First Interviews

First Interviews
By Altai Ozkan
In my not-so-successful co-op search, I finally had my first interview this week. I was freaking out before the interview, and to be honest, could have done better during it because of my nervousness. However, when I actually reflect on it, it was not that bad, and I feel like I was nervous and wasted my energy for absolutely no reason. I assume many people that are preparing for their first interviews are also in the same boat, and could use some advice.
First off, interviewers are people, just like you and I, not some messiah that is the sole determinant of whether you get the job or not. To be honest, having a fun, friendly conversation about the job of interest is probably the best way to actually get the job. Most jobs nowadays require really good communication and knowing how to socialize and talk in specific situations, especially in business and even in the medical field. Of course there are baseline skills that you need to have for the job which are stated in the job descriptions, but I feel as if people really underestimate the skills that they have.
I think the best way to actually prepare for an interview would be to practice your introduction, and replay responses in your head to questions like “When was a time you were stressed and how did you handle it?”, or the cliché strengths and weaknesses. Use stories from your past experiences and connect them to how you were a critical thinker in that situation, how you grew from it as a person, or what you regret doing in that situation. I feel as if the interviewing process is so scary when first getting into it, but honestly after some experience, even just the first interview, it gets much easier.
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