A little backstory on how I landed my first job/event interview would go a little like this. I was a confused high school graduate who knew for sure that I didn't want to become a doctor, and with little opportunities for careers in the sciences where I'm from, I opted to doing a Math degree.
My first year of university went by in a blur of uncertainty and borderline depression, and I had no aim of where I was going, or what I was doing. However, I had landed a scholarship prior to joining my course at the university and as part of the scholarship, I was tasked with volunteering for twenty hours around the campus.
This brought me to Open Days and university-operated businesses as a volunteer. It wasn't until the second semester of my second year in university that we had been informed of how the twenty hours we had to complete was on a yearly basis and not a one-off deal.
While the others had already signed up for societies and were well through completing their hours due to the fact that they simply had the passion for volunteering, I was lost at the crossroads between having to join a society and plan events or taking up random projects with the university.
I chose the latter option. This was later proven to be a fruitful choice which gathered me an amazing friend who sent me flowers on Valentine's Day so that I wouldn't feel alone—and I adore her for that—and allowed me to earn useful skills in emailing university staff members that I admittedly struggled with.
Doing the math on how many hours were due at the end of my first university project, I still had fourteen hours left to volunteer for with no more university projects being organized.
That left me with two options yet again; whether I should sign up to become a student tutor, or signing up to become an event committee member for two events organized by a national organization approved by the university. I left the latter for thought, and dived into my former option.
Though the organizers of the tutoring program were highly supportive, each week only allowed me to complete one hour of my required hours, and with only six weeks of the semester left, this was not a feasible option.
With that, I applied to become an event committee member for the national organization, which required the completion of a resume and a short description on why I wanted the position. A week later, I was shortlisted for an interview.
This brings me back to last week, where I attended my first ever interview for a marketing position. The fact that I had been designing covers on Wattpad for the past seven years really boosted my chances of getting the position which made me thankful for all the people I had worked with on Wattpad over the years.
That feeling alone made me realise that I was finally able to accept my life in a Math degree, as I was comfortable enough to integrate something that I loved into something that I wasn't sure about at first.
The organization hasn't announced the selected candidates yet and I would keep everyone posted on if I get the position or not, but I have accepted the fact that even if I didn't, this interview helped me realise what I would need to work on for a job interview which could really boost my chances of landing a job in the future.
What's your experience on attending interviews?
