Interview

In class, we were assigned groups of two in which we had to interview each other in a formal mock job interview. This was to help with the social and communication aspect of the course. The following is a list of the questions I was asked along with my answers.

1. How do you plan on self-promoting yourself?
I want to use social media to promote myself. Social media is important because it is the future!

2. Name three goals you have between now and graduation.

I want to be on the Dean’s List, I want to complete the remaining half of my novel I’m currently writing, and I want, no I need, to have my application process finished for grad school.

3. What employment goals do you have after graduation? 
Name three of them.

I have an entire life plan. Firstly, I want to do crisis management for a PR firm, then I want to work for Edelman in their New York City office either in crisis or in their social media department, and I want to end my career as a college professor teaching Public Relations.

4. Name three best-case scenario jobs you would like to have and why.
Outside of my field, I would love to be a surgeon if I ever did the whole med-school thing, (laughs) growing up I was really into medicine and I watched like surgeries and autopsies and I found them fascinating.  Relating back to my field a job at Edelman would obviously be best-case scenario, simply because they are the tip-top of the PR world. Lastly a job in investor relations would be a best-case scenario because they typically start with six figure salaries right out the door.

5. Do you prefer to work professionally with a group or on your own and why?

I can’t really choose one over the other simply because both are extremely important based on the task at hand and the type of work required.

6. What contributions can you make to a group dynamic? 
Name three things.

Usually in groups, no matter how hard I try not to be, I somehow always become the leader or find myself in a leadership position. I have a ton of ideas swimming around my head at all times that I can contribute to the group. A third quality I have is that I can get along with anyone.

7. What contributions can you make working independently? 
Name three things.
I can work very quickly by myself, my work tends to be better because the entire project is coming from my own head space, and in working alone I can make conclusions on tasks and come to a consensus on a task or problem much easier.

8. What are your pet peeves in a work environment?

I absolutely cannot stand when people are not trained correctly! It really grinds my gears because it’s like if you’re going to do a job do it right! I also cannot stand when in a group setting somebody does more work than another person. A third pet peeve would be messy work areas. I can’t deal with any mess that isn’t my own.

9. Name three things you feel passionate about professionally - 
this could be school related, current job related, group or organizationally related - and outline why you feel passionate towards them.

I wholeheartedly and absolutely believe in hard work, I think rational thinking is the best route to take towards anything. If you take a second and break it down, it is entirely possible to figure out a situation clearly. Proper workplace etiquette is also an absolute must.

10. How do you handle stress and pressure?

There’s this thing I do when I’m stressed out. When I get super stressed I get a cup of coffee, just sit with it and clear all distractions. I clear my mind and occasionally play happy music. It really helps.

11. Name the last three jobs you had, and the best success and the worst failure you experienced at each of these jobs.

My current job is Electronics at Target, and the best success I have had there is that I am currently the top sales person in the electronics department, which is like really cool! However, I do have a habit of showing up between 5-10 minutes late. Oops! My job before that was Laundry and Housekeeping at the Holiday Inn and my best success was definitely getting out of that environment! Leaving that job was the best thing I could’ve done. My biggest failure was never getting a raise in my entire year and half there. Before that, I was a cashier at Tops and a great success was how much my customers loved me. They would come in looking for me by name and would light up when they saw me. A failure was leaving on bad terms with the head honchos.

12. How do you handle criticism?

I am highly accepting of criticism, but sometimes to a fault. I only say this because I really do let criticism effect me.

13. Outline three strengths you have in school.

My writing is really good, not to toot my own horn. I am a seasoned writer. My study habits as of late have become really good, simply because I have barely studied before this semester. I also have really good time management, which is totally going to benefit me later in life.

14. Outline three strengths you have in your workplace.

I take every workday seriously and I give each workday my all! Usually my fellow employees look to me for guidance in what to do, and they come to me for their questions on what to do at work. Because of Target, sales have become a specialty of mine.

15. How has creating a WikiPage strengthened your communication skills?    Name and elaborate on three things:

The HTML coding became a new skill that I found I excel at which is extremely beneficial. Creating a WikiHow page taught me how to break things down into steps, and it provided a new writing style that I had only ever touched upon in the past.

16. How will Facebook be used to promote you?

Name and elaborate on three things:

I would start by creating a “Zack Reese” Facebook page, and then I would begin adding new people and encourage them to add others, following this I would reach out to other organizations to further spread my brand and get into talks.

17. How would you promote an organization on Facebook?

Name and elaborate on three things:

Pages, events and lots and lots of pictures.

18. How will Twitter be used to promote yourself? 

Name and elaborate on three things:

I would tweet to companies from my Twitter page, I would use personal hash-tags so that my tweets could be found easier and maybe even trend. I would also tweet with bit links to other sites that may have more information for visitors to my page.

19. Graphically what do you want to have on your website?

Name and elaborate on three things:

I definitely need a ton of pictures, a bio, and links to other social media.

The conducting of this interview was even more so helpful because it kind of painted a picture of what I want to come in the future as I answered each question with 100 percent honesty. My interviewer was John and he did a pretty great job. At times, I really did feel like we weren’t in the classroom any more and more like it was an actual job interview. He keep a good posture being turned towards me as he asked me questions, maintained a constant level of eye contact and seemed to be genuinely engaged in what I was saying by helping me come to an answer when I got stuck.