As an advisory board member for the Terry Foundation, I have a unique opportunity to hear from college students across Texas: their dreams and inspiration, and especially during these uncertain times, their disappointments and fears.
I hear about the missed graduation ceremony, the disappointment of not being able to present their thesis or not being able study abroad. I hear about the missed debut of their solo, the disappointment of not being able to display their senior art installment or perform a senior project.
But beyond that, I hear about their fear – their anxiousness associated with the unknown.
What does the future hold for them? What happens to their carefully laid plans for success? How can they move forward when internships and job opportunities dissipate?
I don’t pretend to know the answers.
But something to consider is this: when things get better (and they will), and when they get an opportunity to interview, each of them may get asked some form of: “what did you do during the pandemic?”
Perhaps it won’t be as concrete – no employer or interviewer would want to trigger any trauma. Certainly, no one has ever asked me in an interview how Bonfire falling affected me or how September 11 personally affected me or even what I did during the economic downturn of 2008.
But it can show up like this:
“What is a challenge that you’ve overcome?”
“What sets you apart from other candidates?”
“Why should we hire you?”
Of course, these are not “new” interview questions, but what an opportunity for students to work on creating the best narrative in preparation for that inevitable question now.
Certainly, there is a reality to it that I wouldn’t necessarily highlight in an interview: “I finished Tiger King on Netflix in 1 day!”
(Nothing to be ashamed of, but not what I’d talk about in an interview)
Can you talk about how you helped raise funds to help provide meals to university employees who have been laid off?
Or how you created your own virtual learning opportunity by connecting students to lawyers in 21+ sectors when internships were withdrawn?
Maybe you adopted a nursing home with some friends so you could face time with some seniors or sewed masks for hospital workers.
Of course, no pressure to go big like that.
Maybe you decided to pick up another language or work on your family genealogy or read professional development books or started a blog.
The purpose of this suggestion is definitely not to shame anyone for how they are spending their time.
(In candor, I do not have more time. I am personally barely keeping it together in trying to keep up with work, be a present mom and stay married, and check in with family and friends as I can, but this isn’t about me)
If you have the time (like students may have) –this challenging time is actually an extraordinary opportunity to create the answer to an interview question that many have difficulty answering.
Think about how you want to be able to answer the question in the future and use the time you have now to create that reality.
