Well, my office just wrapped up our Connection Job Fair. I have worked this Career Fair each year since February 1999. That's A LOT of Career Fairs. And this year, we did something a little different. Connection is a 2 day event. The first day is the actual Career Fair and the second day is the interview day. We have it down to a science. Interviews take place every 30 minutes in a ballroom in our student center. We check students in for their interviews and they all wait outside of the ballroom until the exact time when we open the doors and let the students go into their interview. Sometimes there might be 60 students waiting to enter the ballroom. They all look either scared, uncomfortable or stressed. You can cut the tension with a knife. I couldn't take it any more! I decided we needed to have something to get them pumped up and ease the tension.
The solution laid in the heart of every true Hokie - ENTER SANDMAN! Every Hokie knows that when they hear the opening of that song, something AMAZING is about to happen. See here and here. So we pulled out our speakers, got Enter Sandman cued up and for the rest of the day each student got to hear the greatest walkout song of all time as they got ready to walk into their interview. You could almost feel the tension leave the room each time we turned it on. By the end of the day we were giving out high fives and cheering for each student as they walked in. Some students loved it, some thought we were crazy old people but EVERY single student walked into their interview with a big smile on their face. I have no doubt that smile and extra boost of confidence made a difference. Just like the quote says: Good thoughts will shine out of your face like sunbeams.
So, maybe you can't blast Enter Sandman (or your favorite walkout song) before your next interview or presentation but you can certainly remember that confidence and a big smile can help you win other's over.
How do you get psyched up for important moments in your life?
