This happens all too often to the
college student and now they have to scramble to prepare for the interview. Personally,
I had this happen many times in the summer when I was most caught off guard.
While everyone has different ways of preparation this is how I went and still
prepare for interviews thanks to all the guidelines I learned from my academic
internship class, UNIV 390 back in sophomore year.
1. Do
your Research and ask Yourself the Questions.
There has to be a reason you
applied to the internship in the first place whether it’s your future career
path or you want more experience.
·
Take a look around the company website and learn
more about their past, current, and future programs or projects; how will you
fit into these, if at all? Be prepared to discuss any current happenings
affecting the organization you are interviewing for.
·
Read the organization’s bio and philosophy; is
it an organization you would be proud to work for?
·
Ask others who had interned or worked for the
organization on their thoughts; how was the workload? Is it easily accessible
through a form of transportation? Will it be worthwhile for me as a student? Is
the internship something feasible for me to do throughout the school year?
·
Read through team member bios if they are
provided. There is a large possibility that one of these people will be
interviewing you and gaining a little background on them will certainly be
helpful!
2. Collect
Yourself.
Remember to breathe and approach
this calmly. Even someone like me who’s had 3 internships still gets nervous
when interviewing so be sure to:
·
Know your strengths. Employers will 90% of the
time ask this question and to be confident in your answer, you should review
your strengths, abilities, and experiences that make you a strong candidate for
the internship.
·
Know your “areas of growth”: What skills or
qualities do you hope to grow in? Perhaps you’re not completely confident in
your writing abilities but you hope to gain more insight on how to become a better
writer. Don’t sell yourself short!
·
Hit the big points. What are topics you want to
stress in the interview? How can you “sell” yourself?
·
As mentioned in point 1 be able to answer the
question: why did you apply for this internship? What are you seeking out of an
internship, or specifically out of this internship?
3. Study
Your Resume.
Re-vamping your resume before
the interview will be a great tool to have on hand if the interviewer forgets
to provide their own copy. But make sure the resume you use matches the one
sent to the organization.
·
Update all your information. Any experiences or jobs relevant to the
internship position you’re applying for should have been on your resume.
·
Have a professional or someone with solid job
experience look it over! A second set of eyes is always great to have in case
you missed any spelling or grammatical errors.
4. Organize
everything.
Having everything ready to go
the morning of your interview will calm yourself down and make the whole
process less stressful.
·
Make sure you have travel arrangements set.
Whether you’re taking the train or driving yourself, be sure to allot extra
time for unforeseeable circumstances and to have everything prepared.
·
Choose your outfit. (See future blog post for a
detailed description)
·
Prepare all appropriate paperwork.
5. Practice!!
There are few people in the
world that are able to enter an interview, “wing it,” and still get the
internship so practice is vital.
·
Practice with someone who has job or internship
experience. They’ve been through it before and can give some insight on how
their interview experience went.
·
Watch yourself in front of a mirror. Be aware of
facial expression and body language.
·
The Career Development Center has
mock-interviews you can participate in. Be sure to use all available resources!
As a student with 3 internships
under my belt, I can comfortably say that I would not have attained my past 2
without the training and resources I received from the Center for Experiential
Learning and the Career Development Center.
Nor would I have known that my internship could count as for academic
credit by taking a UNIV 390 or a Major appropriate course. Truly, a great two for
one deal hosted by the CEL that more students should take advantage of!
Next time, I share my
experiences so far at my current internship with the Center for Healthcare
Innovation. Stay tuned!
Loyally,
Kyra Racelis
Peer Mentor – Academic Internships