Jayme Hoy is a senior at Miami (OH) University in Oxford, Ohio.  An active member of Campus Activities Council, Chi Omega Sorority, and student manager of all campus tour guides on campus, Jayme has built her own life at Miami while being over 2,000 miles from home.  Tag along as we follow her journey throughout her Senior Year.

In my last post, I mentioned I felt pretty confident after Career Fair—turns out I actually did make some positive impressions, and I landed several interviews. Yesterday, was my first of four in the next week, and I felt pretty good upon leaving. Throughout the day, all of my housemates, friends, and parents kept asking me the same questions: “How did it go?” “What did they ask you?” “Do you think you’ll get a second interview?”

As I answered the same questions over and over all day, I had two thoughts:

1. I’m never telling anyone about an interview again!

2. How do I know if it went well?

It’s one thing to feel confident leaving the interview, but how do I know if I was able to properly communicate my skills and the value I will add to a company, or if I’m even what the company is looking for?

In a frenzy, I began Googling these types of questions. I found all sorts of similarly-named articles, like “10 Signs Your Interview Went Well” “6 Signs the Interview Went Well,” “12 Ways to Tell How the Interview Went.” Some of the “signs” were as simple as “read in the interviewer’s eyes that he or she really liked your answers,” while some were more substantial.

While they all differed in the emphasis they placed on certain items, all the lists had one important similarity.  They all mentioned to pay attention to the flow of communication during the interview: If the recruiter spends more time asking you questions, he or she may still be trying to figure out if you are a fit for the company. If the recruiter spends more time answering your questions about the company, then he or she may trying to be selling you the company.

Unfortunately, many of these “Tip Lists” applied to more managerial and executive positions for interviews held in office buildings, not to entry-level interviews on college campuses. However, I believe that it’s pretty safe to say that in this economy, and with thousands of college seniors applying to multiple job openings, just getting an interview right now is already a sure sign that the company is interested in you. They surely aren’t giving interviews to everyone. The hiring manager of the company I interviewed with yesterday said she received a large number of applicants just from Miami University- and granted only 36 interviews. In my eyes, I’m already closer to the finish than most will even get.

Have you had an experience with interviews yet?  How do you think it went?