Santiago Gaughan/The Cougar
In The Cougar’s weekly anonymous advice column, I talk about preparing for a job interview, school tips for the upcoming semester and frogs. To submit your questions for future issues, click the “Ask Ashley” button on our home page.
Do you have any job interview tips you want to share? If yes, what are they?
Howdy anon and thanks for the question. I’m assuming that you are job hunting right now (or about to), hence the question. Interviewing for a new job can be nerve-wracking, but I think the key thing is to practice.
What I like to do is to research the organization or company I want to work for. You want to know as much about their mission, goals and what they do. Another way to think about it is like a date. You want to impress your date as much as possible, so you find out everything about them to woo them. In this case, to woo your chosen organization, you take what you learned about it and use it towards cultivating answers for potential questions during the interview.
Where do you find potential interview questions, you may ask. You may find them on Glassdoor, a favorite website of mine, or you can compile common interview questions. As always, practice makes perfect. So be sure to practice your answers with someone for improvement tips.
If you need extra help, consider visiting University Career Services on campus. They were pretty helpful in getting my resume together. All in all, job interviews are very much like a one-on-one date on “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette.”
Just remember to be yourself, dress professionally, and be prepared to charm your interviewer’s pants off. Perhaps you can get that shiny Neil Lane diamond ring at the end. And by a ring, I mean the job offer. Best of luck!
Ashley, Ashley, Ashley, the new semester is here. What are some useful school hacks that other students might not know?
Happy new start of the semester, anon. Hopefully, this spring semester goes smoothly for you. Honestly, I don’t have many original school hacks since I mostly do what everyone else does: study, procrastinate and spiral from being stressed. And while it’s not the healthiest way to do school, it’s been working for me.
Maybe that’s something you should take from this. Don’t do what I do, anon. I mean, unless it’s working for you. One tip I can suggest is searching the title of your textbook from YouTube and find similar lectures using the book. This tip typically helps those in STEM-related classes, especially biology or anatomy and physiology.
Another tip is joining study groups. I think they help with keeping up with the class and its coursework. See, these are very unoriginal school hacks. But you asked, and I delivered. Regardless, I hope it helps.
How can I improve my relationship with my pet frogs?
Okay, so this is a question. And I guess I’ll provide an answer. For starters, I don’t have the slightest clue about frogs. I just know they make sounds, they are slimy and they are outside like the City Girls, JT and Yung Miami.
Have you considered talking to them? Usually, that helps. What do frogs speak anyways? Frog-anese? Ribbet? Whatever they speak, I’m sure they will like it.
Honestly, as long as you give them food, water and shelter, your frogs probably think highly of you anyways. I’m honored that you think I would know a thing or two about frogs. Maybe next time, hit up your local PetSmart for questions like this. They are more qualified than a random UH student who writes for The Cougar.
