Terrible Interviewers Club

[nerv12345]

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i'm fortunate and thankful i have a good number of interview invites, but i am just a MESS at interviews! i know what my goals are, i know about current issues, and i know why i particularly like a certain school...but i have difficulty addressing this.
i just had an interview this past weekend and i felt that i knew what i wanted to say but it didn't come to me at that moment and i think that weakened my chances significantly.
(by the way english is my first language)

anybody else want to be part of the club?

 

[andrewattheU]

The only advice I can give you is to relax and try to not over think the interview, it can lead to you second guessing yourself and the way you want to present yourself. Good luck with your future interviews

 

[steveysmith54]

I AM in.

 

[rxliteguy]

i'm fortunate and thankful i have a good number of interview invites, but i am just a MESS at interviews! i know what my goals are, i know about current issues, and i know why i particularly like a certain school...but i have difficulty addressing this.
i just had an interview this past weekend and i felt that i knew what i wanted to say but it didn't come to me at that moment and i think that weakened my chances significantly.
(by the way english is my first language)

anybody else want to be part of the club?

just relax and don't think about it too much. Over time, experience will pay off. I've gone through probably 16 interviews(including work and pharmacy) in my life and I know I'm improving each and every interview. Experience is valuable. In my last interview, I've noticed the newbees who worry about what questions the interviewers will ask. So when the interviewer asks them about something else, it throws them off. Don't worry about what you think they will ask you, just go with what you have.

 

[ab3capri]

i hear ya nerv12345. however, i have only had one interview invitation so far, and i can't help but feel that i blew my chances last weekend. good luck with the rest of your interviews. my friend said the same thing as rxliteguy...it just takes practice/experience.

 

[rxchrissarasota]

I'm in! I must suck cause I've been to 4 interviews and been wait-listed at every one. I don't get nervous really cause I'm not new to it. I've done so many interviews at work, I couldn't begin to count. I don't know what my deal is.

 

[collegegirl247]

I am great in interviews..but I recently interviewed at a school with a horrible interviewer...he was nasty, rude, short and made it seem like I was wasting his time... it was horrible. I did the best I could...but by the end of the interview I nearly crossed the school off my list!

 

[aboveliquidice]

Hey Nirav - Interviewing is something that comes really naturally to some people, but for others it is a skill that must be practiced. With experience, comes comfort. Continue to practice your interviewing skills with close friends or family members, and you will do fine.

I know it sounds silly, but practicing speaking in front of a mirror, or with someone else - is an excellent way of honing your skills. It really helped me "zero" in on how I wanted my face to look when answering questions. It also help me correct body language and tone.

Good luck to you all

~above~

 

[rxliteguy]

Hey Nirav - Interviewing is something that comes really naturally to some people, but for others it is a skill that must be practiced. With experience, comes comfort. Continue to practice your interviewing skills with close friends or family members, and you will do fine.

I know it sounds silly, but practicing speaking in front of a mirror, or with someone else - is an excellent way of honing your skills. It really helped me "zero" in on how I wanted my face to look when answering questions. It also help me correct body language and tone.

Good luck to you all

~above~

looking in the mirror or videotaping yourself during a mock interview really helps you see yourself from the viewpoint of others. You might find out that you're not smiling enough or doing awkward hand motions or even your tone of voice is very dull. No one likes to watch a tape of themselves but this is a really helpful way to find out things that you didn't know you did.

 

[nerv12345]

those are great ideas, i think i will videotape myself.
the silly thing is that i'm so laid back and chill during the chit-chat that i have w/ the interviewers before and after the interviews, but once the interview begins it seems like i freeze up almost

 

[alswl]

I wonder what my interviewer was thinking while I was having an interview with him. During our interview, the conversation seemed to flow and he actually said some stuff that kind of implied that he would offer me an admission.. For example he asked if I will give back to the school in the future and when I said yes, he said he'll keep an eye on me. Also, when I answered a question, he said "that's the answer that I was looking for"

Those words hugely increased my confidence, which broke my heart when I was told that I got waitlisted.......

I guess I could have misunderstood his words or maybe he was just a type of interviewer who says that kind of stuff..

And I should have realized that interview isn't everything about the application process... 🙁

 

[rxliteguy]

I wonder what my interviewer was thinking while I was having an interview with him. During our interview, the conversation seemed to flow and he actually said some stuff that kind of implied that he would offer me an admission.. For example he asked if I will give back to the school in the future and when I said yes, he said he'll keep an eye on me. Also, when I answered a question, he said "that's the answer that I was looking for"

Those words hugely increased my confidence, which broke my heart when I was told that I got waitlisted.......

I guess I could have misunderstood his words or maybe he was just a type of interviewer who says that kind of stuff..

And I should have realized that interview isn't everything about the application process... 🙁

I remember going through an interview last year. The interviewers lauged at my jokes and seem really impressed at my answers. I would leave the interview feeling great and talked to other people who would say the same thing. But in the real world, not everyone who thinks their interview went great gets accepted because there's only a limited number of seats for each class. Plus there is other criteria such as the essay and your application. But the key to a successful interview is being able to give the unique and correct answers, being able to elaborate on it and give examples. When you're nervous during the interview, you tend to rush your answers and come up with general short answers. During interviews, they want to know if you can communicate and elaborate on your answers with examples and real life experiences. You can say an answer that makes sense but is broad and general or you can describe a unique real life experience to back up your answer and explain it in details with examples. That's the difference between a successful interview and a so so interview.

 

[nerv12345]

i think one also needs to find a balance between lengths of responses...sometime we tend to ramble on and on about something. this is probably one of the reasons why some of my answers are so short

 

[bananaface]

Have you tried doing mock interviews with a friend? Alot of times practice helps. And, knowing what types of things will be asked and how you might answer those things. The interview feedback has lots of good practice questions.

 

[aniflora]

I'm one of those people who are just so nervous during an interview. Because of that, I can't think at all. I just lose my thoughts and words escape me. .....My next interview is in Jan. so hopefully I'll do enough practice by then.

 

[nerv12345]

i just had another interview this past weekend. and WOW that was an amazing experience. i'm glad i was interviewing with a single person (the dean!) rather than two people...it gives you a more personal experience and you can connect to one person more easily than two people and really express your thoughts since you are only focusing on one person

i practiced some questions in front of the mirror and i thought i did pretty well!

i think i bombed the previous interview really badly because of the setting (i was in a suit in 80 degree hawaiian humid weather while my interviewers were in hawaiian shirts...and there was no air circulation in the very tiny intervewing room)

 

[omnione]

To add to this thread, I think the mentality one can use to help with interviews is to come in with the perspective that the interview is more like a conversation with people than an interrogation. People tend to be more relaxed in a conversation setting than an interrogation. You want to get to know the school through the interviewers and they want to get to know you. Keep the chatter going and one can find the time to pass quickly.

Ask our mod binghamkid. He made a thread about interview skills a while ago, but I don't remember when he made it.

 

[AmericanDesi]

I think it's crazy that what you do and what impression you make at that interview will determine your fate.

 

[nerv12345]

i just had an interview this past weekend and i felt that i knew what i wanted to say but it didn't come to me at that moment and i think that weakened my chances significantly.
(by the way english is my first language)

i think i bombed the previous interview really badly because of the setting (i was in a suit in 80 degree hawaiian humid weather while my interviewers were in hawaiian shirts...and there was no air circulation in the very tiny intervewing room)

i got accepted to this school (received a letter on 12/24)...ironic!

 

[Pharmpills]

From interviewing what i realized is that most questions are TYPICAL witrh a few not so typical. u first need to got down some questions and the answers to them. then look at where u stand such as GPA< pcat and experience. like lets say u have a 60 pcat but 3.8 GPA expect to elaborate on that if called upon or if u have no experience that could be a problem and kill the entire interview esp. if ur stats arnt stellar. if ur weak in gpa or pcat then make sure u have experience and if u did bad in a class expect to explain why u did bad, just dont say " i dont know". make sure u have questions to ask them after they are done asking u questions. i would say at least 5 questions. 😀

 

[Gracie93402]

First of all, I'm definitely in the club. I'm a wreck of nerves. Secondly though, how do you come up with questions to ask. I feel like whatever questions I have about a school could easily be answered by a scan of their website. Because of this, I feel like my questions would be redundant. How do you get around that?

 

[omnione]

First of all, I'm definitely in the club. I'm a wreck of nerves. Secondly though, how do you come up with questions to ask. I feel like whatever questions I have about a school could easily be answered by a scan of their website. Because of this, I feel like my questions would be redundant. How do you get around that?

That section of the interview is good for you to set yourself out in a good way, or bad. During my Iowa interview, I blanked out during the "what other questions do you have for us?" and said that I didn't have any. I also blanked out when referring to the Dean's name (Dean Kelly) during the interview. The interviewers didn't give me good looks. I somehow got into Iowa but that was an interview I would have liked to improve. That was my first of three pharmacy school interviews.

I learned from that experience by doing research about the schools without using the website is a crutch. Sources like Google and academic search engines can find articles about the stuff. For Creighton, I noticed a discrepancy in NAPLEX scores where a dip occurred in recent years. There was a reputation issue versus UNMC. I addressed both in questions during my interview. I noticed that Wingate was a up-and-comer school that was newly accredited. So, I questioned them about their NAPLEX prep and what exciting thing I should look for in that school.

The theme of asking questions as you can see is to use the session to probe the school. It makes sense to do so when you could be spending four years there. Don't interrogate them but show that you can be more than just superficial.