Hands clammy, mouth dry, and noticeable sweat stains appearing beneath my underarms, I slide into the passenger seat of my mother’s car.
“Your 10 minutes early,” she says.
I respond, “I know. That was a painful experience.”
What had just occurred was an interview for a potential summer internship for a technological systems integrator company. And I thought I had blown it. I was certainly under-qualified and my answers made me sound like a dumb sorority girl who learned soo much from organizing t-shirt sales. The only thing I felt I did right was hold a conversation regarding my interviewer’s personal feelings about their work environment.
That somehow got me a callback…
What I have learned from going through the application and interview process is that people are not looking for the most qualified half the time; they’re looking to make a connection with the potential intern. To quote a wise man whom on the verge of my brother’s graduation told him, “It’s not the grades you make, it’s the hands you shake.” This phrase is incredibly relevant after completing this networking simulation where I now know a professional and memorable encounter is the most important part to securing further consideration. Not to downplay the fact that good grades are impressive but as one who speaks from experience, making a relationship is more important than making the grade. So when approaching a potential employer or networking scenario, follow these tips:
• Practice makes perfect: However silly it may feel, simulating your actual encounter is the most beneficial. Using your parents, friends, or professors as a pseudo-interviewer is a way to figure out in your head how you want to say what you need to say. Creating a sort of script can be incredibly helpful to install confidence in what you want to the interviewer to know about you.
• Less Said, Best Said: Either you lose your train of thought or you actually don’t know what you are talking about, realize that concision is your best friend when talking about yourself. You may feel like you are leaving some information out of your statement, but stating for two minutes why you are qualified for a position can actually be hurtful even if you have an extensive and relevant resume. The secret is utilizing the Q&A structure of an interview to your advantage. By posing questions instead of just receiving questions, you appear as an engaged and mature asset. Researching the company prior to the interview can be very beneficial in making educated questions and jargon references in your own answers. Which brings me to my next point…
• Be Conversational: The art of using Q&A properly is to establish a conversational flow to the interview. You may feel as if this completely goes against the qualms of professionalism but it is what can separate you from the rest of the pack. By making a connection whether it be discussing your interviewee’s opinion of the work environment or their plans for vacation, conversation works to create the relationship’s necessary in a corporate setting. People don’t want to work with the smartest people; they want to work with those that they get along with. So establishing one’s social capacity through conversation as well as mental capacity through the Q&A, an potential intern can find comfort in their ability to communicate.
