Mock Interviews = S U C C E S S

You've heard it since you started playing the piano or t-ball when you were 5 years old.

"Practice makes perfect." 

This principle really does ring true for success at different sports, musical performances, and lots of other activities, including interviews. As the fall recruiting season starts up, you may find yourself preparing for more than one interview. What can help?

A mock interview.

Consider Jenna (true story but changed her name): A couple of years ago, Jenna had to do a mock interview in Career Services as part of a class assignment. Lucky for her, this practice took place prior to a real interview for a co-op position. Jenna aced her co-op interview and got the job. And, the success didn't stop there. This fall, Jenna started her senior year with a full-time offer in hand from her co-op employer.

Build your confidence.

And then there's David (true story but changed his name): David took the same class that Jenna did and had a tough time in his mock interview. Why? His GPA wasn't as high as he would like it to be, and he just couldn't get past it. His low GPA made him really down on himself. You can't be like that in an interview...there is no one in the room to sell the employer on what you bring and how you add value, except you. David took time to do some self-exploration with a career advisor and worked at thinking and speaking about himself in a more positive light. As a result, David interviewed successfully to land a summer internship this past summer.

We can tell lots more success stories that center around our Mock Interview Program in Career Services. If you want to work to achieve success in your next interview, call 540-231-6241 to set up an interview that fits your schedule. We allow an hour for these interviews where we spend 15 - 20 minutes asking you typical questions used in initial interviews. Then, we spend the rest of the hour discussing your performance and providing tips to improve. Equipped with video cameras, we are able to tape your session where you can watch yourself later as much as you want.

And, if you can't make it for an in-person mock interview, no worries. You can practice sitting right in front of your computer with Interview Stream. This resource provides prerecorded interviewers asking the questions and tapes your replies. When complete, you can send the video file to a friend, a family member, or a professor to review. Or, you can set up a time to meet with one of our Career Advisors to critique this interview.

What are you waiting for? Experience the success that Jenna and David did by adding a mock interview to your fall schedule. What's the equation for interview success? Score a job offer with a mock interview before your next interview! Forget algebra. Here's an easy equation for you to remember - when it comes to interviews,

Mock Interviews  =  S  U  C  C  E  S  S

Done with the job fairs? On to the next step: Interviews!

You may have recently attended a job fair or applied to your dream job or may just be shopping around for another experience. Whatever the case may be, you aren’t done yet. You still have one more step until you can transition into that next position. Interviewing gives you the chance to finally put your money where your mouth is. In other words, it’s time for the employer to get to know you as more than just what your resume says.

So how do you properly prepare for an interview? Like many situations, preparing just means practice.

Step one: Research! Get to know who you could potentially be working with.

• Review their company website
• Catch up on their most recent updates through social media
• Memorize key words and statements from your research
• Possibly learn about the individual who plans to interview you *It always helps to establish a relationship

Step two: Prepare your best game day outfit.

• Dress the part in business professional
•  Review the Career Services site to know what exactly that means
• Here is a visual aid if you don’t want to search too hard

Step three: Practice your demeanor.

• Practice your handshake: firm, but not too firm
• Sit upright and maintain an appropriate amount of eye contact
• Try your best not to fidget or touch your face/hair
•  One tip I always stuck to was making sure my hands are grabbing the hand rests so I know I’m not making distractions

Step four: Figure out what you want to reply to a series of expected questions.

Employers almost often ask these questions - make sure you have a basic response to each of them.  

• “Tell me about yourself.”
•  “Why do you think you would make a good candidate for this job?”
• “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”
•  “Name one time where something didn’t work out the way you expected it to and how did you handle it?”
• “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

Ensure your responses reflect your skills and that you can back up all of your claims with evidence, such as a past experience.

Step five: PRACTICE.

• Combine all of these steps and practice your interviewing; do it with your parents, your friends, your mentors, your co-workers, anyone!
• Too shy to do talk to someone else? Try practicing in a mirror or videotaping yourself. In any scenario, practice the words you expect to be saying.
• Practice in a Mock Interview through Career Services or using Interview Stream.

For more interviewing tips, visit the Career Services website for links to more resources, tips and advice. 

Good Luck!

Written by Olivia Brescia, Peer Career Advisor

Are you ready for career fairs in September? Prepare with our Career Fair Bucket List

The fall is a busy time for career fairs at Virginia Tech. There are 3 in one week in September and more in October, including Career Services' Fall Connection Fair. Not sure how to prepare? Follow the tips below on our Career Fair Bucket List. See if you can check off all the recommendations!

Come see us in Career Services if we can help you prepare for career fairs or talk about other ways to find a job or internship!

Ready to head to VT? Don't forget to pack these 4

Have you finished your packing to head to Virginia Tech yet? Wait!

There are 4 things to add to your packing list for the 2015-16 academic year. No worries, though, for they won’t take up extra space in your suitcase or your vehicle. And, if you're already here, you can still work on these. What do I want you to bring with you this year? One word relates to all 4 of them:

OPEN

Here’s your Packing List to join the Hokie Nation:

OPEN your schedule to new experiences. College is all about exploring new frontiers. Embrace the curiosity you had when you were little. Attend an event that you would not normally go to. Learn a foreign language. Take a class in a subject that you don’t know anything about. I did that and the subject ended up being my major because in the first class I had, Dr. Stern made the topic come to life. Along with being an engaging professor, Dr. Stern had a genuine interest in his students and worked hard to connect with us. In the Division of Student Affairs we call this goal we have for students committing to unwavering curiosity.

OPEN your mind. The next four years or more give you an opportunity to broaden your understanding of yourself and others. By pursuing self-understanding and integrity while you’re here, you’ll gain greater self-knowledge and be able to stay true to your beliefs as well as work to understand beliefs different from your own by practicing civility and respect as you encounter those differences. Career Services provides a number of tools for you to grow your self-knowledge and our Intercultural Engagement office offers programs for you to grow in your understanding of others.

OPEN your hands. This university attracts students who want to give back. There are lots of ways for you to open your hands while you’re at Virginia Tech, whether it’s getting involved in VT Engage, an alternative spring break program, the BIG EVENT, Cranwell International Center, a philanthropy through your student organization, or some other means. The possibilities are endless for you to help those who can’t help themselves or are on the fringes in your role as a courageous leader.

OPEN your heart. Our university motto, Ut Prosim, That I May Serve, calls to us to do this.  As you continue to learn what it means to be a Hokie, this principle is at the center of it all. How will you open your heart to serve this university, the community, the nation and the world and its people?

Bring these 4 with you, and you'll represent the Hokie Nation.

We welcome you with OPEN arms.

Remember Mary

These words from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone were on the back of the funeral program. She was only 25. She must have liked Harry Potter. We had to sit in an overflow room, and it was hard for me to hear much about her. The mid-sized country church was so packed with family, friends, and locals, or in our case, 20 fraternity brothers and their significant others. We all came to say goodbye to Mary, celebrate the brief quarter century Mary was with us and show our support for her husband, parents, aunt and uncle and first cousins.

Since I am old enough to be Mary’s mom, I could empathize with her parents, and we knew them. My husband went to Virginia Tech with them and shared many memories of time spent with Mary’s dad at fraternity events over 30 years ago. It was heartbreaking to learn of the accident, to sit in that church and to visit with Mary’s family afterwards. What do you say? What will ease their pain? Although I have a deep faith and am rarely at a loss for words, I was speechless…all I could manage was to hug them.

Why was this loss so very hard? Mary died due to a fun Memorial Day on a river with her two first cousins gone wrong. I heard that as they ended their time at the river, they drew straws to determine who would drive. They had all been drinking. Mary’s cousin got the short straw, and the next thing they knew, Mary was on life support, one cousin suffered a brain injury and had other medical complications, and the cousin driving faced legal issues. Like I said before, heartbreaking.

This grim story is a reminder to all of us. Whenever we think of Mary, let's remember these four lessons:

Make choices for a designated driver. If you plan on consuming alcohol, then arrange for a member of your group to stay in a condition where operating a vehicle is legal.

Ask a loved one or friend to come get you. The time of day doesn't matter. Where you are doesn't matter. Even if you are a few hours away, those who care will come.

Remember MARY. Get help when you need it, so you can be here to celebrate many more Memorial Days with your family and friends. If your designated driver isn't in the best shape, make the call to someone else for assistance.

Yield to good choices. My husband, Charles, always said this to our children when they were in high school whenever they were leaving to do something with their friends, "Make good choices." As you're having fun with family or friends, follow the same advice.



The next time you find yourself wondering if you should drive home after drinking with friends, remember Mary. Always have a designated driver. ALWAYS. And if the designee has been drinking too, call someone who cares about you and ask them to come get you. The time it will take to get there to pick you up doesn’t matter. Choose being safe over concern about causing a friend or loved one trouble. That trouble is definitely worth it to have you alive and well. Be sure that you make a smart choice.

If this blog post saves just one person's life, sparing family and friends the heartbreak that those who know Mary and her family continue to endure, you will have honored Mary and her family in one of the best ways you can...

By saving your own life.

Rest now, Mary, in peace.

Your Values - Are They Your North Star?

3 recent Hokie grads: Sydney, Rebecca and Maggie

One series of events that we can count on to occur every May and June are college and high school graduations. Most graduation ceremonies include a speech made by a celebrity or school connection like the one Eric Schmidt, Google Executive, gave at the Virginia Tech May 2015 graduation. He tied words from Metallica into his speech…appropriate wisdom for Hokies who hear Enter Sandman to get us pumped up at athletic events, especially when our football team runs on the field. 

Recently, I saw an article sharing favorite parts from several 2015 graduation speeches, including one given by Tim Cook, Apple CEO, at George Washington University.

“Graduates, your values matter. They are your North Star. Work takes on new meaning when you feel you're pointed in the right direction. Otherwise, it's just a job. And life is too short for that. We need the best and brightest of your generation to lead. There's opportunity to do work that's infused with moral purpose. You don’t have to choose between doing good and doing well."

Tim Cook’s quote stuck with me. Values do matter so much. They are a critical reference point as you start on the next phase of your career journey. Values are one of the key areas we point a student to explore if figuring out majors or career directions. I really like the metaphor of the North Star. How long has that constellation been a guide for explorers? For runaway slaves in the US who used the North Star as a guide to "follow the drinking gourd?" And, for lost outdoor enthusiasts when without some other directional device like a compass or a GPS? Values can be your North Star as you determine your career or major. 

As you choose a career, why are values important? Many of us spend most of the hours we are awake at work. If your work doesn't fit your values, you probably won't be happy. How do I know this? My own experience. As I began the journey to my career, I worked in various roles in banks. Although I never took an assessment at my college career center, I knew my top value was a passion for helping others. I tried to convince myself as I made loans or helped a customer figure out the mess that was their overdrawn checking account, that my key value was being met. But it wasn't...it was happening in a way that was too shallow to suit me.

So, I went back to school, got my MBA, and then directed marketing and PR for a hospital for almost four years. Again, I tried to convince myself that I was helping people through events or promotion that I created and implemented for the hospital, but that still wasn't enough. Finally, I found my place in higher education where I directly help students through teaching and advising. My career journey took several twists and turns, but I eventually found the right fit for my key value.

How about you? Unsure what your key values are? We use a number of different tools to help students get in touch with their values. We can assist you by pointing you to complete a quick inventory, do a values card sort or take an assessment, MyPlan, that addresses values as well as skills, personality type and interests.

One values activity I used with our career decision making class in the past was the "My House" values exercise which I learned about from an academic support program the VT Student Success Center used to run. It's a fun activity to get a bit creative as you consider your values, so take out a blank piece of paper or use a blank computer screen and get started:

If you feel like you want to talk more about your values as you plan your next career move, one of our career advisors can assist you. To get started with your self-exploration, give us a call to make a phone appointment or meet in person: 540-231-6241.

A final thought comes from a quote by William Shakespeare, "To thine own self be true." May your North Star be your guide as you pursue the next steps in your career journey.

Congratulations, Graduates! Greet the World with Open Arms

During the commencement ceremonies today at Virginia Tech, a big piece of my heart will walk across that stage. In addition to the all the Hokies I've advised on job searches, graduate school applications, or career decisions, my daughter, Maggie, will be one of the new graduates joining them, awarded her bachelor's degree. Since I'm an advisor, you know I have a lot of advice to give to all you new graduates, especially when my own daughter is involved. For now, I'm focusing on four pieces of advice with a photo of Maggie as our guide reminding us to greet the world with open arms.

Open your arms to purpose. You've spent several years here learning not just in the classroom. You've also learned just what it means to be a Hokie. A big part of that is living up to our motto, "Ut Prosim, That I May Serve." How will YOU serve others? Making that kind of purpose a key part of your life will give you a better life. Figure out your purpose and go make the world a better place.

Open your arms to people. Another part of being a Hokie is adherence to the Principles of Community where we welcome all into our community. As you move on, how can you carry those principles with you? Embrace people different from you. Listen to what they have to say. Build bridges to bring those of us who are different together, rather than living an insular life only with those who look just like you. Make an effort to put yourself in situations where you are around people who are different...that's where you continue to learn.

Open your arms to places. Having a global perspective opens your eyes to different cultures and beliefs, giving you a broader view as you make decisions. Take advantage of opportunities to travel or live in different countries. Such experiences will reward you with a more enlightened view of and appreciation for this world and its people.

Open your arms to possibilities. Change impossible to I M POSSIBLE. Deciding on saying yes to an offer that's not your dream job? Consider the possibilities. What could that position lead to? My first job as a credit clerk was far from what I dreamed I would be doing, but that position lead me to a bank management position, by giving me a strong understanding of what is involved in loan approval, a view of what it means to work as a team, and an experience to build my customer service skills even more. And if you're still looking for a job or trying to figure out your next steps, ask for help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength that you're smart enough to use available resources and to know you don't have all the answers.

The world awaits. Open your arms to all it offers.

Congratulations, Maggie, and the rest of you Hokie Grads!