Carlos Martinez (03:44):

All right. Welcome back. Today we've, we're doing something a little different. You know, normally we'll bring in a guest and we'll kind of interview them, but today we're bringing in a, a couple of colleagues. We've got Stephanie Dombroski and Meghan Veltri and we're going to have an advisor chat. Pretty much what this means is you're going to get to sit in, imagine you're just kind of a fly on the wall. And, and while we talk about a bunch of different things surrounding the big topic of interviewing, right? So how do you interview, what are some good tips and tricks, things to look out for different kinds of interviews. Before I formally begin or we formally begin, I want to allow the two of them to, to introduce themselves and kind of just give you a little, little bit of their background briefly.

Stephanie Dombroski (04:32):

Hi, I'm Stephanie. I've been at Grand Valley for about six years as a career advisor. Prior to that I worked in Human Resources. I was a recruiter and I worked for health, the health profession, so I helped recruit physical therapists, occupational therapists nurses and speech pathologist. So I can bring in a little bit of the HR spin here

 

Meghan Veltri (04:55)

and I'm Meghan Veltri. So I work as a Career Advisor in the Career Center and I work with our health science students, work a lot with students who are trying to get into their health programs. So students who will be applying and interviewing. Prior to that I worked with undecided students for six years before this position. So excited to be here.

 

Megan Riksen (05:15)

Right. Thank you for coming. And this is Megan hopping in here. We're excited to talk about interviewing today because I think it's one of those topics that everyone in the entire world gets anxious about when they have an interview themselves. So hopefully we can, we can help with some of that anxiety. And preparation is a big piece of that. So should we get started team? Yeah,

Carlos Martinez (05:37):

Yeah. You know, so, so just to get started off then oftentimes when people think about an interview, they, they automatically assume that it's because they're applying for a job. But, but the four of us, we know that's not always the case. So let’s get it started. What are some, some of the different types of reasons why a person might want to prepare for an interview?

 

Meghan Veltri (05:56):

Okay, sure. So students and people might be applying for positions for a variety of things. So the most common thing you usually hear is for a job and that can be for your entry level position. You know, a student might be working on campus or looking for an off campus part time job. They might be looking for volunteer positions. We do see in some volunteer organizations especially in healthcare and in other areas that the student will have to apply and interview. But it could be part time jobs, internships, which is a great first step into the professional world. Can it also be that full time position? And something that might be unique for some students as they might be applying to a secondary admit program. So a student has been admitted into their college or their university. So for example, at Grand Valley they've been admitted and then they have to apply into their program. And so a lot of the times there will be an application process which will also include or could include an interview of some sort. And the interview could be an individual one on one interview, might be a group interview. It can come in a lot of different formats.

Megan Riksen (07:01):

And you all are working a lot with those students looking to get into those programs, right?

 

Stephanie Dombroski (07:14):

Yes, we've seen a lot lately. Also  a Graduate Schools and Medical Schools. Any of the professional programs we work heavily with as well. So we have been inundated with those simulated one on one interviews that we do in our office. And it seems to help people giving them some kind of tips and strategies and to kind of work through those nerves.

Carlos Martinez (07:25):

Right. So, so in your opinion, and that goes for anyone in the room really, right. It's more of an advisor chat so we don't have to worry about the interview formalities. Does anyone here have, have thoughts on what's your, what's your mindset should shift to? Right. So I know that when I'm thinking about a job interview, typically I'm associating the fact that mentally this means income. This means standard of living to some extent. But when I, when I when I was looking for graduate programs a few years back, it wasn't the same as Holly where I'm more thinking about what are the professors interested in what are their research expertise or if, if it's a, a professional, a professional based programs, you know, how can this help me get to that next step. Do you have any thoughts on kind of anyone here on how you would advise students if it's for a job versus if it's for an academic position?

 

Meghan Veltri (08:19):

Or, yeah, I think for our students who are looking at academic positions, it's a little bit of a different experience in some cases because you might not be looking at multiple positions, you know, if it's undergraduate, if you're already at Grand Valley, you're trying to get into that one Grand Valley program. So it might feel like you have maybe fewer options in that case. And if that's the case, you are still looking to see if it's a good fit for you. So you really want to make sure that this is the route that you want to go. Of course there's always going to be that risk that, you know, it might not be the perfect fit for you. But I think that you are still interviewing to see if that's the right place for you to be. For a grad school program, sometimes

Meghan Veltri (08:56):

Students are applying to multiple places and so that you're looking at fit, you're looking at is this institution where I want to be? It might be funding, it could be if it's a program that's organized that works best for your lifestyle or your family situation. So there's a lot to be taken into consideration. I would say in terms of jobs that might have a different feel, right because you're getting paid, it's a first step in your career. So there are some things to consider and in some cases you just need a job.

 

Stephanie Dombroski (09:35):

Yeah. And I think there's a lot of anxiety that goes along with getting into a secondary admit program or graduate program. A lot of times students have spent a lot of time preparing just for that one program and if they don't get in, what is their backup plan or what's the next steps. And sometimes they don't know cause their whole life has been, I'm going to be a vet. I meet with a lot of students who try to, are trying to get into vet school or med school. And they realize it's not going to happen and they're sitting in my office like, what am I going to do? So there's a lot of anxiety that goes along with preparing for these interviews because they know that may be the last step of that dream of that career.

Carlos Martinez (10:07):

You both brought up a really good point, which is that that anxiety or fear or butterflies that people tend to feel, and one of the things that I tell everyone, regardless of where they're applying, is if you get an interview, you've met the qualifications, right? There's no if, ands, or buts about it. And so to get the interview, it means that you've submitted some sort of application, may be a cover letter or a personal statement. And, and now your goal is to bring that though those documents to life, is to show that you're the best fit among a group of candidates. And it's natural to feel like you're not ready. It's natural to focus on the one or two things that you're not perfect in but, but just know and, and be mindful of the fact that you deserve to be there. You belong there and it's just about giving your best effort at this point.

Stephanie Dombroski (10:56):

Yeah. And many times I'm in an interview situation, the candidates are pretty similar, so you look alike a lot of like on paper. So really this is your chance to articulate those experiences to your employer or your potential grad school just to highlight. So it's really being able to use what we call evidence-based interviewing, giving stories and examples. So those are what make you shine in the interview is being able to really highlight the value that you're going to bring either to that position or to that program.

Carlos Martinez (11:25):

Right. And, and at least one, one last little piece of advice I would give is to go back and reread the, the job description or the program requirements, go to their website, go see if they have a Facebook and Instagram. How are they promoting themselves? All of these different you know, avenues of research can, can help. Remind you of why you were interested in them in the first place and can help you when you're targeting your answers. One of the things that I did before I, I, I've applied and I've done this multiple times, so a few positions, it's reach out to someone who I know work there or somebody who has worked in a similar field and do an informational style interview with them where I kind of just sit down and I'll say, Hey, you know, can I just pick your brain for 15 minutes?

Carlos Martinez (12:08):

Last time I did that we ended up chatting for about 45 minutes and, and all of that advice was really helpful and helped me feel more confident going into the interview as well. If you're stuck, come to the Career Center again, I know we say this almost every episode, but, but that's what we're here for. We can help you formulate this type of plan. So you, someone had forgot who it was exactly. Mentioned that there are different types of interviews as well. What are some of the different types of interview formats and kind of your thoughts about them and that's for anyone?

Megan Veltri (12:42):

Yeah, so I think the most common one you hear about is the individual interview where you go in and people ask you questions and you have to answer. And it might be the very intimidating picture that you have in your mind. And it can be that, but there can be a variety of ways an employer or a program may interview individuals. One way might be through a phone interview, a phone interview can be like an initial screening. So with a phone interview an employer or a program may contact you and they are going to do a phone interview, which typically is shorter than a traditional in-person interview. So they may ask you a couple of questions to get to know you. Sometimes those can be a little bit awkward because you are doing it over the phone and you can't see the person and the body language that's happening.

Megan Veltri (13:30):

But they're looking to see, you know, if you can answer some of the initial questions that they have. And typically there's a follow up interview that might come from that. So you might have a phone interview, which can be a type of screening an employer may use and then there might be an in person interview.

 

Stephanie Dombroski (13:53):

And in talking a little bit more about that phone interview piece, I know when I worked in HR many times I would contact a candidate and they wouldn't know anything about my organization. So be prepared if you are interviewing for lots of different companies to keep a spreadsheet, keep track of who you're interviewing with, the job title and potentially a little bit about the organization. I remember one question I would ask would be, what do you know about us? And sometimes I didn't quite remember who we were and that was a quick, easy way for me to screen them out with that phone screen process.

 Stephanie Dombroski (14:17):

They couldn't remember what they applied for or they didn't know anything about us. So it's okay if you do get that call from an employer to let them know can I, you know, this isn't a good time. Can I reschedule? And that will, you'll be more prepared to do a little bit of research ahead of time and

 

Megan Riksen (14:37):

yeah, I really think that in a lot of cases phone screens are used because employers don't, they have limited time to go through this process. They've already spent a ton of time reviewing cover letters and resumes and now they're using that phone screen really to figure out, okay, now I get to actually hear your voice and hear what you have to say so you've still, you know, even though it might just be a screen with three questions, still use that time to, as Stephanie just said, give that evidence based type of response where you're providing examples.

Megan Riksen (15:06):

Even in some of those really basic common questions, almost even like a, tell me about yourself. I still would be providing some details, especially in a phone screen because you want them to know about you right there. You need to get to that next round.

 

 

 

Megan Veltri (15:30):

Yes, definitely. And they're typically shorter the phone interview versus the in person. So you need to use your time wisely and include information about yourself that's going to be relevant to the employer. I'm sure sometimes we will also see a Skype interview or a video chat. We see more employers using this or maybe grad programs where they know it's harder for students to get to those places. That is also another option and it's very similar in the sense that you are maybe not in the room with that person but also has an additional layer because a lot of times they can see you and so we really encourage students to if you're going to do a video chat of some sort to make sure that you are in a quiet space with an appropriate background, you should still dress appropriately for the interview.

Megan Riksen (16:07):

So almost like you'd be doing it in person, but you should, you would be on a video chat. Yeah. And we can hook you up with that and the Career Center as well. If you're like, yeah, my apartment or dorm room is not going to cut it for the professional space. We have some really nice generic looking offices over here that we can help you out with. So feel free to just give us a call and we can schedule you a space in one of our rooms. Which could be helpful. I also will say that this year and with our accounting interviews that happen in the first two weeks of the semester in the fall what we found is a lot of our accounting firms were coming in almost as a second round and their first round was a video interview but not even a video chat.

Megan Riksen (16:52):

You were just recording your responses to some questions. So that even is a different take on it. You're in the room alone, you're not talking to anyone, but you still have to, you know, be presenting yourself in, in a certain way.

 

Stephanie Dombroski (17:15):

And we do a plug for some of our Career Center services. We have something called Big Interview. And that can be accessed on our website in which it allows you to tape yourself, answering from a library of questions that's, and then that way you can kind of give yourself some feedback but also practice doing that online version as well.

Carlos Martinez (17:26):

And you know, talking about video interviews brings up a, a story to mind when, when I was getting ready to leave my former role, which was being an admissions counselor at Grand Valley, I, I was applying for the exact same position as a, as a good friend of mine. And we had our interviews for that position as a video interview about an hour apart from each other. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I, I D I did a couple of things right? So I showed up early, I tested it. I, it was a Skype interview, so I Skyped a friend of mine to make sure that everything sounded good. He told me my voice wasn't sounding right, so we ended up making a change. And I put on my iPhone headphones, which brings to a mic on it. And he said, my voice sounded a lot stronger and clearer.

Carlos Martinez (18:13):

My friend had about a 20 minute delay for her interview. And the big part, the big reason was they were ha she was having some internet issues and some connection issues. And so when she thought she was responding to like the you know, tell me about yourself question, every one of the other end was enabled to hear her and they ended up fixing it. They got through it. But after, after talking with her, she told me she did feel like it impacted her, her confidence, the way she was answering from that point moving forward. And, and so it's just a piece of advice, you know, get there just like you would for a real interview. Get there early. The fact that it's a video or a phone interview doesn't mean that you shouldn't, you know, dress for the part. It'll, you know, psychology, psychology, study social, that when you're dressed a certain way, your confidence will switch a bit.

Carlos Martinez (19:01):

And so you want, you want to treat it just like if it was a formal in-person interview. One cool thing about a phone or Skype interviews that you might be able to, you know, have a couple of little notes with you. But when I served on a search committee before I had somebody answer a question and they took literally about seven minutes because I counted it and, and I could tell that they had a list of notes with them and they were going to get through their entire list. And so, you know, balance is key. Have a couple of talking points, you know, by you that no one will be able to notice obviously. But again, don't go overboard at that point. You're either ready or you're not. So it's just prepare ahead of time.

Megan Riksen (19:38):

Yeah. I mean, what do you guys think about notes in a, in person interview? Would you suggest having a few things written down? I would say no for an in person. Not for an in person, no. I what about your like your resume in front of you and being able to glance down at it?

 

Stephanie Dombroski (20:03):

I'd still say no unless the interviewer has it in front of them and they're referencing it. But usually this is your chance to articulate everything that's on your resume. I always advise students when they go to an interview, act as if your interviewer has never seen your resume, wipe it away. And we do know some grad school programs, we'll do a blind interview in which the individ individuals that are interviewing, they really don't know anything about the students so that they're going in and making that first impression. So it's your ability to articulate what's on your resume. Not looking down at it and reading from it.

Megan Veltri (20:38)

Plus it's your story. You know, you've lived this experience so you can recall from your, you know, your own experience and background. I would say if you have questions in an interview you know, at the end, typically the employer might give you some time to ask questions. It's okay to have some questions written down. We would encourage that part of it. But as for having notes, I would say no, you really want to, not that you need to be well-rehearsed, but you need to have a really good understanding of the program or the employer and yourself and how your experience will connect to the current position you're applying for. Right?

Megan Riksen (21:17):

And maybe that resume or those notes, those are all good things to use when you're preparing for your interview. I often recommend that to students is literally go line by line through your resume and jot a story about every single line on your resume.

Megan Riksen (21:19):

Some example you could provide from in your education section. Here's what you could talk about in your experience. Here's what you could say. Here's a good example or fun story, something that shows how great you are from a student organization. So use those tools and, and I think I'm maybe making this up, but studies show that when you write things down, it actually helps with your memory recall now. Yeah, I don't have that study too, a reference for you all, but I think I've heard that enough that I'll, I'll believe that one's true. And it, yeah, it's just really helpful to have those stories in your back pocket. You all might remember our very first podcast, or if you, if this is the first one that you've listened to go back and listen to episode one, which was with our director of the Career Center, Troy Farley.

Megan Riksen (22:12):

Because he was able to share his story with Carlos and I. And he was quite good at it, right? Because he was giving examples. He was injecting humor. He seemed like a real person sharing his real genuine story instead of just, okay, I better go and sit down and think of all these things I need to say about myself. And that's what we really say.

 

Stephanie Dombroski (22:50):

Interviewing is the art of stilling telling a story. And that story is you. And if you're not a good storyteller, which I always say I am not it can be challenging. So knowing about what you've done by going through that resume and making little notes next to it can help you really understand. I do have great experiences. I do have good stories, but really it's your ability in that interview to articulate that. So I look at interviewing is the art of telling your story and I would say you can come in for a simulated interview in our office.

Megan Veltri (23:03):

I think Stephanie, I have both had several students who came in the first time and you know, it was a learning experience. They hadn't had a ton of interviewing experience. You know sometimes when you have your first part time job, the interview is when can you work, you know, there's not a lot of questions that you need to answer with it. And so this is really their first professional experience and there's a first time for everything, right? So they've done it one time and it went well. They still had good information, we gave them some feedback, but then they came back the second time and we saw a huge increase in the way that they were able to answer the questions. We just learned so much more about them. So of course it takes practice and we can work with you, you know, more than once. And we can use different resources to help you really articulate your skills and your experiences. And then I think as you get comfortable with that, the stories come out easier. You just get better at it.

Carlos Martinez (23:55):

Right. So earlier we kind of hinted at the idea that there are just like, there are different types of interviews, there are also different types of interview questions. And I kind of would just want to sit here for a moment and, and because I know this is a, this is an area that many students are concerned about. If we can just share some concrete advice, stories, feedback that, that, that we all like to tell people regarding some of these different types of questions. And so maybe we'll just start off with scenarios, different scenarios that you may be asked to play out or however you would approach that.

 

Stephanie Dombroski (24:29):

Well, I guess I just want I when I was in human resources, I knew the questions I wanted to ask candidates. I knew when I heard a good answer, but I didn't know what I would call the psychology behind answers, interview questions until I got into the Career Center. And I actually remember doing a guest lecture when I was working in human resources. I was invited in to talk to an MBA program and I was talking about behavioral based questions, which we'll hit on a little bit, but I was telling people about kind of the format of it. And I had a student raise his hand and asked me, is there a way you can prepare for those? And I'm like, no, not that I know of. And, and Ginger Lang, who was in our department, she was sitting in the audience and she peeked her head up and she said, well, there is, and we've got some tools for you. But after she leaves, I'll tell you those. So when I got into my role here, I realized, wow, there's all these kind of behind the scenes and tools and strategies that we're able to give students to really build a good solid answer. So your interviewer does not always know the behind the why's, the psychology, they just know when they hear good answers. So our job really is to help you understand what I would call themes of questions and then strategies to put along with those to really build a strong answer.

Megan Riksen (25:40):

So should we jump into behavioral base? Do you brought it up? I think we need to talk about it. Okay. So behavioral-based question is one of those questions that usually starts with, tell me about a time when, give me an example of a situation when something happened. Right. So tell me about a time when you had a conflict with a supervisor. Right. these questions are looking for a specific example, a specific story. And I seem to recall there might be some sort of an acronym that we use in the Career Center. Yeah.

 

Megan Veltri (22:30):

So the acronym that we use is the star model, which stands for situation, task, action, results and reflection. And so I think when students are worried about how they answer these questions, having some structure, like the star model isn't really telling you how to answer the question, but it's guiding you through your answer. And so I was just working with a student today and she had, she had the experience, she just wasn't sure how to articulate it and once applied this

Speaker 4 (26:44):

I had a much better understanding of what she was discussing and what the experience or scenario was for her. So the biggest thing is you want to talk about, you know, I think students will talk about the situation that they had and the task, but you want to make sure that you're using details because you have to remember that person knows nothing about you. So you really have to expand upon what you're discussing. Like when Stephanie said your resume is kind of wiped clean in an interview, right? Don't just assume that you're like, Oh, you know, one time I was doing this, no, Tommy was in this class. It was this specific project. Right, exactly. And we notice what students will forget is usually they'll have the situation, the task and maybe the action, but sometimes that starts to fade and we really need the results in the reflection too because that kind of wraps it up. So the results says, you know, what changed because you were involved or what was the outcome? And the reflection can be, you know, because of this, this happened. Or it might be, you know, looking back, knowing what I know now, maybe I might've done things differently. This is what I might have done. So it is a good example where students can learn from their mistakes and their experiences and showcase to the employer, Hey, I've learned a lot from this too.

Carlos Martinez (27:58):

Now along with with behavioral based questions, even if they, they don't use the term evidence-based interviewing, we know that that's, that's also another growing trend all over the place. Can, can interview, just share some thoughts on that and explain what it is. First

Stephanie Dombroski: (28:16):

I don't, I guess I don't know what the technical, evidence-based, I just look at everything that we are talking about in our interview. Should have examples. Even if they say, you know, what are your skills? You don't want to say, I'm just hardworking, I'm motivated, I'm a team player. But maybe you want to say, well, when I worked as part of a team at subway, I gained some good communication skills. I can multitask. So I kind of gave evidence of why that characteristic was why I think that is who I am. So I guess I challenge students. The biggest challenge I ask them is when they come in and I asked them a question and they give me an answer, I say, is this an answer? Somebody else could come in and say, or is it unique to you? And many times when they step back and think, yeah, I just kind of gave some basic descriptors, but you know what?

Stephanie Dombroski (29:05):

And if anybody can say the answer you just gave, it's not strong enough. And I do that a lot in the secondary admin professional programs because those students tend to really look alike academically. They're all good GPA’s. They've had experiences that were similar. So now it's your chance to really give some concrete examples of your story because your story is unique to you. You may have all had similar experiences, but your stories are going to be different. So when we can back up what we're telling them with examples that makes our answers what I would call evidence-based

Megan Veltri (29:35):

I would also add that your experience doesn't have to perfectly match. So I had a, who was applying to a nursing program and her previous experience was she worked in a bakery and she said, well, I don't have any clinical experience. But we talked about her bakery experience and why that was going to be valuable and relatable to healthcare. So she it was really important for her to have great time management. She talked about the importance of being able to manage the customer needs. Plus the scheduling demands for the day. She was on her feet all the time, very late related to the work that she would be doing in nursing. So, even though it seemed sure she didn't have the clinical experience, she had some of the foundational skills that she learned from the bakery. And so the important thing was that she translated how those skills would relate back to nursing.

Megan Riksen (30:23):

Yeah. I think, I think that's really key. I, when I think about just the structure of kind of any interview question, response, respond to the question, give an example and then connect it back to the job. Right. If you can do the, or the program, right. If you can do those three things, you know, you know, you've given a pretty solid response.

Carlos Martinez (30:43):

Yeah. What about if, if they don't know the answer, if they feel stuck in the email, they got thrown a curve ball and they're not sure how to answer. I know the first thing I was tell people is don't feel you have to jump in and answer right away. It's okay to pause. And I know we kind of all gave that, that advice, but beyond that, does anyone here have thoughts on, on how to deal with that situation where you're not really sure?

Stephanie Dombroski (31:09):

I always say it's, it's okay to be human. It's okay to recognize that you're maybe need some more time. Usually you can ask your interviewer to repeat the question. Sometimes you can have them repeat it and you can actually write it down. I would say that's a strategy that you're showing your interviewer that you're using to help with your thought process. So I would say take that deep breath, maybe ask for it to be repeated. You can write it down to give your, sometimes some cell. Give yourself some time to think about it. And worst case scenario, you can always say, can we come back to that one and need some more time? I say interviewing is about being authentic and genuine. And even though it's, you want to be professional, you also want to be authentic. And I think interviewers take a lot more away from that than be in all this smooth kind of jam. I always say the Johnny on the spot, smooth sales car salesman isn't always the best interviewer because it doesn't feel genuine. So if you are stuck, it's okay to just say, you know, that's a hard question and give yourself some time, put a couple strategies into place or asked to come back

Megan Riksen (32:07):

To it. And often you needing five seconds to think about a question is nothing to the person interviewing you. It might feel like an eternity as you're sitting there taking that five seconds. But typically just kind of a couple of deep breaths will be enough to at least bring something to mind. Certainly if you've done some preparation, you'll have kind of that bucket of examples to be pulling from which can also help.

Carlos Martinez (32:37):

Yeah. And, and beyond, beyond the questions there can also be tasks that you're asked to complete. I know all of us to be advisers. We all had to do a presentation to, to all of the Career Center staff. Some folks, if it's a, if it's in the technical field, they might have to work on a, on a mathematical or a technical problem in that space. There's role playing scenarios as well. Is it possible to prepare for those if you're given an advanced warning?

Megan Veltri (33:08):

Yes. I think that there's, you know, the natural preparation that you were doing, but you're not going to be able to be prepared for everything that's part of the skill that they might be looking into. You know, your your critical thinking skills or your ability to adapt. And so you can't necessarily prepare for everything, but you should trust in your skills that you have. If you've been preparing that you are well prepared and that you can sort through these ideas. You've been doing this your whole life. You probably didn't notice it because it wasn't a formal interview, but you've been doing it in your classes and you've been doing it, you know, in your workspace. Even if it's just a part time job that you, when you walk into a lot of spaces you don't know what's going to happen. And so you naturally adapt. And so if you can trust in some of that experience that you've had from before, you know, there are some scenarios that you might be walking into and you can use some of your experience before to work the room in the interview.

Stephanie Dombroski  (34:01):

Yeah. Some of my favorite questions are called uncommon questions and those are, you know, a few, it could be a candy bar. What would you be or what would be your superhero power if you were a superhero? And believe it or not, there's a lot of organizations that use that and it's a way to gauge a lot of different things. Number one, your ability to handle something you weren't expected. So if you're sitting in this serious interview and somebody all of a sudden says, you know, if you were a candy bar, and I had, that happened when I was interviewing for my recruiter position at the hospital, they asked me if you could be a candy bar, what would you be? And I remember being so blindsided. I think I turned beet red. I was like, what a candy bar. I couldn't for the life of me.

Stephanie Dombroski (34:41):

Understand why they wanted that. And I had the dumbest answer. I think I said I'd be a gummy bear cause I'm more fruity than smoking. I mean it was, it was just dumb. But you know what, they were just looking at my humor, my ability to handle a little bit of stress and to kind of roll with it. So sometimes those uncommon questions are trying to just gauge your personality. I had a student that I was working with who was interviewing for a research organization in our area that does clinical trials. And he said he had two hours worth of uncommon questions and he said, you know what, they just, he said I didn't do well because I was so frazzled and couldn't understand why they kept asking me these really crazy questions. So they were probably just looking at how easy handling stress and his ability to kind of, you know, deal with the unknown. So again, those uncommon questions can try to get ya. But really just kind of roll with it and have fun with them sometimes too.

Carlos Martinez (35:32):

The last thing I'll say on my part at least is that some of you might even have things like psychological assessments depending on your role. I get a lot of that for students who are interested in law enforcement, military or even some federal positions, even if it's not a law enforcement role. There are different sorts of aptitude tests. So there's no universal idea as a, as a common interview, you can expect every single interview to be different. But there are general principles, tips, tricks, ideas that that can help you start off on that right foot. And that's kind of what this whole conversation is about. We, we've talked in a few of these tips actually, right? So earlier I mentioned about being nervous and just understand that it's normal and you can be there. Stephanie talked about being genuine and honest that in terms of, you know, bringing your true self to that space anybody else want to share ideas, tips, things that are kind of maybe universal that can help you?

Megan Riksen (36:27):

Well, I think one big piece of interviewing is professional dress. And dressing for the work environment or the program that you're going into. Right? So when you're interviewing someplace that you know is very conservative, you're going to be wearing a suit for sure. If you're walking into an advertising agency and you're applying to be there, you know, creative coordinator of their social media maybe you don't need to wear a full black suit, right? You could take some liberties and be a little more creative in your attire. I will say that for the most part, a suit is not going to be a bad thing. What about for some of the programs here at Grand Valley, the secondary admit, what are they all asking for?

 

Megan Veltri (37:36)

You know, I think that sometimes some programs can be a little bit more flexible than others, but it depends too on who you're interviewing with. And sometimes, you know, it's Grand Valley people and sometimes they bring in community members. We usually recommend a suit is best for the secondary admit programs. You're never going to be underdressed in that case. So I think I would always recommend a suit in that instance.

Carlos Martinez (37:47):

Everyone to keep looking at the Mike when we talk, we've all done it. I've called, I've called myself. All of us have done it. Just so they can pick up, well this is one of those things guys. Remember it's a natural conversation.

Stephanie Dombroski (38:03):

Can I add in one word thing? Yeah. We didn't get to touch on MMI and for the students that are trying to get into a med program or even, I just did one today for a student getting into a physical therapy program, it's called an a multiple mini interview. And those are the, I guess we'd call those the scenario based where you're given a situation and you typically have two minutes to read it and then about six minutes to answer it. So that's one of those situations that you really can't talk about yourself so much other than maybe bringing in a little bit of experiences that you've had. But sometimes these questions are things that you've never had an opportunity to experience, but they're looking at your ability to think about it things ethically. Think about outside resources. So MMI are also, we we work with students with those. Again, they're a little bit different than the traditional format. They're not really hitting what we, we talked about today with some of these themes. But really we're looking at more ethical scenario based questions.

Carlos Martinez (38:59):

Yeah. so let's say we have a student who came to us for help on their resume, their cover letter, their interviews, they've gone through it all, but they still didn't get the position right there. That that's also a really normal and natural part of this process. I've been rejected for positions. I'm sure most of us or all of us here at some point have been rejected, but you know, but here we are, right? So it's, it's a natural part of the process. I, I've heard different numbers, but typically anywhere from four to six months, sometimes longer that the entire job search process can take from the moment you like earnestly start searching to that point that you begin that new role. Other studies will show that if you identify as, as a woman person, a color, many different marginalized identities, it can still take a little longer even though you're doing everything right and you want to be mindful of, of the different challenges or, or things that you're going to need to navigate throughout the process.

Megan Veltri (40:02):

Yes, it can take some time. I think an important thing is to be persistent. You do have to hang in there. It can be a long haul. And I always tell students, you know, for a long time a lot of things were in your control and then when you start applying to jobs, all of a sudden things are out of control. You don't know what their timeline is going to be. You're not exactly sure what they're looking for. Things can get held up in the HR process. So there's just a lot going on that's not in your control. So you do have to be persistent and it can be frustrating too if you have applied to a couple of jobs and haven't gotten it, especially if you're starting to get farther along. Right. but the good thing is is you can always consult with us at the Career Center.

Megan Veltri (40:42):

I would say if you have any mentors in the field, they might be able to also provide you with some additional guidance. You know, if you have applied to a bunch of jobs and you're not getting anywhere and it's just been your resume, maybe we need to take a look at your resume or if you've gotten to the phone interview but haven't made it past the next round, maybe we need to look at some of those skills. So the good thing is, is we can always reassess and restrategize what might work best for your interviewing

Carlos Martinez (41:08):

[Inaudible]

Stephanie Dombroski (41:09):

Yeah. And it can, it can feel, it can feel hard. A lot of times I students will come in or alumni and will say, I, I was rejected or I got the rejection letter and we hear a rejection over and over when really it's about maybe you just weren't the right fit and we talked a little bit about fit, but we don't know where their internal candidates, where their candidates that maybe had just a different qualifications, so that's a hard one because when you've tried to get that job or are you transitioning

Stephanie Dombroski (41:34):

Jobs and it really feels like either rejecting me when really I'm processing through that a little bit. We help students and alumni as well, try to figure out different strategies, but really it isn't a rejection of you. It's a skill set that's maybe not matching and even I've had it where I've had really great candidates, they would appear to be a perfect fit on paper. They've killed the interview and we still go with another candidate because they fit the team that we have a little bit differently. Maybe they have a skill set or personality type. That's just a better skill set or a better fit for that team. Just based on some of those things. So it's not always about being the best candidate. It's really about that organization finding the best fit for that position. So you do have to have, you know, a little bit of a thick skin when it comes to this because it might not be all about you.

Megan Riksen (42:19):

It might just be kind of who else is there and you can just keep improving yourself and that's all you can really worry about. So okay, so we are almost to the end of this conversation and I feel like we've kind of breezed through a lot of the topics. Right? and that's why, you know, you can always come back and see us. But one, one final thing I know we want to talk about is followup etiquette for an interview. So what should students be doing? What should, what should they be doing after an interview?

Megan Veltri (42:50):

I think an important thing to do is send a thank you note. Thank you. Notes are not hard to do. You basically just expressing, you know, your gratitude for the opportunity to talk with them. I think, you know, I was listening to a previous podcast with Jamie bell, one of our students, and she talked about the importance of having a genuine bank, you know, and it didn't have to be too long, but it just, you know, there was a special touch in there in terms of, you know, they indicated something that they were really excited about with the interview experience or that they were looking forward to. It just shows the employer or the person that's interviewing you your gratitude and how enthusiastic you are to move forward in the interview process. And what do we think

Stephanie Dombroski (43:29):

Handwritten versus email, what's preferred, what's best, what do you think? I think fewer people do handwritten. And I know when I worked in human resources, if I received a handwritten letter, it usually sat on my desk or on my shelf for a while. So when another position became available, I may, you know what, reach out to that person again. It just kinda shows you that your though, I guess the best Touro well-rounded candidate, email's fine too. But I think that lasting impression where you're in somebody's view more longer, I guess would be with the card cause it could be sitting on their desk or their self.

 

Megan Riksen (44:00)

I actually really liked the tip with those handwritten ones that, so you leave the interview, maybe you run to a coffee shop or if it's on campus, you go somewhere else on campus, write your thank you notes on the spot and you can even go back to the spot where you interviewed and just hand deliver them instead of meeting to wait for it to be mailed. And then that's almost best of both worlds cause it's kind of immediate but it's still that handwritten note. But I guess overall, just make sure you're, you're providing a thank you. Yeah. You really

Carlos Martinez (44:32):

Want to make sure it doesn't take three or four days to get to them. If you're going to do a handwritten and because they might be making their decision for the next round or for that final choice before your letter gets back to them. This was fun. Yeah. We're going to have to do another adviser chat at some point maybe before the semester ends. So, remember guys and gals and everyone, this is a monthly show. We will, we will be back in early February. You're, you're just remember you're just getting back from, from your little breaks, everyone. And so now's the time. I've started thinking about what your summer plans are going to look like, and as the semester goes through we hope to give you more, more relevant advice. Thank you and you know, check you out next month. Thanks for being here, guys. Thank you.