I’m about to graduate with a Bachelors in Information Systems. So far with my 6 years of college; I have worked full-time/part-time in the hopes of not taking out student loans. With three months left before my graduation, I am happy to say I owe $0 in student loans! I need away to word this in my resume where It can maybe help me standout from others who owe 20-30k in student loans.
I also need serious help with job interview. I SUCK at them! The whole time I’m thinking “God, when will this be over?!” I get real panicky, sweat so much that by the time the interview is over, I’m soaked! I lose my train of thought, voice becomes shaky, I get a lump in my throat, my heart is raising at 100mph. I just don’t know what I can do. This is a deal sentence for me!
Congratulations on not carrying any loans upon graduation - it may prove well worthwhile to have spread college over six years so that loans are not an issue for the following 10+! However, employers don’t care about your debt load; it is completely irrelevant to hiring (except insofar as a credit check is needed per company policy). The way to word it in your resume is not to include it… sorry!
Regarding interviewing, look to your school’s career services center. They can offer your advice on how to prepare properly for a particular interview and can match you with somebody to perform a mock interview. Plenty of my classmates took advantage of that kind of prep, and all of them are glad they did.
In terms of how you could (possibly) think to give yourself more confidence, consider this: In your years leading up to this point, you have interviewed for jobs where you are the one getting the most benefit. If you apply to a wage job at a fast food place or clothing store, you provide value to the company, but the hiring process is simple - you go in for an interview and they choose to hire or not, and then onboarding is just a matter of shadowing somebody for a day or two before you can get in and start producing. If you choose to leave, it’s no big deal since they can simply hire somebody else in short order.
When applying for a full time job, the process is more diligent on both sides. You will do multiple interviews, be paid much more, and take much longer to get up to speed and start being truly productive. Training and onboarding can be measured in weeks or months, not hours or days. They are willing to invest so much in an employee because you will provide value that cannot be easily replaced. As a result, YOU have power during the interview process - you are more meaningful to the company in one of these roles than as a busser, barista or cashier (not saying those roles aren’t important… just easier to replace).
You will have your best interview if you think of it as a two way street: the company is trying to figure out if you can do the job and fit in, and you are trying to figure out if the company will help you reach your long term goals. Don’t make the mistake of being too selfless. If it’s all about the company and not about you, then you won’t have a plan to advance, and if you do not plan to advance, you will become replaceable as you need to be paid more to provide the same value. If you have a plan to advance, then the company will know that you want to add more value as time goes on, and as you add more value, you become a better investment for the company and the company becomes a better investment for you.