Interviewing skills are one of the biggest criteria that employers ranked as second most-important when hiring college graduates according to collegegrad.com, an entry-level job site.
“No matter how strong your resume, no matter what your major, no matter where you went to school, no matter what your GPA, if you are not successful in effectively communicating your background and experience, you will fail in the interviewing process while others will find success,” states Brian Krueger, president of www.collegegrad.com on the Web site. Krueger added, “It’s vitally important to do your homework in advance and be prepared for the interview, knowing both yourself and the employer before you walk into the interview.”?
Academic Counselor Joseph Puglia disagrees. “I’m not sure if I believe that is accurate,” he said. Puglia believes that the school a student goes to reflects a lot of importance on a job interview, especially when it comes to political, governmental and educational positions.
“People that apply for Washington positions are viewed most just on what school they went to, like Ivy League schools such as Georgetown, Harvard and Princeton,” said Puglia.?
Puglia thinks employers sometimes hire based on interviews but thinks it might be a poor choice.
“I know some teachers here [at GCC] that have been hired because they’re great on interviews but are horrible teachers; you have to look beyond that,” said Puglia.
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“Interview skills are important, but I believe that experience is more important,” said Puglia. He believes that a student that graduates from Harvard University has a better chance on any career than a Cal State University grad.?
Despite Puglia’s reasoning on the rank of importance, he still believes that interviewing skills are important. GCC can help students improve these skills at the college career center located San Rafael Building on the second floor. “The resources are here all we need is for students to come and take advantage of them,” said Tatyana Bartholomew, a career center assistant. ?
The career center offers many computer programs including a program called Discover. This is where the student is the critic of interviewing samples.
There are eight applicants with different jobs and the student must rank them on different areas at the end of the process. “Not only are these programs helpful, but they are also very educational,” said Bartholomew. There is a large video library on interviewing skills at the career center including “No brainers Interviewing” and “Your first resume and interview.” Bartholomew said, “These videos can run from 17min. to an hour.” ?
They also offer something called a mocking video where the center interviews the student and then the student has a chance to critique it afterwards. “We also offer books, sample resumes, sample interviews and a lot more videos besides Discover,” said Anna Marie Lafflam, career center assistant.?
There is also a virtual tour of the career center that offers some of these resources online. “It shows in-depth information on services,” said Bartholomew. Workshops that counselors conduct are scheduled on the Internet and students can also obtain a hard copy at the career center. The Web site is www.glendale.edu/new/services/career.?
“I think that confidence is important because it projects you can do the job right,” said Lafflam. “I always tell the student that the resume can get you the interview, but the interview will ultimately get you the job,” said Lafflam.