Paula Jackson

Last Thursday for the lunch speaker, we had Paula Jackson from BARR come and talk to us. Unlike the other speakers that we have had up until this point, she is not an engineer, but rather works in the HR department. In my opinion, she is the best speaker that we have had here. I learned a lot about the interviewing process, resumes and cover letters. Here are some things that we went over.

First, she told us that the slogan at BARR is "Solving clients' problems as if they are our own." This seems simple, but it gave me something to think about. Some of the projects that we have aren't the greatest projects and some people don't enjoy certain parts of the project...but then I thought of putting myself in my client's shoes. They gave us a problem to solve and they are relying on us to solve it. Even if it isn't the greatest or most interesting problem, it's still one that they need solved. We will run into these projects throughout our engineering careers, but we should put our best foot forward and do our best on these projects, regardless of our interest level.

Nick Esler volunteered to do a very short mock interview with her. She asked him a question about a group project that he worked on and how the project went. Once he told her what the project was, she continued to ask questions about the same project. After, she asked us what we thought the interviewer would've learned by asking the questions they do. Most of the time, they are looking for how well the interviewee works on a team, what parts of projects they are good at or enjoy the most. She also told us that the best way for them to predict future behavior is to look at the behavior. So BARR typically avoids asking "what would you do if.." type questions, and ask more of "tell me about a past experience that involved..." type questions.

Biggest Interview Stumbles:
1) Answering the question you wished they would've asked, instead of the question that they did ask (advice: if you know they won't like the real answer, tell them what you learned from the mistake or mishap)
2) No goals, visions, or job career plans when they ask (if you don't have any, just tell about classes/leadership/experiences that you do enjoy...they are usually looking for where you may end up in the company)
3) Not having specific questions about the company (good question is asking about the company structure like who is your direct boss)
4) Telling them you want the job for convenience of location
5) Don't assume you know which interviewer has "the power" (share attention/eye contact equally among the interviewers)
6) Don't portray yourself as an expert in something you have no knowledge
7) Poorly written/generic cover letter
Address the cover letter to: [company's] Hiring Manager or call and ask who to address it to
Use the cover letter to put resume in perspective
How it fits into the job description (this shows you've done some research about the job and company)


These are the main points that I learned from Paula Jackson.

I think these are key points that everyone should keep in mind when applying and interviewing for jobs.

Proofed By: Erin Lamke