Internships and jobs for Elon University students are a big part of the Elon experience, with 92 percent of students completing an internship before graduation according to Elon’s website.
In late March, the Student Professional Development Center (SPDC) introduced a new resource for students to use before their upcoming interviews for jobs and internships.
For those with a major that falls under the School of Communications or the Martha & Spencer Love School of Business, an internship is a requirement in order to graduate. It is crucial for these students to develop the interview skills necessary to land an internship.
Big Interview is a tool available for all Elon students to use to improve their interview skills. The tool allows students to have mock interviews online and lets the student know how to improve their responses.
Big Interview has a database that provides questions typically asked in interviews and offers tips in the best way to answer the question. It also lets students post their answers to mock interview questions and have others rate their answers.
“Elon students do a great job of being involved and creating a strong resume,” said sophomore Thomas Coughlin. “However, interview skills are the best indicators of getting a job, and they often get overlooked. For Elon students specifically, it will be a big step in moving toward the higher, better jobs.”
Coughlin is a student ambassador at the SPDC and has been in charge of promoting Big Interview to students on campus. He has used social media and mass emails in order to make students aware of the service.
“The service is a hidden gem, because not very many Elon students have known about it until the last month,” Coughlin said.
Freshman Sylvia Ellington is aware of what SPDC has to offer because of a workshop she attended with her “Elon 101” class. But she had not heard about Big Interview. When she found out what the service could do for her, she knew it would be helpful.
“I’m aiming for getting a job or internship the summer after my sophomore year,” Ellington said. “I think I would use Big Interview to help shake the anxiety off before the interview and practice my answers before.”
The service, which ordinarily carries a pricetag, is now free for Elon students.
“It has been out, very well-known and well-used across multiple universities, it is accredited by and created by one of the best interview specialists in the country,” Coughlin said. “I think Elon students are often very busy and do not have time to go to SPDC to do a mock interview, so this service is 24/7, online and very accessible for them to improve their interview skills.”