MARCH MADNESS! 10% OFF ON ALL RENTALS! Offer valid until March 31st.

How to Make a Great First Impression in a Job Interview

You’ve heard the old proverb, you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression, right? As college student in search of a dream internship or a grad about to launch a career, you can be strategic about the impressions you give and head off any snap judgments HR managers may unconsciously make.

Two easy ways to give a great first impression are to practice your responses to the most-asked internship interview questions and be deliberate about what you wear and how you present yourself visually. But there’s so much more!

Some candidates wrongly assume that for a short-term summer internship, less is expected in the interview than if it were for a full-time position. Not true. Employers see interns as a future investment that could translate into full-time employment, so they expect the same level of professionalism and performance.

How to Make a Bad Impression

The Muse offers five ways to turn off a recruiter in the first several seconds of an interview; things like wearing too much perfume or aftershave, or worse, forgetting your deodorant.

Another way to make a bad first impression is to wear clothes that don’t fit the company culture. You won’t get an offer from a company that maintains a business casual dress code if you come to the interview in jeans — no matter how chic or trendy or expensive they might be. (By the way, here are some tips for picking out the perfect interview outfit.)

How to Make the Best Impression

The key behaviors applicants exhibited that convinced recruiters to extend an internship offer included being attentive (instead of anxious), appearing competent, confident, dominant, optimistic, and professional.

Being punctual is expected. If this is your dream internship on the line, show up on time or early. If the subway breaks down, or traffic is stalled for an accident, call and tell them you’ll be late — as soon as you know. It’s better to forewarn before than ask forgiveness after.

Put your phone away, even if you’re waiting in the lobby or a conference room. It may be your habit to pull out your smart phone to kill time, but instead look over your resume and think through any talking points you want to hit during the interview. You don’t want to be playing Candy Crush when the recruiter walks in.

Have everything neat, organized and accessible so that when your interviewer asks for your resume, you don’t have to dig to find it. To make the best first impression possible, you should be able to pull out your resume, references and a pen (one that works) in seconds. The less you have to scramble and search, the better.

The Interview Guys have a pile of tips about researching and prepping for your interview with practice questions you might get from HR staffers. Don’t try to wing it, the Guys advise, but rather practice so you’re not caught off-guard and say something unrelated to the actual question.

Interviewing the Interviewer

Intern recruiting experts agree you should also be prepared with a list of at least 10 impressive interview questions to ask the hiring manager. This isn’t just a chance for them to see if you’re right for the company – it’s an opportunity to find out if this company is the right fit for you.

Check out the Internships.com list of possible questions to ask during your interview – queries like: Can you describe my manager’s leadership style? How would my role contribute to his or her success and vice versa? What does your ideal employee look like? How will my performance be measured? It’s likely that half of your questions will be covered during the interview, so have enough left so you can show off your preparation and insight.

It’s one way to make yourself memorable – in a good way!

 

Your Internship Offer is Just the Beginning!

The brass ring may be the summer internship you just landed, now you’ll need to find summer digs! We offer three locations across New York City that are fully furnished with beds, desks, wardrobes, a kitchen – everything you need to start your summer experience in the Big Apple.

Do you want to apply for this internship?

Send your contact information
  • Hidden
{ "post_title" : "How to Make a Great First Impression in a Job Interview", "guid" : "https://intrnz.com/?p=4295", "display_name" : "reed", "user_email" : "[email protected]", "Departament" : "", "Company-Name" : "" }

Like this article?

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Linkdin
Share on Pinterest

Leave a comment

Terms And Conditions

The applicant…
  • Is interning in New York City for the summer as part of or related to the Applicant’s college or university school programs of study
  • Is not currently subject to any disciplinary sanction from Applicant’s college or university that would bar Applicant from residing in residential housing at Applicant’s college or university or elsewhere
  • Has not been convicted of any crime in any state of the United States or in any foreign country, and there are no criminal charges pending against the Applicant. The Applicant hereby authorizes Pace to perform a criminal background check relative to the Applicant and further authorizes Pace to certify the results of such criminal background check to Pace.
  • Has no medical or psychological condition(s) that should prevent the Applicant from safely residing in Pace housing.
  • Has health insurance or other financial resources that meet the requirement for access to health care. If you cannot meet this requirement, you will not be able to proceed further with this application.
  • Has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including a booster vaccination shot.
  • The Pace Student\Intern Applicant certifies the truth and accuracy of all statements, warranties, and representations made in this application. Pace reserves the right to immediately cause the removal of the Pace Student\Intern from Pace’s residential housing if it learns that any statements, warranties, or representations made by the Applicant in this Application are incomplete, inaccurate, false, or misleading. In the event of such removal, the Pace Student\Intern shall not be entitled to a refund of any fees paid to Pace or Pace.
  • Understands that Residential Life/ Summer Conference Housing reserves the right to reassign an assigned space for the purpose of construction, health, management, safety, or emergency
  • Understands that accommodations for families or children will not be considered. Please refer to local hotels for options.
  • Agrees to comply with all applicable New York City, New York State, and Federal laws including drugs and alcohol
  • All interns must sign an Intern Housing Agreement and familiarize themselves with the policies and procedures of the institution. All Interns will be held accountable for all policies and procedures outlined within the guide. Residential Life reserves the right to terminate your housing for failing to abide by any of said policies and procedures.
intrnz.com LLC is committed to protecting your privacy

Data Collection and Use of Cookies

We collect general, statistical information about visitors to our site for the purpose of facilitating communication and conducting business between intrnz.com LLC and the users of the site. Under no circumstances do we share information about visitors with external organizations. intrnz.com LLC also makes use of cookies to improve our visitor’s Web experience. A cookie is a piece of data stored by a Web site on a user’s hard drive, which contains information about the user. intrnz.com LLC employs cookies to keep track of user names and passwords, as well as to personalize your experience. You can set your browser to decline or accept cookies, though if you choose not to accept cookies, some parts of the intrnz.com LLC site may function less efficiently.

Security

intrnz.com LLC provides a secure server to protect your information from being viewed by an outside user.

Surveys and E-mail

intrnz.com LLC may request information through surveys, which users may choose to participate in on a voluntary basis. Information gathered may be used for marketing and promotional purposes or to notify you of new content, among other uses. If you e-mail us with questions or comments, we may use your personal information in order to respond to you. We may also share your information with a third party to assist in our response. We may file your comments for future reference, or we may discard the information after we have reviewed it. Under no circumstances do we share information about visitors with external organizations.

Interactive Features

While intrnz.com LLC strives to protect users’ personal information and privacy, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you disclose online through interactive features such as forums, message boards, chat rooms, or similar services. Please keep in mind that you disclose information at your own risk.

Links to third-party sites

This site may contain links to sites owned or operated by parties other than intrnz.com LLC. intrnz.com LLC does not control outside sites and is not responsible for their content. Inclusion of links to an outside site does not imply any endorsement of the material on the site or, unless expressly stated otherwise, any sponsorship, affiliation, or association with its owner, operator, or sponsor.

Exceptions

In certain circumstances we will release specific information about you or your account to comply with any valid legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order, or in other special cases, such as an attempted breach of the intrnz.com LLC security, without notice to you.

Copyright

This site and all information and images within it are copyrighted, unless otherwise noted. U.S. copyright law protects all materials on this site. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer

The information on this site is provided “as is,” and no representations or warranties of any kind are made regarding it. Our policy is not to be applied in any manner contrary to applicable law or governmental regulation. intrnz.com LLC reserves the right to make changes to this policy at any time. Please check this page periodically for updates.

Tell Us About Yourself!

Ready to learn more? Fill out the form below and we’ll put you in touch with a Housing Advisor to answer any questions you have.

Add Your Heading Text Here