discussion and self reflection 3

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To help you remain competitive, you have to assume that everyone else that interviews for the position did well. At a minimum, you should plan on completing 6 steps after an interview:

1. Ask the interviewer about next steps and plan to follow up.

2. Thank the interviewer and express your interest in the position (write this in the thank you note).

3. Prepare for possible 2nd interviews. Be prepared to meet and interview with other people in the organization, do your research on who else you might meet with and plan on highlighting your accomplishments, background, education, and experience.

4. Consider your salary and benefits expectations. Salary negotiation is an advanced career development skill. There are many resources that can help you practice this skill, including PayScale.com’s very detailed salary negotiation guide. You can review it here: http://www.payscale.com/salary-negotiation-guide. If you have additional questions, feel free to message me off-line or send me an email.

5. Stay positive. Don’t beat yourself up after the interview. If there were places in the interview where you felt challenges, think about how you could practice and improve on in your next interview. Every interview is a learning experience!

5. Warm-up your references. You should inform your references about the position you interviewed for and get them ready for the reference call. In developing a list of references, please make sure you are using people that will have positive things to say. Don’t ASSUME that previous supervisors or colleagues will give you a good reference…KNOW they will give you a good reference. Consider using a “mock” reference check with typical reference questions to see how they respond…see information on the following link:

http://www.best-job-interview.com/reference-check-questions.html

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I’d like you to reflect on your next action steps related to your career and what you plan to apply from this course.

  • What new way of thinking or approach to your internship/job search have you learned and want to incorporate into your future job searches, and how are you going to do that?
  • What was the most helpful “lesson learned” that you’d want your friends and family to know?
  • How has your thinking changed about a job/career search?