Co-Op Interview Tips?

[razor2025]

I've been looking for Co-Op position to boost up my resume before graduation. Well, just 5 min ago, I received a E-mail from one of the companies I've applied for. They want to get a interview in by tomorrow (on super-short notice). The company does WiFi hotspot/network installtions for retail and offices. Naturally, I like being able to mess around with hardwares and install them for practical use. I also think that WiFi will be a good growth path in the field. (like Seattle and New Orleans projects).

SO... the situation and advice I'm seeking is this. I haven't had much chance to go on interviews. The number of times I've interviewed is like.. 2 ?I would like to have some advice on how to conduct myself on the interview and how to "market" myself according to my resume.

My Resume is here:
Resume

My Current Strategies are:
1. Emphasize my language skills. Since I've spent a good amount of time honing out my Japanese and studying Chinese-Mandarin, I hope it can be a marketable skill in the field.
2. Emphasize on my willingness to learn. I'm very flexible on what to learn and train, since I'm still relatively young.

So, please post ANY advise or suggstions in regards to the interview. Also, ANY advice/suggestion in regards to my resume will also be appreciated. I've had it checked with my Co-Op advisor. Thanks ATOT!

 

[envy me]

A good resume makes a big diffrerence. I learned this the hard way. My layout was very ugly and nobody called me. I changed the entire layout of it and noticed I was receiving more callbacks. No offence to you personally but the layout of your resume needs work.

 

[kranky]

First of all, you spelled "museum" wrong on your resume.

Having just interviewed a dozen students for co-op positions over the last few weeks, here's my take.

Most of the students have identical backgrounds and have taken the same courses. It's difficult to rate them from their resumes because the only differences are GPA and extra-curricular activities.

So how do you stand out from the pack? Attitude! Most of them are very bland in responding to questions because they are afraid to say something wrong (at least, that's why I think they are like that). Be confident. Say why you are excited about the particular work you might be doing. Have you done ANYTHING with WiFi, networking, or retail environments? Be sure to talk about how that would benefit them as well as make you the type of person who could learn quickly.

I think good characteristics for that position would be self-motivated, dependable, a creative problem-solver and work well under pressure. Did you work with the public at the Railway Museum? Explain how that prepared you to work with the company's customers with retail installs.

I have no idea if your language skills would mean anything for this position, and if they don't, do not overemphasize them. It would make it look like you don't comprehend which skills would be useful.

 

[konakona]

are you Comp E major? Hope you liked your first year here.

one of my roomates is used to be a tech student as well, graduated last spring with a ME major. While his GPA was very decent, no one really wanted him. In retrospect, he says they told him he didnt look to enthusiastic about getting a job. Being a silent and humble person he is, he never asked them any questions or anything, and apparantely that didnt bode well for him. Do some research about the company you are having an interview with, and ask them educated questions about their work.

Also, other kids who recently had interviews with other firms reminded me they typically ask questions like how you would resolve a conflict between the team members. What they are after is your leadership, so be ready to tell them some anecdotes from your past experiences, be it your group project at school or at your job if you have had any.

 

[jamesbond007]

http://www.datsi.fi.upm.es/~frosal/docs/25mdq.html

*GREAT* set of questions there. One that is not on there, but frequently asked is, "Describe a difficult customer/employee experience at your current or past job and tell us how you resolved it."

I've been asked that 2 out of my 3 lifetime interviews. ALWAYS trips me up and seems hard because I've worked with a lot of customers over my time and I just forget it and stuble on it.

When you're in the last runnings between several people and need to stand out, the obvious way to get the job is to know your expertise well, express ONLY your true strengths, show an interest in the company by asking questions at the end, and most importantly: try to relax and calm yourself prior to the interview - if you can show your confidence on your resume and in person, you're golden!

Good luck!

 

[jaybert]

i dont think in this situation emphasising your language skills will be too helpful...does not sound like a position where knowing other languages would be helpful. it would be good to mention it, but dont focus on that. language skills would be more important in consulting positions, or multi-national corporations where there is a chance you may have to talk to people who do not speak english, or get sent to another country on a contract.

as for what else to do...I would say, be prepared is most important. do some more research on the company, and find out if they have been in the news recently. write down 3 or 4 questions you can ask about the company, that are specific to the company. This lets them know you are genuinely interested in the position.

also, companies now are moving to asking more and more behavioral questions. this would be, questions like "tell me of a time where you went against an authoritative figure at school/work and why?", or "tell me of a time where you took a leadership role and what happened?" One you can almost always expect is "tell me of a time when you had problems with a group member and how did you resolve it?"

like someone said above, a great deal of people have the same GPA/activities, so it really important to give them a good impression on you. Myself, I had a pretty poor GPA when I was looking for co-ops, but had 4 offers for co-ops.

 

[razor2025]

Thanks A BUNCH for the advice. I'll get that mis-spelling corrected on my resume. I had my spelling checker turned off on my Word, so I didn't see it. I'm researching the company right now on its website. It's private company, and seems to be a bit up-start, exciting? Is there any other pre-caution I should take?

 

[Sukhoi]

Just a short two tips because I have to get going:

Talk about YOU. If you're discussing a group you were in, they want to know what you did in the group. They don't give a rat's ass what the group did, in general. Don't use words like "we, us, our", etc. Also elaborate on the stories. Don't just say "I was in this group, I did this, and the result was this." Give multiple tasks that you did, and relate each one to the end result.

Now this is something I have to improve on too, but you need to make the company want you. You want to sound so confidant in your skills that the company is begging you to work for them. Now don't seem like an arrogant jackass, but don't seem like you'll just say anything to get them to like you.

 

[razor2025]

The obligatory after battle debriefing....

So, it's been 30min after the interview. The interview lasted about 1 hour and there was alot of conversation. The company is really small, like 5, but they intend to grow big in few years. The interviewer was the head honcho for the company and he brought along some dude that he hired as consultant to grow his company (I guess as a backup analyst). We talked about what they do as company and how they intend to grow. Also went heavily on what Co-Op position will do .

Here's the $64,000 Question to you Co-Op vets:

Did I do well? aka.. Will I get the "Job"?

On the last 5-10 min of the interview, the head honcho asked me about how I felt about the work schedule. He also asked me whether I would mind working for them outside of Co-Op program( as in working with them as part-time guy), or delay the work from Spring to Summer. How does that fit into the picture? And is there any caveat I should be worried about working "outside" of the Co-Op program?

PS. On sidenote, the head honcho guy was pretty nice. When the interview was done, he paid for my lunch. If the interview failed, at least I got a "free" lunch.

 

[kranky]

The university we work with has restrictions on co-ops working outside the program. They are only allowed to work 10 hours a week during the semesters they aren't doing co-op, and even that requires permission from the school.

I don't see anything wrong with it myself, as long as it doesn't break any school rules and it doesn't interfere with your studies.