Skills to pay the bills.

On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Career Counselor Clara Ross-Jones ran a workshop to help students on their job interviewing skills.

Jones said, “There are a lot more job opportunities now and it is important to have good interviewing skills.”

The meeting began at 3 p.m. where Jones spoke about five main points in order to have success during the interviewing process.

The first was preparing for the type of interviews.

Whether it is a phone, one-on-one or a group interview, the person getting interviewed should always be prepared.

Some things she discussed, were that having a resume and notes on hand would always be helpful.

It is important that the person should always be aware of their surroundings and that no matter what, be respectful and calm if the interview is held at the professional setting the person is applying at.

Another main point she discussed was having a good first impression.

Having the right attitude and being able to be a team player are skills needed to making the right impression.

She explained that being flexible is important because if there is a problem, the person in charge needs to know the person hired can be good at problem solving and work well under pressure.

Questions are important, because they can make or break a person during the interview process.

Questions like “Tell me about yourself” and “Tell me about a time when…” are asked a lot.

An “elevator pitch” is an important key point that came up at the workshop.

A person needs to sell themselves to the company they’re applying for, and generally they only have about 1-2 minutes.

Jones had students fill out a form on their strengths and what they hoped to accomplish.

Following that, Jones had the students do an exercise where they practiced handshakes and selling themselves to each other on why they should be hired for the job.

Students learned their mistakes and learned that time is not always on their side and that they need to work on managing it with practice.

The two final main points Jones talked about was having the right attire and having good body language during the interview.

Several students attended the workshop to learn more about how to be successful in interviews including Environmental Engineer major Ivy Pu who heard about the workshop in the library and learned communication skills.