By Christine Scarcello
Christine Scarcello recently graduated with a degree in Nutrition from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. She has a previous degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and loves to write about nutrition! Check out her nutrition blog Nourish, or follow her on twitter @_nourish_ She is applying to Dietetic Internships during the November match.
You’ve studied hard all through college, got excellent grades and academic achievements, participated in the nutrition club and other extracurricular activities, and often volunteer within your community. And now it’s time to apply for your dietetic internship. After all the hard work you’ve done, do you really want a silly thing like your email address to stand in the way between you and the internship of your dreams?
While much goes into the internship selection process, I couldn’t help but adapt a few tips I learned from a Registered Dietitian regarding what she deems “inappropriate” when interviewing and hiring clinical dietitians at her hospital. Some of these tips will amaze you, and you’ll wonder, “why would anyone do that?!”… but you may be guilty of a few of these other faux pas… Let’s start with your email address…
1. Get Rid of Cutesy Email Addresses
When you’re applying for a dietetic internship, your email address will be visible on your application and your resume. Do you want the internship director to look at it and wonder, “who is ‘Hot_Mama@yahoo.com*’?” Instead of having a cutesy and juvenile address, create a new email account – even if it’s just for professional purposes – that includes only your first and last name. You can still use your flirty email with your friends, just not future employers or internship directors.
2. Personalize your Voicemail Message
One of my biggest pet peeves is being sent to a voicemail that does not indicate anything other than the phone number I just dialed… or might have just dialed, if I dialed it correctly. When making a call to someone I don’t know, I like having the assurance that I’ve called the right person by reaching a voicemail that includes a first and last name or a personal message. I think that this is common courtesy these days, and that it helps everyone calling you to know that they have indeed reached your voicemail, and not someone else’s. Furthermore, I feel that it is more professional to welcome callers with a personalized message rather than just your name. A typical message should be concise and polite. For example: “This is (your first name, last name here). I am unavailable at the moment, but please leave your name and a brief message and I will return your call as soon as I can. Thank you.” See how easy that is? And it’s so much more professional than a digital recorded voice reading off your phone number.
3. Change or Remove any Ringback Tones
The dietitian who gave me these tips mentioned one potential candidate whom she was calling to set up a job interview with who had an inappropriate ringback tone on her cell phone. After hearing the song, she hung up and moved on to calling other candidates for interviews. For those of you who don’t know what this is, then don’t worry – you won’t be violating this rule. But basically, a “ringback” tone is a song that is purchased or downloaded to your phone and replaces the boring ring that a caller hears when they are calling you and waiting for you to pick up. I always thought that ringback tones were hilarious, especially the introduction: “Please enjoy the music while your party is being reached.” So dramatic. Either chose your ringback song carefully (i.e., no bad words or inappropriate themes) or nix the idea all together… the last thing an internship director or potential employer wants to hear when they’re calling you for an interview is an inappropriate song on the other end of the phone.
4. Be Honest in Your Application
This is a no-brainer, but you would be surprised to learn that some people do lie – or “stretch the truth” - on their resumes and applications. You need to be completely honest when filing out your application for a dietetic internship; not only is it wrong and unprofessional to misrepresent yourself, but you will most likely get caught in the process. The nutrition world is very small – the community of dietitians is very close-knit and everyone tends to know each other quite well. Furthermore, internship directors check references that you give, so it doesn’t help to lie about how many volunteer hours you worked. The dietitian I spoke with used an example of a “volunteer” who rarely showed up when he said he was going to, but put down on his application that he logged over 500 hours of volunteer work. Little did he know, the internship director of the internship he applied for did her dietetic internship with his volunteer coordinator, and after speaking on the phone with her regarding how many hours he really did, he lost his chance of being matched to that program. In this situation, the applicant was applying for an internship on the other side of the country, and figured that the director of the program would have no way of know what he did back home. The moral of this story is to be completely honest in everything you put on your application – you are risking your chances of being matched if you’re caught misrepresenting yourself and your experiences.
5. Keep Your Resume Professional and Simple
Remember that scene in Legally Blonde when Elle makes up her resume – on pink parchment paper – and then spritzes it with perfume? While that scene is really cute, and while that pink resume really made her stand out among the other applicants at Harvard Law School, it is not professional in real life. Resist the urge to stand out via your resume and instead do it in your personal statement with great stories and examples of your achievements. Emphasize your strengths by providing examples from work or school experiences. These will go much further in making you stand out than pretty paper or bright graphics on your resume.
6. Dress Professionally for Interviews
One of the most important things you can do during the interview is to dress professionally. It will make you feel confident and also provide a good first impression to your interviewers. Remember, the individuals on the other end of the table have never met you, and they are looking to put a face with the great achievements you have presented to them on your application. You want to look as collected and polished as your application. Just as you checked, double-checked, and tripled-checked everything about your application before you sent it in, make sure you look your best before the interview. Select an appropriate business casual outfit or a simple black suit. While the suit is not essential, you can’t go wrong with one; it is well accepted as interview attire. If you don’t have a suit, make sure you select a well put-together business casual outfit. Avoid, however, bright-colored suits and extremely trendy pieces. Stick to what’s professional and business-oriented. Make sure your jewelry and make-up are also appropriate for an interview. While I do not want to discourage anyone from expressing his or her individuality, it is best to be less flashy and more professional. Keep any makeup you wear to a “natural” look and select pieces of jewelry that compliment your outfit but that don’t stand out or look gaudy.
With these tips you’ll be sure to impress internship directors in person, via email, or on the phone. Just remember to be yourself while maintaining a high regard for professionalism. Once you’re matched to a program or selected for your dream job you can change your email address back to Hot Mama. But for now, stick with something simple and sophisticated.
*Hot Mama was, unfortunately, an actual (similar) email address that appeared on the resume of an individual applying for a clinical dietetic position. The RD looking through resumes and applications threw hers away without looking any further at it.
Great points Christine!
ReplyDelete