Boston University purchased an interactive, online interview program that each college’s career centers will tailor to fit the needs of their specific students.
“[The interview software] should be implemented early; it’s in the final stages,” said College of Communication Career Service Coordinator Kelly Forde. “It has been purchased and we are ready to roll it out.”
Forde said the program, called InterviewStream, has thousands of questions, but each career center on campus will select a group of questions for its students.
Students will be able to use the program on CareerLink by answering questions with help from their computer webcams.
The program will ask students a set of 10 questions for the student to respond, Forde said. The student can then replay responses and analyze the interview.
Forde said the InterviewStream should give students the benefits of practicing actual interviews on their own time and comfort level.
“We do offer mock in-person interviews but its certainly time consuming and not everyone is comfortable with that,” Forde said. “This is a way for students to [practice interviewing] whenever they want.”
“It’s good for the experience,” said College Arts and Sciences senior Colin Lee. “Being able to think on your feet and know what to say can be really stressful, so this could help with that.”
College of Fine Arts sophomore Catherine Baumgardner said resources such as this one need to work around her schedule.
“Maybe [I would] use it if it were emailed to me and I had the time to put into it,” Baumgardner said.
Forde, though, said scheduling shouldn’t be a problem.
“This will help the career offices help students with their interview skills without taking up too much of our time,” Forde said.
Forde said another bonus to InterviewStream is students can watch their own movement as they speak.
Students will be able to see if they fiddle with their hair too much, pick at their nails or lose eye contact, Forde said.
“That’s feedback that, unless you see it, you’ll probably keep doing wrong,” she said.
Interviewers, Forde said, not only judge potential employees on their spoken content, but by composure, eye contact and body language.
“This will give you the opportunity to work on what you say and also how you are saying it,” Forde said.
Forde expressed concern over students being uniformed about resources at the career centers and also a lack of drive to start career networking early.
“This is something we really want students to become more aware of because we have tons and tons of internship opportunities,” Forde said. “It’s something that I don’t think students are using as much as they should.”
Katie Burns said she took the initiative to visit COM Career Services even though she is only a sophomore.
“I kind of just set it up one day and went in,” Burns said.
Some students said despite good resources, the Center for Career Development does not do enough to get the word out to students.
“I know very little about [the CCD],” Baumgardner said. “They don’t seem to advertise themselves very well.”
Baumgardner also said the one time she did go to the CCD she was “blown off.”
While Burns was able to meet with advisors, she said career services should be more prominent.
“I almost feel like classes should talk about Career Services,” Burns said. “I do think there are benefits to the program. I just randomly clicked on an email one day and came in.”
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