HealthyCampus101: Her Career: Interview Questions

Some insightful interview questions compiled by a classmate. These are definitely worth considering before any job interview. Some "go to" questions for many interviewers.

HealthyCampus101: Her Career: Interview Questions: I remember sitting outside the room on my first interview. I literally had to push down on my leg to get it to stop shaking. And over and ov...

There's an App for That

I think it's safe to say that I am obsessed with my iPhone. I spend an absurd amount of time on it each and every day. I also spend a LOT of time browsing job listings. I know it is much too early to start applying, but I just like to look to see what kinds of opportunities will be out there for me when I graduate in 6 months. I always browse the LinkedIn postings and constantly check for job openings on the websites for agencies and companies that I am fond of.  I know there is an app for everything, but somehow it never crossed my mind to use an app for my job search, which is why I was particularly struck by this Mashable infographic. I think I'm late to the party on this one...

What do you want to do?

Courtesy of  cartoonstock.com

I’m finding as I advance through senior year, especially given the surge of family time on Thanksgiving, more and more people keep asking “What do you want to do when you graduate?” It’s a simple enough question, but people always seem surprised by my answer.

So. What do I want to do when I graduate? I want to take a position that will enable me to gain a lot of great experience and PR skills right off the bat, so that hopefully I can be a chief communications officer in the future. It isn’t that I necessarily want to stay focused in PR; I’ve had a plethora of excellent experiences throughout various aspects of corporate communication, and I want to someday be able to oversee them all. I LOVE internal communication, and I hope to eventually have an influence in that sphere. However, I believe the route to becoming senior enough to make a real impact is through building a strong PR background. I feel that if you have the compassion, the instinct and the ability to identify the needs of employees, you can come back to internal at any time, but the external facing PR skills need to be honed while you are early in your career and can translate to a betterment of internal skills. Mostly, I believe that to be successful, I have to keep my eye on the prize and get as much experience as possible to help me when I finally get there… and I don’t think going back to school for a part time MBA would hurt either.

To be clear, I do not believe it is fair to look at a job as a stepping stone or a means to go elsewhere. I’ve mentioned before that I have never disliked a job. I know that wherever I end up, I will be passionate about my job. I know that I will do it to the best of my ability, and I know that I will work tirelessly to make sure the organization I am working for can complete its goals. That is simply who I am as a person. By approaching each career move as a new and exciting chance to learn something new and become a better communicator, I know that every position I hold along the way will be valuable to me, and I know that view will help me to be a valuable employee to a particular organization.

It scares me a bit to talk to peers who have no idea where they want to be in 15 years. Hell, some don’t even know where they want to be in 6 months. The response to “What do you want to do when you graduate?” ranges from “work in advertising” to “get a job” to “make money” to “be a housewife”. It’s strange to think that most people haven’t thought bigger picture about where they want to be positioned within an organization. Most don’t mention management ambitions, but if you push, nobody is striving to be low man on the totem pole either. I think it will be quite interesting to come to Alumni weekend at BU in 10 years and see where everyone stands with their ambitions (or lack there of). I’m sure that most of us will be successful in some way, shape or form. And success is really just measured by your personal satisfaction anyway. I guess I’m most excited to see at what level most people are satisfied with their careers and to hear about the experiences that got them there.

You're in the business of what, exactly?

On more than one occasion my friends have made fun of me because I never leave the house without my business cards. It's something I have done since my sophomore year of college.

At first, the business cards were simple. I was a peer adviser to incoming freshmen, so the college gave me business cards with my name, major, and class year... From there, things got more serious.

In the middle of my sophomore year, a friend introduced me to Vistaprint.  I ordered my very first custom order business cards... It cost $3.50 for 250 cards. I kept reformatting them for hours, and was unhappy with them from the moment they arrived at my door.

What on earth was I thinking? As soon as I opened the box I realized I had used my university email address... and the title of student didn't make me sound hardworking enough.... but I kept them, and passed them out for a year or so... I even gave them out at the bar on my 21st birthday.


Maybe I was too early for my time. To be fair, I probably should have ignored my friend as a sophomore. He is the same friend who later convinced me that it was fun and easy to become an ordained minister online, so I did. It is still on my to do list to order business cards reflecting my full name: Reverend Erin E. Caron. But in all honesty, having those business cards as a sophomore really impressed people when I went for interviews.




After coming back from London though, it was time for a change. I was going to be a senior in college... definitely time for a new look, and certainly no longer too premature to be a professional... And so I ordered these:

I am still made fun of relentlessly for having business cards. One of the other interns in my office this summer was so amused by them that he ordered his own with the job title "professional lady lover" and assorted pick up lines. But some people are finally getting it and ordering legit business cards. In all seriousness, you never know when you might randomly meet somebody that could become a valuable part of your network. Although, I don't recommend handing out business cards at a bar on your birthday... I've now made that mistake 2 years running.

Drop and Meet us at Fenway!

Twitter is a great and curious networking tool. I was recently sought out on twitter by a company seeking to hire college seniors for a graduate program. I was a bit skeptical, but opted to go with it. And, after a few cold call phone interviews, they invited me to what soon became the strangest and most exciting job interview of my life.

Disclaimer: I LOVE job interviews.

Because I love job interviews I was intrigued when I was told on a Tuesday evening to clear my schedule from 6pm the very next day until 10pm Thursday evening. The only instruction was to report to Fenway park with a photo id. The dress code? “Come as you are.” Part of me wanted to hang up the phone and forget about it, but the another part rationalized that it must be a legitimate program if they can rent out Fenway Park… so I went for it.

After a brief cocktail hour/networking session with company managers, the 20 job candidates were divided into teams, provided with a tool kit, and sent to come up with a project. We had 20 hours to come up with a project that would inspire others and report back to present it. The tool kit contained a camera, a slinky, duct tape, and 5 cans of red bull- what more could we have POSSIBLY required?

As it all transpired, it was a tremendous learning experience. I am fascinated by organizational behavior and the dynamics of teams, so I found the entire ordeal very rewarding and insightful. My team of 4 came up with some great ideas and accomplished a lot in that short period of time. In the end, I wasn’t selected for the next round, but I think it is for the best. I had a ton of fun and learned a lot, but I don’t think the job was the perfect fit for me.