Help with interview lands great job

Spatial Design graduate Madi Wright was pretty excited when she saw a job come up on SEEK earlier this year that met all her hopes for her first graduate role.

She decided to email them directly with her CV and portfolio and was delighted when this secured her an interview. However, Madi felt unsure of her interview skills, so she decided to visit the Employability Lab and see what they could do to help her.  It was a service she’d passed many times while going to and from class but never got around to visiting before.
“I wanted help to prep for my first big professional interview! I wanted to go to the interview as well prepared as I could be,” says Madi who was completing a postgraduate certificate in Design at the time and really keen to get into a role that drew on her study and skills.

The Employability team helped Madi by taking her through a number of interview questions to make her feel prepared and confident before heading into her interview.
“The main help I got was thinking through typical questions and answers, as well as how to appear confident and present like an ideal candidate.”

It worked! Madi is now a junior designer for Outline Design, working on base builds, space planning, furniture and finishes selection all the way through to quoting and ordering.
“I assist my senior designers and support them while also learning from them. I love when I get to see an idea I have come to life – for it to go from being in my brain, to a concept image/drawing and then participating in selecting and implementing the final design!”

Advice to students

Go for it
Go for jobs that you are keen on, even if maybe you don’t fit all the criteria or have all the listed skills because you can learn on the job, advises Madi. “My job asked for 1- 3 year’s experience but I found just going for it worked well!”

Get experience
I was working part time as a kitchen designer while at university and that was a big help when getting this job, says Madi who urges students to get work experience.
“Because I basic experience in the industry I could come into this role better prepared and with an understanding of the requirements of the industry.”

Want help?

Make the most of our services. The Employability and Career team offers help through workshops and one on one appointments to all AUT students and for graduates for two years after graduation.

To find out what we offer, just sign into Elab Online where you book workshops and appointments and can access other useful resources. Not used Elab Online before?

It’s easy, just sign in with your AUT user name and password, then click on Events to find workshops and appointments.