Disclaimer: Anything written in this blog represents the opinions of the author, and no one else. Each blog is written lightly, and is not intended to offend any of the mentioned businesses, locations, students, or staff.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot get away from restaurants. I land a job in retail, but I still need to work as a server at night to pay my bills. I am hired as an intern in the field of my major, but 15 hours a week on an hourly wage can’t support my lifestyle, so I find myself applying to a new restaurant in the area to pay for rent.

This time, I find myself applying to Beer Works in Lowell to help me save for a car. This week I had two interviews, and next week I will begin training.

Interviews don’t make me nervous. Sure, I have to prepare for them and I may get anxious a minute for the interviewer enters the room, but I do not lose sleep the night before or gain a pool of sweat in my armpits as I wait.

Going into Beer Works for my interviews, I felt prepared and assumed that the interviews would be a breeze like all of the other interviews I have had for restaurants in the past. Surprisingly, during my second interview with the General Manager of Beer Works Lowell, I was asked some questions that threw me off guard. These included “What is your favorite ice cream?”, “What sort of music do you listen to?”, and “If you could sit down and chat with anyone in the world right now, who would it be?”

Alanis Morissette is one of my favorite artists. Isn’t she beautiful?

Sheryl Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook, and recently published a book names Lean In. I would love to sit down and pick her brain!

Somehow, I answered these questions and supported my answers with explanations and examples. They made me wonder though, what if the person interviewing me hated mint chocolate chip ice cream? Or, what if he thought that Alanis Morissette was some whiny feminist? Would his personal opinions have a large influence on whether or not I would be hired? Or, was he asking these random questions simply to see how I handled the seemingly unrelated questions?

I know that many employers ask nonchalant questions to learn more about prospective employees. My question is how much weight does the actual answer to the question hold? Or is it merely the way the question is answered that matters?

Sometimes, I think that I am the queen of interviews. When someone asks if I’m nervous before an interview, I shrug my shoulders and ask them why they think I should be. As I grow older, though, I may be growing more worried about my interview performance. Does being nervous help or hinder a prospective employee?

As per usual, contact me with your thoughts through the MSB Facebook page, Twitter (@UMassLowell_MSB) or email me (Thalia_Chodat@student.uml.edu)! With your input, the MSB can make workshops that help us approach these topics regarding interviewing skills.