Interview tomorrow. Advice please! *Final Update*

AlyceInWonderland

So, I have an interview tomorrow for an internship at Jim Henson's Creature Shop. I'm really nervous, as I want this job like you wouldn't believe, however I've never done an interview like this before. It's all been for retail, and I'd imagine the interview tomorrow will not be like that.

Any advice would be awesome, and I'd really appreciate it. I have the clothes, and my portfolio all worked out, I'm just afraid I'm going to say the wrong things, or whatever.

Casually Hardcore

Practice those weird HR questions.

Those questions were they ask you some obscure thing like

"Explain a time where you were a leader of a group and something terrible happen"

AlyceInWonderland

What if something bad never happened? Do I make shit up?

adytum

Then try to come up with an analogous situation you can talk about.

EggyToast

Confidence is where it's at. Google "tough interview questions" and be familiar with them, even though it's not a sure thing any of them will be asked. They're tough because they're supposed to make you use your brain. If you have honestly never been in a bad group situation ever, then be honest. Honesty is always the best policy, but these people aren't just testing your abilities; they're also testing your personality. Microsoft used to ask "why are manhole covers round?" in order to get people to answer a question that seemed stupid, but had a couple different answers.

Remember that you got to the interview portion already, so you're already pretty hot shit. You're awesome enough that they want you in their office and they want to talk to you. You've got a great portfolio that has shown you know what's going on, and they find it interesting. So how did you handle deadlines for the work in your portfolio? Do you like working collaboratively, and if so, do you have examples of it in your portfolio or in your work/school experience?

And don't be afraid to say "I don't know" or "I don't have specific experience in that," although you should usually follow it up with something along the lines of "I'm not too worried about it, as I've picked up new mediums/software/skills quickly in the past and from what I've read about [thing they mentioned], it's not difficult once you're actually working with it."

Golf153

My advice is write down some talking points.
- What makes you the best fit for this internship
- What types of experience, even retail, has prepared you for this
- What is your skill level in the various areas that your internship will cover
- What is your work style, just about every employer wants a hard worker, but they want one that won't burn out, plus as an intern they want long hours and no complaints

Other good advice:
-Don't lie, if you don't know the answer to something say you don't but then turn that into a growth edge where you want to learn, describe a time in your life where you didn't know something but then took the time to learn it
-Know everything you can about the company, and possibly the office/department the internship is in
-Bring a portfolio of some kind, even if the internship is not about your work, it's nice to be prepared

I can't stress the talking points enough. You never know what type of questions you will face, so stick to what you know, yourself, and be positive.

Underdog

I've always been told to have a few questions for them ready.

oldsak

Show up early.

Getting there with time to sit down and drink some water will help you relax your nerves before the interview.

Underdog

oldsak wrote: »

Show up early.

Getting there with time to sit down and drink some water will help you relax your nerves before the interview.

Yes! Also, if you plan to be there early and something happens trafficwise, you'll have a bigger buffer so you don't end up being late. I try to aim for 15 min early.

AlyceInWonderland

Thanks guys, the advice is all really great! I feel really good about the interview, and about getting the internship, but it's always good to be extra prepared. I'm assuming they really liked what they saw of my resume and work (The requested photos through email of the puppets I've made), or else they wouldn't have waited 3 weeks for an interview (had already scheduled a trip to visit family for a couple of weeks when they wanted me to come in), right?........right? :P

Raneados

get thwere early, yes

but getting there more than 5-10 minutes early is almost as bad as getting there late, it shows you can't adhere to directions

nuclearalchemist

I would echo what everybody else has said - but wanted to add in my own 2 cents.

The number 1 thing that you need during the interview is confidence. As Eggy had said earlier, you need to remember that you are hot shit and have already gotten in the door. A little confidence goes a long way to making you stand out above any other candidates. The other part is to answer questions honestly, and then if you don't know the answer, I have found that asking them afterward what the answer was shows that you are determined to learn. They really dig that kind of shit (and it has worked REALLY well for me in the past). Beyond that, just be yourself, do arrive early, and remember, project confidence!

admanb

Raneados wrote: »

get thwere early, yes

but getting there more than 5-10 minutes early is almost as bad as getting there late, it shows you can't adhere to directions

You can get there 15 minutes early and chill in your car for 10 minutes. :P

useless4

For internships, especially at a company like this, it's important to show a mix of core business skills (time management, professionalism, the ability to communicate clearly and most importantly to work with minimal supervision (independently) from given direction). You also need to show passion for the line of work and respect for the company as a whole - but try to match the level of enthusiasm and passion of those interviewing you. You don't want to appear overly crazily enthusiastic if your interviewer is just going thru the motions ...

And randomly I suggest watching the 1hr making of documentary of The Dark Crystal tonight (from the dvd) even if you have seen it before. That was the company 30 years ago sure but it shows the foundation that made magic.

At the end of the day The Jim Henson Creature company is a business offering a physical product. Their skill is offering a product that oozes magic that no one else can match. Look at the Vogans in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie - no matter what you say about that movie - it wouldn't have been anywhere near the movie it was without the Vogans that Jim Henson's company made. Pixar does it with pixels - Henson does it with practical physical things. It's that qualitative versus quantitative measurement that allows them to succeed all these years.

AlyceInWonderland

admanb wrote: »

Raneados wrote: »

get thwere early, yes

but getting there more than 5-10 minutes early is almost as bad as getting there late, it shows you can't adhere to directions

You can get there 15 minutes early and chill in your car for 10 minutes. :P

..or wait outside for 10 :P I have to take the subway there with all my portfolio stuff...in the snow. That's going to be so much fun!

SkyGheNe

So this is something that I coach a lot of my friends on. Let me bullet this with headers to help me keep focus.

Always be Positive

• Never, EVER express a negative viewpoint of previous employers, employees, other people
• This communicates at the very worst an inability to work with others and at best a cynical attitude
• Sounds really obvious, but I see so many people do it and frankly, I know some HR people love to bait it to get an idea of what kind of personality they're working with

Spin "Negatives" into Positives

• Say you run into a situation where they say "Do you know software X?" and you have to say "I have never used software X in my life"
• Instead of saying "I have never used it" and leaving it at that, it's always really impressive to people if you can say "I may not have used software X, but I know it's like software Y and I had to teach myself the ins-and-outs of everything there is about this program and used it to accomplish A, B, and C and am confident in my ability to pick Software X up!"
• Doing this effectively spins a "negative" (not knowing the software) into a huge positive (I have initiative! I pick up new things really easily!)

Ask Questions

• Perhaps the most important aspect of a job interview: think of this not as an interview and evaluation of your abilities, but a two way street where you are interviewing them as well
• This helps alleviate some of the stress, but it's true - you want to know if this company would be a good fit for you.
• Asking questions shows that you're engaged with the company - simple stuff like "What might may average day be like" shows insight into the day to day, while "If an employee is something you don't like, how do you approach the situation?" would give insight into how the managers handle their employees.
• The sooner you realize that an interview is really an interview for you AND them, the sooner the stress will wash away! They should be quaking in their boots about potentially losing someone as awesome as you for the job!

You'll find out very early on what kind of interview this is - some of my best interviews asked to talk through my work history (talked about points relevant to the job) and then moved onto questions relating to personality and ethics. The more mundane ones were something printed off of a "what kind of questions will I encounter at a job interview" website, and you could tell the people working there just didn't care about who they were getting in, which is never a good sign.

Don't be afraid to pull in personal experiences and flesh yourself out as a memorable candidate that's human - but always remain positive! When someone asked me how often I worked with Excel, I would talk about how I handled all of my finances with nested if statements and charted comparative graphs between months and years :P Beyond what I did professionally too.

Good luck!

NotYou

What are your greatest strengths?

What are your biggest weaknesses?

Tell us about a time when you were challenged by your previous job.

Tell us about a time when you demonstrated leadership in your previous job.

Why do you want to work for us?

Why should we hire you?

Do you have any questions for us?


----Shit like that always used to fuck me up at interviews until I took the time to decide what my answers would be the night before the interview. Just take some time and write out answers to each of those. You'll feel much better at the interview.

Casually Hardcore

Also, if you want to get Serious Business, have someone do a fake interview with you and record the whole thing. Do a long fake interview, one of the longest interview I've been through was an hour and a half long.

LewieP's Mummy

Have some questions to ask them - it is a 2 way process, you might decide you don't want the job after all, so have stuff to ask like:

How many interns do you have at any one time? (we have up to 4)

What options will there be at the end of the internship? (ours mainly leave, as its really a volunteering/experience getting programme, but we have employed one from the last tranche)

Who will mentor me during my internship? (that's what happens with our interns)

During my internship, what sort of training or development opportunities will there be for me? (we send ours to college part time, and give them specific projects to work on, like conferences to organise(with support))

Above all, they want to find out more about you, as what they know already really interests them. Cos you're awesome.

Let us know what happens.

NightDragon

Casually Hardcore wrote: »

Also, if you want to get Serious Business, have someone do a fake interview with you and record the whole thing. Do a long fake interview, one of the longest interview I've been through was an hour and a half long.

Doing this is also a good tactic to see if you're saying "um" or "uh" a lot (I have trouble with this sometimes). Definitely research a list of typical/difficult interview questions, and write down the answers to the questions. Practice answering the questions out loud to yourself, to see how you're wording things. There were a few questions I researched that I had trouble thinking up answers to, and trouble explaining myself, so I spent some time writing my thoughts out and highlighting the main points, and I went over the list often enough that I memorized the points, and putting them together in a cohesive couple of sentences was no longer a problem.

And definitely have questions to ask them!

Best of luck Alyce, go get 'em! Remember that they've shown this much interest in you - they don't do that with people they're not interested in, so be confident! You're awesome! Woooo!

Kotenk

I think one key thing to remember is that they aren't hiring someone who interviews well - they are hiring someone who can do the job. It sounds redundant but remembering that will help calm your nerves.

We hired someone recently who completely bombed the very first interview question, and we don't regret it. We knew the would be capable at the job, even though it was the easiest question (and one of the most important). It helps and you can get away with that when hiring internally, but still, it's important to remember what they want to see.

AlyceInWonderland

Welp, the interview is in a couple of hours! I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Casually Hardcore

Listen up, Alyce. Don't believe in yourself. Believe in me! Believe in me, who believes in you!

LadyM

I guess I'm too late to offer advice, but I want to wish you good luck. That sounds like an amazingly awesome job!

Deebaser

Just remember: You're Awesome.
If you believe it, others will see the awesome as well.

Also, if you can somehow work it into the interview, please tell someone there that I think Farscape was awesome and thank you. jk

Sentry

Good luck Alyce! Just remember, they're more scared of you then you are of them.

acidlacedpenguin

There's been some pretty key tips already but here's a few I don't think were covered this way:

if you're asked a question that you want more time to think about simply ask if you can come back to the question. That buys some time for your subconscious to work on an answer.

Also, don't get so confident/friendly that you let loose some euphemisms or phrases that are only okay in a non-professional setting, for example "Well, that's something I talk about when shooting the shit with the boys, but it's not really a driving interest"

Boy was Someone Who totally Isn't Me's face red when he said that in his last interview.

AlyceInWonderland

I just wrote out 3 questions I'm genuinely curious about. I forget things easily, so I hope having them written out beforehand doesn't look bad or something. Either way, I'm pretty confident now. I had a mini interrogation by my teacher today asking me questions about my self, and my work and etc (first class, he was trying to get to know me) and I didn't really stumble or stutter, so that actually really helped me ease my nerves.

ceres

Good luck, Alyce. You'll do great.

DusT_HounD

Best of luck, Alyce- i'm sure you'll come across well.

DragonPup

Casually Hardcore wrote: »

Listen up, Alyce. Don't believe in yourself. Believe in me! Believe in me, who believes in you!

Pierce the Heavens with your drill and your manly fighting spirit!

Bobble

Might be too late, and given where you're interviewing it may be less relevant, but thought I'd throw this in since I didn't see it mentioned (and in case others reading this are interviewing in the near future!)

Dress for the job you want, not for the job you have. First appearances count, and if they look at you and think "wow, she's really well dressed," they know you want the job. Don't give someone a chance to wonder how serious you were about the interview. As with anything, you can take it too far, but when it doubt, err on the side of looking too good.

and good luck!

AlyceInWonderland

Soooo, the interview went really well! It was odd though, they barely asked any questions, and just really ended up telling me what goes on at Jim Henson, and what to expect while working there, etc. They loved my work that I brought in, and ended up ooh-ing and ah-ing over a marionette I created as well as my other puppets. I got them to laugh several times, and it was all in all really pleasant.


I did end up stumbling over my question (only asked one, as they answered all my others during the interview), and I felt really stupid, but I'm sure it wasn't a big deal.

I feel good, and I'm glad it's over. Also, it doesn't hurt that the lady who initially contacted me from Henson, her parents live in my town.

So, there's my update. They said they'd let me know by the end of the week, they just need to finish up other interviews.

Thanks for your help, you guys. You're all absolutely amazing.

Improvolone

Going to send a thank you follow up?

AlyceInWonderland

Yup, going to do it later tonight after I'm done relaxing, but within 24 hours.

Improvolone

Short and sweet!

Congrats btw, my friend spent a summer helping to restore some of their puppets and he had a blast.

Demerdar

make sure you update the thread if you get it or not.

AlyceInWonderland

Sooooo...I totally can not remember the names of the people who interviewed me. How do I even write a thank you follow up with out knowing their names? God....dammit.

Deebaser

Try to LinkedIn stalk them. It's like Facebook, with less duckfaces.

Search the company and you may see the people that you interviewed with or recognize a name.

If not I really wouldn't sweat it. You showed them puppets during the interview. I'm not in a creative field, but I think they'll give more weight to having that coolest puppet than observing the forms.

Casually Hardcore

I wouldn't sweat it too much. It isn't like they red flag people who didn't follow interview protocols. The 'thank you' letters and stuff are just a nice little way of keeping you fresh in the interviewer mind.

DragonPup

Plus by the time they get the thank you letter they'd likely have called you back already.