With career fair and interview season in full swing, it is time to make yOrr mark. There are many tips circulating the internet that offer advice on how to present yourself for these endeavors. The real question is how can you prepare and position yourself for success? With these three pieces of advice, you can do just that.
1. Know yourself so well that you can connect naturally with any question, situation, or person you encounter.
When you have taken the time to know yourself, the skills you bring, stories that you can tell and the experiences that have shaped you, there are many benefits. It makes it easier to focus on listening in a conversation rather than trying to form a response. In the weeks leading up to the career fair or interview, take time to reflect on experiences and be inquisitive about them. Make this a common practice in your life. Self-awareness gives you more of a capacity to engage with those around you!
An aspect of self-reflective practice is asking yourself questions. Practicing asking yourself questions makes you better prepared to ask others questions about themselves and their interests. That’s how you can keep conversations going. It is an art worth practicing as it will carry you beyond career fairs or interviews and into meaningful connections.
Knowing your experiences allows you to answer questions from various angles. There are questions an interviewer will ask that allow you to take the reins of a conversation. For example, “What interests you?” If you only prepared answers to business questions, you may think there is only one way to answer. However, if you have given thought to what truly interests you, you can allow the conversation to flow in a multitude of directions or connect your interests into one broad concept, which allows you to expand more later. You may say, “I am interested in creating ideas that offer solutions. This is something that interests me in my personal life, creative hobbies, education, the way I lead and what I feel I can contribute to an organization. An example would be…” By answering like this, you can share what you feel showcases your interests the most effectively, while leaving the door open for the interviewer to target specific facets if they want to.
Your experiences and interests can drive the conversation. Taking time to self-reflect gives you an opportunity to clarify the context, evaluate the extent of impact and then be able to explain it clearly and concisely when asked. Knowing yourself and being conversationally flexible is as important, if not more important, than having the “right answer.”
2. Connect yourself to the company research.
Doing research is a crucial part of preparing for any phase in the job search. The way you do it can drastically change your preparedness and conversations. There is standard information that you should collect like what the company does, job positions they are hiring for (if this is disclosed beforehand), people in leadership, company values or culture and other general information. To add value to your research, recall stories that align you to the company values. If they use a specific hierarchical structure that you’ve worked in, prepare to share how you learned from it or how your experience would allow you to fit in. You may also resonate with the interviewer when you are researching their background, so be ready to acknowledge those connections, too. You will not get to show off all of the research you have done, but your preparedness will undoubtedly shine through.
An interview is not all about answering questions; it is also about asking them! When they ask if you have any questions, this is another time to show off your preparedness. Ask questions that clarify your understanding of the company, expectations, or other crucial gaps in information while leading with what you may already know. For example, “In learning more about your company, I saw you were in the (company industry) space. With that being a large industry, can you clarify for me what exactly (company name) does, or what sets them apart in the industry?” You can ask basic questions while still sounding researched, and these basic questions can sometimes be the smartest questions to ask!
Finally, you can use the questions you asked as a point of follow-up. “It was great to have more information on ___” or “As you elaborated on _____…” This will remind the interviewer of the specifics of your conversation. Let your interest and investment shine through!
3. Create a touch point.
Instead of making ‘selling yourself’ the goal, sell a point of connection with whomever you are talking to. A point of connection can be something you both have in common or an overlap in your network. This makes you stand out, and it creates an easier reason for you to reach out to the person after your interaction is over. Especially at career fairs, many people fall into the trap of just sharing their elevator pitch, often similar to what other students present. A point of connection you have with the company’s representative has a higher chance of being unique, so take advantage of this. After giving your elevator pitch, follow it up with a question; the more specific the better. Get a conversation going that the representative can invest in. Even if it is two minutes, there are nuggets of information you could connect to, you just have to listen for them and be intentional.
After the interview, you can then use this touch point as your premise for connecting again. If you just gave your elevator pitch and the company gave theirs in return, your message may be, “Thanks for sharing about your company! Remember ___ is why I would be a great fit.” However, if you connect on something specific, you can say “It was great meeting you and connecting about ____. Hearing that your love for ____ is nurtured at your company is encouraging. Looking forward to staying in touch!” And, you can sincerely put “staying in touch” because you created a touch point.
In an interview setting, don’t be afraid of the small talk at the beginning. The interviewer is human just like you. This can be the launching pad to creating a touchpoint. Professionalism begins in the simplistic moments of creating the initial rapport. You are not only interviewing for a position to work in but the people you work with, too!
For example, in the small talk portion of an interview, the interviewer may mention they are excited about the basketball game going on that night. You may love basketball and mention your shared excitement, a clearly defined shared interest. However, you can use this touch point as a common ground throughout the interview, too. When answering a question, you may use a basketball metaphor to better explain yourself, knowing that there is a mutual language being shared. Running with touch points can be a game changer.
You got this! Don’t forget to connect with people beyond the tables and outside of interviews, as well. Your peers are your support system through this. Go and make the most of this career fair and interview season with these three tips!
