What to expect at a job interview

Kealoha

So I've begun getting interviews for positions at my school next year. These are mostly newsletter editing positions that are supposed to give kind of real world experience, though they aren't anything too major. However, so far I've been getting interviewed by the current student employees, ie, the people I'd be replacing next year (through this program you can only hold the position for a single school year). Anywho, tomorrow I'll be getting interviewed by the Administrative Coordinator and the Assistant Director of my particular school, so it's a bit more intimidating. Not to mention, they want me to go to them with my resume and samples of my writing.

Questions: Are they going to go over the materials while I'm sitting there? I ask simply because that seems like it's going to be very awkward.

Second, here is the exact wording: "Please bring a resume and a few work samples to the interview. Since the position will involve preparing both the hard copy of XXXX and the web presence, any samples that speak to your abilities in those areas would be very helpful."

Should I bring a cover letter with this? The interview has been moved to tomorrow but was originally scheduled for Thursday, so I'm trying to kind of rush this stuff together. Also, the only material I've had published on the web has been music reviews on a radio station's website. Do you think this should be brought in? How many samples overall do you think would be appropriate? I don't have a large portion of printed stuff to select from. I need to start keeping clips here..

Anyway, any other general interview tips would be appreciated. I get very nervous and anxious, which sucks. However, by the end I'm usually pretty comfortable. I just hate knowing that I come off as nervous in the very beginning.

Aoi Tsuki

When I was trapped in college journalism between my "yay writing!" and "sweet jebus, get me the fuck out of camping-on-sidewalk classes" phases, the biggest thing they made us do, non-web-wise, was our string books. If you have a blank book lying around, cut out any hard-copy clips you've written for stuff and paste them in; if it looks funny or you don't have the means, just use a sheet of paper--don't bring in the clips in a little stack by themselves! It looks awkward and is tres losable. Keep it to five or six at the most, depending on their lengths.

As for their reading it in front of you, odds are excellent they'll be more interested, at the actual interview, in who/where you've worked and what kind of material than the meatiness of each piece. I write for a nerd site and copy/paste articles into a Word file each time out of habit, but your interviewer probably will only glance through your string book or through three or four collected samples - perhaps a question or comment here and there, along with openings for you to briefly mention what you learned from it and how great the experience was - so don't sweat it.

Also, bring a copy of your resume just in case, but no cover letter. (I believe that's just to get the interview. Professionals who know better may please correct that if necessary.) They'll look through all your samples, resume, etc., when you're not there, except to look for things to ask you about, which doesn't take long: no sitting there sweating while some HR person takes their sweet time reading everything in front of you. Don't neglect the usual points of order, either, i.e. showing up ten minutes early, dressing a little nicer than you would for a day at the actual job, speaking calmly and clearly, firm handshake, marry the boss' firstborn, you get the picture. Remember, they're not going to judge every fucking detail of you, just checking to see if you're a total douche/worth considering for the job.