Being a former U.S. Marine tank commander prepares you for a lot of things, but job interviews aren't necessarily one of them.
“I’ve only had a handful of job interviews. Most of my adult life, my jobs were in the Marine Corps and I didn’t really have to interview for anything," American Career College student Ryan Mendez said. “Once I got out and had to interview for other positions, it was a little more difficult because I wasn’t ready."
3 Big Job Interview Tips
• BE PREPARED
“Know what you're going to talk about, how you're going to discuss your skills, qualities and qualifications. Be over prepared, but don’t be rehearsed."
• BE POSITIVE
"I think being positive is important because it comes across so well in an interview. I really teach people about thinking before they speak but coming from the heart and coming across as someone very authentic and genuine with what they’re saying."
• BE ON TIME
"Make a great first impression. These interviews are a lot about perception. Have a great resume; dress to impress. Have your employer perceive you the way you want to be seen — and that’s professional, hard-working and good at what you do."
— Johnny Lacey
Career Services Director
ACC-Orange County
Mendez joined the Marines Corps right out of high school, eventually working his way up to sergeant and commander of his own 72-ton M1A1 Abrams tank. Stationed out of Twentynine Palms, Mendez did two combat deployments to Iraq before leaving the military in 2012.
Recently, he and about 20 other surgical technology students from his cohort took part in a Career Services workshop at ACC-Orange County. Besides giving tips on how to improve their resumes and appearance, Mendez said the advisers shared ways to improve the actual job interview — which is important to someone halfway done with their 20-week externship like Mendez.
"They help us highlight the tools that we have, the skill set," Mendez said. "They help us highlight what managers are looking for versus trying to go in there blind."
During the mock interview, Mendez was asked several common recruiter questions including "Tell me about yourself," "Where do you see yourself in five years?" and the dreaded "What is your greatest weakness?"
"You have to be very careful how to talk about that," ACC-OC Career Services Director Johnny Lacey said, "but something that I’ve learned in life is that usually you’re greatest strength can also be part of your greatest weakness. It’s really easy to balance it out as long as you bring out that positivity that comes from that weakness."
Lacey and his staff work with ACC students monthly, making sure they're ready to enter the healthcare workforce with all the skills needed to get a job upon graduation.
"It is our goal to do whatever we can to help them gain employment in their field of study," Lacey said. "We really pride ourselves on working one-on-one with these folks and getting to know them and helping them the best that we can," Lacey said.
After the interview, Career Service's Deborah Taylor detailed her likes and dislikes of Mendez' practice run. The cons: Mendez needed to consolidate his resume to one page and beef up its career objective. The pros: His clear, concise answers -- especially to the greatest weakness question -- and his personal appearance, especially when it came to footwear.
"I love the shiny shoes,” Taylor said. "I hate dirty shoes."
“Marine Corps issue,” Mendez said, smiling.
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