Interviews - the dynamics

How exactly can you survive an interview these days?

I've been through my fair share of job interviews and all of them really have had their perks and unique traits. I've had various settings, including over lunch, e-mail, phone, and directly in the office. Today I personally finished a phone interview with Webmail.us and it was probably the most professional I've experienced to date.

This company means serious business and they really read your resume. To me this shows importance of who they employ and that they really take the time to make the right decision. The contact that I was interviewed by was very professional, was respectful of what I was wanting to accomplish and asked me one thing I have yet to hear during an interview - "What do you want to achieve in the next few years?"

With this I have been motivated to write 5 job interview tips that I feel made this interview a success.


1. Do your research
I feel that the person that interviewed me was impressed that I had prior knowledge of the company and what exactly they represent, their employees, and the products they developed. This is essential to both you and your employer - its best to know what you're up for.

2. Always have a Plan B
Believe it or not, I was going for one job and the interview was directed into another job more suited to my talents. Always be ready for discussion on topics OTHER than the job you've placed your resume in for. You'd be surprised what may come up!

3. Just relax
I personally caught myself getting overly nervous during the first few minutes of the interview. Once I took a few deep breaths and seconds to reflect I was on the go. Remember - it's just an interview - not the end of the world. The company is getting to know you, not judging you.

4. Check your resume not once, not twice, but at least three times.
Commonly people use a resume for various job applications. I personally tailor my resume for the jobs I go after. This time around I unwittingly forgot to put my phone number on my resume. This was a huge goof on my part but fortunately my interviewer was cool with it. Other tips for this include:

• Keep it to one page minimum if you are just out of high school or college
• can be more than one page if you have a doctorate or lengthy work experience
• Spice it up - don't use a typical Microsoft Word template - you want to grab their attention
• Use relevant experience. Just because you worked at McDonald's doesn't mean you didn't gain experience that could be used to treat customers effectively.

5. Be confident of your abilities
This occurs sometimes with the best of us. No matter how experienced you are, you could feel that you don't make the cut. Remember - if they've taken the time to pull your resume and interviewed you, then you definitely have something to say about yourself.

Virginia Tech Tragedy

Last Monday changed my life forever. Never in a million years could I have imagined something so terribly cruel could happen – let alone fifteen minutes away from me!

Someone I used to play basketball against in high school was killed. A few friends of my friends were killed. It is eerily awakening how many close ties people had with the horrific events and they may not even realize it.

Trying to cope with it all has been tough, especially with the final week of classes and exams peeking up. I’m not even at Virginia Tech and its stressful for me – I can’t even imagine the real Orange and Maroon feel.

One way to help out and relieve the stress was the development of www.rememberhokies.com . This is not the official memorial web site for the horrific events that occurred at Virginia Tech. This is however my way of providing a resource for those that has been apart of these incidents and as a way to remember those 33 students and faculty that were tragically killed.

To all of the Hokies - hold your heads up high and proud. Remember those that have unfortunately fallen. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever in the future we shall all walk hand in hand as HOKIES.