Interviews are much like first dates. You feel nervous and you think about what you are going to say, what you will wear, and how you will maintain good posture. You begin the date (interview) and within the first couple of minutes you can start to tell about how well or not it is going. In some cases, you get done and think “I’m not so sure that this is who I want to date (work for)”, and in others you think “I can’t wait to hear from them again”. In the times in which things go well, you are left wondering, did I say the right thing, did I make enough eye contact, did they enjoy getting to know me as much as I did them. Then you send out a text (email), thanking them for their time and how much you enjoyed getting to know them (the company). What follows is checking your phone (email) countlessly waiting for their response.
In the winter of 2023, I interviewed with about 5 companies looking for an internship. 3 of them gave me offers, 1 declined me, and 1 I never heard from again. Between the three companies that offered me a position, one stood high above the rest.
In the interview (with the company I ended up interning with) they asked about myself and my family, we laughed and made jokes, and we discussed what an internship opportunity looks like throughout the company. The interviewers we clear and straight forward about the position. They did not try to brag about how successful they were or the company of that matter, they spoke on what kind of knowledge of the construction industry could be learned through the experience. They talked to me about how managers and other staff could be relied on to help me succeed and they validated these statements that following summer when I went to intern for them.
As for the other 2 companies that I interviewed with, I felt due to my lack of knowledge of the construction industry I was talked down to. I was told “how their company was going to do wonders for my career” or how “there company was better than others”. There was little getting to know me beyond asking about skills and previous work experience. Beyond that everyone and every conversation felt tight and constricted by the interview process.
Interviews are used to gather information and assess the qualifications of an applicant looking to work for a specific position, but this doesn’t mean that they must be joyless and all about the meat and potatoes. I believe a good interview is like a 3-course meal, the salad is just talking and getting to know all people taking part in the interview process, the meat and potatoes can be about the specifics of the job and sprinkled in there is some laughter and joy which is some good beverages and desert.
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