Cocky vs Confident

If there was something you could say in an interview to guarantee you getting the position, you would say it.
Everyone would!
But aside from ‘I will work for free’, what is that thing that is going to make that treacherous interview process a ‘no-brainer’?
Obviously we shouldn’t be giving out this secret phrase to just any old Joe off the street, but (and here is where I shamelessly promote myself) I have a college degree, I did well in school, studied abroad, created my own major, have more than 10 quality internships, I network, I'm responsible, and I'm obviously driven. I have got my shit together. So why do I still not hold the key to that secret phrase all interviewers want to hear?
What do you want to hear from a potential future employee? What can they do to set them apart in a positive light? What makes people say: Lets hire her.
I know there has got to be some one word that everyone wants to hear. I don’t think I'm a bad interviewer, but I am concerned about the whole idea of cocky vs confident. People say, ‘you have to sell yourself in an interview!’. Well, I think I am a good deal! But I also hear that interviewers are turned off by people who think they can do it all.
Let me tell you, future interviewers out there, I have the ability to complete any task. Because if I can’t figure it out, I will ask. I am resourceful, and I know my boundaries. But I will give it my all.
There.
Is that what you want to hear?



**If you watch this video below, please laugh. Who spends the time to make these?**

When It Rains It Pours

About every two months I get a whole slew of emails offering me interviews. I don’t know why it happens in a cycle, but it always does. I wont hear a word from a single company, not a single positive response and usually not a single response at all. Then suddenly in the same week, I’ll get seven emails offering me interviews.
And so the rush begins again! The interview suit comes out, resumes get reprinted by the dozens, and if it were possible, I start getting even less sleep.
To me, interviewing is like craigslist, and craigslist is like a blind date. You absolutely never know who or what you might find on the other side of the door. And any one of those experiences could change your life forever.
Whether the interview be a 15 minute meet and greet, or an hour of resume nit picking, for that time you get a glimpse into the other side of your situation. The employed side. And you get caught up in the moment! You even start to feel important just to be interviewing for these intern positions. And why shouldn’t you? These interviewers are making a sales pitch to you (obviously because they want you to work for free) and trying to convince you that you should be honored to be considered for such an exciting time at their company. And then you get excited, and start selling yourself to them. Here is my resume! Here is what I can do for you!
I guess I am what they call lucky, in that I have actually been offered a variety of internships, and I usually get to choose where I want to devote my hardworking free time to. However, it is a harder decision than it seems. Each of these companies is probably excellent, and sometimes, when you are working for free, it all boils down to convenience. Which office is closest to the train? Which company has the best hours for my schedule? But personally, I think the most important question to weigh is: which company is going to give me the best connections? Which is the one I’ll be able to look back and say, if I hadn’t done that I never would have met _____ which eventually led me to ______ which eventually introduced me to the position I end up finding my self in…. successfully. Sometimes, I think I choose wrong. Other times, its easy to remember why I made the decision I did. But mostly, I can easily see where my first impressions of a place are skewed. It’s easy to get caught up in an interview when the interviewer is presenting their internship as the stepping-stone to your future. But it’s hard to remember how this internship is helping your future when you are making copies and getting coffee.

And so it begins! Let the runaround continue!



Bob, let's see what's behind Door Number 3!

The NBC Page Program

In November 2008, I suddenly realized that Kenneth the Page, on NBC’s 30 Rock, was not a completely fictional character. While someone over the age of 19 who still believes in a witch who comes after you when you don’t eat your vegetables probably doesn’t exist anywhere, the Page position at NBC is just as coveted as Kenneth’s NBC Page jacket in the game of poker with Jack Donaghy. With over seven THOUSAND applicants for a mere 60 spots, the chances of getting into the NBC Page Program are about as likely as your boob falling out of your top while on TV in the middle of the Superbowl. So about one. But actually, the stats prove that it is less likely to be chosen to wear a dorky suit, give tours of a glorified office building, and get the chance to usher people into their seats for a show, than to be a qualified candidate getting into Harvard Medical School. What does one learn from that statistic? Be a doctor; because your dreams of getting coffee for a GE executive are never gonna happen. Still though, one cant crush a dreamer with numbers, and I decided to become Kenneth the Page. Only a shorter, wiser, more awesome one.
My first step to becoming the next best friend to idol Tina Fey, was to find the job description and application for the NBC Page Program on the World Wide Web. It wasn’t too hard. After I read the three paragraphs explaining the program and realizing that all of my prayers had just been answered, I left the tabs open on my laptop for two weeks. It was already a moment of great accomplishment- finding something that I actually wanted to apply for, a goal for something to look forward to in my life after college.
I then discovered that my roommate’s friend’s sister had once been an NBC Page. Swish right?
I emailed the distant connection and soon set up a phone call. At the designated time, I called her, and then proceeded to have a glorious hour and a half conversation with the person who I was certain was my foot in the door. She helped me with my cover letter, passed my name around to some hiring people, and convinced me that if she could do it, anyone can.

Before I continue, I would like to take a quick moment to explain what the process entails for becoming an NBC Page.
First: you submit your resume, cover letter, and basic information online, basically requesting to be considered and applicant.
Second: they either acknowledge that you applied and inform you that they will eventually contact you regarding the next step, or you just never hear from them again.
Third: if allowed to continue, you are given a time to complete the Email Screen, a fancy way of wording: online questionnaire, within an hours time.
Fourth: if you pass ‘the screen’ you are invited up for an interview. You then meet with a few different members of the NBC team who do their best to make you wet yourself
Fifth: if you have survived the interviews and you have brought a change of clothes, you ate submitted into the well of death, that is- the group interview. There, they force you to compete with the other applicants while pretending to work as a team.
And if you do all of that correctly, and Jerry Seinfeld owes your father a huge favor, the might let you work at the lowliest position NBC has to offer.

So after hanging up on a high note that the first job I was looking into was almost guaranteed to be perfect for me, I submitted my information to the Page Program.
Then it was waiting time.