Category: Job Interviews

Why you need to prep for the personal questions in a job interview

12/14/2018

When it comes to job interview prep, you’ve probably been focused on rehearsing answers to questions about your work history -- strengths, weaknesses, why you want a new job, what you bring to the table. If you get a few personal questions thrown in, you'll just wing it. After all, you can’t get those wrong, right? Not necessarily. A lot of job candidates spend so much time planning for traditional interview questions that they stammer or ramble when personal questions are asked, and it throws off the flow of the interview. Don't let this happen to you!

The good news is that prepping for personal questions is pretty easy. You just need to take stock of some basic facts about yourself and get comfortable saying them confidently. Think about the aspects of your life that naturally lead into a conversation and showcase why you’d be good for the team. You may not be able to predict the specific personal questions that could come up, but here are a few to get you thinking:

Where are you from?
What do you like about LA, and how does it compare to your hometown?
How do you spend your time outside of work?
Why/how did you choose your college or major?
What are some of your favorite TV shows and movies?
What’s the last great book you read?
Where would you most like to travel/what’s the best place you’ve traveled to?
Tell me about your family.
What should I know about you that’s not on your resume?
What is a surprising thing you learned in school that has helped you in your career?

Remember, there are no wrong answers to these questions. But there are stronger, more appropriate answers to some of them. For example, if you hate LA and want to move back home someday, you probably shouldn’t say that -- most companies want to hire someone who plans to stick around. Plus, employers want someone who thinks positively. Consider something you truly find great about this city, even if it’s something that reminds you of home. Try to put a positive spin on any question you're asked.

Some of the questions are larger in scope -- there’s a lot about you that’s not on yourresume, for instance. How boring would you be if your whole self was able to be described on one page?! Think about something personal that reflects how you’d be as an employee, like your summer living abroad where you learned how to adapt to new circumstances and communicate with people from different backgrounds. Don’t mention something completely out of left field, like the fact that you make the world’s best chocolate chip cookies, orsomething that's TMI and could come off the wrong way. And if there's something interesting that you know you'd like to bring up in an interview before you ever walk into the room, you can add some personal interests to your resume -- this will often prompt an employer to ask about them.

The best thing about prepping for these questions is that you’ll get a confidence boost from the self reflection. By articulating why you’ve come to make the decisions you’ve made and how full your life is outside of work, you’ll own those things more fully, and that confidence will come across in an interview.

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How watching your favorite TV shows and movies can help your Hollywood job search

11/29/2018

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You flick on the TV. As you settle in to watch your favorite show, a little voice nags in the back of your mind... “Shouldn’t I be productive? Shouldn’t I revamp my resume so I can apply for a new job?”

Sure, if you watch TV or movies 100% of the time, you won’t get too far in your career. But, considering that you’ve opted for a career in entertainment, watching content is a part of the job. And not just any content -- your favorite shows can help you during your job search.

But how?

Well, if you’re up to date on your favorite shows, you’ll be ready to talk about them in an interview. During an entertainment industry interview, you will almost always get asked to name your favorite shows and movies and what you're watching now. And there's nothing worse you can do than answer that question with, “I don’t really watch many TV shows or movies.” A close second is naming a show and not being up to date on it. Imagine you tell your interviewer that your favorite show is Grey’s Anatomy, and it turns out she's also a fan. If you’ve answered this question honestly, this is the perfect situation -- you can geek out about the latest goings-on of Grey-Sloan and turn the interview into a casual conversation, a great way to make interviewer like you. But if you've missed the last three seasons and can't contribute to the discussion, you’ll have lost the interviewer’s trust. You'll never have this problem if you watch tons of TV -- if you spend enough time watching content, you'll likely have multiple favorite shows to pull from that you could speak about intelligently in an interview.

And yes, binge watching your favorite shows can serve as great interview preparation, but this practice is useful on a broader level as well. When you have a good sense of the content landscape, you'll have a clearer picture of the kinds of content you like, and this can help you narrow your job search. When you watch your favorite shows, take note of who produced them and add those companies to the list of employers you’re interested in working for. Many Hollywood hopefuls move to LA and cast a wide net -- they're trying to get a job at any company in the industry, regardless of what content the company produces. In our opinion, that should be a last resort strategy. Your initial focus should be on finding a job that will help you grow into the the kind of role you always dreamed about. A narrower job search will allow you to focus on cultivating a targeted network, plus you’ll find it easier to write cover letters and connect with interviewers who share your enthusiasm. And once you get the job, you’re a lot more likely to enjoy your role. If you never watch sci-fi movies, why would you want to spend 60 hours a week reading sci-fi scripts as a development assistant? You have to consider what will really make you excited about going to work every day, and watching TV and movies regularly can help you find that passion.

Isn’t it great when something most people think of as an indulgence can actually boost your career? Next time you get sucked into a Netflix binge, settle in and enjoy it guilt-free -- after all, it’s getting you one step closer to your dream job.

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How to prepare for a Hollywood job interview

10/12/2018

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You got the call for a job interview! Yay! But you can’t just roll into the interview in your best outfit and wing it. That’s not going to get you hired. Here are a few things you need to do to prepare:

Research the company. Before walking into an interview, you should know who you’re meeting with, what the department does, what the company’s projects are, and the latest company news. If it’s a production company, network, or studio, make sure to watch their top shows. You can never research too much, and we recommend spending at least an hour digging around to see what you can find (not including watching content).
Practice answers to common interview questions. There are a few standard questions you’ll get asked in almost every interview, like “Tell me about yourself,” “What are your strengths/weaknesses,” and, especially in Hollywood, “What are your favorite shows?” Check out our resource library for a handy workbook that walks you through common interview questions, and make sure you have answers for all of them ready to go. It's best to practice these answers out loud, so you might consider completing a mock interview. By showing the interviewer that you expected certain questions and prepared for them, you’re letting the employer know that you’ll be an organized, reliable, and proactive employee.
Know your story. In any interview, there will be some questions you won’t be able to predict. But you do know who you are and why you’d be good for the job. Think about your career trajectory and biggest accomplishments to date, and practice telling your story from the beginning. We like the technique of pretending you’re further along in your career and have been asked to share how you got to where you are. Imagine you’re on an alumni panel at your college, or you’re being interviewed for a major publication, or your grandkids want to know how you became successful. Choose of a frame of reference that makes you feel like you’re on top of the world and recite your story, including any achievements you’re proud of, any missteps along the way, people who’ve helped you, things you’ve learned, etc. Tell yourself your story in the shower or while stuck in traffic. If you do this multiple times, you’ll get a confidence boost and the muscle memory to pull up interesting anecdotes or examples when you’re asked unexpected questions.

The hiring manager assumes that the amount of effort you put into a job application is the greatest amount of effort you’re willing and able to commit to any task. If you don’t prepare at all, the hiring manager will expect that you’ll do even less when you actually have the job. And of course, the more prepared and polished you are, the more you’ll convey that you're enthusiastic about the position and can be trusted to prepare for a big pitch or handle a large project once you've been hired. Don't skip out on this crucial step.

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Two people you MUST impress during a job interview

8/10/2018

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When you go to a job interview, informational interview, or even a general meeting, you want to make the best impression possible on the person you are meeting. Obviously. But there are two other people that could make or break your chances of ever getting a job at the company -- the receptionist and the assistant. Even though they may not make the ultimate hiring decision, receptionists and assistants wield a lot of power when it comes to evaluating potential new employees. If you are rude or dismissive of the lower level people at the company when going in for a meeting, you can be sure that this information is going to get back to the key decision-makers.

Your relationship with a receptionist or assistant begins at the email phase. They’ll often be the ones working with you to schedule the interview, so make sure to use a friendly-but-professional tone in your emails, say thank you, and proofread, proofread, proofread. An email that's too formal (like greeting the assistant as "Ms. Doe" once she's already signed a note as Jane) or too friendly (opening with "Hey girl!!") is going to produce an eye roll or two, and you can bet that if you're email is riddled with typos, your potential employer will find out that you're not as detail-oriented as you claim to be. You should also try to be flexible when scheduling a meeting -- let the person you are meeting with dictate the time and place. Don’t make it difficult for the person scheduling on the other end. If you do, you’ll have made a bad first impression even before you’ve met.

When you arrive at an office for a meeting, greet the receptionist and assistant with a smiling face. Don't distract them with chit-chat while you're waiting unless they engage you first. However, if they end up walking you to a conference room, it's a good idea to make small talk on the way -- if they don't initiate, you can ask a few innocent questions about their day to ease the awkwardness. And if you see them again after a meeting, be sure to let them know that it was nice to meet them and thank them for setting up the meeting.

When you get home, in addition to the thank you note you send to the person you’ve just met with, send a separate email to the assistant or receptionist to thank them for setting up the meeting. Here’s your chance to lock in that good first impression. Even better, you may have an opportunity to create a new relationship if you’re at the same stage in your career as the assistant. If you felt that you had a good rapport with the person who helped schedule a meeting for her boss, you could ask her if she wants to get drinks one evening and continue to build up your network at that company (NOTE: You should only do this after an informational interview, not after a job interview.).

In Hollywood, every interaction counts. Assistants and receptionists are not likely to forget someone who was disrespectful, and they have the power to stop you from working at or with a company. On the other hand, they are likely to remember the person who was exceptionally friendly and kind to them and might even go out of their way to help when the time is right. So be that person. Very little effort and can yield extremely positive results. And besides, it’s the right thing to do.

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