Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

PasturesNew

Exocet wrote: »

Good luck PN. For interviews I sometimes get someone to practice with me, asking those horrible questions like "why do you want to work here" and "what can you offer us". Most of the questions they ask are the same as anywhere, but it helps to have someone else ask rather than just think them through.

Answers to those two are:
- You're the only bugg4hs who've invited me to interview, not bothered who I work for to be honest.
- I'll turn up on time and do a good job.

And, there is no "someone to practice with me". There's just me in my life.

PasturesNew

fc123 wrote: »

Wishing you luck....can you do a practice session with anyone?

No.

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JonnyBravo

PasturesNew wrote: »

Answers to those two are:
- You're the only bugg4hs who've invited me to interview, not bothered who I work for to be honest.
- I'll turn up on time and do a good job.

And, there is no "someone to practice with me". There's just me in my life.

Well don't say the first one whatever you do.
Google them and make up some trite but realistic reason. It's a question which is very poor in that you'll very rarely get an answer which makes you think "what a great candidate" but you get plenty which make you think "no thanks". Of course you may be jesting and theres no way youd answer like that.... I can't tell sorry!
Of course it's just as important to not mention youve only been invited to interview by them. If you like you can say they are the only people youve applied to, but def not you cant get an interview anywhere else.

carolt

GDB2222 wrote: »

Thanks for the very helpful advice. He wants to study history and Politics. He says that the Oxford course is the best-structured course, dealing with the aspects he is most interested in. Obviously, that's a strong point to bring out at the interview. I agree that he'll simply have to shine at the interview, so they'll overlook despite his lack of an A* in politics. He got an A* in history, which is helpful. Above all, he should be taking the chance to read some books this summer, so he can talk about them at the interview.

Workwise, I'm not sure that he can get a lot of directly relevant experience, and the work he has got is quite interesting, and he enjoys it. If you know of any openings at the Downing Street think-tank, I'm sure he could be persuaded to go along, though!

Don't remember that course - maybe it didn't exist in my day, or maybe, like my course, so few people did it that your chances of meeting anyone who did it was v low. I note now that only 46 people do it per year, 71% of applicants get to interview, but only 18% get places - v competitive.

From my experience (albeit out-of-date) of applying for history + something else courses at Oxford, the first thing to note is that not all colleges will offer the course at all and of those that do, a few will 'specialise', ie take more than more person. It's a good idea to apply to colleges that take more than 1 person and have tutors for both parts in college, who are used to people taking the course - they're more likely to view applications positively. Plus just have more places to hand out!

I've just checked online at straight history courses at Oxford, and there the proportion getting in is a (relatively massive) 29.3% - if your son's A* is in History, maybe it would make more sense to applyfor that, and conceivably change once there?

See:

http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/courses/history/history.html (though I'm sure your son has read all this already!).

Or apply to Cambridge, where changing part way through is normal practice, thanks to the Tripos system.

I'm sure your son could apply for work in politics - family connections are helpful here but not essential. If he's prepared to work as a volunteer, then he should be able to get work as a researcher or aide somewhere, to beef up the politics part. Or focus on languages - generally expected in History that you'll be able to read and make sense of sources in the original, or was in my day.

Anyway, hope that helps.

sss555s

Congrats to all those with kids doing well. You must be very proud.


What i don't get is why some of you "mature" students do it.

Is it to give you promotion or you want a better job than your doing right now?

Is it something you felt you always wanted to do and now have the chance?

Or is it a fashion type of thing?


Though i do training and attend exhibitions relating to my work i'd never fancy going back to do "school" work unless for some good reason i really needed to.

tomterm8

PasturesNew wrote: »

Answers to those two are:
- You're the only bugg4hs who've invited me to interview, not bothered who I work for to be honest.
- I'll turn up on time and do a good job.

And, there is no "someone to practice with me". There's just me in my life.

The answer to the first question is "I want to work with your company because I really think I can contribute to it. I really think that my ability to sucessfully deliver projects on time and... blah, blah, etc". In other words, you tell them the skills you have that would make you good at the job.

The second answer is "Well, although I have a lot of ability to deliver objectives, and manage teams, before I can answer that it might help if you describe the first project I'll work on" In other words, you ask them what you'll be doing before waffling on...

carolt

GDB2222 wrote: »

Thanks for the very helpful advice. He wants to study history and Politics. He says that the Oxford course is the best-structured course, dealing with the aspects he is most interested in. Obviously, that's a strong point to bring out at the interview. I agree that he'll simply have to shine at the interview, so they'll overlook despite his lack of an A* in politics. He got an A* in history, which is helpful. Above all, he should be taking the chance to read some books this summer, so he can talk about them at the interview.

Workwise, I'm not sure that he can get a lot of directly relevant experience, and the work he has got is quite interesting, and he enjoys it. If you know of any openings at the Downing Street think-tank, I'm sure he could be persuaded to go along, though!

Oh - forgot to add that a really useful piece of advice is to go on Open Days at as many individual colleges as possible esp those that 'specialise' in his course as described above, or on Subject Open Days. Then, ideally, he should be able to meet the tutor/s and possibly even chat to them intelligently so that at interview he stands out a little as a previous acquaintance, sort of - helpful if his school doesn't have connections to ease the path (and many do, believe me... :eek:).

That way he can get a feel for the ethos/values of the college/tutors, and figure out who he thinks he'd get on with and who would be impressed by his ideas. As an anecdote, I remember sitting in a tutorial with a fellow history student who was v into cricket, I think may have played for the university etc. Anyway, we spent about 30 minutes out of what was my only 1 hour tutorial per week discussing cricket! I felt about as welcome as the bottom of someone's shoe. As I had no interest/ability in any sport whatsoever, I was of very little interest indeed to that particular tutor. And that's not unusual.

So it's worth viewing - chat to current students about tutors if possible, too.

GDB2222

There are 29 colleges that purport to take students doing that combination. Yet, there are only 45 or so students each year. So, presumably some of that 29 never take any. Now, how to find out which?

Davesnave

Not sure how DD2 is going to get on when she hits uni.

She has a job lined up, a decent pad, and even somewhere to keep her ferret, but she is used to doing work on a grand scale. Her course is in Fine Art, and her pieces tend to be at the upper end of what is practicable for two fit persons to carry and/or squeeze through a double doorway. How is she going to manage without a 3.5 tonne van?

I realise now that we have been over-indulgent:o, but I figure the government will probably close down or seriously alter 'airy fairy' courses like hers by 2012 anyway, so the sort of 'installation' she'll be producing by then will be more in tune with a BA in Fine Plumbing.

I can just see it now:

Me: "OK, it's nicely executed and I like the way you've avoided Polyplumb, but why is there a pork pie in the pan and three piranhas in the plexi-glass cistern?"

Her: " Oh...Dad! You just don't get this at all, do you?" :rotfl:

fc123

PasturesNew wrote: »

Answers to those two are:
- You're the only bugg4hs who've invited me to interview, not bothered who I work for to be honest.
- I'll turn up on time and do a good job.

And, there is no "someone to practice with me". There's just me in my life.

OK...howabout listing out some typical interview questions (the type that may come up) on here....we can all make some up ...then getting some 'fixed' answers (non aspie stylee) that you could them memorise?
I know your memory is s*** hot......so worth a shot?

I can do the 'How did you prep this interview?' and it won't be ''I got up, had a shower, a coffee and a smoke then drove here''....no siree..it will be a concise yet insightful response. Promise.:D