Blog Archives

“Winners don’t have to explain themselves. Only losers do.”

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Pat Patterson

As many of you may already be aware, actor Charlie Sheen has been working with internships.com to hire a “winning” summer 2011 social media intern to monitor and manage his social media marketing campaigns – imagine having that experience listed on your resume… 

If this is your first time learning about the internship, don’t get too excited; the competition/interview process is already in its third round, narrowing the some 82,000 applicants down to 250 individuals who have proven to have #tigerblood thus far. 

21-year-old Julia Hatmaker is one of the 250 left.  She has made comments to The Patriot-News about her experience: 

In the first round, she was asked to tell why she thought she should get the job. Her response was a twist on Sheen’s own words: “Winners don’t have to explain themselves. Only losers do.”

“I guess they liked that,” she said.

Although this answer …

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Want to Perform Your Best at Your Next Internship Interview?

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Pat Patterson

Entry by Pat Patterson

Aside from the usual interview preparation – researching the organization and opportunity, preparing answers to questions, dressing in appropriate professional attire, etc. – the key to performing your best at your next internship interview is to get enough sleep the night before, so be prepared to catch some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs………

 

According to studies discussed in Brain Rules, a book by molecular biologist Dr. John Medina, sleep helps our brains function at peak performance:

To highlight this, Medina refers to a study in which math graduate students were given a problem and told the way to solve it. 

“It was a bonehead solution,” Medina says. “Unbeknownst to students, there was a much more elegant way to solve the math problem.”

The researchers, who wanted to study the effect of sleep on cognition, broke the students into two groups, Group A and Group B. With 12 …

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Students: Common Interviewing Mistakes

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Pat Patterson

Entry by Pat Patterson

The “dead fish handshake” – Always shake your interviewer’s hand firmly and confidently (just make sure you don’t over do it). 

The “poker face” – When you answer questions, do so with a smile on your face and at least appear as if you are enjoying yourself.  A pleasant attitude is contagious, and your interviewer will remember you as a positive person if you are pleasant. 

Forgetting to breathe – I don’t mean literally forgetting to breathe and passing out (I hope no one is that nervous during an interview) – I mean try not to talk too quickly.  Take some deep breaths and slow your speech enough to be understood.  If you think you may be speaking too quickly, there is a good chance that you are.  Practice answering questions with a friend to gauge a good talking speed. 

“Thanks Tom, uhh…I …

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Employers: Non-traditional Interviewing Approaches

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Pat Patterson

Entry by Pat Patterson – from the January 2011 INTERNnetwork

Non-traditional Interviews

Virtual Interview
With today’s technology, interviews do not necessarily need to be face-to-face. If you are unable to meet with students for interviews or vice versa, conducting an interview via video/audio equipment may be a viable option. Many career services offices have webcams and Skype accounts to accommodate students and employers for virtual interviews. If your organization typically conducts preliminary phone screening interviews, you may even consider a virtual interview as a substitute.

Meal Interview
If you have a client-focused organization that regularly involves interacting with different individuals, including lunch or dinner meetings, consider interviewing students over lunch or dinner. By doing so, you may be able to gauge a student’s social skills and mannerisms in a more relaxed setting. Even if you are not a client-focused organization, conducting interviews over meals may …

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Interview Like a S.T.A.R.

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Pat Patterson

Entry by Pat Patterson

From the January 2011 INTERNnetwork:

In internship interviews, employers commonly ask behavioral interview questions that focus on past events in your life and your responses.  Since a student will typically not have much work experience, behavioral interview questions are open-ended questions that focus on past performances to assess behavior – in particular, how you may respond to similar situations in the future.  “Can you tell me about a goal you accomplished at a previous job?” is an example of a behavioral interview question.

Since behavioral interview questions are open-ended, they can be difficult to answer.  Therefore, you need to be prepared.  The S.T.A.R. technique for interviewing is a method for thoroughly answering behavioral interview questions.  Using the S.T.A.R. technique, you describe your actions in past situations to answer behavioral questions. 

S.T.A.R. is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result.

Situation – Provide some …

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