It's not that obvious; he actually called and let me know that he currently couldn't offer me a position because there are areas I need improvement on and he would like to meet me a few months later and see whatever I need to improve improves. I don't know if he is being courteous by saying that, but it's just too discouraging...
Don't worry too much. A lot of people actually don't have any good interviewing skills. If anything, it was probably him and not you...
I look for these skills in my P1.
Curiosity... does the applicant want to learn? Does he have an open mind?
Ability to manage work loads... Can the student handle the responsibilities of a job in addition to school and family commitments. (I don't want to baby sit anybody).
Drive... I don't expect students to have any leadership experiences but what about hobbies? Student projects? other work related experiences. In my retail setting, I cant have any timid students.
Creativity... Once again, I believe this is a pre-cursor to leadership... because I want my interns to think outside of the box.
Courage... What I mean by this is somebody who is not afraid to speak out. They are not limited by society. If they see something, they should have the courage to confront the problem in its appropriate way.
The best way to interview is to do it by story telling. Give specific examples of where you talk about the problem, what you think were the consequences of the problem, what was your role, what you did, why you did it, and the end result. If the end result is not positive, tell the interviewer what you learned and would re-do.
For example... tell me about a time when you had to give constructive feedback to a team member. (CVS question).
I was in this high school project where we had to do a presentation. However, one of my team members were constantly late or not doing his share. This created a problem because he was in charge of researching and I was in charge of setting up the presentation. If he didnt do his share, then our presentation wouldn't be done on time. I pulled him aside and talk to him one on one about how I understand what he was going through but needed him to commit more time to the group because the group is dependent on him..., and helped him set up a time schedule with follow up. The end result was we did an awesome presentation and won an award.
In addition, I am more focused on the behaviors during the interview. Was the student positive? smiled? well prepped? Were the answers one sentence... or did he talk a lot. Because.... if I am only getting one sentences answer, no smiles.., it shows me the person can care less about the job.
