Your experience as a Spoon contributor is a huge advantage for you no matter what job you’re applying for. Being a Spoon contributor can mean a variety of things, and it all depends on what you personally value about your Spoon experience.
Maybe you write great articles, or maybe you plan amazing events, or take dope photos, or schedule social media posts. No matter your role, you’ll need to find a way to spin Spoon so that your employer sees how your Spoon experience is applicable to your position.
If you’re looking for a job in media
It’s easy to talk about your experience with Spoon if you are applying to positions within journalism or that have a direct connection to your contributions with Spoon. Just be sure to use specifics. How many pageviews did that awesome article get? How did you come up with the idea for it? How many people attended your event? How have you grown your social media?
One question that is typically asked in an interview is, “Why are you pursuing this field?” If you are applying to a position within media, Spoon can definitely help with your answer. Maybe writing for Spoon made you realize how much you love writing about food or pop culture. Or it could be that Spoon helped you find a love for event planning. Or it could even be something as simple as teaching you how much you enjoy leading a team to pursue a common goal.
Before your interview, go over all the important points that you would ideally like to hit—but don’t worry if you don’t get to everything. The most important thing is to get your potential employer to realize how integral Spoon has been in preparing you for the role you are interviewing for. Don’t hide your passion for Spoon!
If you’re not looking for a job in media
If you aren’t applying to a job in media, you can STILL sell your experience with Spoon as relevant. Have you learned how to manage a team? Have you gained organizational skills? Have you learned about how to build on previous successes? Have you onboarded new leaders? Recruited new members? These are all amazing experiences that Spoon has given you.
I’ve used Spoon in my answers to all kinds of common job interview questions. For instance, when I’m asked, “What’s a challenge you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?” I always talk about when I became Editorial Director of my Spoon chapter. After almost all of our members had either quit or graduated, our leadership team had to work together to recruit a whole new chapter and basically start over from the ground up. I talk about how I learned about organizing a team from scratch and about getting people to feel passionate about our work.
If you are asked about your strengths, you can talk about a success you had in Spoon. Maybe you’re a quick learner who learned how to create food videos with no prior experience. Or maybe you are a great communicator who loves to help promote events. Or maybe you’re super organized and love helping keep track of your chapter’s analytics. The key is to always use specific examples whenever possible and believe in yourself and your skill set.