strengths of your responses? What could you improve in your responses? How did your responses compare to the "Alternate Response"? What did you learn from the "Coach?"

6.) Also, give one question about interviewing or a piece of advice that you've gained in your interviewing experiences.

7.) Click on "Review Saved Interviews." Click on the "Share" button. E-mail yourself your interview and include the links in your posting.

Week 8: Resume and Cover Letters

“Babies that are cute may get jobs in high industry commercials, however, Email addresses that are cute on resumes couldn't even get a beautiful baby a job!”



Making a resume/cover letter is something that millions of students do every year around the world, however, only very few actually do it correctly. Are you one of them? Here are some common mistakes that you may be making.

Remember when you were in high school and we all had these little cute email addresses. Some of you may have had Bigboyinthehouse1999, dreamangel4you, or even bradpitthotti407. My childhood email address was Thugnredtytez. Imagine being an employer and seeing this as a contact option for an executive position in the government. My thoughts are you probably won’t be getting the job anytime soon. Don’t even think about using billgates2000 to land a job at Microsoft, it probably won’t work. Can you give examples of how an email should look on a resume?

List as many positive achievements as you can. Although it is morally correct to be honest! Don’t be too honest to list on your resume that your GPA was at a peaking 1.5 or your not experienced in any field. You could list volunteer experiences on your resume, which would look just as good. What kinds of things would you list as positive things that may give you the upper hand when competing for a position in your profession?

In a rejection letter, an employer usually states that they chose the candidate whom provided the best fit for their needs. The cover letter is basically a way to show your intended employer how you fit the company’s needs. For help, its good to know that you have at least 20 seconds to grab the employers attention so make sure its well-written and interesting. What things might you find vital to a cover letter?

I remember two mistakes when I made my first cover letter. I addressed the letter “To Whom It May Concern.” Although this sounds very professional, employers find this very degrading. You as an employee didn’t seek enough time and effort to even find out the name of employer? This may lead to your copy letter being tossed into the trash!

Another mistake that I’ve made was leaving the ending decision in the employer’s bare hand. “If you are interested at all in my qualifications and experience, give me a call at your earliest convenience.” Instead state that you’ll follow up with a phone call, or request an interview, which will portray you as being more pro-active.

Here is an email with some resume bloopers, check it out and give us some feedback from the questions in the blog and the link provided below:

http://www.thatwasfunny.com/mistakes-on-a-resume/291

Examples from the site:

PERSONAL INTERESTS:

“Donating blood. 14 gallons so far.”


REASONS FOR LEAVING THE LAST JOB:

“Responsibility makes me nervous.”

“They insisted that all employees get to work by 8:45 every morning. Couldn’t work under those conditions.”