Questions for Dry-Run Interview
1. Have you previously worked with first-year college students before?
2. How would you go about creating handbooks for other universities in the future?
3. If you could tell your college freshman self one thing you wish you had known then, what would it be and why?
Valuable Moments
One big moment I had happened while I was working as a tennis instructor. After receiving my first paycheck of the season, I noticed that the amount was not what my boss and I had agreed upon. Sometimes I have a hard time standing up for myself, but in this situation I knew that I couldn’t let myself be taken advantage of. I spoke with my boss about it and ended up needing to go even higher into management to get the situation fixed, but since I was able to stick up for myself and know my value as an employee I was able to get control of the situation.
Another big moment I had was during my senior year of high school when I had just been diagnosed with a chronic illness. I was struggling a lot and this made my attendance go down significantly which hurt my grades. I decided that I needed to sit down and speak to my teachers and counselors about what was going on, and how I could continue my work from home when I would inevitably miss class. I advocated for myself because I really cared about school and my grades and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t falling behind just because I had health issues. School was important to me, so being able to advocate for accommodations so that I could continue my schoolwork was necessary for me.
The last big moment I had was while working at a coffee shop. For this job, I had not been properly trained and was immediately put on drive-thru, which was the most difficult job in the store especially for a beginner. This was my first job, and while I was extremely nervous and underprepared, I did the job as best I could and didn’t receive any complaints. I was able to adapt quickly to how the store worked and what my role was as an employee.
Interview Questions
What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?
What makes you stand out from the other candidates?
Why are you interested in working for this company?
Critique of Sample Job Script
In the sample job script the first thing that sticks out to me is the description, which reads like bullet points changed to a paragraph form without changing the language. The major and minor duties are a little long, but there aren’t many of them. The qualifications could be put in a different order, and if a “college diploma” (Bachelor’s? Associate’s?) is required, then a high school diploma is already a given so it’s unnecessary for the list. The key competencies are alright, but I think some can be switched from preferred to required and vice versa.
