Courtesy of the Center for Career Excellence
Late last fall, as local student-athletes were starting to transition from fall sports to winter teams, my 13-year-old son, now in eighth grade, proclaimed that he didn’t want to play basketball, a sport he has enjoyed since he was in third grade.
“Everyone else on the team is better than I am,” he insisted, despite plenty of evidence that he would be a key player.
If I’ve learned anything in 18 years of parenting, it’s that being on the mom and dad team means helping your children learn how to navigate feelings of anxiety and self-doubt. We’ve all felt imposter syndrome before, fearing that we aren’t good enough, often at times when we have the skills and abilities required to be successful.
My wife and I tried our best to reassure our son that he would gain a lot by continuing to play the sport that he had — to this point in his life — truly enjoyed. While we told him that we felt like he would be a key contributor to the team, his role on the team mattered less to us than working hard and being a good teammate.
In the end, we were able to convince him it was too early to give up on basketball and he should give it a chance. After the first day of practice, he came home excited about basketball again, and all those fears seemed to have disappeared. Over the course of the season, he ended up being a defensive leader, a rebounding machine, and in the final few games of the year, was making major contributions on the offensive end of the floor. When the school team’s official season ended a couple of weeks ago, he opted to continue playing in local tournaments over the next month or two because he had such a positive experience.
At this point in the column, you’re probably wondering how this relates to the work that the Center for Career Excellence does. So I guess it’s time that I get to the point.
We know that interviews for jobs and internships can be stressful, and for good reason — getting a great job or internship can affect the trajectory of your life! It’s natural to feel like you’re not good enough, even at times when you would be an amazing fit for an organization. So how do you best learn to articulate your skills and abilities in an interview setting?
The Center for Career Excellence offers two ways you can get some practice and practical feedback.
If you have an upcoming interview for a job or internship, you can make a “Interview Preparation” appointment with one of our career coaches in Handshake.
Practice interview prompts and get instant feedback from TalkMeUp.
TalkMeUp is an AI-powered smart coach that enables you to master the most crucial driver of business success: communication. The platform can help you prepare for an interview, gain confidence in your communication skills, and even help you negotiate your salary. After a guided process which offers tips and information, users on TalkMeUp can record answers to prompts and get detailed feedback on the composition of their answer, their voice modulation, body language, eye contact and more.
The best part? St. Lawrence University students get access to all these tools for FREE!
Visit TalkMeUp.co and click on the “Login” button, then click “Login with SSO” and enter “stlawu.edu” in the organization domain to gain access to the platform. You can also scan the QR code below to watch a YouTube video to learn more about this incredible resource.
If you’re feeling anxiety about interviews, tackle it head on! Get some practice, either with one of our career coaches, or with TalkMeUp, and you’ll be feeling more confident in no time!