National News!

ABC has graced our offices! ABC News Nightline (which is a national program) came to 2 Fanueil Hall today to film Jon Cifuentes, a May 2008 graduate from BC, as he interviewed for a position at Experience. Jon had done an Exclusive Experience with Experience.com, so he must have been interested in the company even before he interviewed. Compared with any other interview, what was different about this one was that Jon was trained by a career coach for his interview. During the interview, Jon wore an ear piece that connected him with the voice of his coach, who spoke into his ear and gave him pointers as the interview went along. Now, I bet you're wondering if that gives him an unfair advantage over other candidates who have to do it all alone, but I, for one, am impressed that anyone can pull off a good interview with a voice whispering in his head. If I were Jon, I'd be stammering and pausing in the middle of sentences.

ABC did a sort of "the aftermath" interview with the coach afterwards, and here's where I gleaned the most information. I crept over to the kitchen, which had been transformed into a set, complete with lights and a 2-camera set-up. I was astonished that our fluorescent lighting that usually washes out our faces had turned into a soft close-up lighting that made our office glimmer. Microphones, cameras, screens everywhere: I got really excited. I thought to myself - I'm on a set! Replace ABC with Oliver Stone and I'm on my dream location! My feet got all tingly. But anyway, enough gushing. From my semi-eavesdropping, I got some pointers on what makes an interview good when you're applying for a job:

1) Eye contact. Engaging the interviewer shows that you're genuinely interested and earnest about the position.
2) Lose the "like"s. I know it's hard for us to eliminate this particular four-letter word from our vocabularies, but if you enunciate and slow down when you talk, you're bound to notice a difference.
3) The tone of your voice matters. If you end every sentence like a question, you're going to sound insecure and immature, like you have little conviction over what you are saying.
4) Ask the interviewer questions, too, especially about the work environment. You can learn a lot about the ambiance of the company from how the interviewer responds to this question. Plus, it's just thoughtful and considerate to take the attention off of yourself!

Watch the ABC News Nightline program when it airs (they predict sometime next week), and you too will hopefully learn some good pointers!

Newly self-aware about the use of the word "like" in my everyday life...
-Kate