Alumni Spotlight: Michelle Ioannou, FCRH '13, GSAS '14

What I Wish I Knew When I Was Still In College
 
College is that beautiful time where you’re entering into adulthood, but you still have a bit of time before knowing the true struggles of how hard the job hunt can be, or how taxes will take away half your salary. But, college is also a time to take advantage of as many opportunities that you can. Getting your name out there, especially from a young age, most definitely can help you in the long run.

Personally, I currently helped start Not Another Millennial Blog, as well as am Editor of Rising Apple Blog, and I contribute to SNY’s MetsBlog. Why am I telling you all of this? Because I didn’t get into writing until way after grad school, and I wish I had started sooner. I didn’t make my name known until I was already out in the real world working. And no, it’s not a bad thing, but you bet I wish I had started from back when I was in college. Who knows where I’d be now if I had?

And that’s why I’m here, to share with you some things with you that I wish I had taken advantage of when I was in college.


Utilize your social media
Social media is obviously a lot of fun when you’re in college -- you connect with new friends, air your grievances about how expensive college is or about how hard that final was, and so on and so forth. But, there’s so much on social media that you can be taking advantage of from now. There are countless Twitter chats out there for millennials where you can connect with others around your age or a bit earlier, who just may be in the field that you’re looking at. Connecting with these people may just be the great launching pad you need.

Keep your social media clean
Speaking of social media, keep it clean. It’s tempting to post that party picture, I know, but don’t. Hiring managers will stalk your online presence. Either keep everything extremely private, or make sure that your public profiles are clean. Think to yourself: “would I hire someone who’s posting this for the position?” If anything, keep your personal stuff under lock and key in private accounts, and create public ones for professional purposes.

Stay in touch with professors
This applies especially to any professors that may be (or teach) in the field that you want to go into. You never know who they know, or what opportunities they may know of in a year or two from now. For instance, whenever there’s a job opening at my company, I always email my professors that I have stayed in touch with – and some of them still do the same even though I’ve graduated a while ago now.

Take advantage of both paid and unpaid opportunities
Yes, I interned throughout the majority of college, but I never thought to take it one step further and see what freelance opportunities there were available to me (online and offline) to get my name out there. At Rising Apple, we have some college kids who write for us, and I truly wish I had thought of doing that when I was back at Fordham to spearhead the current path I’m on. Of course, there are many other opportunities out there besides for writing. Look into them – freelance opportunities are a great start. And in today’s day and age where many millennials have a full-time job and a side-hustle, freelancing continues to become more and more popular.

Go to networking opportunities
I never went to any of the networking opportunities Career Services had, and I regret it. They were free, why didn’t I take advantage?! Who knows who I could’ve met! You know that old saying, “you never know unless you try?” I truly had nothing to lose by going to these networking events, and I look back at it and think to myself what opportunities I may have missed there.



About the Author
Michelle Ioannou is a proud Fordham alum who tried her hardest to never leave, getting both her BA in Communications and Media Studies and her MA in Public Communications. This, combined with her love of giving back, led her into the nonprofit world where she does social media and event planning. Michelle helped start Not Another Millennial Blog to help her peers through her past experiences and life events, and to try and defy the negative stereotype that surrounds her generation. Additionally, due to her love (or what some may call an unhealthy obsession) with the New York Mets, she has found herself as Editor of Rising Apple Blog, and a contributor for MetsBlog. Email her at michelle@notanothermillennial.com to chat more!

Risk vs. Reward - Choosing Your Startup #4

For the next few weeks, we're going to be featuring a five part series by Sally Bolig, Head of Talent Acquisition at Yotpo. Stay tuned to learn more about how to decide if the startup life is for you!


Case-by-case
Friends and family sometimes recommend questions to ask, but for those my suggestions are the following. Don’t ask questions you won’t truly understand the answers to. Such questions might include ones around ARR or burn rate.

Also, refrain from asking the following unless you feel that given the conversation you have already had, the questions are appropriate and relevant ones.

Some companies won’t be comfortable disclosing the following information and it’s important for you to know that it is not a red flag if they don’t. It will be entirely company-dependent.


1. How are quotas determined?
Asking about quota attainment is the right thing to do, but asking how those quotas are determined can be perceived as inquiring into intimate information in regards to company growth, specific employee success and failure, and a number of other things that aren’t appropriate to explore during an interview.

High level answer - generally quotas are determined by assessing the existing success of a team, then setting goals that will allow them to perform but also be challenged.


2. What is your company’s burn rate?
If the company hasn’t raised money in a while (i.e. over two years), it’s worth asking about the plan for the company and the end-goal they’re looking to meet. This gives you insight into burn rate without asking specifically that.

People often ask about burn rate because they want to know whether the company’s future looks bright or gloomy. You can accomplish an understanding of this through the first-tier questions above. That being said, if you understand the logistics around burn rate, some companies will be comfortable speaking to details around it.


3. What is your company’s ARR (annual recurring revenue)?
This question is asked for the same reason people ask about burn rate. Although ARR is something companies share with their employees, it’s often not something shared during an interview.


4. Equity Expectations
It is absolutely fine to ask whether equity is a component of the package, but you shouldn’t assume it will be. Numerous startups nowadays are offering equity to every person who comes on board as a demonstration of “investment in each employee.”

But there’s a lot to be said for offering equity exclusively to employees who have put in the time to demonstrate an investment in his or her company, rather than the moment he or she walked through the door.

Risk vs. Reward - Choosing Your Startup #5

For the next few weeks, we're going to be featuring a five part series by Sally Bolig, Head of Talent Acquisition at Yotpo. Stay tuned to learn more about how to decide if the startup life is for you!


Don’t ask
1. Is this co-founder the real deal?
Use Glassdoor to explore CEO approval ratings. Look directly below the star rating for “Approve of CEO” to see what previous and current employees are saying. Do your due diligence in regards to looking through the CEO’s experience and reading articles he or she has been featured in or written.

It’s a silly question to ask in an interview because there is so much research you could have done in advance, and it’s also a nearly impossible thing to concisely answer.

Absolutely ask questions around the CEO’s involvement with the company and on an individual basis, or even about his or her personality, but avoid asking whether they’re capable of running their own company well.



At the end of the day, these are not rules. For every example given above, I’m certain you can find a company that defied the typical trends. Will asking these questions guarantee you a risk-free transition into a startup opportunity? Absolutely not.

It’s impossible to know the reality of startup until you’ve graduated and begun working at one. The hope is that by utilizing this guide, Fordham students will be able to make the most informed decision possible and to effectively demonstrate their dedication to joining this ever-growing, ever-changing community.

Risk vs. Reward - Choosing Your Startup #3

For the next few weeks, we're going to be featuring a five part series by Sally Bolig, Head of Talent Acquisition at Yotpo. Stay tuned to learn more about how to decide if the startup life is for you!


Second-Tier
These second-tier questions are to pick and choose, and to include only when you feel that you would be uncomfortable proceeding forward without this knowledge.

There’s no guarantee that an interviewer will love these questions, but you aren’t crossing any lines by inquiring about these things.


1. Will you have to stay in the office until your boss leaves?
If so, this could get tricky very quickly. Of course, as a hard worker, there will be nights when you stay even later than your boss. But for it to be an expectation would be a huge red flag.


2. Is this an “8 hour a day” type of job or a “finish your work” type of job?
Only you can determine which of these you’re looking for but chances are that in startup, you’re looking at a “finish your work” type of day. For that reason, some days will be 8 hours long and others will be 12.


3. Is it okay to take vacation?
You should be able to take vacation. Typically companies offer between 10-18 accrued vacation days per year.


4. What startup shift could occur that would eliminate your position?
Things are ever-changing in startup and it’s important to be aware of whether management has given thought already to in what scenarios your position could be eliminated. And it’s good for you to understand the risk.

Additionally, management should be able to articulate to you at least one reason why. If they say there is no scenario in which this would occur, read that as a red flag.


5. Does there seem to exist a core “in-crowd” of employees #1-30? Or is the company adaptive and accommodating to newcomers?
There is no harm in the OGs (original gangstas) of a company being particularly close-knit. Look at what they built! But it’s important that they’re welcoming to new hires, and that initiatives are being made by the organization to help everyone feel welcomed and familiar.

Risk vs. Reward - Choosing Your Startup #2

For the next few weeks, we're going to be featuring a five part series by Sally Bolig, Head of Talent Acquisition at Yotpo. Stay tuned to learn more about how to decide if the startup life is for you!

First-Tier
These are the key components that you want to prioritize. All of these first-tier questions are not only appropriate to ask, but interviewers will respect that you have thought to dig so deep. It demonstrates your commitment to understanding the ins and outs of their organization.

1. Does the company want to be purchased or to IPO (go public)?
There isn’t a right answer but depending on what you’re hoping to accomplish at this company, it matters.

If a company is working toward being purchased, this purchase could occur in 4 years but it could also occur in 6 months. There is a lot to be said for being with a company that was acquired and therefore successfully demonstrated true value. You knew how to choose a high-quality company and contributed to the company’s accomplishment. But it also means that your company is no longer a startup. This could result in you now having a gig at a big name company, or losing your job all-together.

An IPO typically takes a longer time to attain. As long as you’re happy and performing, you’ll have the ability to work with this company for the foreseeable future as it grows and proves value. Typically companies looking to IPO are extremely passion based. However in order to IPO, a company needs to demonstrate a value-add more appealing and accepted than any competitor of theirs does and, of course, there are few companies that successfully do so.

2. How long has the company been trying to fill the role you’re interviewing for, and why is it open in the first place?
Much of the time the reason will be because the organization is going through a growth stage and this is a purely new position. Sometimes, it’s not so simple.

It’s important to understand whether this position has been open for a long time. If so, why is that? What about the other candidates proved to not be a fit? Has the spec for the role changed a number of times? Dig.

It’s also important to understand whether the previous person in this role was fired or quit. If so, why? What has the company learned from the departure of that employee? How has that impacted who they’re looking to hire this go round? Dig.

3. How often do people leave the company of their own volition? How often are people fired?
In many startups, there is high turnover. Those are not the sorts of startups you want to join. Ask questions around who is leaving, how often and why.

Also, if you’re interviewing for a sales role and are told that the reason people are leaving is simply because “it’s sales” and “a hard job,” know that you’re being misled. There are many companies where salespeople remain for a long time.

4. Talking sales roles, how many reps are hitting quota?
When it comes to any sales role, you will never find a company where 100% of the team is to quota. If you do, either the person you’re speaking to is lying or leadership has done a haphazard job of creating goals. Look to hear that somewhere between 70-90% of reps are hitting quota. Those are healthy figures.

5. Are promotions tenure or merit based?
If you’re exploring startup, the answer you want to hear here is that promotions are merit based. Of course there will always be guidelines around how early you could expect to be eligible for a promotion (9-14 months is typical), but in a startup environment you should be somewhere with management that takes into consideration not only tenure but performance, hard work, initiative and positive influence within the organization.

6. Will you have at least one key manager who has done your job before and who has influence in creating your goals?
In simpler terms, if you’re a SDR, is there someone who has actually cold-called people for a living who is a key player in making decisions about your future quotas and growth?

This is important because you want to be led by individuals who know the reality of your day to day. They can sympathize with your struggles and be your champion, but they can also call you out when you’re making excuses.


7. What is the company’s anticipated growth in regards to head-count?
Look for growing companies but be wary of companies that are growing too quickly. But what does realistic growth look like? There is no true rule of thumb, but if a company of 100 employees is telling you that they’re scaling to 400+, that’s reason for concern. It isn’t a deal-breaker but ask probing questions around what has inspired that growth. There is such thing as growing too quickly and sometimes it can result in layoffs.

Risk vs. Reward - Choosing Your Startup #1

For the next few weeks, we're going to be featuring a five part series by Sally Bolig, Head of Talent Acquisition at Yotpo. Stay tuned to learn more about how to decide if the startup life is for you!

Yotpo has been visiting a number of career fairs this year and whether at Fordham, or other colleges we visited, something we quickly learned was that the idea of working in startup was something very foreign to most students we met. Some people thought startup sounded fun and exciting while others worried the risk was far too high.

This makes a ton of sense. Startups are synonymous with accelerated growth, but they’re also synonymous with risk. What are the areas of the organization that you need to dig into in order to figure out whether the startup you’re interviewing with is going to be around a year from today, and whether the management truly knows what they’re doing?

We heard from students a question that we often hear from candidates interviewing at Yotpo: how do I go about making an informed decision around joining a startup? Hearing it again from entrepreneurial driven students inspired us to create a post that could help.


Before the Interview
1. What is their funding status and what does that even mean?
Your first stop should be to check crunchbase.com. This website provides an enormous and very helpful database of companies, their funding, their investors and even information about the leadership.

Typically, startups with less than $5M in funding are considered exceptionally early stage. They’re probably either in Seed Funding or Series A. The risk would be higher with companies of this size.

Companies with more $100M in funding are very far along in their rounds of funding and whether they’re still even a startup is questionable. The sweet-spot when it comes to high-growth, but healthily funded, ranges from about $15M-$70M in Series B or C.


2. While you’re on the site anyway, who are their investors?
Investors have a key stake in the companies they invest in, and every large decision a company makes is run past the board of investors before any action is taken. By clicking on investors within crunchbase, you can actually access their portfolios and get a feel for whether they have invested in other successful startups in the past.

Internship Experience at The Dr. Oz Show by Elle Rose

     My name is Elle Rose, I’m a senior English major at FCRH, and I just spent the last semester working as a production intern at the Dr. Oz Show!
     I found the Dr. Oz Show internship program through Fordham’s Career Link service, and applied in April to be an intern for the Fall semester. We had our first orientation session in early August, and I met the 13 other interns I’d be working with for the next four months.
     Working as a production intern meant that you could work in one of several departments on any given day. Every week the interns would work in their assigned departments: field, office, booking, studio, audience, post-production, or producing. The show would tape two episodes three days out of the week. If you were scheduled to work on a ‘taping day’ — then you’d most likely be placed in the studio working in either the studio, audience, or producing departments. On a non-taping day, you’d be in the office, working with either the field, office, or booking departments.
     Taping days meant early call times. All staff had to be at the studio, or office (depending on where you were scheduled), by 7 AM. There were a variety of daily tasks the interns would work together on finishing up before we all went off to work with our own departments — like distributing dressing room assignments, printing out show rundowns, and setting up dressing rooms for show guests.
     While our morning tasks were communal, each intern had a different set of tasks to work on within their specific department. Working with studio meant that you got to be a part of all studio rehearsals — usually standing in for the guests scheduled to be on the show, for blocking purposes. Working with audience meant a lot of time up on your feet, helping out with audience load-in and load-out and answering various questions from audience members, and guiding them through the maze-like studio to their seats. Working with producing meant preparing script cards for all guests on the show, and making sure that all appropriate release forms were signed by both guests, and audience members that were featured on the show.
     Thankfully, not all of our days were as early as taping days. On non-taping days, everyone reported to the office by 9 AM. All the interns were expected to help with restocking the pantry, and making sure coffees, plates, napkins, and silverware were properly stocked in the office kitchen. Field interns often had to transcribe videos, and some even got to go on out-of- office field shoots. Booking interns had a variety of tasks — including researching contact information for possible guests for the show, researching recently released health and wellness books, and preparing informational spreadsheets on upcoming guests. Office interns usually helped out with any department that didn’t have a pre-assigned intern — which typically included researching stock photos and clips, putting together spreadsheets, and sometimes sitting in at reception.
     Before working with the Dr. Oz show, I thought I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do post- graduation — but having the opportunity to work with so many different departments allowed me to expand my interests and skill set! I now have a greater understanding of just how much goes into making a television production, and a clearer picture of what it is I’d like to do when I graduate from Fordham in May!

Internship Experience at Rebecca Taylor by Nicole Cruz

Ever walk out of an interview feeling defeated? That’s how I felt after I interviewed for the Buying Intern position at Rebecca Taylor, a luxury women’s clothing brand.

I had done my homework on the company and read up on the candidate requirements for the role days in advance. I felt confident and thought I would blow my interviewer away. But once I sat down and my interviewer started to ask me questions, things started to go south—or at least I thought so. She began asking me questions about retail math and Excel formulas that I had no understanding of. It became clear to me that I wasn’t exactly qualified for the position.

Much to my surprise, I got an email a few days later from HR offering me the internship.

My time with Rebecca Taylor has taught me so much about the fashion industry. I have learned the huge role that buying plays and how closely it is related to marketing and sales. In addition to the technical knowledge I have gained, I have also discovered a lot about myself as a professional. I learned that whenever I have a challenging project or am unsure of something, my time at Fordham has provided me with an answer. What do I mean by this? I mean that my Fordham education has taught me valuable life lessons that are applicable to any workplace. I have learned how to collaborate with others, how to analyze a situation or document, how to quickly learn new systems and skills, and how to come up with innovative solutions to problems that arise. All of these things I’ve learned at Fordham helped me to be a stand out intern, even though my technical experience was lacking at first. My supervisor has even asked me to stay on for the Spring semester!

By relying on the knowledge I’ve gained at Fordham, I was able to prove myself to my supervisor and show her that I can handle anything. I hope that all Fordham students can take my experience and apply it to their own lives. Never be scared to apply to a job where you’re lacking in technical qualifications. Rely on your experiences from Fordham and spin them in a way that will set you apart in an interview setting. A Fordham education will always give you a leg up in the working world, especially in NYC! Thanks to the chance my supervisor took bringing me on, I have been able to grow as a professional and I hope that you will all be given the same chance.

Information about Rebecca Taylor and other positions like this can be found here.

Bernie's Blog Week 14: Fordham Futures: Heroic Career Journeys Part I

"A billion hours ago, Homo Sapiens emerged
A billion minutes ago, Christianity began
A billion seconds ago, the IBM personal computer was released
A billion Google searches ago...was this morning."
Hal Varian, Google's Chief Economist
December 20, 2013
      Heroic journeys in the 21st century occur within a Google context - where Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google's mission looks to create an environment of purpose, freedom, and creativity that provides opportunities for heroic unguarded exploration and discovery. Laszlo Bock, who leads Google's people function, (which includes all areas related to the attraction, development, and retention of over 50,000 'Googlers' worldwide) states, in his groundbreaking inquiry into the philosophy of work: " Work Rules: Insights From Inside Google reminds the reader that: "Google's bursts of creation and accomplishment are a direct result of articulating their mission as something to keep reaching for, just beyond the frontiers of what they can imagine". This is an epic heroic challenge issued to all its employees from one of the premier organizations of your generation. The folks at Google understand that the most talented people on the planet seek a career aspiration that is also inspiring.
      'Googlers', as they call themselves, believe that they can never achieve their mission because there will always be more information to organize and more ways to make it useful. Google's mission is distinctive in its simplicity and what it doesn't talk about. There's no mention of profit or market. No mention of customers or users. No mention why this is their mission, or to what end they pursue these goals. Instead it's taken to be self-evident that organizing information and making it accessible and useful is a good thing.
      Everyone wants to work for Google, everyone wants Google to be part of their heroic career quest. Each year, Google receives more than 2 million employment applications, of which, they select several thousand each year. Google focuses on creating an environment where talented hard-working people are rewarded for their contributions to a mission that makes Google and the world a better place.
      During times of massive social and economic transformation, (when a billion Google searches occur before noon) the call for heroic action is constant. The heroes of the 21st century are individuals who can 'crystallize the chaos' as they craft their unique career stories. In the classic context, heroes become queens and kings; they utilize the power of their own inner resources; chase holy grails; or slay imposing dragons as they move from their subjective heroic perspective to a 'big picture' perspective that expands their spirits and their horizons within a rich communal dance of connectivity.
      No one has ever spoken more eloquently, or more effectively, about our communal connectivity than renowned mythologist and philosopher Joseph Campbell. He believed that the hero's journey, as told through global myth and metaphor, tell the story that we all make from the dependency of childhood to the autonomy of adulthood. Professor Campbell argued that there were just a few archetypical stories that serve as the foundations that underpin our global myths. Heroes are called to adventure, face a series of trials, become wiser, and then find some mastery or peace. As humans, we live through narrative , viewing history through a lens of stories that we tell ourselves. No wonder that we find common threads in the tapestries of one another's lives.
      Professor Campbell believed that we all have the potential to live out the hero's journey, and all you need to do is to take the first step and enter the unknown of self-awareness and self-knowledge. No mythologist or visionary of the 20th century embraced and celebrated the heroic journey more than Professor Campbell. He used metaphor and mythology as a way of making sense in a senseless world, where myths and stories serve as narrative patterns that clarify and give significance to our experience. Joseph Campbell understood that the imagery of mythology is symbolic of the spiritual powers within us. Myths do not come from a concept system; they come from a life system; they come out of a deeper center. According to Professor Campbell, "The myth does not point to a fact, the myth points beyond facts to something that informs the fact."
      Students always question: "How is it possible that the deeds of figures from stories told hundreds and thousands of years ago, in cultures distinct and distant, have some relevance in my life today ? I remind them that there are dragons to be slain and treasures to be gained in every life. Campbell identifies the motif of the hero's adventure as a map, an outline to follow, where each career traveler fills in the details and circumstances of their experiences.
      Professor Campbell challenges each of us to imagine an inspiring future of hope and promise, and to work to shape our futures, rather than passively waiting and watching our futures happen around us. I encourage you to aim high and focus on something greater than yourselves, while at the same time, attending to the specific details of your experience. In other words, cherish the importance and power of attending to the moment at hand, while always keeping the 'big picture' in perspective.
      History will show that in the long run, one of the most influential books of the 20th century may turn out to be Joseph Campbell's THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES. The text and the ideas inside have had a major impact on writing and story-telling, and most dramatically movie-making. Filmmakers like John Boorman, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Coppola owe their successes in part to the ageless patterns that Campbell identifies in his work. He found that world myths were all basically the same story - retold endlessly in infinite variations. Campbell discovered that all story-telling, consciously or not, follows the ancient patterns of myth. All stories, from the crudest jokes to the highest form of literature, can be understood in terms of the hero myth.
      The theme of the hero is universal, occurring in every culture and in every time. It is as infinitely varied as the human race itself; and yet it's basic form remains the same. These are career journeys that possess an incredibly active set of elements and situations that come together through endless repetition from the deepest reaches of the mind of man.
      Professor Campbell's thinking runs parallel to Swiss psychologist Carl Jung's discovery of a shared human 'collective unconscious' which manifests itself in the constantly repeating characters that appear in the dreams of people and myths of all cultures. Characters that appeared as what Jung called 'archetypes'. Jung suggested that these archetypes serve as reflective aspects of the human mind, and that as we form our personalities we divide ourselves into these characters as we play out the drama of our lives.
      The repeating characters of Professor Campbell's hero myth such as the young hero, the wise old woman or man, the shape-shifting man or woman, and the shadowy antagonist are identical to the archetypes of the human mind as revealed in our dreams. Such stories serve as models of the workings of the human mind, true maps of our psyches. They are always psychologically valid and realistic even when they portray fantastic, impossible, unreal events.
      Stories built around the hero myth have an appeal that can be felt by everyone because they spring from the universal concerns of Jung's collective unconscious. These timeless stories deal with what appear to be child-like universal questions: Who am I ? Where did I come from ? Where will I go when I die ? What is good and what is evil ? What must I do about it ? What will tomorrow be like ? Is there anybody else out there ?
      Professor Campbell has created a mythological and metaphoric landscape and roadmap that has guided my work for the past three decades; as I searched for ways to bring Joseph Campbell's mind and wisdom into my career therapy sessions. As you focus on the heroic nature of your career journey, from the world of education to the world of work, you need to discover that your own heroic path begins with and is vested in your self-awareness and inner transformation. In other words, you need to continually tap into your abilities to reflect and learn from your experiences within an experiential context that enables you to receive, discover, and create new truths for yourself.
      The essence of all mythology is found in the theme of the visionary quest, the seeker follows her dream as she travels the journey of transformation. You live in a dramatic time of personal, professional, and societal transformation. You are actively engaged in moving from a self-identity, largely determined by your parents, extended family, teachers, coaches, and advisors, to a world where you are responsible to discover and actualize the value of your own independent experience, and how that independence contributes to the communal good.

"The heroic quest is about saying 'yes' to yourself and in so, becoming more fully alive and more effective in the world...The quest is replete with dangers and pitfalls, but it offers great rewards: the capacity to be successful in the world, knowledge of the mysteries of the human soul, and the opportunity to find and express your unique gifts in the world."
--Carol S. Pearson, Awakening the Heroes Within

      Professor Campbell and Carol Pearson bring to life this universal human story, told in virtually every culture, of a young person who leaves the security to venture into the world. Along the journey, the hero encounters challenges, discovers the meaning of the journey and returns home transformed. In the THE HERO with A THOUSAND FACES, Professor Campbell outlines the twelve stages of the heroic journey as it appears within the myths and legends of a wide range of world cultures, more about these stages in the next blog. Metaphoric stages that can provide you with a vivid and creative expanded awareness of the ever-present challenges you face in your quest to be the best you can be. Check next week's blog as the heroic journey is described.
      Every story-teller bends the myth to her or his own purpose. That's why the hero has a thousand faces:

The Stages of the Hero's Journey

• Ordinary World
• Call to Adventure
• Refusal of the Call
• Meeting with The Mentor
• Crossing the Threshold
• Tests, Allies, and Enemies
• Approach to the Inmost Cave
• The Ordeal
• The Reward
• The Road Back
• Resurrection
• Return with The Elixir

THE HEROIC CAREER JOURNEY CONTINUES IN BLOG 15.......

Bernie's Blog Week 13: Fordham Futures: Critical Thinking

December 18th 2006, Time magazine printed a special issue titled " How to Build a Student for the 21st Century". Time editors declared that to be effective in the 21st century students must think their way through abstract problems, be able to work in teams, recognize good information from bad, be multilingual, and globally sensitive.
In addition students must...
- be critical thinkers
- be problem solvers
- be innovators
- be effective communicators
- be self-directed learners
- be information and media literate
- be globally aware
- be civically engaged
- be financial and economically literate.

      Critical thinking dates back to the days of Socrates [470-399 BC]. The Socratic method focuses on asking the student thought provoking questions. Through questions and answers the teacher guides the student through a critical thinking experience. A process that allows you to examine your beliefs for the purpose of enhancing your understanding and problem-solving abilities.
      A skilled Socratic teacher guides the student's thought process through proper questioning, assisting you in critically evaluating and restructuring your beliefs and knowledge, as you build your confidence and your curiosity. Two elements essential to becoming a critical thinker. Critical thinking can only happen for you if you are motivated and challenged to engage in higher-level thought.
      Critical thinking has its genesis in a rational, logical, and philosophical cognitive thought process that can be taught and studied. Metaphysics and epistemology are the two branches of philosophy that inform and inspire the critical thinking involved in your internal and external career conversations.
      Career metaphysics will assist you in understanding the big pictures that connect your own creative career exploration with the connectivity of a highly complex and competitive world of work. You need to remember that all 'career metaphysicists' share two foundational psychological predispositions: first, a passion for unity, and second, a belief in the hidden harmony of the universe. Career epistemology serves as your unique perspective as you look to discover "...how you know what you know", an invaluable awareness in an economy where you will be thinking for a living.
      Critical thinking is driven by your desire for knowledge acquisition and action. You observe, experience, reflect, reason, and communicate a process that actively and skillfully conceptualizes, applies, analyzes, synthesizes, and evaluates information and knowledge. Critical thinking is the art of cognitively bringing together the content and context; the theory and the practice; and the action and the reflection.
      Critical thinking needs to be experiential and surrounded by feedback in a quest for understanding how things work and how systems can be improved. A critical thinker takes the time and effort to learn from your experiences. Reflection is an important tool in your critical thinker's cognitive repertoire. Some of the benefits of critical thinking include the promotion of creativity, the better expression of ideas, an enhanced ability in self-reflection, and the cultivation of flexible intellectual skills that you can apply to different areas of your life.
      Professor Peter Facione of the American Philosophical Association led a research group of forty-six experts, from the fields of humanities, physical sciences, social sciences, and education, in determining core critical thinking skills. The experts concluded that there were six core critical thinking skills:

• Inference: To identify and secure elements needed to draw reasonable conclusions; to form conjectures and hypotheses; to consider relevant information; as well as, the consequences flowing from data, statements, principles, evidence, judgments, beliefs, opinions, concepts, descriptions, questions, or other forms of representation.
• Explanation: To state the results of one's reasoning, to justify that reasoning in terms of the evidence, conceptual, methodological, criteria, and contextual considerations upon which one's results were based, and to present one's reasoning in the form of cogent arguments.
• Evaluation: To assess the creditability of statements or other representations which are accounts or descriptions of a person's perspective, experience, situational judgment, belief, or opinion, and to assess the logical strength of the actual or intended inferential relationships among statements, descriptions, questions, or other forms of representation.
• Self-Regulation: Self-consciously to monitor one's cognitive activities, the elements used in those activities, and the results facilitated, particularly by applying skills in analysis and evaluation to one's own inferential judgments, with a view toward questioning, validating, or correcting either one's reasoning or one's results.
• Interpretation: To comprehend and express the meaning or significance of a wide variety of experiences, situations, data, events, judgments, connections, beliefs, rules, procedures, or criteria.
• Analysis: To identify the intended and actual inferential relationships among statements, questions, concepts, descriptions, or other forms of representation intended to express belief, judgment, experiences, reasons, information, or opinions.

      Critical thinking is not an isolated goal unrelated to other important goals in education. Rather it is a seminal goal which when done well facilitates a wide spectrum of possibilities and opportunities. It is best conceived as a cognitive epicenter around which all other educational questions and answers gather.
      As you learn to think more critically you become more proficient at historical, scientific, and mathematical thinking. You will develop skills, abilities, and values crucial to success in everyday life. As you realize and actualize your critical thinking, you will begin to understand that your career is created by your own choices. Also, you will discover that your career will emerge from a personal restless curiosity that focuses on the interplay and the integration of your experience within the context of the world of work.

Bernie's Blog Week 12: Fordham Futures: Listening

     From the Latin, ob audine to listen means to reach out. Therefore, to listen is a response to some outer stimulation to your senses which integrates this new information within the parameters of your inner world. You need to listen in order to be aware of your experience. Listening is very rarely taught in your classes, you sometimes take it for granted as an ability that develops in a unique personal fashion. There is nothing natural about listening, it is an ability that needs to be nurtured and exercised. How you listen to the world around you is as original as your fingerprints.
      During the first ten years of your life you were engaged in a continuous dance between your inner world and the outer world that surrounds your experience. Your senses connect you everything you encounter. As adults, you later learn the skills of centering and focusing, however, as a child you extend and reach out into the world around you with a rhythmic process of experimentation. Consequently, you need to develop the art of being able to observe your abilities to respond to tone, rhythm, movement, music, and language.
      As you enhance your listening abilities you expand the boundaries of your abilities to expand your learning potential. Attentive, effective, and profound listening skills will truly empower your lifelong learning abilities. Your journey from listening to lifelong learning begins with the attainment and development of attentive listening skills and the creation of inner speech and inner listening. Every aspect of your life offers you with the opportunity to listen and learn in an endless journey of discovery and celebration.
      As you listen you are responding, and the first voice you hear is your own inner speech. Inner speech is an internal process through which you hear yourself think and listen, which enables you to use language to regulate your behavior, your reasoning, and your high level cognitive thought process. As your inner voice emerges, it gains strength and clarity building a bridge between your inner and outer worlds. Action, reflection, and reasoning become lifelong experiences of living and learning.
      You need to develop a continuous intention toward your attention. You need to have confidence in your concentration and concentration in your confidence. You need to empower your attentive listening, or risk the possibility that knowledge will become only logical facts.
      Albert Einstein believed, "Knowledge is experience; everything else is just information." Einstein was not a good student in school. At age fifteen, he left school with poor grades in history, english, and geography. For Einstein, the most important classroom was the world in which he lived. There he explored, listened, and experienced his discovery of new connections and paradigms. Einstein lived by three simple rules of work: "Out of clutter, find simplicity." "From discord, find harmony." And, "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."
      You listen more attentively when you feel that topical information creates meaning. Attentive listening naturally effects changes within your mind-body relationship. You listen with more attention when you feel that a change will be effected and that you are in some way responsible for the change.
      The intention and focus you hold in learning determines whether you are listening or merely hearing. When you listen only with the intention of being able to replay information for a test you may only hear and register the words. When you listen with the intention of effecting curiosity and discovery, or utilizing information in a creative process, you listen with insight, empowerment, and engagement. The more senses you use the deeper the listening the greater the learning.
      Inner listening plays a critical role in your creative understanding of preparation, illumination, and actualization of your experience. Your experience of inner listening regularly provides you with a sense of joy and accomplishment. Your personal discoveries inspire a contagious appreciation of learning that leads to more learning.
Attentive inner listening can be practiced in any aspect of learning and living: math problems, poetry, painting, music, historical events, and athletic experiences. All these activities can be engaged and listened to with your senses, your mind, your body, and your emotions.
      Attentive listening plays a critical role in preparing for and participating in information gathering, networking, and employment interviews. Listening to yourself and others enables, empowers, and informs your ability to fill the space that exists between performance and the description of performance. Prior to your interview, you need to specifically prepare yourself to be able to describe how your skills and abilities potentially fill the needs of a particular employer. Your assignment as an interviewee is to develop an active interview dialogue that builds an equality of communication between both interviewer and interviewee.
      In order to effectively prepare for your interview experiences you need to listen, first to your self, then to others, and finally to the world in which you live and work. However, before you can learn to listen you need to know what gets in the way of your listening. In order to understand what gets in the way of your listening, you need to pay attention to your senses. Your senses are constantly taking in information, twenty-four seven, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. As you manage this constant flow of information, and in an effort to keep yourself sane, you delete, distort, and generalize this information in order to make sense of your world.
      Failure to effectively manage this mountain of sensory effects you life on many cognitive, emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical levels. For the past three decades, I have been utilizing and adapting the work of Matthew McKay, Martha Davis, and Patrick Fanning in teaching Fordham students about 'Blocks to Listening' as described in their text: Messages: The Communications Book.

Blocks to Listening:

1. Comparing - makes it hard to listen because you're always trying to assess who is smarter, more competent, more emotionally healthy - you or the other. While someone is talking, you think to yourself: 'Could I do it that well? You can't let much in because you're too busy seeing if you measure up.
2. Mind Reading - the mind reader doesn't pay much attention to what people say. Your trying to figure out what the other person is really thinking and feeling. The mind reader pays less attention to words than to intonations and subtle cues in an effort to see the truth. If you are a mind reader you probably make assumptions about how people react to you. These notions are born of intuition, hunches, and vague misgivings, and have little to do with what the person actually says to you.
3. Rehearsing - you don't have time to listen when your rehearsing what to say. Your whole attention is on the preparation and crafting of your next comment. You may look interested, and your mind is going a mile a minute because you have a story to tell, or a point to make.
4. Filtering - when you filter, you listen to some things and not others. You filter your listening to see if somebody's angry, or unhappy, or if you are in danger. Once assured that the communication contains none of those things, you let your mind wander. Another way people filter is simply to avoid hearing certain things - particularly anything threatening, negative, critical, or unpleasant. It's as if the words were never said, you simply have no memory of them.
5. Judging - if you prejudge someone, you don't pay much attention to what they are saying. You've already written them off, as negative labels have enormous power. A basic rule of listening is that judgments should only be made after you have heard and evaluated the content of the message.
6. Dreaming - you find yourself only half-listening, and something the person says suddenly triggers a chain of private associations. You are more prone to dreaming when you feel bored or anxious. Everybody dreams, and sometimes it takes great focus to stay tuned in. And if you dream a lot with certain people, it may indicate a lack of commitment to knowing and appreciating them. At the very least, it's a message that you don't value what they have to say very much.
7. Identifying - is all about you taking everything a person tells you and you refer and relate it back to your experience. Everything you hear reminds you of something that you've experienced before. Consequently, you launch into your story before they finish theirs. In this block, you are so busy with the stories of your life that there's no time to really hear or get to connect with the other person.
8. Advising - you view yourself as a great problem-solver always ready to help with insight and suggestions. Consequently, you believe that you don't have to hear more than a few sentences before you begin to search for the correct advice. However, while you are thinking about possible responses you may miss what's most important. You can miss the feelings and emotions associated with the stated problem or situation, thereby, ignoring the speaker because you wouldn't listen and just be there for the other.
9. Sparring - this block is all about arguing and debating with other people. The other person never feels heard because you are so quick to disagree. Actually, a lot of your focus is on finding things to disagree with. You take strong stands and are very clear about your beliefs and preferences. The way to avoid sparring is to repeat back and acknowledge what you've heard. Look for one thing you might agree with.
10. Being Right - means you will go to any lengths [twist the facts, start shouting, making excuses or accusations] to avoid being wrong. You can't listen to criticism, you can't be corrected, and you refuse to take suggestions to change. Your convictions are unshakable. And since you won't acknowledge that your mistakes are mistakes, you continue to make them.
11. Derailing - this listening block is realized by suddenly changing the subject. You derail the train of conversation when you get bored or uncomfortable with a topic. Humor is another way of derailing by joking it off. This means that you continually respond to whatever is said with a joke in order to avoid what you perceive as anxiety by seriously listening to the other person.
12. Placating - "Right...Right...Absolutely ... I know...Of course you are...Incredible...Yes...Really?" You want to be nice, pleasant, and supportive. You want people to like you. So you agree with everything. You may half-listen, just enough to get the drift, and you're not really involved. You are placating rather than paying attention and examining what's being said.

Bernie's Blog Week 11: Fordham Futures: Qualitative Interviewing

"In my view, stories and novels consist of three parts: narration, which moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech."
Stephen King 2000
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

     In 1991, after six years of creating, developing, and implementing an undergraduate interview training program, I began to realize that the deck was stacked against interviewees, as they participated in an adversarial process called interviewing, where the conversation was controlled by the interviewer, with no or little interest in assisting the applicant through the process. Rather than viewing the interview as a selection process, interviewers' primary focus,during the interview, is to evaluate, investigate, assess, and eventually eliminate the applicant from the pool of candidates. In other words, they want you to believe that you are participating in a selection process, while, at the same time, working hard to find ways to eliminate applicants.
      When asked if they enjoy their work, the research overwhelming shows that most Americans respond in the negative, depending on the survey, anywhere from 70 to 85%, state that they do not enjoy their work, and this number is currently expanding as more individuals realize that they are underemployed. Maybe, an interview process vested in evaluation, assessment, and elimination plays a roll in America's unhappiness at work, an interview style that is too quick to eliminate candidates too early in the process. In response to these adversarial mindsets and attitudes, I expanded the interview training menu and created a Qualitative Interview approach to these critical conversations. For the past twenty-five years, I have counseled and instructed Fordham students about interviews and interviewing using this model.
      Qualitative Interviewing looks to revolutionize the interview process and turn what has forever been a process of elimination into a selection process centered on creating a positive collaborative conversation that focuses on the candidate's strengths, possibilities, and opportunities. The interview, whether it be for employment or networking, is the most overlooked and misunderstood business communication within the world of work. If interviews are viewed and assessed, by both the candidate and the employer, as the most critical part of the selection process then why are interviews filled with evaluative and investigative rhetoric designed to eliminate candidates.
      Let's be candid, no one involved in an employment interview really wants to be there. Not the interviewees, who like most of us, are always more comfortable at displaying and performing our skills, then we are at describing our experience to others. Not the interviewers, who would much rather observe candidates working as interns, or watching videos of their performances, then asking questions about their past experiences. It is this inability to perform during an interview that causes much of the anxiety for individuals on both sides of the conversation.
      Most interviewees fail to get the job because of a breakdown in communication, either, the candidate lacks the preparation and expertise to tell their story, or the interviewer is not engaging or creative enough to select the best candidate. Interviewees should not expect the interviewer to help them tell their story. You would hope that interviewers were more interested in assisting interviewees tell their story during interviews. However, this lack of assistance needs to serve as motivation for interviewees to develop and deliver well thought out interview presentations that tell their whole story. You need to acquire a mastery of the interview if you are to effectively and persuasively tell your story.
      Consequently, the dominant psychology of the interview is vested and centered in employers viewing themselves as experts in personnel selection. Employers adopt this narrow misperception mainly because they have had more interviewing experience and more time within their organization. Most interviewees want to believe that the psychology that underlies and pervades the interview is all about selection, when in reality, it is all about evaluation, judgment, and elimination.
      Individuals assume that if they present their qualifications in a reasoned and polite manner, and if they manage to impress the interviewer, with their experience and accomplishments, they will get the job. The applicant who best understands the psychology of the interview, and prepares the best interview presentation has the best chance to close the deal.
       If you are to turn the psychology of interviewing in your favor, you need to take the offensive. Instead of approaching the interview with the attitude that you are asking for something, you need to assume the interview posture of having something valuable to market. In other words, you seek to meet the interviewer on equal psychological footing, continually, utilizing your awareness, preparation, and presentation in understanding and articulating the importance of interview practice and preparation.
      The wise interviewee knows that self-esteem is crucial in all elements of performance and presentation, and she or he knows that unless they hold themselves in high esteem others will not. Many applicants approach the interview with a defensive attitude. They sense that the employer has the upper hand resulting in a defensive attitude on their part, a defensive attitude that generally results in 'overcompensating' - bringing a know-it-all attitude to the interview; taking a 'desperate position', that you will take the job at any price; and finally, an 'obsequious approach', where you are too anxious to please.
      The primary goal and mission of Qualitative Interviewing is for all participants, both interviewers and interviewees, to play an active role in the creation of a collaborative, qualitative, interview conversation. Interviewees are trained to come to the interview prepared to deliver a presentation that engages and informs the interviewer. Not a memorized script, but rather a memorized outline that leads to a positive and progressive dialogue that flows into a conversation that evolves into an equality of communication between interviewer and interviewee. Interviewees need to create visual images in the interviewer's mind's eye that clearly reflects their actual experience.
      Qualitative interviewing is inspired, humanized, and informed by the vision of family therapist Virginia Satir's HVPM. Virginia's model identifies the path of your interview journey, as seen by both the interviewer and interviewee. Satir's model begins as a social human connection that quickly evolves into the 'creative crucible of chaos' that serves as a qualitative incubator needed for effective integration. From contact to chaos to integration, Professor Satir lights a clear path of working assumptions that surround all involved in the interview with a qualitative cocoon of cooperation and collaboration:

     Making Contact: All interview participants need to establish trust and enlist hope as ways of creating a qualitative communication environment that inspires all involved to take risks. In order to make effective contact during the initial stages of the interview the interviewer needs to display direction, knowledge, and comfort. Interviewers need to create a safe climate in which interviewees need not worry about the consequences of their descriptions, expressions, and revelations in an atmosphere that is free of intimidation and rich with trust.
      Self-awareness, on both sides of the interview, is the key ingredient needed to connect. Awareness of self, as well as, awareness of their interaction and interconnectedness during the interview, works as the qualitative fluid that lubricates the collaboration between interviewer and interviewee. Developing mutual respect and understanding is facilitated by an expression of hopeful expectations throughout the interview, rather than a search for problems and negativity. There is nothing to loss, and everything to gain by being inspired by a restless search for the positive. Qualitative interviewing wants to move from an interview experience filled with implicit ideas and understandings to a more explicit understanding of ideas and feelings, merging two perspectives into a focused view of the interview equation.
     Chaos: Qualitative interviewing is designed to directly address the general confusion and disorder associated with the interview process. During most interviews, interviewees are unable to perform the skills and abilities that they need to describe as part of telling their story. Interviewees need to create a visual presentation of their past, present, and future performances for the interviewer.
      Qualitative interviews involve mutual dependency and vulnerability in order to succeed. Because interviewees are unable to rely on displaying their skills and abilities they need to access their descriptive abilities to tell their stories. Only actors applying for a role or part in a production enjoy the luxury of performing during an interview as they display their acting expertise for the interviewer.
      Qualitative interviewing challenges the interviewer to do the unspeakable, which is to assist the interviewee during the interviewer. Qualitative interviewers need to only ask questions that are designed and directed at discovering what makes each candidate unique and special and a perfect fit for the opportunity, adopting a cooperative [rather than a evaluative or dismissive] interview posture and approach.
      When chaos occurs in an interview it is characterized by a feeling of paralysis and hopelessness that restricts the interviewee's ability to move backward and forward within and throughout the interview. Qualitative interviewing looks to develop a therapeutic alliance between interviewer and interviewee, a healing approach that brings out the best in both individuals. Interviewers need to be more interested in gathering as much positive information as possible.
      When qualitative interviewing works best both the interviewer and interviewee are actively engaged in the present, merging the past and the future, a qualitative dialogue designed to assist all interview participants. Empathy and patience need to be always present in an effort to find another connection, another channel, or another bridge that facilitates the creation of a qualitative employment conversation. During this period of chaos, flexibility and the ability to adapt serve as the most powerful tools available to the qualitative interviewer, as she or he utilizes a wide array of methods and modalities in order to assist in the creation of an atmosphere and environment vested in collaboration and cooperation.

     Integration: Interview integration evolves and occurs as a search for quality continues throughout the interview. In order for interview integration to expand both the interviewer and interviewee need to develop an atmosphere of trust, mutual understanding, and the willingness to take risks. The art of qualitative interviewing is in maintaining a balance between the direction that the interview is moving and any new issues that emerge throughout the interview. Qualitative interviewing is designed to weave a fabric of connectivity and communication that brings together ideas, concepts, interests, and values.
Qualitative interviewing is fueled by a relentless pursuit of the positive. Always looking for ways to hire individuals, rather than looking for ways to eliminate candidates, as expressed in the following principles:

• Qualitative Interviewing looks to foster an atmosphere of empathy and recognition through the creation of a positive dialogue; rather than measuring individuals on what they say or don't say.
• Qualitative interviewing transforms the interview from an evaluative process into a process of exploration and discovery, searching and seeking quality everywhere, a restless curiosity.
• Qualitative interviewing seeks to create quality conversations filled with 'wonder', 'freedom', and 'commitment'.
• Qualitative interviewing requires interviewers to take a positive leadership role in the interview, encouraged to alter their contextual control, while constantly looking for ways to enhance the interviewee's interview content in a progressive direction.
• Qualitative interviewing assumes that all interviewees possess the skills and abilities needed to fill a potential employer's needs.
• Qualitative interviewing needs to serve as a constant search for the unique treasures that are within each of us. Relevant similarities that lead to effective connectivity need to be discovered throughout the interview experience.
• Qualitative interviewing needs to be less about 'Why?' And more about 'What?', 'How?', 'When?', and with 'Whom?'.
• Qualitative interviewing challenges interviewers to seek a positive and fearless exchange of ideas, questions, and solutions.

      Qualitative Interviewing is a call for cooperation and balance within the interview process, it's all about creating an environment and atmosphere of equality between interviewee and interviewer. Both participants building a communications bridge in the co-creation of a positive qualitative interview conversation. Qualitative interviewing is fueled by a positive mindset that relentlessly pursues faith, hope and optimism in the creation of an atmosphere and environment of respect, receptivity, and recognition among all interview participants.
Qualitative interviewing looks to create connections and expand horizons through a communication process centered in cooperation, collaboration, and consideration. This approach is most effective when the interview relationship and environment are fully integrated into a diagnostic journey of discovering and creating connections.
      Qualitative interviews are focused on growth, change, and transformation, as both interviewers and interviewees recognize that they possess the necessary resources needed to succeed in a qualitative interviewing environment. In other words, both participants need to be able to identify their interviewing resources, discover how to access their resources, and learn how to utilize their resources in an effort to connect the applicant with the right opportunity.
      Qualitative interviewing needs to be holistic and integrative with a focus on the twenty-first century realities that all interviewees are performers. At this stage in your life, when you are assigned a task, after completion, you evaluate the experience first, then someone else [teacher, parent, employer] evaluates the performance, and then you move on to your next assignment. Usually, you don't spend anytime speaking about your past performances, there is never enough time, and quite frankly, no one is interested.
      We live in a society where performance rules. Where action speaks louder than words. Think about someone you know, (or someone you used to know) who did nothing but talk about themselves nonstop. Also, as a society, we are much more interested in performance than describing performance, especially, if we are interested in improving our performance.
As interviewees, you need to create a visual, auditory, and performance based description of your past experiences. As you describe this cognitive images to the interviewer they begin to serve as descriptive foundations that articulate, support, and structure your interview presentations. For each interview, you need to create a unique individual presentation, formed within your own set of explanatory, evocative, and illustrative parameters.
Your actions and your activities are the most specific and direct form of communication at your disposal. Consequently, you suffer from severe performance limitations that exist in all performance descriptions. Being unable to perform specifically restricts your interview presentation, and at the same time your performance descriptions need to be as specific as possible.
      Specific details facilitate the creation of a visual picture in the interviewer's mind's eye. Through specific descriptions you bring your past experiences into the 'here and now' of the interview. You need to describe your experience to a potential employer in the form of a specific comprehensive qualitative interview presentation. Specific and detailed preparation are the keys to great interviews. You need to develop a clear idea of the type of position you are seeking and be able to indicate your suitability for the opportunity. You need to identify, clarify, and describe your interests, values, skills, and abilities. Being able to articulate your message successfully is typically the difference between excellent and poor interview presentations. When you are asked to describe your experiences you need to avoid generalizations and personal discounts, you need not bring any negativity into the interview experience. You need to be prepared specifically, and specifically prepared to succeed in the art of interviewing.
      Most of the time, your performances occur in a specific direct fashion, while descriptions of your performances are sometimes vague and general. In order for successful interviewing to occur you need to be descriptively precise.

Bernie's Blog Week 10: Fordham Futures: Interviewing 1

     "The first step on stage is an unusual feeling. I"m not sure I can connect it to other people's lives outside of perhaps taking a driver's test. You really want that license. The feeling in your gut means you're sober - and that's good. It also means that something is at stake, something that matters. You're taking a risk, which is the essence of all live performance. It's not an entirely comfortable feeling, but it's a necessary one. It happens every time, and it tends to stop the minute I put my hands on any instrument. Part of that risk is, part of what I'm searching for from the moment I put my foot on stage, until I walk off, is the invisible thread of energy and inspiration or soul of whatever you want to call it that is going to take me to that place where a song can explode to life. That thread is between me and the audience every night. Always. I've got to grab it out of the air and physicalize it into something they can hear."
     In this 2005 Esquire Magazine interview, Bruce Springsteen outlines the emotional context, and the specific emotions he experiences prior to taking the stage. His descriptions provides us with a perfect emotional metaphor for what every interviewee experiences prior to telling their story in theirs interview.
     His driver's license analogy is spot on, as he connects each of us to a shared human experience that fills our "gut" with the importance of the moment where "...something is at stake". However, where I would respectfully disagree with Mr. Springsteen is in my belief that such anxiety and uncertainty is more widely apparent in all our lives, and exists for everyone who has ever participated in an interview that meant something to them.
     Certainly, Mr. Springsteen's experience differs in that he is about to perform to literally thousands of audience members who hold high expectations of what his performance should be. And at the same time he is able to channel his emotions once "...the minute I put my hands on any instrument", easing his anxiety and managing his uncertainty.
     The question all interviewees need to ask themselves is how do they ease their anxiety and manage their uncertainty ? The simple answer is that interviewees need be aware, prepared, and ready to present. In other words, you ease your anxiety and manage your uncertainty through your specific understanding and awareness of your career plan, your career preparation, and the power and promise of your interview presentation.
     Mr. Springsteen's search for "...the invisible thread of energy and inspiration or soul." that connects him to his audience and is always out there each time he performs takes him to a higher level of performance and "...to that place where a song can explode to life." This inspirational thread exists and is available to all interviewers and interviewees in all interviews where "...something is at stake".
     Unlike Mr. Springsteen, you are unable to display your values, interests, skills and abilities through your performance in an interview; rather, your interview presentation becomes a description of your previous and future performances. There in lies the trauma, the terror, and the frustration of all interviewees, their inability to perform during the interview. This performance frustration is also shared by interviewers, who would much rather watch perspective candidates perform, than rather listen to their performance descriptions. It's not a coincidence that a high percentage of students who participate in internships are offered full time employment, employers get to view their performance and are able to make better informed and more effective employment decisions.
     A big part of our mission in Career Services is to help Fordham students tell their stories, filling the space that exists between their performances and a description of their performances. Interviews are the venues where these stories are told; whether they are employment interviews, informational interviews, or networking interviews, it's all about the story. No where is the need for interview planning and preparation more evident than in the most popular interview question.
     "Could you tell me a little bit about yourself ?". It is the best question if you have done your homework and are fully prepared for the interview, and it is the worst question if you are not prepared. You know you are prepared when you have confidence in your concentration; and concentration in your confidence as you approach the interview.
     When I have interview follow-up conversations with Fordham students, one consist theme that most of them share is that they do a great job researching and preparing for the organization that they are interviewing with, and only spend a minimum about of time preparing and practicing their personal presentation. All of our counselors in Career Services are not surprised by this shortfall in interview preparation , because we understand the dynamics that exist between performance and the description of performance. Consequently, we have designed and developed our interview training programs and experiences to focus on the importance of specifically detailing your 'unique story' for the interview.
     As interviewees, you need to create a visual, auditory, and performance based description of your past and future experiences. As you describe these cognitive images to the interviewer they need to serve as descriptive foundations that articulate, support, and structure your interview presentations. For each interview, you need to create a unique presentation that is formed within your own set of explanatory, evocative, and illustrative parameters. In other words, the context of your interview presentation may only slightly vary from interview to interview, and at the same time, the content of your interview presentation will dynamically change from interview to interview.
     Specific preparation for your interview presentation is the key to great interviews. You need to develop a clear understanding of the opportunity you are interested in and be able to articulate and indicate how you are a perfect fit for the job. You need to identify, clarify, and describe your values, interests, skills and abilities. Being able to articulate your message successfully is often the difference between good and bad interview presentations. You need to be prepared specifically and specifically prepared to succeed in the art of interviewing.
     Remember, you are a performer and given a task to complete, at this stage of your life, you evaluate your performance first, someone else evaluates it [teacher, boss, or peer] and you move on to your next performance. During your interview, it is imperative that you describe your past and future performances in as specific a fashion as possible, avoiding generalizations and personal discounts.
     In other words, your performances occur in real time and are specific and direct, when you describe your performance you are one step removed from the experience. Consequently, your performance descriptions can sometimes be both vague and too general, being descriptively specific in describing your performance is exactly what great 'interviewing' is all about. In order for successful interviewing to occur you need to be as specific as possible in describing your experience with an ever-present attention to detail.
     Control of the interview is equally divided, with the interviewers in total control of the context, while, interviewees are in total control of the content. Interviewers set the time and location, and facilitate the flow of the context through the questions they ask. Essentially, the interviewee has 'total control' of the content, you are free to say whatever you wish, how you respond to an interviewer's questions is your choice.
     Since you are unable to display you skills and abilities during the interview you need to prepare specific detailed descriptions of your experiences. If one of your skills is that you are 'organized' it is impossible to display your organizational skills during the interview. I guess that if the interviewer's office was a bit messy you could offer to organize it more effectively right there during the interview. However, I feel rapport would immediately fly out the window, if you took such an action. It is however possible for you to specifically describe how you organize, and what you have specifically organized. You need to craft a vivid picture of your experience for the interviewer. It is essential that you know what you want to tell the interviewer.
     Your career awareness, career preparation, and career presentation serve as the foundation for all successful interviews. You need to develop clear sensory channels of communication that engage and empower your ideas, details, and descriptions. Breakthroughs occur in interviews when the interviewer concludes that what she or he is hearing is a blend of the candidate's excellent performance descriptions about their experiences and accomplishments, that, also, identifies and articulates the interviewee's personal qualities and capabilities that they will bring to the company.
     The best applicant often fails to get the job because of a breakdown in interview communication. Either, the interviewee lacks the preparation and expertise needed to tell her or his story properly, or, the interviewer fails to either listen or ask the proper questions. Interviewees should not expect any assistance from the interviewer in telling their stories. You need to acquire the ability to master the interview, in other words, you need to become 'one' with the interview in order to effectively and persuasively tell your story.
     Employers approach the interview viewing themselves as experts in personnel selection. Nothing could be further from the truth, most interviewees want to believe that the psychology that underlies and pervades the interview is all about selection. When in reality, it is all about evaluation and elimination. The interviewee who best understands this elimination mentality, and at the same time prepares a great interview presentation has the best shot of closing the deal.
     If you are to turn the psychology of the interview in your favor, you must take the offensive. Instead of approaching the interview with an attitude that you are asking for something, you need to assume the posture and a vocabulary that you are there because you have something valuable to offer.
The employment selection process in the world of work, surprisingly, is one of the most poorly planned and ineffectively executed processes within the business cycle. One would think that the selection process would be carefully planned and deliberate process, and often, it is not. The interviewer has the added pressure of marketing the opportunity to the interviewee as part of his or her's interview presentation. When you begin to realize that there are equal pressures on you and the interviewer, and when adopt the mindset that the employer will have to sell you on the opportunity, the scales start to tilt in your favor. The interviewer knows that good applicants are relaxed, they possess self-command, and they are confident.
     The psychology involved here, is that you are reversing one of the interviewer's tenets - putting the applicant at ease. You are reducing the pressure on the interviewer by projecting the very qualities she or he is looking for. The interview balance normalizes when you avoid pressure on yourself and at the same time mitigate the pressure on the employer.
     When you take the offensive, the employer gladly presents the contextual upper hand to you. She wants you to lead the interview and to ask the appropriate questions. The interviewer wants you to succeed in your interview once you have established interview credibility. For when she finds the applicant who appears qualified and who effectively handles the interview, she is elated. The interviewer will offer you the opportunity you have been waiting for - the chance to sell yourself, and he or she is anxious to buy.