You can have all the education, knowledge and experience in the world, but if you can’t effectively sell yourself in a job interview, it won’t mean a thing. Job interviewing is a skill just like any other, and it takes thoughtfulness and preparation to give yourself the best chance at that new job or internship.
In my current job position (assistant director of campus recreation at Ohio University), I interview many exercise science students for various positions. At different times throughout the year, I'll interview full-time staff, graduate assistants, managers, strength and conditioning interns, personal trainers and group fitness instructors. The exact interview questions and process will vary between these positions, but many of the concepts crucial to getting a position are the same.
Below are some important tips to help you make the most out of your next job interview.
Dress Professionally
Although you may be applying for a job where your work attire includes athletic shorts or sweat pants, it doesn’t mean that you should wear those things to the interview. Dress according to the position you're applying for (no need to wear a tuxedo to a personal training interview), but it’s better to be overdressed than underdressed, especially in fields of management or those in which you'll be working with young athletes (which demands professionalism at all times). You want to present that professional image right off the bat.
Act Professionally
You don’t want to come across as phony or too rehearsed in your interview, but you still need to speak and conduct yourself professionally during the entire interview process. Just like with your attire, you want to err on the side of caution with how you speak. This seems like a no-brainer, but don’t use slang or swear during the interview process. When I interview a graduate assistant candidate or someone for a student manager position, professionalism is very important because that candidate will be supervising students very close to their own age. In strength and conditioning, the hiring supervisor will want to see that he can trust you to conduct yourself professionally around athletes (especially in the high school or youth setting). Maturity varies greatly between newly graduated job candidates, so your potential employer will be looking to see how maturely you think and act during the interview process.
Showcase Your Passion
While being professional, you still want your personality and passion to shine in the interview. You’ll likely be competing against many other candidates with similar qualifications on paper, and your attitude and personality can be what sets you apart. Your passion will be what keeps you working hard even when the hours are long and the work is tedious, and your employer knows this. They want to know that you’ll be coming to this job for more than the paycheck. Your desire to grow and develop in your knowledge, skills and experience should be evident as you answer interview questions. Even if the job or internship you’re applying for is just a stepping stone or isn’t your “dream job,” you should be making very clear how much you want to be a part of the organization. Research the employer and make sure to emphasize how your own values and priorities have attracted you to those of the organization.
Research the Employer
This is an easy way to impress in a job interview that many candidates drop the ball on. Between social media, Google and using the good old telephone, finding information out about an employer isn’t difficult. When I interview a job candidate (no matter what type of position), I want to see that he took the time to research our facility beforehand. This not only shows that he cares about the position but that he is organized and takes preparation seriously.
When Team elitefts™ Member and NBS Fitness Owner David Allen interviews potential employees, he places a high value on their ability to research the company: “I do my research on the candidates and usually know more about them than they think, so they should also have a really good understanding about what my company is about. The question you must be able to answer is this: ‘Why should I hire you’ and the answer had better be deeper than ‘I'm really passionate about this industry.’ You need to be able to tell me how my investment in you will result in some type of positive gain for my company, monetary or otherwise. So do some research and think about how you would answer that.”
Google not only the company you're applying at but also the names of the person (or people) on the search committee (or who will be performing your interview). Being able to cite the core values of the company and accurately discuss the current components of their organization in your answers will leave a positive impact on the interviewer. You can even call a business to ask general questions as a potential customer if you have trouble finding information online. As you gather information about the employer, you should be able to get a good idea of what the person interviewing you is looking for and what kind of questions you may face in the interview. You should also ask good questions at the end of the interview.
Fellow team member Alexander Cortez notes that asking the interviewer about his personal experience, his vision for the institution's growth and the needs from the new hire are great questions. This demonstrates an aptitude to learn while also showing that you actually care about the company at large and may be worth investing in. Researching the employer can also help you mentally prepare for anything unique that they may be looking for.
For instance, elitefts™ Advisor and Spot Athletics Owner JL Holdsworth takes his potential employees through a unique interview process for strength and conditioning: “For my facility, I won't bring anyone in who isn't athletic. I didn't used to have this stipulation, but now all interviews include a dynamic warm up, hurdle work and jumping drills. They don't have to be world class, but if they can't show me how to do simple athletic movement, they can't be on my staff because that is a big part of what we do. I end all lifting interviews with a Prowler challenge. This shows me if they have balls to not quit when the shit gets hard.”
Know What You Don't Know
There isn't any quicker way to turn a potential employer off than to come across as a know-it-all or someone unwilling to learn. All of us are constantly learning and developing, but as a young exercise science student either still in school or just graduating, inexperience will be one of your biggest weaknesses (no matter how many years you’ve been “working out”). Understanding that and expressing a willingness and desire to learn and grow will go a long way in impressing a potential employer. Be confident in your current abilities but also be realistic and aware of what you need to improve. As you're honest about your current weaknesses, express to the employer that you know the position will help you develop them.
Team elitefts™ Advisor Alwyn Cosgrove has worked in the fitness industry for years in various positions and says that the “biggest deal breaker for me is usually the young kid who acts like he knows it all. Not necessarily cocky or confident but giving off that ‘unwilling to learn’ vibe. The reality is [if you're] straight out of college, you don't know anything. I know that and they know that. I don't expect them to know everything. As soon as we can get that out into the open, we can start learning and growing and helping the company.”
Show What You Do Know
While showing humility and awareness of your weaknesses, remember that you're also selling yourself to the person conducting your interview. Know your strengths and make sure to emphasize how those strengths can benefit the organization. Align your strengths with the mission and values of the company, and explain how your strengths move them closer to their goals. This goes hand in hand with researching the organization. If they are a business that is revenue driven, your knowledge of anatomy and physiology will only impress them if you can explain how it will help their bottom line. Be aware of the ways that you can help the organization and express that to the best of your ability.
Team elitefts™ member Dave Kirschen works at a private training facility and emphasizes that as a potential employee, you should focus on what you'll bring to the table, not just in knowledge base but in your ability to be successful.
Be Prepared to Persevere
Job searching is rarely an easy task, and the exercise science field is very oversaturated with job candidates. This leads to a highly competitive environment. Oftentimes, it's a challenge just to get a phone interview for a job or internship. Humble yourself and be prepared for the possibility that you may churn out a hundred applications before you get a job offer.
Elitefts™ Director of Education Mark Watts knows this to be especially true with strength and conditioning: “From the hiring perspective, competition breeds extensive preparation. Most schools are requiring applicants to send a complete training program for the sports they may be working with. They are also required to send videos of themselves coaching two to four different lifts. And that's just for an unpaid internship! It's incredibly saturated. Employers don't have the luxury of ‘taking a chance’ on a new hire they don't know."
Once you get your foot in the door and start to expand your experience, your network and links to other opportunities will grow. In the meantime, keep pushing forward and persevering through the job search process. Treat every interview with a fresh perspective, and learn from each experience you have, especially the interviews that didn’t land you a job.
Along with those tips for approaching the job interview, there are some common questions that you’ll likely face no matter what organization you're applying to. The exact questions will vary between strength and conditioning, commercial facilities, campus recreation and other fields, but oftentimes the themes are very similar. You don’t want to write out rehearsed answers to these questions, but thinking through them and even writing out some bulleted points linking your experience to them can be very beneficial (especially for a phone interview where it can be easy to start rambling).
Below are ten common interview questions that you’ll likely face at some point in the interview process:
- What about our program/organization interests you?
- What are you hoping to get out of this position?
- Where would you like to be career-wise five years (or 10 years) from now?
- What can you bring to our program/organization that we don’t already have in place?
- Describe a time that you and your supervisor didn’t see eye to eye on something and how you handled the situation.
- What is your greatest strength? Greatest weakness? (And how do you plan to develop your weakness?)
- What do you look for in a supervisor?
- What would you look for in hiring an employee?
- What is your proudest accomplishment professionally and why?
- What is your training/coaching/supervisory philosophy?
As you can see, even though the job interview is just a small part of your career, it is extremely important and takes preparation. Interviewing effectively can put you miles ahead of your peers, and it is a skill that you need to build intentionally. Think through these things and walk into your next interview confident and ready for anything they throw at you.
