When job hunting, practice makes perfect MSU's career development center offers interview help In the world of job hunting, nothing is more important to an applicant's chances than the interview.
"I think it's crucial," said Harlan Moret, first vice president and director of corporate services for Federated Insurance of Owatonna. "The resume is important, and reference checks are extremely important. But just ferreting out if this person is a good match for us — you need to be able to fit in with us."
Because it's still so important, Minnesota State University's Career Development Center sets aside several weeks each semester when students in any major can sign up to go through a practice interview.
Moret is one of more than a dozen employers who volunteers to interview students. When students come in, they spend part of their time doing the actual interview and part of it getting critiqued by the employer.
Brian Jicinsky, a graduate student who works in the Career Development Center, said the practice interviews are invaluable.
"You can never be exposed to it enough," said Jicinsky, veteran of the practice interview program. "Each time you do it, you get a little more comfortable in that situation."
Pam Weller-Dengel, director of the center, said students leave the practice interviews with more confidence than when they came.
"It's kind of an affirming experience for them," WellerDengel said. "We do have some students who come back more than once."
The practice interviews began several years ago, and the program has expanded to meet demand. Some classes even require students to sign up for the interviews.
Weller-Dengel said the program is effective partly because, during a practice interview, the stakes aren't as high, and students can focus on the things they need to improve.
Dave Smith, a construction management major from Wabasha, said his instructor required students in his class to do a practice interview.
He said he likes being able to go through the process without all the stress of a real-life situation.
"If you totally bomb it, it's all right," Smith said. "You're not actually losing a job."
Smith said he may even come back and do another practice interview.
He also could try a relatively new tool the center has called The Perfect Interview, a computer software program that walks the user through a job interview while a Web camera is recording the user’s answers. The program creates a DVD that can then be used for critique.
The program also has a feature where, when the user is stumped for an answer, it provides a sample answer judged by employers to be a good way to answer the question.
It does have its drawbacks.
"So far the feedback has been that students think it's very valuable, but they hate watching themselves," Weller-Dengel said.
That held true for Jicinsky, who used The Perfect Interview recently.
He said the program helps people notice their interview shortcomings. In his case, he noticed himself fiddling with his ring finger. Others find themselves saying “um” a lot, and racing through their answers.
It's just one more tool, Jicinsky said, to help students prepare themselves for the job market.
"What I think is most beneficial," he said, "is to just do as much preparation as you can." It also may be important for students to realize that, even though there may be nothing officially at stake during a practice interview, it’s never a bad thing to make a good impression.
"The university has been very helpful to us in the past. We have about 160 MSU alumni working for us,” Moret said. “I mostly give feedback, but my antennae are always up ... If I like what I see, I may pass their resume on to our HR department."
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