Interview Reflection

I started my internship hunting from this Jan. Last week, I had two interviews. One is for summer internship at Comcast and another is for a student activity held by Stanford University.

Frankly speaking, the interview is not that hard. Most questions are predictable and can be prepared before the conversation. The most frequently asked questions are about my project and hobbies.

Here are some preparations I think would be helpful and something research needs to be done before an interview.

1. Organise the projects

For designers, it is very important to organise your projects before the interview. Choose a few selected projects and prepare to go deep on them. At least, you need to clearly explain the background, design process, challenges and major things learnt in that project.

Also, it would be nice if you can specify your role and point out your own contribution to the team.

2. Knowledge about the recruiting company

When being interviewed by Comcast, I was asked “why Comcast”. It’s very popular question because interviewer want to know your understanding about their company. Be ready to have some insights about their products and services before every interview. And you should also think about why you are interested in that company and what do you love working there.

3. Prepare questions to your recruiter

These are some good questions I saw from another articles. I think they can be applied into any kinds of interview. Also, the answers matter!

• How does design currently work within your company?
• How do you guys develop and grow designers?

4. Make yourself impressive and distinguished

This is the hardest part of an interview. How to make yourself impressive to others in 20 minutes. I would say, extraordinary skills, wonderful experience, determined career stories. Select one from above, and emphasize it in the entire interview. So people may rememebr you because of the deep impression your intentionally build for them.