 All right, here we go. Hi everyone, good evening. Thanks so much for joining me tonight. My name is Jill Cleese and I am your iSchool Career Center liaison. Please feel free to reach out to me any time, not just during the session tonight, but I mean any time as you're here as a student with your career and job search related questions, as well as let me know when you guys need a resume critique. I'm always available for that. Just shoot me an email and I'm very happy to work with you. My email address is right here on the screen. I'll go ahead and type it in for you as well. Oops, I almost messed that up. There we go. All right, so I'm very happy to hear from you. Our workshop tonight, do ask me questions. I love talking about interviewing. I know that's probably really silly, but I love it. We're going to have a good time tonight. I've got great information to share with you. So type your questions for me in the chat box at any time. It's no problem to stop me because I want to kind of get what, I want to know what your questions are. I want to help you out so we can have our interaction going back and forth. And oftentimes those are the very best questions. When you think something might be kind of silly or not a good question, those are usually the best questions. So go ahead and type them in at any time. All right, so we're going to talk about interviewing like a superstar. So what does, or what do I should say interviewing superstars do? That's in the part from ordinary interviewers. They prepare. You've probably heard that before. But they aren't just sort of prepared for an interview. They are thoroughly prepared for an interview. And that's what starts here tonight. That's what we're going to talk about. So here we go. So the first part to getting prepared, before we even get into talking about common interview questions or what to say, you know, that how to practice, the biggest part about interviewing to be prepared is getting in your head. So here's the thing. You can't kind of believe that you could do the job that you're interviewing for. You have to absolutely believe that you can do the job that you're interviewing for. You need to feel it. Even if you know that you don't have every qualification or skill that the interviewer is looking for, I learned over the years that a person can prep and you can practice answering all those common interview questions, which of course is excellent. I'm not saying don't do that because I want you to do that. But you do have to believe in yourself. And you have to fully believe that you can do the job that you're interviewing for. And if you don't do that, that's going to come across in the interview. So you've got to be passionate. You've got to show enthusiasm for the job. You've got to have a positive attitude. You have to show that you're willing to learn. And you have to believe that you can do it. And when you believe it, that's absolutely going to shine through. So I've come up with four steps that are going to help you believe that you can actually do the job that you're interviewing for. So it's my way or it's a way to get your head in the game, I like to say, and get yourself psyched up. All right. So step number one, you've got to recognize that you are being interviewed for a reason. That's really powerful right there. So you have to remind yourself that not every single person who applied for this particular position is being interviewed. We don't often stop and think about that. Think you beat out sometimes hundreds of other applicants for this particular opportunity. So there's something special and intriguing about you. You've got to think that the employer is impressed with your resume or they would not be wasting their time talking to you. And most people I work with don't embrace this. They go into the interview already sometimes feeling like the underdog, like somehow they don't deserve to be interviewed because they don't have all of the qualifications. So pay attention here. If the employer did not see something of interest in your resume, you would not be getting an interview. You have to wrap your head around that. You have to believe that because it's absolutely true. They aren't talking to you to be nice. They didn't invite you in for an interview because they thought, well, we'll be kind to this person. There is something about you that's intriguing that they thought, hmm, I think this person might be able to do this job and do it well. I want to talk to them a little bit. So I want you to embrace that and I want you to go into your next interview feeling empowered. Remember that you are among a select few, so be confident in your capabilities. So before I move on to step number two, I want to hear what questions you have about this or any comments that you have about this. Go ahead and type them in the chat box if anything's coming to mind. It looks like we've got a couple of people typing some things in. So I want to see what your comments are because I think this is kind of, this is a very different way of thinking for people. I also have a feeling that I can't hear you guys if you were to be talking to me because I'm not hearing any like little dings and things like I normally do. But when I tested my audio, it seemed like it was working. So I'm just going to continue on, but I don't think I can hear all of you actually. So Felicia has a question. How do you get rid of the nerves before an interview? It's a good question. Here's the thing. You're going to have nerves. We all have nerves. That's normal. That's human nature to be nervous when we go into any kind of a situation that scares us a little bit, particularly an interview. I get nervous interviewing and I teach people about interviewing. Here's the thing though. If you prepare as much as you possibly can, which means you have done your very best and you've practiced and you feel like, okay, I've done as much as I can possibly do for this particular interview, then you go into that interview and you just rock it and you do your very best. And you know that you're going to be a little bit nervous, but that's okay. As long as you have practiced and you've prepared, then you just go forward with it. So it's okay to have some nerves Felicia. Rachel says, I'm glad you touched on this first. I always feel like this, right? I think everybody does, but I think very few people talk about this. So that's what I'm excited about when I talk about interviewing, because I like to get you all thinking in a very, very different way. Lucy says it helps me be more confident knowing that interviews want to see people succeed. They 100% want you to succeed. That's actually one of my next steps here, because for you to succeed makes their job a whole lot easier. Dawn says I've interviewed for jobs. I feel like I'm right for the job. I feel confident going in and then fumble through the answers and comments and forget to thank them and make my answers very encrypted. So what actually happens there, Dawn, is that comes back to preparation. It's just preparing and practicing more, and we're going to talk about that as well. But one of my best tips for interviewing, and I will say this later on, is to practice a lot, but I recommend practicing out loud, particularly if you start to fumble with your answers. So practicing just in your head isn't going to cut it. You have to practice connecting your brain to your mouth and actually saying the words out loud. So for example, if I'm preparing for an interview, I literally talk out loud in my car when I'm driving, so tell me a little bit about yourself. Well, okay, and I just practice out loud, and then I will record myself. I'll use my phone and I'll record what I'm saying, and I might be going and I record it, and I go okay, wait, I'll say this out loud. Okay, wait, that wasn't good. Let me start over again, and I'll start it again. And then I'll go back and I'll listen to it, and I, you know, and I hear how I sound. I'll hear how my voice sounds. Did I make sense? Did I fumble? Did I ramble? So all those kinds of things that you want to listen for. So definitely practice out loud. Thomas is asking can you bring notes? No, you can't bring notes. You can bring a notebook in with you, and the notebook, the only thing that's in this notebook is copies of your resume, a list written down of the questions that you want to ask the interviewer when it gets down to that point when they say some of the questions you have for us, you could open your notebook and there's questions. But other than that, no, the reason why it's really easy if you have notes, one to be reading off your notes, especially if you get nervous, and you never want to do that, because one, you've broken your eye contact with the interviewer or interviewers, that's a no-no, and then secondly, you're not being really authentic because you could be reading something that's scripted, and you want your interview to be a conversation, you want to make a very conversation-like. So that means you want to practice, you want to know in your head what are those key points, what are those key examples that I want to talk about, and the more you practice, then those are all kind of up in your head, just ready to go. And you're just waiting for the right question from the interviewer so that you can have that question come out. Kate says, I feel less nervous when I remember that they are usually nervous too. I think that's a great mental strategy to use, because it's true. And I'll actually, that's the funny thing that you say that, because when I am interviewing other people, I do feel nervous, and I often think to myself, what the heck am I nervous about, Jill? I've already got the job, so I'll have to calm myself down by doing my own self-talk. Let's see what we've got. So Dawn says, I never have any questions, what should be asked? At the very, towards the end of this workshop, Dawn, I have a list of questions that you can use to ask in an interview, and I want to tell everybody who's on, you absolutely want to have questions to ask in an interview. As an interviewer, that's something I wait for to the very end so I can say, okay, what questions do you have for me? And I'm actually dying to know what you want to know, because that tells me a lot about you based on the questions you're going to ask me. So why am I always disappointed if you don't ask me questions? And secondly, I think, how can you not have questions for me? You have to want to know something about this job or this office or my management style or something in order to know that this is a good fit for you. So having questions shows that you really put a lot of thought into the particular job that you're interviewing for, so I will be sure to show you towards the end some questions that you can ask. Felicia is asking, are business or contact cards okay? So I assume, Felicia, that you're asking, is that something okay to give out to the interviewers? You don't need to do that in an interview. They've got your resume that has all your contact information on it. A business or contact card is something that you use at a networking event. When having a resume and handing it out would not be the appropriate thing to do, but instead you can use a business or contact card. Rachel's asking, when they say, tell us about yourself, how much do you tell them? Awesome question. I'm going to hold that question, Rachel, because we're actually going to get to that and we're going to talk about that. So perfect question. Thank you for asking. Kate's put up a section on the career development site that actually has the interview questions that you can use to ask in an interview. So thank you for that, Kate, because that is a great link. When you see those questions, and I'm pretty sure those are the same ones that I have towards the end of the presentation here on the slide, those are questions to give you, to get you thinking. I always want you to think more about the questions you want to ask. I want you to think in terms of really identifying for yourself, what do I need to know about this particular position, about this company, about this person's management style? What do I need to know so that I can decide when I walk out of the store if this is a good place for me, if this is a good fit for me also? So again, it goes back to the interview being a conversation between two people, I think like a two-way street, and you're interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you. And oftentimes when you can wrap your head even around that concept, that gives you a little bit of power back and thinking about power that's going to lead me to my next slide. But you want to have a little bit of power and control over that interview. All right, it looks like I caught up on the questions. Those were fabulous questions, by the way, people. We were just burning through those, so that was excellent. So there's something in terms of having your confidence is practicing your power's pose and being a superstar. How many of you are familiar with the power pose, or you've seen the TED talk about a power pose? Yeah, I'm absolutely not hearing you guys. I see the buttons going off, but I'm not hearing it ding, so it's a good thing that I don't need to be hearing you because I'm not. So if it's something, or actually I think it's something that you should check out. You can go to the TED talk and it's Amy Cuddy. I'll put her name in here too, and you can just do a search on here. And she did this whole study about a power pose. And it really is your body's position influences others, and it influences your own brain. So there's something, and I don't mean go into the interview and stand like this, but this is like at home when you're practicing for your interview. You stand in front of the mirror and you do this power pose, and you see yourself and you feel yourself as a very powerful person as you're practicing your interview questions. Then even in the interview situation, you can even go into the bathroom. You could go into the bathroom stall, say you're nervous like Felicia was saying. Go to the bathroom stall and literally like stand like that, and, you know, lift your chest if I'm doing it right now, you guys. You all might want to try it and see how you feel, but I'm trying it right now. But stand in that power pose and take a nice deep breath and just feel that energy and feel empowered, and it really does do something to your confidence and to your brain in terms of how you're feeling. So remember the power pose when you get to your next interview. Thanks, Kate. I knew you were going to go pull that up. You're so good. Okay. Step number two. So in terms of being a superstar, step number two, the interviewer wants you to be successful. Believe it or not, somebody touched on this already. You know, the recruiter or the hiring manager is so hopeful that when you walk in the door for the interview that you are the one, because it would make their job so much easier if they could just fill their position with the right candidate and move on. It takes a lot of time to be on a search committee or being part of an interview team. So get yourself psyched up. Don't, you know, it's easy to be nervous. And I'm not saying don't be nervous, but I'm saying get yourself psyched up and walk in there and know that they're not trying to trick you. They want you to be successful. They would love it if you could be that candidate. So psych yourself up, walk in there, and wow them. I had a recent grad tell me about an interview she just went on, and she thought she did great. And she was excited about the position. But then she said, I'm not going to get my hopes up, because they told me they were interviewing a lot of people, and I don't know if I can do this job. So that made me really sad, because I thought, you know, I'm going to hope that that doubt that she has didn't come across in the interview, because that is not interviewing like a superstar, right? You can't walk in there and already feel discouraged and feel like you aren't the right candidate, and that you're not going to get the job. You got to go back to what we said in step number one. They wouldn't be interviewing you if they didn't think you were a viable candidate, right? There's a lot of self-talk that goes on here during an interview. But this is all important stuff. All right, step number three. You want to remember and keep in mind that first impressions are made in the first 90 seconds. So when you walk into a room, you want to make eye contact with the interviewer or the panel or the team who's there. You want to be personable when you greet your interviewer. You want to put your hand out and shake hands. You want to take a seat, and you want to smile, right? Let that power-posed confidence shine through. And I'm not talking about being cocky or arrogant or overly confident. I'm talking about just being confident in your abilities and knowing that you have prepared for this interview and that you believe that you are the right person for this job. So everything from how you carry yourself to what you're wearing to what you say and how you say it are being taken into consideration. And really, based on this first impression, a lot of times interviewers already have made up their mind. Like when you walk in, they kind of get a sense, right, in that first 90 seconds. So for the rest of the interview, they're either trying to prove themselves right by collecting enough information to go, yeah, I knew it. This is the right person. Or now this person isn't going to cut it. So again, if you believe in yourself and you walk in that room of confidence, that will come across 100%. And confidence does not mean that you won't be nervous. But being confident means you are thoroughly prepared and you know why you are the best candidate. And we're going to talk about that one some more. But you know why you're the best candidate and you know how you can be an asset to their organization and you are prepared to articulate that to the interviewer. That's important stuff. That's your confidence right there. You know why you're the best candidate. You know how you can be an asset to their organization and you are prepared to articulate that. You can communicate it. You can say it because you've practiced it. Yes? Questions? Okay, it doesn't look like anybody's typing anything in. Violates, go ahead and type something in. But keep the questions coming as you think of things. I'm going to get a drink of water and we'll move on. But Violates says, what if you don't hear back within a week after the interview? So here's two things I'm going to say here, maybe more, but here's two things. So with the questions that you're going to ask in your interview, one of the last questions you're going to ask before you walk out the door or hang up the phone if it's on the phone is, let me think about the right wording for this. You could say, what is the next step in the hiring process? And that's their clue, the interviewer's clue then to be telling you, well, we are interviewing a few more candidates probably over the next couple of weeks. So we plan to get back to all of our candidates in three weeks. You go, okay, great. Look forward to hearing back from you. So you know, you walk out. So then you're going to wait for the three weeks because that's what they said. And if you haven't heard after that time, that's when you're going to call and just check in on the status of the interview. So for Viola's question, my question to you is, did they say that they would call you within one week? Because it doesn't necessarily mean that one week is the time frame that everybody automatically uses and says, oh, if I haven't heard in a week, I'm going to freak out and start panicking. Because sometimes people on the interviewing team, they're on vacation, somebody gets sick, somebody got something happened, they hadn't been able to get back together and make a decision. There's so many factors that can happen, but we don't know that. We're just so concerned about ourselves and hearing back. So Viola says, let's see, well, there's Silesia, so I'm going to come back to Silesia. Viola says, I had an interview last week and they said they'd get back to me this week, but they didn't specify an exact date. Okay. So this week today is Wednesday. And if it was last week, I would wait until Friday. And if this is me, right, I'm thinking, okay, I'll wait until Friday. And if I haven't heard from on Friday, then I will call whoever the person, my contact person is, and I will simply leave a message. I'm going to make something. Hi, this is Viola. I interviewed for such-and-such position last week, and I was just calling to follow up on the status of the hiring process, you know, give me a call back when you have some news. My number is blah, blah, blah, thank you very much. Just something like that. And then I wouldn't keep pestering people, but you're doing your due diligence, which means you listen to what they said, you know, you kind of had it on the calendar, you waited, you hadn't heard, and you're following up, and that's the appropriate thing to do. Felicia says, if you ever happen to get a phone interview, is it okay to record yourself so you can listen back and prepare next time? Actually, Felicia, you could. I'm assuming you aren't recording the other person because that may not be cool if you didn't ask for their permission, and you wouldn't want to ask for their permission because that would be very awkward to say, is it okay if I record this interview? But if you're just sort of recording yourself on your end, I think that would be very appropriate, and then that's a great thing, great tool to learn from. Rebecca says, I work for a large organization where I have to interview in front of a panel of interviewers I already know and I've worked with. Do you have tips for the first 90 seconds of an interview? Thank you, thank you. That's a great question, Rebecca. I don't know about you. I find when I have to interview with people I know, I find that much harder than interviewing with strangers. So even when you interview with people that you know, you want to treat this interview like you would any other interview and treat it like you don't know them basically, like you are professionals. So you're still going to dress up like you normally, you know, would for an interview, even if that's not what the organization's about, even if you know that they are going to be more casual, you're still going to dress up, you could still walk in, say hi, you still might even shake hands. You want to keep that very polished professional image and just go with it, get into that mode of I'm being interviewed and just go with it. So hopefully that makes sense for you if you have any more questions, come back. Okay, it's really just, yeah, just yourself. All right, great questions. Moving on, step four, but keep them coming. I'll keep checking the chat box. So step number four, again, this one's really important to remember and believe it or not. The interviewer is typically, I will say, typically, we'll say 9 out of 10. Not trying to stress you out. That is not their intention. It really is not. Even though it might feel like it sometimes, it's not their intention. The interview is not a trick. It's not designed to cause you a great deal of discomfort beyond the normal interview jitters. So remember, the interviewer wants you to be successful. Their main goal in the interview is to get to know you and they need to ensure that you are the right candidate and that you can handle the job. So based on those things, they're going to be asking you certain questions to really help them identify if you're the right person, can you do the job, will you do the job, are you the right fit for our team and our organization. They don't want to have to hire somebody and then let a person go and have to rehire again. That takes a lot of time, a lot of energy. Nobody wants to do that. So always remember, they're not trying to stress you out, but you need to do your piece of it and you need to practice and be prepared so that you can walk in there and rock it just like a superstar. All right. So basically I want you to get psyched. I want you to get psyched about your next interview. I want you to be excited about it. Employers want to hire positive, enthusiastic individuals and they typically have a pretty solid pool of candidates to choose from. So you want to make sure that your energy and your interest in the position and the company overall really, really shines through. So I mentioned this already, but these are the three things that the interviewer is looking for throughout the interview. They want to identify, number one, can you do this job? So they're going to be checking and they've already done this somewhat through the resume check, which is why they brought you in for the interview, but do you have the qualifications, do you have the experience, right? And of course you do, or you wouldn't be sitting in that chair for the interview at that moment. So now it's your job to be able to be very clear and articulate how you can do the job by demonstrating clearly and succinctly using your examples of your past work experience. Does that make sense to everybody? So they brought you in because you've shown on the resume that you can do it, right? So they brought you in. Now it's your opportunity to articulate that and communicate it very clearly to them, and you want to do that by using examples from your past experience. Here's my word of caution though. Do not make assumptions. This is really important. Do not make assumptions that the interviewer is going to figure out what you mean or is going to read between the lines of what you say. You've got to be very, very specific. And this is very true, who was asking me the question? Rebecca, this is very true Rebecca. I think this is something that's really easy to do when we are interviewing with people we already know is that we kind of make assumptions when we're talking, right? We make the assumption, well, they know what I'm talking about because I worked with them on this, or they know what I'm talking about because, you know, we work at the same company. It's really important not to slip into that mode and to again just treat it like any other interview and be very, very specific and talk in a sense like they don't know what you're doing. So don't make those assumptions. Just be very clear and explain it. I hope that makes sense. So that is what I'm talking about. That's what you're going to be wanting to practice ahead of time is thinking about examples in your past work experience and then being able to out loud practice them and articulate how you want to talk about that example. Let me know if you have questions about that. I hope that makes sense. Okay, number two, will you do the job? So in the interview, are you demonstrating excitement, motivation, passion, enthusiasm, a sincere interest in this position and in this organization? You've got to exude that positive attitude. Smiling once in a while helps. And the reason I say that is a lot of times when I would practice with people, practice their interviewing skills, you know, one on one, people might be sounding really good in terms of the message that they were saying, but when I watched them over a haul, they were so nervous in their face that they didn't even crack a smile. So it's like they almost didn't even look human. And it's funny because I would tell them afterwards, I was like, I, you know, I see you when you're just being you and you smile and you smile in your eyes and you're funny. When you're in that interview, you just became this different person. And you want to, again, show your personality. You want that to shine through. So you want to be human. I tell people, be human. Smile. You can laugh a little bit. Something might be funny. Maybe make a funny joke if that's who you are. Maybe they're just, oh, Felicia, don't be silly. No, you can't be, you're not that nervous. Are you, Felicia? Do you feel like that in an interview? I hope not. So Don, you're the person that's like super, super serious and not cracking a smile. So again, interviewing is a skill. It's just like riding a bike, people. The more you do it, the better you're going to get. The more you practice, the better you're going to get. If you know basically overall what you want to say, then it helps you relax a little bit. It helps you be a little more human. You're still going to be nervous. I'm not saying you're not. But it allows you to relax a little bit and be yourself. To Don says you're so personable and then you freeze. What makes you freeze? You all of a sudden come to reality and realize you're in an interview and go, oh my gosh, I'm in an interview? Yeah, that's a good point, Kate. It's really kind of the same thing. You just need to practice this a lot. And I'll tell you guys, I've probably made every interview and mistake in the world there is to make, which is why I think I have so much fun talking about it now. Because I have so much experience to draw from. So I get all of the stuff that you do because I think we've all been there. Everybody has horror stories of interviewing of the silly things we've done and screwed up. But we learn from it every single time and we get better. And we all get jobs, right? We all get jobs and we end up where we're supposed to end up. Okay, third one, are you a good fit? Now this is a tough one because I think, you know, you are who you are. There's not much you can do about that. I don't, you don't want to fake this because if you fake it because you'll think, oh, I really want this job so bad, I'm going to, you know, maybe I'm going to fake it or pretend to be the person that they're looking for. And then great, you get hired and then you're hired into a job or an organization where you aren't a good fit and then you're miserable. So, you know, you are who you are and you have to hope that you get the job, right? But if you don't and part of the reason is because they say, you know, that's why we found somebody who would think maybe it's a better fit for our organization. You got to respect that. It hurts at the time, but in the big picture of things, you got to respect that. And I hope that makes sense for people. But for, are you a good fit? You just have to do the best you can. You are who you are. This is it. Take it or leave it. Okay, let's see. Questions? Let's see. Viola says, I wear my hair in an unconventional style. I'm worried that this gives a poor first impression. I wear it neat and it suits the kind of hair I have, but I don't know if it's a bad thing for a professional first impression. So, that is a good point, Viola, and it's hard because I don't know exactly what it looks like, your hair, because I would be honest and I'd give you some opinions on it. However, let me think. I'm looking again at your words and I'm thinking to myself. I'm trying to imagine how unconventional the style could be. There's a few things that I'm thinking about. I think when, if you wear your hair in an unconventional style, for me, that represents who you are and what you're comfortable with, which means you want to work in a place that respects you for who you are and your unconventional style. So, you need to think about that. You know, if you are outwardly saying, this is who I am, I'm going to wear my hair this way, then you want to make sure that you're interviewing at places that are accepting of an unconventional style and not try to interview and get a job in a place, for example, that has a very conservative environment or that serves a very conservative group of people because that wouldn't necessarily make sense, right? And there wouldn't necessarily be the right fit for who you are anyway. I hope that kind of makes sense. I, if we want to talk more offline, we can certainly do that. You could email me individually, maybe tell me a little bit more or send me a picture if you want and then we can dialogue about it because I'm happy to talk with you about it. I've had that conversation with people, for example, say they have tattoos all over or they have the big gauge rings in their ears and, you know, they're like, this is who I am and I could take it out for an interview and I'm like, great. So, if you took it out for the interview and you got the job, is it the environment where you'd feel comfortable putting them back in, for example? If not, maybe that's not the best place for you to be. Let's see. Yeah. Okay. So, what you're still perfect, Viola. So, what you're saying is that you, you're saying, hey, I'm making a decision. I'm making a choice about how I like to present myself and I want to work in an environment that respects me for who I am and those environments exist, absolutely. Just be sure that you're checking that out, that you know where you're applying. So, it just says, if you're interviewing for a public library study and should you look for professionals during an interview or is it casual clothes only? I, even though it's a public library setting, Felicia, I would still go in professional during an interview, always. I would never go casual clothes, you know, and the casual is different to everybody, but I would definitely say on the professional side, you are going there to make an impression, that first impression, right? You want to show them that you're serious about the job. You want to show them that you have put thought into it. So, you want to address the part and that doesn't mean that's how you're going to address every day at work, but you're, you're making that first impression. So, that's important. Looks like Ronald's got a question come in. Are there other questions, just just kind of talking about appearance, what to wear, anything like that while we're talking about it? I mean, those always seem like those basic kinds of questions and I think people don't always ask them because they feel like they should know or it's a silly question, but it's not always a silly question and sometimes we're really confused about it. So, if you have other thoughts, go ahead and type them in. Ronald says, do you have a recommendation for older applicants? What, what are you referring to, Ronald, in terms of how to present yourself, what to wear, hair color, what do you mean for your recommendation? Because I'm sure that I do have a recommendation. I just want to know what specifically you're thinking about and why you are typing. One comment, well, here he goes to see. Is there a basic type of outfit or, oh, no, that's Rachel. Ronald says, yeah, but what do you mean, Ronald, a senior citizen, what are you talking about, what to wear, how to present yourself, I'm not sure what the exact question is. I do get the question from a number of people about ageism or concerned about their age in the LIS field and I have to tell you, I have never, of all the industries, I haven't heard of ageism in the LIS industry, but particularly within public library settings as being an issue. The thing that you always want to be able to demonstrate, if you're concerned at all about ageism, is always demonstrate that you are a lifelong learner. You have no fear of technology, let them know about the new technology that you're involved in, you can demonstrate that in the resume, you can demonstrate that in some of the projects that you've done in your coursework so that you're putting that on the resume. Going to school now shows your lifelong learner, showing other classes that you might be willing to take, and showing, demonstrating that you have a lot of energy and a positive attitude and enthusiasm. Those are the things that they're looking for in a candidate. So, meaning like the opposite, if you are an older candidate or could say a more mature candidate, in order to be competitive, you certainly don't want to sit back and think or talk about, well, I don't really know about new technology or I've never used Facebook or I'm not familiar with Twitter, if those are the kinds of things that are important for the job that you're applying for, right? You want to show that you are just as qualified as anybody for the job that you're going for. So, Ronald, I'm assuming, again, in presentation with yourself, look, you know, current, meaning, yes, you could wear something, oh no, that was Rachel that was talking about colorful. But in terms of presentation, you want to show that you are your current, you're viable, you're youthful, you're energetic. I mean, I hope that's making sense to what you're asking. And again, I'm sorry if not, come back, be a little more specific or you and I can always talk off one-on-one via email too. Rachel, is there a basic type of outfit or colorful? Well, I think, Rachel, you're talking about the professional look is what I'm going back here, is what I'm assuming you're talking about, yeah. Most people will wear, you know, they stick with like black or gray or navy in terms of slacks. You can certainly have a colorful blouse. I always wear a very bright colored shirt blouse. Because that's just kind of how I dress. I'm not a drab kind of color person. So I will wear pink under a black cardigan or I'll wear a nice bright yellow shirt. So I think color is nice and it's a good way to remember people and it shows part of your personality. I mean, if you're not a person that wears those colors, you wouldn't want to because you're going to feel uncomfortable. I like to wear that because I feel comfortable in it. Ronald asked this question a few days above. I think you missed it. Oh, but you answered it. Okay. Thank you, Thomas. Flair. I like that. I like that, Tamraak. Yeah. I'm making sure I got everything here. I like that, a little flair in the dress style. What do you think about in the LIS field, particularly if you're in a library setting, you're working with such diverse population of people that having a little bit of flair or your personal style and having a very diverse team of people in the library is going to help different people on the team work with and be open to working with different people in the community as well. Make sure I just got all the questions here. Okay. I got Ronald. Okay. I think, good. I think I got everybody. Okay. Moving on. Again, thank you for the questions always. So this is the interviewing section of the career development pages for the School of Information. For you, this is all you, how many people have found this on their own already and explored? Show of hands. One person, two people, three people, four people. Wow. All right, people. You've got some work to do. So right under the career development tab, right on the main navigation bar, right off the home page of the School of Information's home page, career development, click on it, look over here, left-hand navigation, here are all the great sections you're going to find. Open up interviewing, check out in the green box here, all of the different sections that are in here. Basic interview questions. So these are when you're going to go practice common interview questions. Yes, you use these to practice even if you think that's a silly question. I'm never going to get asked that. Practice answering it anyway and you answer it out loud. Behavioral interview questions. We're going to talk about that shortly. If you have a phone screen interview, here's some tips. If you've got a video interview, meaning you're using Google, Google chat, you're using Skype, you're using, I can't, any of them, video, check it out. Right here with the red arrow, practice with big interview. This is an amazing resource, incredibly underutilized. This links you to a mock, an online mock interviewing tool. That means you can customize a practice interview online, not with a person, so don't worry. You can have your headset on, you can have your camera on, you can videotape yourself, answering practice interview questions, save it and play it back. So there you go Felicia, you don't even have to record yourself on your phone interview, I mean you could, but you could do this ahead of time. It's a great way to practice. People hate it, right, because it's painful, because who wants to see themselves practicing an interview or hear themselves, we don't want to, it's painful. But when you rather have it be painful and blow it when nobody can hear you except yourself, then do that in the real interview, right, that's the trade-off. So it's worth your time to check this out. Right below that, questions for you to ask. There's the list of questions that you can ask in an interview. We have thank you letter, we have references, steps to take after the interview, and more interesting resources, which I can't remember what's there, I'll have to check that out. But I want you to know that this page is here, and I want you to check it out. Okay, so common interview questions. When I'm practicing with someone, these are the three questions that I always make sure that every single person, including myself, has mailed before I walk into any interview situation. So these are my top three as well. Tell me about yourself, why do you want to work here, or they could say what made you apply for this job, what attracts you to this job, posting something like that, and thirdly, it's basically why should we hire you, or, you know, what are your strengths that relate to this position. Something like that. But these are three main questions that you're going to get in some form, and you want to know exactly what you're going to say. So, but tell me about yourself question. It seems like a very innocent question, right? It seems very innocent, it seems so simple, but once you really dive into it, you're going to see there's much room for error with this question. And it's typically, let's put this in perspective, it's typically this is the first question that somebody asks in an interview, right? You walk in, we shake hands, you have major eye contact, you smile at me, you're looking sharp, you sit down in the seat, and I go, great, so Felicia, tell me a little bit about yourself. And you stumble right off the bat. Oh, right? Oh, sword to my heart. There's your first 90 seconds, and they're not going well. So, yeah, that's so, right? That's so what I don't want to hear. So, there's a lot we can practice in here, okay? So, take some notes, people. Tell me about yourself your question. It is not about restating your name or sharing where you grew up, or restating your major in college, right? Or simply summarizing what's on your resume. I have all of that information. I have your resume in front of me. And if that is how you choose to spend your first 30 to 60 seconds attempting to make a good first impression, you have completely missed an opportunity to impress me. So, instead, you want to tailor your answer to each position that you're applying for. So, this answer is going to be a little bit different every single time, depending on what the job is that you're interviewing for. It's going to highlight perhaps your years of related experience that relate to the job. You might point out a couple of related accomplishments that you have done that relate to the job. Maybe you wrap it all up with why you are interested in this particular position, how you're a good fit, and how your past experience has brought you to this point in time interviewing for this particular position, okay? Here's some examples. You're all freaking out right now, aren't you? Okay. So, here's an example. Like, I could somehow, even though I can't hear and, of course, what's virtual, I could feel it coming through. You guys are freaking out. All right. Here's a good example. And you have to practice this stuff. You have to practice this out loud as you're walking around, do-do-do, get ready for your interview so that you know what you're going to say. So, you could say something like this. So, let's put it all in perspective. So, let's say I'm interviewing for an instructional technologist position at an academic library. And they're like, so Jill, tell me a little bit about yourself. And I'll say, yeah, well, thanks for asking. I've worked in an academic setting for over seven years. First, I was a substitute teacher, and then as a technology specialist, and then as an academic librarian, all like completing my MLS. Most recently, I created an innovative online instructional program to encourage students to complete their assignments on their own after the school library had closed. I was also successful in creating and maintaining a blog database that summarizes and evaluates library materials for young adults, highly used by students and faculty. And now that I've completed my MLS, I'm really interested in an opportunity to apply my technical and my instructional skills in a university library. And I would probably add, so I'm really excited to be here today to talk with you about this position. So, that's one way to approach it, right. So, I looked at what's the job I'm applying for. And what made me be interested in this job, basically. So, I kind of tailored what I wanted to say to my experience that relates to this job, because if I'm the interviewer and you start the interview out with this, I'm in, right. You've sucked me in. I'm like, yeah, this is good. Let me hear a little bit more. So, here's another example, a totally different one. So, this is one. This is a librarian position. I kind of made this one up a little bit, actually. But, you could start it out with again. So, Jill, tell me a little bit about yourself. You know, I really believe in the value of teamwork. And so, when I saw this librarian position that was posted, I had to make sure that I applied for it, because this is so something that I'm really interested in. I'm a recent graduate of SJSU's MLS program, which you know, but I was really impressed with the librarians that I interacted with when I was in the program. And I heard really good things from my fellow students who had the opportunity to do internships with you all here in the library. And I really believe strongly in working with other people towards a common goal. And I know the skills that I bring, not only as a librarian, but as a team member, will not only bring me work satisfaction, but it'll make a really valuable teammate as well. What do you guys think? Two very different examples, but a whole different twist on answering the tell me about yourself question. You guys are quiet. You're freaking me out. Okay, here we go. Here's some typing. Let's hear it. So the second one really plays to my qualifications, right? Qualifications, the position I'm looking for. I know I'm a team player. I did my homework. I know about this job. I know that's the piece that I really want to focus on, because I know that's what they value, and I know that I can make a really good impact. Cool. All right. Awesome. You guys could take pictures of these right now with your phones if you want, or the stuff will be up later, but either way, and play with these. Use these as a model if you want to. What does I have back over here? Okay. Or screenshots. So smart, Kate, or screenshots. Yeah. So here's, again, kind of here is my template for putting, for coming up with what I want to say, and then tell me about yourself question. So talking about 30 seconds is good. You don't need to talk more than that when you answer this question. You don't want to ramble, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And some people do that in an interview, and it's just like, oh man, this is not starting off well. And they usually ramble like that because they haven't prepared really well how they want to answer the question, and then they're not sure what the interviewer wants. They are not sure if should I answer professionally or personally, so they just sort of start talking, and then they ramble, and it goes all over the place, and it's really kind of a hot mess. So you want to know exactly what you're going to say, so you start it, and then you stop. Boom. You're quiet. 30 seconds is about a good enough amount of time. Don't repeat what's on your resume. I've got that. This is your opportunity to tell me something new about you, right? Impress me. So you want to emphasize why you are the best candidate for this particular job. So if you can summarize years of related experience, that's a good thing to do. If you can't, not a big deal. So you can summarize the type of experience you have. And you all have experience, whether it's coming from past jobs, whether it comes from your projects in your coursework, whether it comes from a volunteer experience, from a part-time job, it might come from all of those, and maybe you mentioned all of those, right, which would be fine too. Identify a couple of key related accomplishments, or something that you're particularly proud of, and then again, kind of wrap it all up. I always like to have that wrap up at the end. It kind of brings it right back to, like this one does, brings it right back to, where are we? I strongly believe it works with other people. I know the skills that I'm going to bring are good. You know, as a team member, it's going to make me happy. I'm going to be a valuable member of your team. I'm really happy to be here talking with you today. Boom, wrap it all up, stop talking. Okay. I've got to get moving. We're talking a lot. Oops, I went too far. Okay, next one. Why do you want to work here, or, you know, what attracts you to this job posting? Here's the things that you want to consider. They want to know, think about, okay, so I want you to really sit back and think about why did you apply for this job? What is it about this particular position that's appealing to you? So your goal in this question is to show that you're a perfect fit for the position. The interviewer really wants to learn about you and your career goals, and how this position fits with your overall plan. They want to ensure that you are sincerely interested in this job, and, again, that you're enthusiastic, passionate about this work, and that you'll be motivated to perform. So it's part of that interviewing preparation process. You've got to come up with your compelling answer that demonstrates why you are uniquely interested in this job. So here's an example. How about this? You could say something like, again, this goes on in an academic setting, right? So, you know, what made you apply for this job, or why are you interested in this particular position? Well, I love the energy, but that should be of not or. I love the energy of working on a college campus. It's really inspiring. I enjoy being challenged with students' reference questions. I also enjoy the diversity of the patrons and knowing that I'm helping people and providing a service. While in graduate school, I developed an aptitude and a really strong interest in social media, and I'm fascinated at how it can connect people together across the world with information, and I really want to be part of that. So I'm super excited that this position has that element to it, something like that. So it's really kind of digging deep within yourself. Why am I interested in this job? Why do I think I could do a really good job? And just coming up with a good answer. So, again, preparing ahead of time, right? You have the luxury to sit and think about these questions. You can write out your answers, you know, get them to a format that works for you. I don't, what sort of, what I was going to say, oh, recommend, I don't recommend that you memorize because that's going to throw you off in the interview, especially when you get nervous, and it will come across really rehearsed, but you want to know the gist of what you want to say, right? So that way it comes out in a conversational style. That's your goal, very conversational. Okay. I can't believe I'm running low on time. This never happens. All right, so the third one, why should we hire you? Usually they ask that towards the end, or they might be, you know, tell me about the strengths that you have or your top three strengths that relate to this position, something like that. When you break it down, this is just a strengths question. I want to know, you know, what are you, what are you good at? What are your skills? So I always feel like when an interviewer opens that door, you walk through it. You know, don't just say one skill or two skills. If they've said overall, you know, what are your strengths? Man, lay it out there. They open the door, so go for it. But you've got to practice. You've got to get comfortable sharing and communicating your strengths, right? Oftentimes that doesn't just come off the top of your head. So here's an example. Here's a couple examples. You might say, I'm really excited to be interviewing for this position. I have the experience and the enthusiasm to excel quickly in this role. I have over two years of experience working in a public library setting, where I was able to rotate and gain experience in reference in the children's library and do community outreach. So those three areas, reference children's and community outreach or something even for the job, that makes it even better. But if you're just kind of showing overall, hey, here's the different things I can do. I'm really flexible. I'm willing to, you know, chip in where you need me, that kind of thing, perfect. Here's another example. In my MLIS program, I had the opportunity to very successfully work as a student assistant, providing technical support for our virtual colloquia sessions. Hey, this is you, Felicia. I am comfortable working with people in person and online. I have strong communication skills and collaboration skills as evidenced by the partnerships I have been able to make. And I'm looking forward to the opportunity to directly apply my strengths and interests to this position. Steal away, Felicia, steal away. So when answering this question, can I consider things using a combination of some of these things, again, years of experience, your education and your training, your expertise or your experience performing certain tasks, any technical skills that you have, any transferable soft skills, those are those things like collaboration, teamwork, communication, any key accomplishments. Pick out a couple of key things that you've worked on that really relate to this particular position, maybe even adding awards or recognition that you've received. So there's a variety of things that you can put in here. But again, prepare ahead of time, think ahead ahead of time and make it relate to the job. All right, we have a few minutes left. I think, God, Kate's good. There's some blog posts there. I do want to get to the question that everybody always asks me about the weakness question, right? Because that always seems to come up. Out of curiosity, how many people have actually been asked this question? I think I've only been asked this question maybe twice. It's a ridiculous question. I hate the question. But if you do get it, you never, ever, ever want to tell them a real weakness. You can't just like plop out this real weakness on the table and just sort of leave it there and stun the interviewer, right? Like, ooh, everybody's gasped. You don't want to leave a red flag in their mind. So you've got to answer with something that you can always turn into a positive or describe how you've made this so-called weakness work for you. How is it a positive? And I don't want you to ever spend a lot of time on this question. So here's my trick. Come up with an answer that works for you, right? Something that you can use in an interview. I write it down. I keep it in my little interview folder. And so whenever I'm going to interview, I pull it out and I review it and I go, oh, yeah, that's the answer that I give if I get asked the weakness question. I just use the same one every single time. There's no reason to ever have to think up a bunch of different answers. But here's some, here's a variety. You could say something like, I used to take on too much until I learned how to delegate. Now I'm much better at managing my time. Good one. Public speaking had been a challenge for me. Now I'm practicing and learning to be more confident. Ooh, that's spelled wrong. Confident, confident. Through my work with Toastmasters, I tend to be highly analytical, which can cause me to overthink things, so I've learned to focus on the most important elements of a decision in order to make sound but faster decisions. And if you have a sense of humor, you could maybe pull off, my weakness is chocolate at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Ha, got to have that right personally for that one. But those are just some examples, right? Does that make sense for people? If you ever want to run by me the question or the answer that you want to use for this, you can email it to me. I'll give you some, I'll give you some feedback. If you're like, hey, will this work for the weakness question, you could totally do that. Okay, I'm going to like, sip it easy. What do we have left here? Good, I've put in some of the stuff out. Best tip, practice. We talked a lot about that. Sample behavioral questions. I showed you where those are on the website, on the Career Development website. Situational questions, you need to practice for these. You're going to get these. There is that section on the website, situational or behavioral questions. There is a formula, it's the star formula. You're going to want to practice this ahead of time. Please check that out on the website and read what's there and practice using this formula to answer these questions. It will keep you on track. It keeps you from rambling and going all over the place. There's also here the questions to ask employers. Again, there is that section on the website as well. And boom, that wraps it up. Interviewing like a superstar. It is 6.30, any last-minute burning questions. I highly encourage you all just to send me some emails if you have some questions. If you want to practice doing a phone interview with me, we can certainly do that. Okay, thanks for your help putting things up. If they call you back, when is it okay to talk about salary? It is never okay to talk about salary until they have made you a job offer. Other than that, you don't talk about salary. Thanks, Tamarack.