"At the same time ..."

The Office of Career Services requires that before any student can sign up for an on campus interview, the student must first go through a mock interview. A mock interview is a dry run of an actual interview conducted by a second year student who interviewed and interned in the same industry. Even though it is not an actual interview, every attempt is made make it look like a real interview as possible. This means we have to pick a company and show up, dressed in business attire, as though we are interviewing for that actual company's internship position.

 

I had my mock interview this afternoon. I did not do spectacular but did not do as poorly as I could have done. My interviewer was impressed with my understanding of the chosen company but felt I did a poor job at explaining how my background has prepared me for a finance position. He pointed out certain areas on my resume that I can use as strong sell points and gave me tips on how my skills in the technology field can translate into a career in finance.

 

The entire interview was videotaped and I am going to have to force myself to watch it sometime. This reminds me of 2000 when Al Gore's campaign advisors obtained a videotape of the Saturday Night Live skit parodying the former Vice President's performance during the first debate and forced him to watch it to make him realize how poorly he did.

 

My interviewer did say something surprising that I am going to have to watch for on the videotape. He said I used the phrase "at the same time" on at least ten different instances during the twenty minute interview. I do use that phrase quite a bit but do I use it too much? I will let you all be the judge of that.