Podcast Final Ver

Brianna Webb talks about her website, "All About Brianna Webb," which she created to manage a first impression and showcase her abilities in a portfolio format. She believes first impressions are important based on her experience with a failed interview. She shares how she learned from her mistakes and improved in subsequent interviews. Brianna emphasizes the importance of creating a positive impression during interviews and how her website can help with that. She also mentions the benefits of including her hobbies and writing samples on the website. Brianna concludes by expressing her goal to create a confident and passionate image of herself through her website. Hello, my name is Brianna Webb, and today I want to talk about my website, the ideas behind it, my experiences that led to these ideas, and some future goals for my website. My website, titled All About Brianna Webb, was made with the idea of managing a first impression. Eventually, I want to be able to use this website as a portfolio in the future when applying to jobs and include it on any professional profiles like my LinkedIn, Instagram, and eventually X. I find it to be a great tool to showcase my abilities in an organized manner without recruiters having to ask for a writing sample or project sample separately. Not only this, but I find that interviews with recruiters go smoother when it turns into a casual yet informative conversation. Not only does it feel less stuffy and stifling for me, but I notice recruiters also tend to seem more relaxed and casual. I think the reason for first impressions are so important, and people overlook them a lot, has to do with my experience with Senio's Health. My mother works there currently and is well known throughout the company. It was recruitment time for upcoming seniors last year, and I was one of them who applied. I had five rounds of interviews from different departments to see where I fit best. I was essentially promised the role, which got my hopes up. My first interview went bad to say the least. Not only did I wake up late, but I hadn't prepared what I would wear and threw on this sweater. The interviewer didn't like that, and I was told her opinions from the scouting lady. Not only that, but she felt I was too reserved and unenthusiastic. I felt as though I'm a naturally quiet person, and I tend to only ask questions when I'm confused. I realized quickly that interviewers want you to ask questions, so I prepared some for the next interview. It went unremarkably, but the lady appreciated my questions, which prompted her to give me some advice. She said, and I quote, it's important to maintain a good first impression like you did here today. I know you have a few other interviews lined up. Take your experience here and carry it over to the next, end quote. I took advice to heart and made sure I prepared accordingly. Ultimately, they chose another two candidates as I was third on her list, apparently. The next was a VP of the branch, and I took all the advice from my previous interviews. She loved speaking with me and made sure I knew as much. I had plenty of questions for her, and I made sure to keep my expression enthusiastic, as if what she was saying was just the best thing in the world. We even connected on the fact that I had a dog after mine climbed in my lap during the interview. Unfortunately, I was a strong candidate, but the move this summer for them had seemed to be to take returning interns. Not only this, but they had an influx of people wanting to become interns for the summer, so it was very competitive. Getting to my last interview, the lady personally gave me her own analysis and rundown of our interview over email. She spoke about how she loved our interview, and I helped the conversation flow well. She mentioned how she liked the questions I had and felt very engaged, but she mentioned that the company wanted returning interns, and she was trying to secure a position for me as an exception. Unfortunately, she could not, but told me to stay in touch with her. As I went through my interviews, I learned firsthand what I needed to do, and it was an enriching experience. Those first few moments in an interview, especially over Zoom, are very, very important. It can make or break how much someone helps you and whether they choose you or not. I personally feel very happy for the last interviewer who tried her hardest for me to get a position after two months when the initial round of interviews are over. This is why I want my website to help create an image of me in their minds beforehand. With a link to the website on my resume, they can see my hobbies and maybe even relate to them, too. I've had a couple of interviews outside of this instance where my dog would be sleeping behind me or climbing my lap, and it would instantly create a connection and have the interview feel more lighthearted and less serious. I also find it handy to not have to pick and choose which writing sample to show my interviewer. If they ask for it, they can simply pick which one they wish from the website themselves. To briefly add on to the instance of first impressions, a couple of years ago, my father ran into me in an interview with the former communications and public relations director for our town's mayor. I was extremely nervous, as she was an important figure in the town, and it showed, but I dressed to my best and answered her questions with confidence. I even told her how nervous I was because of her status. After handing her a writing project, she was very impressed, and that was what landed me that internship. She said she had almost not selected me due to my quiet nature, but she saw how passionate I seemed to be about the field we mutually worked in, so I didn't completely take failures with internships in my life, after all. All in all, I want to create that first image of myself after editing the website more. I don't want to be seen as unenthusiastic or boring. I want to be seen as confident and passionate, bridge the gap of being just a stranger to being another person with hobbies that the recruiters can relate to, and have ease of access to past work in the portfolio section. I just want to have fun with it, to be honest. Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoyed and learned a bit more about me, and have the best rest of your day.