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As a student getting ready to move into the professional world it is extremely important that I keep my cool. All students should. For many of us, we think that because we have a college degree that we are entitled to a career as soon as we toss our caps into the air. We’ll I’ve got news, we’re not. It seems to me that the more you can ground yourself on the fundamentals that you learned in college, the better your chances are to get your foot in the door. I have put a lot of thought into the matter and have realize that there is a huge difference in being confident and being “cocky”. The difference is in how well and how fast you can humble yourself.

Take for instance if a recruiter were to ask you,”How much experience do you have in strategic communications?” Be realistic, don’t boast about the three campaigns that you did in your senior seminar, it just makes you come off like you’re entitled to the position. Rather, play it like so:

1. Answer the question by saying something like, “I was able to gain some knowledge in strategic communications as a senior and I would love to be able to learn more about the practice. It would add on to my  knowledge from my three strategic campaigns I completed as a senior.
2. This may lead to a follow up question- (that’s a good thing) – The recruiter then may ask you.” Oh really, Can you tell me more about your campaigns. This would seem like an open door to start boasting about all your accomplishments. GUESS WHAT – IT’S NOT. Remain calm and stay grounded. This might be the hardest part of all but if you can do it correctly you just might become memorable to the recruiter. Try saying something along the lines of, “I was able to fall in love with the addicting field of strategic communications when working on these campaigns. I know I have much to learn, but in one of my  campaigns I was able to complete a plan that carried  the organization though a crisis situation and it concluded with a positive outcome.” Obviously, you can go into details about what your strategies were, but keep in mind that fine line of being over-confident.
3. Once you have finished that part of the question, it is time to seal the deal. Follow up with a complement and a question. The reason for this is to show that you are more interested in the conversation than with telling every last accomplishment of your college career. Be sure to remember that you’re in the field of communications and to make sure you are connecting with people. Say something along the lines of, “Knowing your companies great reputation on strategic communications, is there any process to help me work collaboratively so that I can maximize my learning?”

If you can manage to make it through an open-ended question like that, then you should be able to make it through almost any question that might test your ability to stay grounded. Remember that after reading this, it is not the all knowing guide to how to answer questions, it is rather a reminder to us college grads that we are not yet professionals. We need to take one step at a time and please remember to be confident in who you are, but  watch out for crossing that thin line of being overconfident.