I have a question regarding the appropriate thing to do in an interview. This is in relation to Question #17 (Having questions about the job or the company to ask the interviewer), from the Quintessential Careers Job Interviewing Quiz.

Is it appropriate to have a written list with me and pull it out to ask the questions?

Interview preparation is essential, and the more any job-seeker can do to prepare, the better the chances for success.

One of the issues we stress is that job-seekers should always have a few questions to ask the interviewer. Asking questions shows your interest in the position and in the employer. Its also critical that you know as much as possible about the employer and the job so that you can make a more informed decision if a job offer is made.

So, can you have a written list?

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Even if you’re a straight A student with perfect SAT scores who volunteers ten hours a week, your odds of getting into an Ivy League college are pretty slim. And even though you’re well aware that colleges and universities use a wide variety of factors to determine which students they decide to accept, rejection hurts.

It’s easy to get upset if you receive a college rejection letter. Feeling bad is completely understandable—we all want to be wanted. Although it might feel like the Earth has stopped spinning, it hasn’t. You’ve got to pull yourself together and figure out where to go from here.

Three important suggestions:

Be realistic and avoid putting yourself down.

Let’s be realistic. The world is

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In the absence of information, we as people often go with impressions that come in piecemeal and gut instincts and maybe prior tendencies.

It is easy for a committee (no matter how professional and well intentioned and skilled) to misfocus on impressions and pre-existing ideas if one doesn’t have empirical evidence. It’s easy to sort of lose one’s way into focusing on politics or other external issues to the work. That sort of concern was at the forefront of my mind when I was serving on a recent committee assignment. To help us and our busy leader to focus, we all realized that more factual data would be helpful for our decision-making.

What was “at stake”? The commi

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In a recent study conducted in the state of Washington, researchers evaluated the online education courses and the completion rates for Washington’s community colleges. The push for community colleges to offer some form of online degree programs and courses has improved enrollment rates; however, researchers also noticed a more alarming trend among those taking online courses. According to an article in Inside Higher Ed, community college students enrolled in online courses had a significantly higher rate of failing courses, leaving the degree program, or not returning the next semester.

According to the article, the study cites the consistently growing enrollments in online programs with the lack of preparedness for online coursework.

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