“What are my skills?........I don’t even know where to start.”

As a Career Counselor I frequently as students to tell me about their skills and a common response is "I don't even know where to start." That is a very normal response simply because we don't usually go around talking about our skills to everyone we meet. Students gain skills through coursework and class projects, colunteer experiences, internships, part-time jobs, as well as through campus activities. Whether you have developed interpersonal skills, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, or more specific career related skills, you will need to talk about them to employers in order to land a job where you can use them. Everyone has skills, it just takes practice to communicate them well.

The good news is that the Career Services Center offers individual appointments to help you learn to communicate the skills that you have worked so hard to acquire. Setting up an appointment is easy; just call the Career Services Center at 414-288-7423.

Jeremy Eudaly

Career Counselor

Tell me about yourself

In my daily work I help Marquette students and alumni develop their interviewing skills. The question I like to start off with in many cases is "Tell me about yourself." It seems like such a simple question, but this is one that throws many people off because it is so open ended. The nature of this question is intentional. How you answer it can show how prepared (or underprepared) you are for the interview. Additionally, your answer can give the interviewer a quick summary of your skills, knowledge bases and traits that match the position. Doing this in a concise, yet informative, way takes preparation.

The question "Tell me about yourself." really means "Tell me about yourself in relation to the position you are interviewing for." That means that employers are interested in the information about you that relates directly to the position that they are trying to fill, so this is not the time to tell your life story. An answer to this question typically lasts between one and three minutes which means that you will need to be concise and prioritize what you choose to share with the employer. The key to being concise is preparing in adavance and practicing out loud either with family, and friends or perhaps a practice interview in career services.

To get you started I have an example of one strategy to answer this question using a fictional Career Counselor position at Marquette. I have divided the question into three sections (opening statement, middle content, and closing statement) to help give the ambiguity some form. After each section description and example, I give a few main points.

Opening statement: The opening statement can be something very simple, such as stating your degree and briefly describing your skills and experience in the profession thus far. Experience can include internships, volunteer work, or other experiences where you have gained professional skills, as well as jobs that you have had in the industry.

Example: I have a masters degree in psychology as well as six years of experience working in the higher education industry. My experience includes career counseling, academic advising, and mental health counseling.

Main points: This part is pretty basic, I simply stated my degree and then breifly summarized my experience. I included this because it sets up what I am going to talk about next. I also considered what experiences are most relevant to the employer. Through my research I know that counseling skills and experience in higher education are both important so I highlighted those first.

Middle content: This is where you could talk about what specific skills or attributes that you bring to the position. A nice addition to this could be to touch on what sets you apart from other candidates.

Example: I bring strong counseling skills as a result of my education and work experiences as well as a passion to help others reach their potential. I developed my counseling skills through working in a variety of settings inside and outside of higher education. Inside of higher education I have worked with both traditional and non-traditional students, each of which have different needs. As a student, I also served as a mental health counselor in a community counseling clinic. I beleive that the diversity of my experiences gives me a strong set of core counseling skills as well as exposure to a variety of different counseling scenarios and perspectives. My passion to help others stems from my personal path of initially striggling with career choice, but overcoming that obstacle through utilizing my resources such as career services. The combination of those experiences have lead me to the counseling profession and career services.

Main points: In this section, I wanted to talk about my counseling skills, but also how I developed those skills. In my case my diverse counseling experience is something that I wanted to highlight. In addition to counseling skills I wanted to touch on my passion for helping others and why I am interested in career counseling. This helps make the connection for the employer that I am both skilled and passionate, which will motivate me to excel in my role.

Closing statement: The closing statement is where you bring it all together and make the connection between the skills/attributes that you just mentioned to the position.

Example: I'd love to bring my skills and experience to Marquette University. I am looking for a position in a university that has high standards and I know that Marquette values excellence, faith, leadership, and service and so do I. These values are what draw me to Marquette. I believe that my skills and experiences as a counselor, passion for helping others, professional skills, passion for the career counseling profession will fit well in this position and the Marquette community.

Main points: In this section I applied what I learned through my research to connect my experience, skills, and attributes to the employers needs. I then gave a final plug to my skills. I mentioned these specifc skills as a result of my research (i.e. online research, informational interviewing, visits to campus, etc.) which helped me to determine which ones that I have are a match for that specific employer.

Being such an open ended question there are many ways to navigate your answer. The example I gave is just one way. If you are a Marquette student or alum and who would like to develop or improve your intervewing skills, the Career Services Center is here to help. Just call 414-288-7423 to schedule an appointment.

Jeremy Eudaly

There are many ways to dress for success!

Recently we sent out our monthly enews on what to wear to an interview. We stated that it is ALWAYS appropriate to wear a suit. I stand by that assertion. Perhaps we should have clarified that the type of suit, the color of suit, the style of suit, the fashion of the suit; that all of those choices are dependent upon the industry. Of course what one candidate wears to an interview for a creative position will differ greatly from what another candidate wears to an accounting interview at a bank. Depending on the organization culture, styles may differ within the same industry. Ultimately, the goal is for you as a job seeker or graduate school candidate to feel comfortable and confident; looking your best. Choose attire that allows you to forget about how you look (knowing you look great) and focus on selling yourself and your skills to potential employers.

You cannot go wrong in a suit.

Because I have been advising students for over 17 years I wondered if my advice was out-of-date. So I contacted Lindsey Pollak, Gen Y Career and Workplace Expert, and here is what she had to say:

"In the vast majority of interview situations, a suit is the appropriate option. In conservative industries (e.g., law, finance, accounting), it is the only option. If you think you are interviewing at an organization where a suit might not be required (e.g., a surfwear start-up or a hip hop record label), you must find out for sure. This means reaching out to anyone you can find in that company or industry and asking what you should wear (ask friends and family, reach out on LinkedIn, anonymously call the HR department where you’re interviewing, etc.). If the clear advice is to wear something other than a suit, then you can safely wear something else. The bottom line: Never wing it. Find out for sure what’s appropriate. Never lose an opportunity because of your outfit."

Her blog is http://www.lindseypollak.com/blog.

We also contacted one of our employer advisory board members, Wade Krogwold of Direct Supply, who shared this:

"As a recruiter at a company that does not have a dress code, we have people that wear everything from shorts and a t-shirt to a suit and tie. But for interviews, I recommend that students dress professionally. Wearing professional attire reflects two things – you are serious about making the transition from college to your career, and you realize you will be making an important decision. Thus, appropriate attire for most interviews will entail suiting up. There are exceptions to that based on the profession you are going into; for example, creative talent roles like graphic, fashion or interior design, and retail roles (corporate and consumer) will look at your attire as an indication of your skills and ‘fit’ for the role.

However, it is better to err on the side of wearing conservative, professional attire. And instead of spending an exorbitant amount of time on what you are going to wear, spend it on preparing examples that illustrate when you have completed similar tasks and successfully used the skills they are seeking. I am impressed by a candidate that can articulate why they are a match for the role and can share examples that reinforce that match. At the end of the interview you want people to remember you for your skills, talents and passion – not the awesome red shoes you paired with your outfit."

Here are some examples of traditional and less-formal interviewing attire:

Happy Interviewing! Laura

When It Rains, It Pours

In her last post, Kristin talked about having to be patient in your job search. And you know what, she's absolutely right. Talk to any of us, we can all tell stories of our own search processes, many of which took far longer than we would have liked. What helps in being patient is the knowledge that when things start to turn around, they do so in a hurry.

I'm sure we're all familiar with that wonderful feeling of being overwhelmed when every single exam and major paper/project falls on the same week. I, for one, certainly don't miss that part of college. But that phenomenon is not unique to just the academic world. You'll see the same sort of patterns occur in your job search as well. The primary difference is that you'll ultimately be happy that everything is happening all at once in the job search. I know I was.

Much like many of you are right now, this time last year I was on the job hunt. I started in earnest in mid-February (you should probably start sooner, my relatively late start was because that's when the jobs for my field were posted). I couldn't even begin to tell you how many resumes and cover letters I sent out. Some of them were definitely reaches, but I sent them out anyway.

And then nothing happened. For quite a while actually. So I kept on scowering the job postings and tried to utilize any contacts my supervisors had.

And for a while, still nothing happened. I'd describe it in other terms, but since this is a professional(ish) blog, I'll just say it was "not fun".

But then one day I got a call from some number I didn't immediately recognize. I'd gotten a phone interview! I nailed the phone interview (obviously because I practiced my interviewing skills in advance) and got invited for a campus interview. Finally things were turning around. Little did I know then that a couple days later I'd be getting another call from a different school for an interview there too. After a long time of nothing happening, I suddenly had 2 on-site interviews in a week, with another phone interview or two mixed in there.

Neither of those ended up working out, but they were good practice. The unsettling thing was that I wasn't hearing back from anywhere else either at that point. Basically I was back to square one again. But sure enough, once I got one other call to come in for an interview, I got another for a different interview. Even when I came up here to Marquette to interview, I had been on a different campus earlier in the week.

The point of all this is that when the good things start to happen in your job search, they will avalanche. Who knows why things happen this way, but you'd be surprised just how often they do. So when it does happen for you, and it will, be excited. Come in for a mock interview or any other help you need so that you can turn your flurry of interviews into a flurry of offers. Because guess what, even that part of the job search process tends to follow the pattern as well. Talk about a great problem to have...