Working in Digital Media Week 12
This weeks guest speaker was Maria Browne. Maria is a Careers Development Manager and she has come to us today to help us prepare for our mock interviews next week.
A few key notes that everyone should before going into an interview is that grammar on the CV is vitally important and achievements are essential. After all, you’re going in their to impress them, so it’s best to pack your CV with as many (useful) achievements as you can. Another thing is to never point out any negatives n your CV or character. The best way to deal with this is by posing a positive twist to everything. As long as you don’t lie, of course. Having examples of your work is also vital, especially if you are apply for a designer position, whether it’s for graphical or architectural design it’s a bit of a “no-brainer” to have a portfolio of past work and projects at the ready.
When it comes to preparing for the interview some of the key notes is to have researched the company and the actual position you are applying to. You have to know what you are expected to do and knowing the company shows that you prepared yourself well and are very keen on the whole thing. Work out what possible questions might be asked and study your CV carefully because this is where they will be looking at when it comes to asking questions. Of course, always be punctual, dress accordingly and always be confident in yourself.
Some of the most frequent questions asked in an interview are;
Tell us about yourself? This is probably the most important question, since you are essentially selling your character to the company. Tell them about your hobbies, your college, what your goals and dreams are. Companies tend to pick people who seem to have a lot of things going in life since this basically translates to a confident and successful employee.
Can you tell us your strong and weak points? People need to really look out for these types of questions, especially when it comes to pointing out your weaknesses. As I said before never paint yourself negatively. Try and take negative aspects and twist them into positive ones. A good example is for someone who can’t take many projects on at once is because he tends to put all his focus on a single project to make sure he gives it 110%.
Where do you hope to be in 5 years? This questions tends to catch people off guard. Many people, especially college students, never really think about the future. Most of the time they are thinking about the present college years ahead of them. Passions and goals in life are essential in interviews because this gives the company the impression that you reach out in life and want to higher yourself, personally.
Why should we hire you? Questions like these yearn for confidence. You might have the requirements, but so do all the other applicants. This is where selling yourself is important. Think about your achievements and skills, such things are important because they give you an edge above all the rest.
Personally I think I took a lot from this lecture. I can honestly say that I’m feeling really confident for these interviews and can’t wait to get them done.
