The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Alright, interviews are coming up.

If you've done your research on the interview process, please post any findings... Let's help each other out. If we are all prepared to handle an interview, then maybe we'll all be meeting up at the end of the summer for the indoctrination process! Hope to see you all there.

Here's my first contribution:

1. Have a list of at least three strengths and weaknesses
- be ready to explain how your strengths will benefit the agency who is calling (means do home work on the agencies you've listed in your application)
- Be ready to explain what the weakness was AND how you've overcome that weakness since it has been identified.
- - I believe this approach is better than what some have suggested (dodging the question) however, some questions of this nature should be respectfully declined. A friend of mine, was recently asked what was his biggest career failure. This is a double edged sword and should be respectfully declined. It doesn't matter how you answer this question or how it is qualified, it will only make you look bad. My friend declined to answer and was selected for the job over others who applied. (correlation doesn't equal causation, but look for underlying wisdom)

Every job and internship I've ever interviewed for has asked me about a specific time that I worked as part of a team. They asked what my role was, what I contributed, and what the biggest obstacles were and how we overcame them. Sometimes they might ask what I learned from that experience, but even when they don't I usually throw it in. I don't get long-winded, but I do like to at least say "I really learned from this mistake, and since then have not made the same one when working on team projects."

So have something in mind. If you are advanced in your major, then you've probably done many group projects relating to your field of study. If you don't have anything related to your major, then it's more than okay to have an example of something outside your field (usually). If you choose something outside of your field of study (say, you headed a large community service project), over any class project you've done, then make sure it's something that makes you shine. This isn't really to say that picking something non-technical will not make you look as good; it just means that you will need to highlight your technical abilities more during other questions to show that you are well rounded when it comes to teamwork and technical skills.

(sorry, I'm kinda writing a novel here)

I say this because I didn't get an internship due to the fact that I didn't have the "technical skills" of the other students applying. They gave me feedback on my interview and said it was spot on. She couldn't give me advice on where to improve. I knew the other students applying because we were all from the same university, and I'm confident that my technical skills matched theirs. Looking back, I played up my other skills thinking they would set me apart, and in doing so failed to make my self appear fully competent in what would be the technical aspect of the job.