<p>D1 just went through her round of interviews in a very competitive field. Her GPA was on the low side relative to other applicants, therefore she was not invited to interview for some positions. Out of 8 she interviewed for, she was turned down by 2 and she was known as THE GIRL around the campus. Her resume got her the interviews, but it was her people skills that got her the jobs.</p>
<p>Very early on in my career, I was a believer of as long as you were good at your job then everything else was noise. I was wrong. I was passed up for promotions because “I was difficult to work with.” I didn’t have anyone to show me otherwise, but I was a fast learner, after it happened to me a few times I wised up.</p>
<p>With my kids, since they were little I made sure they were comfortable with adults. I made sure they were around when we had people over for dinner, especially once they became teens. Often at dinner table they would have some very intense conversations with our friends, but always respectful. My kids speak differently with adults than with their friends. It comes naturally to them when they see adults to address them as Mr., Mrs., and either shake their hand or give them a hug. So many young people get very nervous around adults (a lot of twitching, no eye contact), or they couldn’t find anything to say because they couldn’t relate. They would only grunt if an adult were to ask them something they were interested in. In preparation for our kids for interviews, it wouldn’t hurt if they were comfortable around adults and able to carry on some small talks.</p>
<p>I practiced with D1 for hours each day for a week prior to her interviews. She knew her resume cold so she could talk about it in few minutes, but always highlight activities she wanted interviewers to know. Her two main ECs were ballet and her sorority, she stressed one over the other depending on who the interviewer was. She had few jokes that she told over and over again that everyone loved. She read total of 4 papers on the field she was interviewing for, and knew those topics well. She didn’t go on and on when asked because she didn’t want to appear as too much of an expert in front of her interviewers. As a student, she just needed to appear to have interest and aptitude. On the other hand, as a math major, when they asked her about papers she’s written she was very much of an expert (she went back to re-read some papers she’s written in preparation for her interviews). She also went on the internet to download a list of questions most interviewers would ask and we practiced on how she would answer those questions. This may all sound too robotic or rehearsed, and some people may say “just be yourself and let yourself come through.” The problem is during an interview it is a stressful situation, it’s hard to come up with an answer if one has never thought of it. D1 really had a good idea of what her strengths were after we went over those questions, so during her interviews she was able to keep on driving those points home.</p>
<p>I am also in the process of interviewing for a bigger role within my firm, even though it was “them” who suggested the job to me. I had the luxury of setting up the interviews myself. I decided to meet with the most senior person first. My strategy was if I couldn’t get pass this guy it wouldn’t matter, but if I could charm him then everyone else would just fall in line. He turned out to be a person who liked to give advice. Since this would be an expat position I asked him about his experience in living around the world. We talked about his kids and my kids. We probably talked about the job and my qualifications for 15 minutes. After our meeting he wrote an email to everyone to meet with me as soon as possible. Once I got his thumbs up, all other interviews were rubber stamp.</p>
<p>As mentioned by many posters here, you don’t have to be a prom king/queen to get a job. But the ability to relate and read people are great skills to have, even after landing a job.</p>