How to prepare for a job / admission interview

The time of the year is there to apply for summer internships, summer jobs, college programs and so on. Usually, interviews will be part of the admission procedure, regardless of what you apply for. This post will mainly be about preparing yourself for the contents of the interview and not so much about your appearance during the interview because although your appearance is important, the contents may be more important.

First thing to do is to find which person(s) within the organization is/are going to interview you. Knowing this is useful so that you can search for this/these person(s) on the Internet to get an idea of his/her/their interests and activities. Once you know this, you can tailor your interests to fit his/hers/theirs. It may also make you less nervous to know who sits opposite of you. 

The second thing to do is find out what you can add to (a department) the organization. For an employer or university, it is important to know what you can add to their organization so that they can see whether your needs match theirs. If they have a certain need and you happen to be able to bring them that need, there is a perfect match between their needs and yours. During the interview, knowing what you can add also gives fuel to a discussion about which person(s) within the organization can help you add your knowledge and skills to the organization.

And of course, the things mentioned above can be found on the  Internet.

Thirdly, you may want to print stuff. Your motivational letter and résumé you submitted are the documents they go by when preparing the interview with you, so you will look more prepared if you printed your own stuff compared to "excuse me, may I take a look at the letter you have there?" Your printed documents may also serve as a reminder during the interview.

Fourth, now that you have taken a look at the documents you have submitted, put yourself in the shoes of those who are going to interview you and consider what they might ask based upon those documents. Which things may require further explanation? Are there things unclear in your letter or résumé? Be prepared to answer this kind of questions, because they will be asked. 

Potentially other relevant documents for me.

Fifth, after printing the documents you have submitted, also take other possibly relevant documents with you.  Diplomas and certificates are evidence for what you have written down on your résumé or in your letter. They may also serve as another reminder of things they may ask about. It may, for example, be helpful to have a list of your study results with you in case questions arise about it during the interview. Seeing the course name and the grade your teacher gave you may also help you remind how you obtained that grade.

The last thing to do seems like a no-brainer, but take notes of everything you might be asked about as you are preparing yourself for the interview. Write down key-words that just must be used in your answers and also take notes of the questions that arise from your side as you are getting ready. One reason for doing this is that you will definitely forget some of the things you wanted to say/ask as you sit there. The nerves will grab you, empty your brain, and make you lose some of your memory. The other reason is, again, that you come across prepared. Coming across prepared is always a plus, because in your work and study, you will also have to be prepared for tasks. Being prepared also shows interest in the function/position and the organization. 

These are my tips for preparing for the contents of a job/application interview. Have you ever been so nervous during an interview that you forgot what you wanted to say/ask? Have you done some of the above for interviews or maybe you have never even had an interview yet in your life? Let me know! 

How to choose a major / minor / master

The deadlines for (early) admissions to college programmes are drawing nearer each day now, so this is the time to tell you how to decide on a major, minor or master's programme. It usually is a difficult choice, because it may have major consequences for where you will work later and in which function. Another reason that makes the choice difficult is that your choice will influence how you are going to spend your time the next few years or months. It is therefore wise to spend some time considering the following issues: 

1. Are there special entry requirements?
   Some programmes only want to the most talented and most motivated students to enroll; others require you to have followed and successfully finished some courses. If you, for example, aim to enter a programme for which a minimum grade point average of 7.5 is required and your average grade is 6.0, it is a waste of time trying to get in. Also, if the requirements state 'a basic background of Statistics in which following topics were covered: z-scores, t-tests, ANOVA, and multiple and logistic regression', and you have no clue what they are talking about, you might investigate other interesting programmes. You can check this in the course guide of the programme.
2. To what degree does this programme deal with topics I am interested in?
   I started as a law student, because I thought that was the way to become a lawyer who is specialized in online copyright laws, feared by all online pirates, such as The Pirate Bay. Unfortunately, I soon found out that I would first have to go through 3 years of criminal law, constitutional law, international law, tax law, civil law, and all other types of law that failed to catch my interest, before there was a chance that I would learn some basics about the online copyright law. So, I figured that a broader legal interest than I had would be handy if I wanted to become a lawyer in a very small specialized area. Since I had a far broader interest in educational issues, I switched to educational sciences. This is also something you can check the programme's course guide. 
3. What are my future prospects with this programme? 
   As much as you may like your studies, you might as well consider the type of jobs you can get with your degree. An office job as a safety policy maker while you are more the kind of person to work as a bodyguard or security staff member will probably not make you happy. If you become a mathematician to become a researcher of mathematics, a job as a teacher in high school may not satisfy you. Nevertheless, it is possible that you get a job you have never considered, but that you actually like that job! You can answer this question in various ways: talk with the academic advisor of the programme, talk with people who already work in the field, talk with teachers who may have stayed in touch with alumni, thoroughly read the website of the programme and that of similar programmes in other universities, and ask at employment agencies which jobs they offer to people with a certain degree.
4. Do I think I can handle it? 
   This is partly a combination of question 1 and 2, partly a combination of other factors. Of course, studying a topic that catches your interest facilitates learning, so does meeting the special entry requirements, as these are mostly a foundation from which you build more knowledge about a topic. The other factors coming with being able to handle it are very much factors that are part of your personality. If you are good with numbers, a study in mathematics will be easy for you. If you are interested in medical issues and you do not faint at the sight of blood, medicine is perfectly doable. If you are a linguist ... okay, you get it. Discover your talents and in which areas your talents lie. During this step it is also crucial to find out whether you agree with the way they work in your programme (mainly small groups, individual studying, or mass lectures; assignments, projects or exams), how much presence is demanded (if you have a big job beside your studies, a course with little demanded presence is more ideal for you), and your own unique talents (you must not want to go into sales when you are a very shy person who always diminishes the self). 

I hope these questions make you (re)consider you choice, or that they help you make the decision. For a minor, which in The Netherlands is one semester, these questions obviously do not have to be answered as thoroughly as for a major or master's programme, because a minor will pass sooner, although you might take  into consideration your future prospects. A minor in which you learnt how to start your own business is more useful when you actually intend to start your own business and a minor with a focus on research courses is very useful when you aim for a career in research and statistics. 

What do you think? Have you given much thought to your study choices or have you always known what to study since you were a little kid? Do you think this article is useful? How did you choose your studies? 

Introduction

So, the holidays are almost over. Monday, September 5th, I'll have my first lecture at 9.00 AM. So goodbye days off and holidays and hello textbooks and lectures! Being a Dutch student, I have to do a minor in the first semester of the third year of my Bachelor. It might seem easy to choose one, but it isn't. Sure, some courses require their students to do the in-depth minor of the course and then there's not much to choose, but most courses (at least, at the University of Groningen) allow you to broaden your horizon by offering you the possibility to take classes in another course or even another faculty. 

Now, as with studies, there are many minors to choose from and each one seems more interesting than the one before, or so I felt when I had to choose. I had already taken the easy way by having chosen the in-depth minor of Educational Sciences, but then there was an announcement on the website of our faculty about a minor in Sociological Research. I skimmed the text quickly and saw that all students with a propaedeutic certificate from our faculty were eligible. Since I wish to apply for the Research Master of our faculty after having obtained my Bachelor's degree, I thought that a few extra Statistics-related lessons could be handy.

This minor also allows me to consider whether or not I really want to take so many Statistics and Methodology subjects during my Master and whether or not I can do it. Ambition is one thing, ability is another and in certain balances they can bring wonderful results. Either way, I'll have to take my Statistics book from the shelves and review it when I have time left to be prepared for subjects like Advanced Statistics and Model Building. Other subjects I'll have are Research Practical, Text Analysis for Social Sciences, Behavioural Theories of Sociology and EU Decision Making. All in all, it's not just about numbers and funny calculating signs, but also some actual Sociology-related subjects, which sound really interesting to my knowledge-thirsty brain :) 

I've already seen my timetable, which looks manageable. I've already put it in my diary and next week it's time for me to get some sort of notebook, the textbooks and syllabi and maybe some other useful things. I like to be prepared for the new year in college and I'm looking forward. If fate doesn't mess with me too badly, I'll actually have a title by the end of this year and the subjects I'm going to have make my heart beat just a tad faster, which I think is a good sign. I'll soon put up some more general and universal posts =)