The Ideal Candidate? Is it YOU?

Lately I've been doing a lot of mock interviews. During these practice sessions, I ask students to share with me the questions they plan to ask during an interview. After all, an interview is a two-sided conversation, where you should have some questions prepared to ask as well as the interviewer.

No, I don't have the answers to students' questions, but I can evaluate their queries, letting the student know if each question is one that should or should not be asked. As we consider their questions, I am often asked about my favorite question to ask in an interview. My go to question is some sort of variation of this one (I've used it more than once, and I've gotten the job):

Would you please describe the ideal candidate for this position?

Or some variation of this like What does it take for an employee to be successful in this position? How would you describe an ideal employee? Questions like these let you know what it is that the employer is seeking...what fits.

I've been on hiring committees for lots of positions in the over 25 years of my professional career. I can count on one hand though, and it's less than five, the candidates who have used this question and the employer's response to their advantage. For, after the employer answers your ideal candidate question, then it's your turn to sell yourself. Let's say a recruiter replies she seeks a skilled problem solver, a strong communicator, a team player and someone with leadership experience.

When the hiring manager finishes this description, you reply, "You mentioned you are looking for a problem solver. Just last week in a group project, I had to put my problem solving skills to work,.."(going on to describe what you did). "I feel like I've been able to develop my communication skills this year in my senior design project where we have to make presentations at least every 3 weeks. And, for the entire time I've been at Virginia Tech, I've played on intramural teams, where I currently serve as the captain of my basketball team..." and go on and share what that involves. You get the picture. Demonstrate to the employer how you fit the ideal. That's what they want to know. Who fits what we are looking for the best?

If the employer shares an ideal quality or experience that you don't have, you just don't mention it, or you can talk about what a quick learner you are with a specific example where you had to understand something at a fast pace.

Another good strategy with a question is to let an employer know you've done research in your question. "I read about your new office in Raleigh, NC. Would I have the opportunity to work in this position there? What are your plans for that location?" This proves to the employer you are genuinely interested in the opportunity and in the organization.

If you need more ideas for questions to ask in an interview, visit our website. Be sure you have a fair amount of questions to ask, as some may be answered by a recruiter as they describe a position and the organization before you have a chance to ask them.

In your next interview, go prove how you fit by discovering the employer's ideal.

What's your go to question in an interview? Let us know if you have a new one to add to our list.

Are you ready for Spring Career Fairs? The first fair is Jan. 27!

If you are still looking for an internship or full-time position, there are over 10 career fairs during Spring Semester! Not sure what fairs are being held this semester? Find out here.

To help you prepare for all these fairs, we've updated our Career Fair Bucket List that we shared during fall semester. Be sure you check all these off your list! Come see us in Career Services to get your resume reviewed and to talk about steps to take to prepare for all the fairs.

Play To Your Strengths

Have you ever taken a moment to stop and think, what am I good at? You may do well in your major and you may be really involved in your extracurricular activities. BUT, what makes you good at those things?

Becoming self-aware of your strengths is critical to your career development. This knowledge allows you to reflect on the parts about you that are the core of your work ethic.  Once you are conscious of this, you are able to apply these strengths to pretty much any field. The purpose of this is to open you up to opportunities and help you find something in yourself that you probably didn’t even know existed before.

Virginia Tech Career Services pays for several professional resources that assess your strengths. Our most popular ones include:

Strengths Quest: http://www.dsa.vt.edu/aspirations/strengths/

This assessment categorizes you into your top five strengths, out of over 30 possible strengths. Examples of strengths are Relator, Responsibility, Empathy, etc. The purpose of these strengths are to allow exploration. With this information, “students can be intentional in investing in their talents, expanding their curiosities, and putting those talents to use.”

Myplan.com: http://www.myplan.com/

This assessment focuses on interests, values, personality type, and skills to direct your attention to potential careers relating to each. It encompasses its own assessments, personal anecdotes, with explanations about why some careers fit some strengths. Be sure to get the appropriate code from Career Services to take the assessments for free!

Do What You Are: (Get the assessment in the office with an appointment)

This assessment focusing on personality type is one of the more popular ones known to universities and employers, due to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. When you take this tool, you have the possibility of being one of 16 different personalities. The assessment is based on your initial preferences to certain values and traits. The result may describe you exactly! It’s remarkable how well this assessment can identify your personality. Then, for your own reference, the results categorize what your personality works best at. There is an abundance of information that can come from this assessment.

To learn more about what personality type can mean to you, check out this link: http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/

Why are these assessments beneficial to you?

All three of these tools are known worldwide for self-exploration. Then, to better utilize this information, some assessments use your results to suggest what you would be good at in a career. Another really great feature about these assessments is that they focus on the positives. Everyone has something positive to contribute to a job. Instead of focusing on what you can’t do, you can focus on the things you can do! It is positive psychology incorporated into a professional sense.

To find out more about who you are, check out the links provided in this page of our career site: http://www.career.vt.edu/MajorCareerExploration/SelfAssessment.html

We also encourage you to make an appointment with a full time Career Advisor to better understand the purpose of and results from all these assessments. 

Salary Negotiation and Handling Job Offers

There is always a lot to consider when you decide to embark on a new opportunity. Around this time of year, many of you are interacting with employers, starting to receive offers for full-time jobs, internships, co-ops, and are finding yourselves having to make decisions on WHICH TO CHOOSE.

The following are issues to consider…

Business Communication

• How has your experience been interacting with the recruiter?

• What are good questions to ask when you are trying to make a decision?

• How do you respond to an offer letter?

• What parts go into this personal evaluation?

Evaluating the Offer

Negotiation

• Is this even an option for the company I am interacting with?

• Outside of salary, what else can I negotiate?

Accepting and Declining Offers

• How do I this both professionally and timely?

To answer those critical concerns….

How has your experience been interacting with the recruiter?

Maintaining open communication with employers is crucial to making a well-informed opinion. Be sure to stay positive, professional, polite, humble, clear, direct, and easy to reach. Never complain, assume, or brag.

What are good questions to ask when you are trying to make a decision?

Ask questions and take notes as you receive answers! You are going to want to know about expense accounts, amount of travel, opportunities for advancement within the company, what your work hours are going to be, who you are going to be working with, insurance package and benefits, moving allowances, and retirement benefits.

Other questions some students forget to ask, but are equally as important are about vacation and sick time, dress code, start dates, frequency of pay, and how pay is evaluated (salary, hourly, commission?)

How do you respond to an offer letter?

An offer letter is a formal agreement that officiates the offer the company is giving you. It also describes the position you will be taking, and other pay and date specifics.

When you receive one, be sure to do the following things. Ask for time to think about whether or not you want to accept, set a date to decide that the employer is comfortable with, thank them for the offer immediately, and start the evaluation process!

What parts go into this personal evaluation?

Consider what is important to you. Think about how you want to spend work and personal time, is this job a good match for your skills and interests, does the company have similar values to your own? Map out the company’s logistics:

• Size of the company, hours, pay, location, benefits, opportunity for advancement

• Do these details align with your personal preferences and career plan?

Is salary negotiation even an option for the company I am interacting with?

This does not mean you look greedy! There is a very appropriate way to handle part of your career decision. Do keep in mind most companies do NOT actually do salary negotiation. But if they do allow it, be sure to research what an appropriate number would be for the position you intend to take.

It is very important that you are never the first person to even mention salary when communicating in the hiring process!

When the employer does bring it up, you will have an idea of what you want to say. You can use salary negotiating calculators online. Here is an example of one that considers location of the job: http://www.salaryexpert.com/

Outside of salary, what else can I negotiate?

You can negotiate things such as time off, re-location expenses, your start date, and much more.

Here are some more sites that are used for calculating appropriate salaries:

• The Post-Graduation Report on career.vt.edu

• Glassdoor.com

• Salary.com

• Paycheckcity.com

How do I do accept and decline offers both professionally and timely?

When declining the offer, do not feel bad! Remember, this is a business decision. Be sure to thank them for the offer, give an idea as to why you are declining, do it over the phone, and do not delay the time that you decide to decline. Be aware of not burning a bridge with these companies. At the time that you are declining, they may not be the best fit; however, you never know what the future holds for your career.

When accepting the offer, you want to do some similar things…minus the rejection! Be sure to accept over a phone call, thank them for the offer, indicate why you wanted to choose them, and follow up about officiating the acceptance.

From there, you will likely follow company protocol as to how to really get started. Be prepared for talking start dates, background and drug checks, and things to do for that first day of work!

Lastly, always remember to congratulate yourself on a job well done! You are officially on your way to a career path.

For a quick reference to answer some more FAQ’s about salary negotiation and making career decisions, visit the Virginia Tech Career Services site: https://www.career.vt.edu/JobSearchGuide/SalaryQuestionsNegotiating.html

Got Experience?

While summer and winter breaks are a great time for students to take a break from school, they are also a wonderful opportunity to experience work in the real world. Whether it be through a part-time job, co-op, or internship; employers are consistently looking for work and relevant experience on a student’s resume.

When is a good time to start? As soon as you can!

It is never too early to start gaining experience in your field of interest. However, it is important for juniors and seniors to actively look for these experiences, as they are entering the work force much quicker than underclassmen.

So what kind of experience should you be utilizing over breaks?

As you can see in the visual above, many students attain work experience through paid internships, volunteer work, field study, part-time jobs, and much more. The important thing to keep in mind when attaining these positions, is to keep your options open.

Your odds at getting offered an opportunity are typically better when you have numbers on your side. So do a little research…or a lot of research. Last summer, I applied to over 40 internship positions. I believe I received feedback from half of them, interviews from a quarter, and then offers from 4 of them. Prioritize your needs in an internship or related experience and apply to everything that qualifies under that. Think about your availability, compensation needs, the type of technical skills you would like to learn, and location of the opportunity. Maintain open communication with employers you are contacting about certain positions. Even if they can’t take you for an immediate break period, they may be able to in the future.

Why is it important to work over break?

While your degree and classwork is very important to whatever career you decide to pursue, it is not solely reflective of your work capabilities. Classes are great for theorizing, disciplining yourself, time management, and providing background knowledge in a field. However, actual work provides specific technical skills, meaning behind why you are doing the things you are doing, and a background knowledge on what’s it’s like to work in the real world.

In addition, working over break provides employers with insight about your work character. Seeing that you didn’t just take the break time to watch TV and sleep shows your commitment to jump start a career. Working over break periods are a great opportunity for you to become a competitive candidate for a job. They also provide you with insight about the type of worker you are. You may enjoy multi-tasking or just working at one project at a time. You may enjoy working at a computer all day or more travelling. These kinds of preferences can only be discovered through implementation. If you can learn these things about yourself sooner, rather than later, then you will be saving yourself a lot of time and money when you enter the real world.

So where should I look for internship and job opportunities?

Part of your tuition pays for job searching resources. With that being said, you may as well take advantage of them!

Be sure to create profiles on these sites and begin your searches here!

• Hokies4Hire: https://www.myinterfase.com/vt/Account/LogOn?ReturnUrl=%2fvt%2fstudent
• CareerShift: http://www.careershift.com/Default.aspx?sc=VT
• Going Global: https://www.career.vt.edu/scripts/GoingGlobal/login.asp

In addition to the above resources, other sites to visit include:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/
• Indeed.com: http://www.indeed.com/find-jobs.jsp

To find out more about how to attain experiences, start with this site: http://www.career.vt.edu/Experience.html

LinkedIn and Networking: An Overview

The top piece of advice I have gotten from mentors, bosses, and teachers is that networking and maintaining relationships with potential employers is the best way to find a job.

It is common sense really. If you know someone who is within a related field to your own, he/she is more likely to think of your name first when it comes to fulfilling a position. But how do you become a good networker?

There are many opportunities for networking, both online and in-person.

As we live in a digital world, an online presence is very important.

                          

LinkedIn is a great place to present yourself professionally, as well connect with potential employers and mentors.

How do you go about creating a strong LinkedIn account?

Try to think of your LinkedIn account as an elaborate version of your resume.

There are several things you are almost always going to want to include:

• Your name with a headline about what you are currently doing and what you are seeking (think of it as a professional slogan).
• A headshot of yourself wearing professional clothes, doesn’t have other people in it, and is high-quality.
•  Education that reflects the degree you are pursuing/have attained, what school you are attending/attended, any minors you have, honors, awards, a competitive GPA, and other relevant academic information.
• A professional summary that explains more in-depth information about what you are doing and what you would like to be doing. These brief paragraphs qualify your skills and goals for the future.
• Work experience that includes a position title, company name, location, dates of employment, and a description about technical skills you picked up and/or major projects you participate in within this job.
• Any other Skills or projects you have participated in that gave you technical abilities. This could include class projects, skills you picked up on your own time. Be sure to include the most relevant information you can about your professional experiences.
• Be sure to include your contact information and the best way to reach you by. 
• LinkedIn also has a space to mention your interests, and birthday. Definitely utilize those sections to talk about your extracurricular activities, school clubs, and any hobbies you have.
• Obviously these aren’t the most professional parts, so don’t exhaust this section. However, it can be a great way to really personalize your LinkedIn account.

For more information on tips for students developing a LinkedIn account, check out this site: https://university.linkedin.com/linkedin-for-students

What about networking outside of LinkedIn?

Career Services has some great tips on the importance of networking. To read about the different types and why it is so essential, check out this site: https://www.career.vt.edu/JobSearchGuide/Networking.html

In short, here are some things to know about networking:

• It begins with just talking to people. Talk to: Professors, colleagues, neighbors, bosses, and life mentors, parents’ friends…
• People in your major are probably going to be the most relevant people to talk to in networking situations. Be sure to foster relationships with the people you respect in your field.
• Maintaining these relationships with those you meet in your field, your major, or your jobs is the most effective way to network. Not only have you made initial contact, but the people you are networking with can speak on behalf of your skills.
• Networking should be so common to you that you no longer necessarily think of it as networking…you should think of it as connecting with people and maintaining relationships.
• Forbes is an excellent resource for professional advice. 
• Check out this article to learn about the 8 ways to network correctly: http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2014/07/28/how-to-network-the-right-way-eight-tips/

Always remember in your networking goals to maintain a professional appearance, make contact often, and be open to new opportunities.

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Welcome to blogger, Olivia Brescia

This semester, Olivia Brescia is writing for my Career Chasse blog, as well as developing new ideas to promote the Virginia Tech Job Searching portal, Hokies4Hire. A senior majoring in Public Relations with minors in Psychology and Leadership and Social Change, Olivia enjoys running, painting, spending time with her family and friends, and eating in her free time. She loves working at both her jobs at Career Services and her Marketing internship at Polymer Solutions Incorporated. Both opportunities embrace her passion for meeting and helping new people, writing, and creativity. 

Thank you, Olivia, for sharing your insights on so many different topics with readers.