The Kenneth G. Dixon Career Development Center at UCF offers advice for making a strong impression in a job interview. Candidates can prepare by knowing their professional story and developing an elevator pitch, offering a confident greeting, handshake and smile, and identifying two to three key selling points about themselves. Students can start with their major and expected graduation date and discuss related skills and experience, including student clubs and class projects. Researching employers and using examples to back up answers also helps, since storytelling is a big part of the interview experience.
An elevator pitch introduces a candidate to recruiters in 30 to 60 seconds and can follow a present, past and future format: what is being studied now, a recent relevant experience such as an internship, research project or volunteer work, and career goals along with why the candidate is excited to connect with the employer. A resume should be a concise, organized marketing document that highlights education, experiences and achievements. Formatting should stay clean and consistent, with 1-inch margins, 1 page up to 2 at most, standard 10- to 12-point fonts and an easy-to-scan layout. Content should be tailored to the position, connect transferable skills, emphasize contributions and quantify results whenever possible. Bullets should start with action verbs, verb tense should stay consistent, and core sections include a heading, an optional tailored objective, education in reverse chronological order, a skills-focused summary of qualifications and experience covering employment, internships, research and projects. Optional sections can cover activities, leadership, honors and awards, publications or research.
VMock is available to all students who log in with their NID credentials and is described as a 24/7 virtual career assistant that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics to deliver personalized career guidance. The center advises against relying only on AI to write resume content and suggests double checking spelling, grammar and word choices so the resume reflects the candidate's own voice, noting that employers are reviewing resumes and running them through plagiarism detection software to check for AI. AI can be used to check that a resume matches the language in a job description closely enough to pass through applicant tracking systems. Candidates should prepare two to three questions for the end of an interview, asking about company culture, the position or opportunity in ways that go beyond prior research, and what to expect in the interview process and next steps. Within 24 hours, personalized thank-you emails should go to the recruiters spoken with, including a brief recap of the conversation, an expression of gratitude and a question or statement to keep the dialogue going.
Press release issued by UCF Today:
https://www.ucf.edu/news/how-to-impress-on-your-job-interview/
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