Day 207: Interview Training

     I had an interview for a position as a BASE (Before and After School Program) program staff member at a school down the street from me today. I was mostly excited and a little bit nervous about the interview because I had gotten a call earlier today from another BASE program who had unfortunately called me to inform me that they were not going to choose me as their newest member. I have been trying really hard to get a position at the BASE program, and that call that I had just received had kind of shot down my spirits. The thought of being denied for both positions was terrifying, so I decided (for my own good) to revamp my entire interview strategy. I didn't want this interview to end up like the last. I didn't want anymore partially answered questions and awkward silences. I wanted an interview that I could be proud of. That's why I enlisted the help of none other than Brian Krueger; the internet entrepreneur, author, lecturer and business leader extraordinaire. Brian has a heap-load of helpful vlogs (video blogs) on his channel that are specifically designed to give "me" (of coarse referring to anyone that is watching his vlogs) the skills I need to land my dream job. He has videos that explain the importance of an organized resume, how to dress during an interview, how to prepare for tricky questions, and even how to overcome 'interview nervousness'. His videos were quite helpful, they taught me that I had a lot to learn. For more practice, I had my little brother help conduct a mock interview with me. A mock interview is essentially when you have a pretend interview where you use the sample questions that are provided on Mr. Krueger's site. The pretend interview is designed to help you realize the flaws in your interviewing technique that you may not have known before. It was actually really helpful. Another exercise I tried was to briefly summarize my qualities and attributes into one manageable paper. I would then reference the paper that had my strengths and the job-related experiences to back them up. This was to help me recall events and experiences that the interviewer my find to be relatable to the job. After about an hour or so of interview practice, I (for the first time so far) felt ready for the interview I was about to participate in. It will be about a week before I hear back from the job, but all I can say is that Brian Krueger helps me out a great deal and I'm feeling good about how the interview went.