#to be honest and self-aware and make competent decisions and help me rather than trip on their ego

[ignatius-burning]

Sorry if we worried u we're not ok but we we're well on our way to being ok, ok? we got the body fed and the we that lost it is away in bed we've got our finest brain cells on the job, no worries.

[boldmoveprruitment]

How do I best handle a PR Job Interview?

In our previous article, we talked about how to do all you can ‘win’ the interview before you even get in the room. This time it’s all about how to win it when you’re in it. In fact, we want you to ‘win’ so badly that it’s all we can do to stop ourselves from stowing away in your bag and coming to the interview with you, to whisper tips as you go. But we can’t, really, unless you have a really big bag.

Presuming you don’t, however, here are some top tips to take with you in your head:

1. Be specific

Incompetency-based interviews (which we find are more and more frequent, as opposed to a more generic ‘chat’), you’ll be asked questions relating to competencies (natch) that will make you successful in the role you’re applying for.

So if you want to prove your absolute appropriateness, make sure you talk about specific past experiences, rather than your general way of working. Also be selfish – blow your own trumpet about how brilliantly you did something in particular (though with a self-aware form of delivery, of course).

2. Don’t feel disheartened

Competency-based Interviews are very structured, with every candidate being asked the same predetermined questions. Your interviewer will also doubtless be doing that unsettling thing of scribbling notes throughout the interview – but don’t worry, they’re just making sure they have an accurate record of everything you’ve said.

The combination of the two may make the interview feel a little impersonal, but they’re just trying to be completely fair and objective – like procurement people, but with personalities.

But there should time at the beginning and the end for you to ask questions and be your astounding self, which can be a good chance to build rapport and leave the interview on a much more personal note.

3. Don’t panic

Bear in mind that these questions are not designed to trip you up; in fact, they’re supposed to get the best out of you. After all, they’re asking you about things you’ve actually done rather than your abstract reflections on the long-term effect on Christianity of the 1378 Papal Schism.

This is your chance to show what you’re really made of and to parade your incredible achievements. So practice those answers, sit up straight, look people in the eye, speak slowly, concisely and confidently and you’ll ace it like anything.

4. Ask wisely

One of the most daunting parts of an interview is when you’re asked the dreaded “do you have any questions for us?” It’s tricky, because you don’t want to appear like you haven’t listened to or understood what you’ve just been told, but you do want to show an avid interest in all things them. So just how do you do that?

We’ve gathered some suggestions below – but remember to use them flexibly, depending on how much is revealed throughout the interview itself. It’s good to go in with a pre-prepared list, but as with anything in life, use your judgement and think on your feet. So here we go – some questions to ask and how to ask them

Also Read: How do I best prepare for a PR interview?

a) Filling in the background

Firstly, of course you’ll have done your pre-interview research, so there may well be things about the company or team on which you’d like some clarification and expansion. So, you could ask questions such as:

Can you tell me how the role fits into the team?

What are the team’s wider objectives, and how does this role fit into that larger picture?

These are good for gathering background information and helping you get more of an honest picture of what it would really be like to work there. Remember, the interview is for your benefit just as much as the employer’s; like in a Marriage, you both have to get on with each other and feel like you’re making the right decision if it’s going to work. Unlike a marriage, you don’t have to buy them an expensive present every year.

b) Nitty gritty

For more practical questions on what you’ll actually be doing or what’s going to be expected of you, ask something like:

What are the main relationships I would have to build?

What would my KPIs be over the first three months?

Can you give me an idea of a typical day?

Questions like this help you determine if the day-to-day of the job would be right for you, as well as showing the interviewer that you’re keen to hit the ground running like a terrifyingly efficient machine.

c) Because we’re all human…

However formal the setting might appear, just remember your interviewers are human like you (probably), so taking a little bit of personal interest in them is no bad thing. Try something like:

How did you get into this organisation?

What do you wish you’d known before you started?

What makes you proud to work there?

d) And finally…

You don’t want to get to the end of the interview and felt like you haven’t sold yourself well, or that you’ve missed any opportunities to talk about some great relevant experience, so why not ask something like:

Are there any criteria you think I haven’t fulfilled?

Would you like me to expand on anything further?

Remember: the questions you ask will likely form your last chance to make a good impression (unless you’re planning to leave them with a jiffy bag full of used notes), so do follow the tips above as far as you can and ask wisely!

These shouldn’t be the only questions you ask, but it’s usually a good idea to show that you take an interest in the people around you. Plus, most people do love to talk about themselves

[dallinclarkcollege]

FINAL PIECE

Munich - fineliner and digital editing

Prague - illustrator pen-tool

Budapest - pencil drawing

Vienna - risograph print

Rome - watercolour and pen illustration

Florence - pencil drawing

Pisa - illustrator pen-tool

Nice - watercolour and pen illustration

Nimes - risograph print

Agen - fineliner and digital editing

Interrail Ticket - fineliner and illustrator pen-tool

Final Evaluation

The context of the brief, and the starting point of the project, was the idea of ‘Curiosity’. We were given a task to find ‘curiosities’ which would spark ideas and bring inspiration for our own projects. This meant that my project was able to diverge from my peers’ work, and I was completely in control of where my idea could go. Self-initiated and independent projects pose a few problems for me, one being time-managing and dealing with procrastination, and the other being pushing my ideas far enough, rather than keep them in the preliminary stages of development. This is what I initially struggled with; the ideas I had explored after the ‘curiosities’ task and in the first few weeks of the project were not inspiring me to develop them further. From the beginning of the project, I knew that I wanted to make a series of illustrations, and present them in a way that would display the skills I’ve learnt over the last two years, and it wasn’t until I made my display box that I landed on the idea of inspiring places and the feeling of wanderlust.

Travelling for an extended period of time and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is important in regards to character growth and becoming more culturally aware. The aim of my project is to inspire my audience to travel the world and learn about other cultures, languages and histories.

Illustration became as my specialism because most of the work I wanted to create was image based, and I wanted to be able to explore many materials, techniques and processes, which illustration allows. I was able to use analogue and digital processes to create a variety of different styles which I tied together with the simple colour scheme of red and black. The aim was to show my audience what I have learnt and developed over the last two years on this course, and I feel that was done successfully by the range of work I produced.

The main reason I chose to explore this idea of travelling and the feeling of Wanderlust is because of the prejudices people have towards other countries, their people and their cultures. My friends and I explored Europe for three weeks due to this feeling of Wanderlust, and in every city and country we went to, we had an idea of what we thought it would be like. It wasn’t until we were actually there, meeting people and exploring the places and their cultures, that our opinions shifted away from stereotypes and prejudices to honest opinions rooted in experience. I wanted to inspire other people, specifically younger people who might not be settled into their uninformed opinions, to explore other cultures for themselves rather than taking the word of someone else.

My research started months before this project began whilst travelling through Europe on a three-week trip, which was ultimately the main inspiration for this project, I gathered many photos of cultural landmarks and inspiring places which I have used as primary research and reference for my illustrations. Once the project began primary research continued by collecting objects, images and ideas which could inspire my theme, and visiting The Design Museum exhibition Designer, Maker, User. A large portion of my research was of artists who inspired me, including Michael Craig-Martin who was the focus of one of the workshops. Books and artists’ websites were of great use to me as they not only showed the artists’ work, but lead me to explore and take inspiration from other artists and themes as well.

Michael Craig-Martin became a direct inspiration for two of the illustrations I used for my final piece, however, it was artists like Max de Radiguès and Peter Kuper whose illustrative style and story-telling skills lead me to adding the narrative of my own story to my project. Their work inspired questions of intrigue and feelings of wanderlust and I wanted my work to create the same effect in my audience.

The research I presented across my production files and my blog, allowing myself space to analyse, evaluate and sketch from their work. This allowed me to understand why the artists’ work attracted me, and how I can use their work to inspire my own.

My idea developed naturally throughout the duration of the project. In my initial idea the format of the final piece was very different, as I wanted to make a series of large illustrations to display in exhibition which could then be made into books which I could give to the three people who I travelled with as a memento of the trip. During the experimentation stage of the project I made an A3 ink illustration of a map of Europe. This then inspired me to make a piece which was based specifically around the route that we took, and the places we saw. The idea then progressed to adding the route to the map, and stringing the pieces together, linking the illustrations together and making them one cohesive piece, rather than many different ones. It was after I had made my A1 map, and had begin to make the smaller pieces, that the idea of making a series of typographical pieces of the place names occurred. Peer review and tutor feedback was extremely helpful in this process as my idea morphed from one idea which I had decided on, to progressing it further into a piece which I find much more interesting and I think is more inspiring to an audience than a series of posters on the wall. The final piece I have made draws the audiences eyes in and around the images, across the string holding it together and out to the typography. By allowing myself to develop my idea and explore, and experiment, it has ultimately made my final piece stronger and more engaging, and it was the best, and hardest decision I made throughout the whole project.

I spent the majority of weeks 9 through 12 developing work for my final piece, and refining the idea and design. By giving myself four weeks for this part of the work, I was able to make a total of 23 pieces to collate as my final piece. This was more than enough time to make my final piece, and still left me with 9 weeks for initial research, idea development, workshops, evaluation and exhibition preparation and instalment.

Although I felt that my skills were competent before this project began, I have gained a lot of confidence in my ability to communicate through analogue and digital illustration. This, I think, is proven by the sheer amount of pieces I made for the exhibition, 11 smaller illustrations of places around Europe, and the ticket we used to get there, eleven typographic pieces hand-printed and digitally edited, and one A1 ink and acrylic painting, stitched into with red embroidery thread.

The most successful aspect of my final outcome is how all of the components interact with each other. In exhibition, the work I have created would have been too vast to be displayed in a grid formation, but the way they have been presented allows them to become one cohesive piece. This wouldn’t have happened, had it not been for discussion with my peers and my tutor throughout the development and making process. It was that feedback and casual discussion that allowed me to push my idea further, to a place that I wouldn’t have been comfortable exploring had it not been for their support.

This final project has been a great success for me in many ways, I’ve found myself extremely invested in the theme and was lucky enough to be able to apply it to my own life experience which has pushed me to be very motivated in the development and production of my idea and, ultimately, my final piece. My ability to explore, experiment, research, analyse and develop has been tested in the last two years on this course, and now I feel as though, at the end of this final project, I have progressed a great deal across every aspect of creating a self-initiated project. My downfall, unfortunately, is still time management, and whilst I have definitely improved, I find myself diving into one aspect of a project, and leaving other parts behind. If there was anything I could change about my productivity, it would be making sure I was spreading my time evenly between all aspects of the project, so as not to feel as unbalanced at the end of the project. I found myself being very productive in the development of my idea and final piece that the research and analysis of mine and others work needed to be improved.

In the future I hope to undertake more projects similar to this. Unlike other projects I have done in the past, I have found myself engaged and interested at every point throughout Curiosity. The last two years on this course, and especially this last project, have allowed me to progress to a point where I am ready and capable to move onto University. The tasks I have faced throughout this last project, presenting my ideas, pushing myself to create a final piece worthy of exhibition, and relating my work to real-life problems has taught me invaluable skills that I will take with me to further education and into my career.