Preparation: Succeeding in Your On-Campus Interview

Black Collegian, Oct 2003 by Parker, Linda Bates

Students who have learned the college system, who have focused on their academics, who have managed their time, and who have reached their senior year have two more major challenges to meet. One is to stay focused and graduate. The other is to get a job leading to a viable career choice.

To stay focused means completing your academic requirements, improving your GPA, and participating in leadership experiences that will enhance your resume. To not just get a job, but to embark on your career, means developing specific and viable career goals long before your senior year. Importantly, to achieve your immediate career goals during your senior year, even before graduation, requires you to succeed at the campus interview.

Many college students are unaware that major corporations, government and social-service agencies, educational institutions and small businesses annually seek college graduates for exciting career opportunities through college career centers. Despite their best marketing efforts, career centers find that some seniors do not participate in campus interviews, putting themselves at a real disadvantage. When a senior interviews off-campus with an employer who has invested considerable resources to conveniently interview students on campus, that student will have to explain why he or she did not take advantage of such an opportunity.

Smart, informed, motivated seniors who want to beat the competition, especially in these tough economic times, know to take full advantage of all opportunities to connect with employers while on-campus. Generally, these students have connected early with their campus career center, even as freshmen. Employers are surprised that some seniors are not more knowledgeable of and involved in this valuable on-campus interview service. To succeed at the on-campus interview, you must first be thoroughly aware of the process. You can't just show up the clay that you hear that an employer of interest is recruiting on campus. Employers schedule campus interviews sometimes months in advance of their actual interview dates, and students register well in advance to be eligible for these campus interviews. Learn the process by visiting your college career center, prelerably before, but certainly no later than the first week of your senior year. When you arrive at the career center, ask for a tour (if this is your first visit) and a meeting with someone, or make an appointment to learn about the on-campus recruiting process. Although the oncampus interview process varies from one college campus to another, there are a number of similarities. Here are some aspects of that process.

Registration

You generally must register to participate in the campus interviews by completing registration forms. You have to meet certain eligibility requirements such as actually having enough academic credits to be eligible to graduate in the current academic year, possibly having completed a mandatory pre-interview workshop. Sometimes there is a small fee to use this valuable service.

Resume Development

1) You will be expected to have a professional, error free resume. Your resume will need to be reviewed and critiqued by a career center stall-person to be sure that it clearly and elfectively presents your capabilities and complies with any specific resume requirements your career center may impose. Many career centers require you to submit a standardized resume electronically to participate in on-campus interviews. Some students do not understand that employers who screen thousands of resumes before selecting the students they will interview on campus prefer certain standardized, electronic resumes. A standardized format permits employers to locate the desired information in the same section of the resume for all the students they screen on campus. In most instances, you can still bring your free-form resume with you to the actual interview. For additional information on writing your resume, see "Writing a Winning Resume" in this issue of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN.

Interview Practice

2) You will be expected to participate in practice interview sessions to help you understand the different kinds of interviews that can occur on campus including a one-on-one or group interview. The practice interview may be conducted by career center staff, or an actual employer who volunteers to give you inside tips to get the competitive edge you need to succeed at the campus interview. Practice makes perfect. So you will want to have at least two or three practice interviews conducted by professionals under your belt before you have an actual employment interview. If you have been a co-op student or have had an internship, you will have had some interview experience. Even so, you should still enhance your interview skills to stay competitive.

Company Research

3) To succeed at the campus interview, you must focus your career goals and make informed decisions about the employers with whom you wish to interview, in order to present yourself for "interview consideration." That you sign up for an interview does not guarantee you an interview. Employers often get to screen and pre-select you. You can succeed in the pre-selection process by doing your homework. This process includes the following: researching the companies you are interested in; reading about the company/organization, in current publications; viewing their website; paying attention to any current news about the organization; referencing this information in your cover letter and certainly by attending "Meet the Employer" sessions offered on campus before the interview date.