By Clio Roker and Iliyah Peterson
As Comm majors, we don’t always get handed the same resources as those in the Smeal School of Business. However, there are many aspects of being a comm major that you can use to your advantage to succeed. Regardless of how high your GPA is or what major(s) or minor(s) you are taking, the last step in the recruiting process–the interview– is the most important (and sometimes the most daunting) part. Here are some ways to show recruiters that you’re the candidate who’s worth it.
- Brag about yourself!
This is your time to use where you’ve been and what you know to your advantage. Highlight your achievements and refer to them when you’re answering questions. Go beyond merely saying what you did in a club or at a past job, also emphasize how it brought about success! What were the findings of the experience you’re highlighting? How did you help your organization achieve something you would want this current employer to know you’re capable of? Using quantitative data can be a great way to represent this. For example,
Social Media Intern
Increased traffic to the website by 17% and generated 200 new followers across the company’s Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
As you can see here, the 200 followers is across four different social media platforms only and averaging about 50 on each platform. Though there are ways to make minor achievements sound more interesting than they actually are, never inflate your accomplishments to a point where they begin to become completely fictional statements.
- Get familiar with your resume
Undoubtedly, you will get asked about something on your resume, so know what’s on it! There’s nothing wrong with looking down at your resume but knowing it like the back of your hand will allow you to generate answers quickly and concisely. In addition, as comm major, there isn’t a mandatory format. This can be an asset as you have the freedom to organize your resume the way you see fit and that makes the most sense for your experiences and your recruiters. However, there is no need to reinvent the wheel; there’s nothing wrong with looking up a common resume format and following it as you see fit. Recruiters are used to seeing the same kinds of formats, so having something too outside the box may be off-putting and hard to follow for them.
- Create a Behavioral Guide
If you’ve never had a behavioral interview before, it consists of questions such as: Talk about a time you had to change the course of a project you were working on in the workplace or an organization after it had already begun. What did you do to overcome this challenge? Or, Relay a time where you had to take risk in the workplace or an organization, what was it, and what was the outcome? Questions like this can be hard to think of answers on the spot all while sounding eloquent, using STARR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result, Reflection), and pulling in experiences from your resume can aid you in answering these questions efficiently. You can create a guide for yourself by looking up common behavioral questions and making a guide of experiences on your resume that you can relate to each question. This will ensure that you won’t have to scramble when the time comes. Even if you don’t have the exact questions prepared, it’s likely you will get asked something like what you’ve prepared for.
Overall, being a comm major is something you can use to your advantage. The ability to have the business acumen recruiters are looking for while also showcasing the creative, comm side of yourself is something you can use to set you apart from other candidates. Overall, as much as you can prepare, recruiters want to get to know you better, so don’t hold back from staying true to yourself, and showing them what makes you unique. You got this!
Happy Valley Comm 