Interviews

I found two articles written by Dana Mattioli very interesting at careerjournal.com. The first article is entitled "Ability to Pull an All-Nighter can be as Useful as a B.A." This article gives college students some great ideas about skills to mention in interviews that they do not even realize they have. I never realized that some companies would like to hear that I have the ability to function on 4 or 5 hours of sleep, work late at night on projects, frequently work on group projects, use some of the latest technology, etc. This article says pulling all nighters demonstrates time-management skills, working on class projects displays cross team collaboration, and completing assignments in general shows you have the ability to meet deadlines. All of these things are good business skills that companies are interested in.

The second article is entitled "You Can Say too Much Without even Speaking". I always thought using a lot of eye contact was a good thing, but this article says you can use too much eye contact. Using too much eye contact can cause you to develop a "stalker stare". The article also says fidgeting is annoying and distracting to recruiters. One good way to keep from fidgeting is to bring a pen and pad to the interview so your hands will be occupied. Crossing my arms is a natural habit for me, but this article says crossed arms are considered the universal sign of unfriendliness. It shows defensiveness and tension. The article suggests using open hand gestures to display friendliness. I will definitely remember all of these great ideas, and refer back to this website for more good ideas during any future interviews.