Before you begin to stress out, you can be comforted because, by reading this article, you will be able to identify each of the interviews. You will be prepared for each, and you will know how to respond accordingly.

You will become a star interviewee, and soon, armed with knowledge and skill, you will land the job that you have always wanted.

These are the five types of interviews:

1) Traditional Interview
This is the interview that most people know about. It is the traditional interview where the interviewer asks you broad questions. Things such as, “Why do you want to work here?” or “Why would you be a good fit for our company?”
You will want to answer these questions with personalized answers that highlight you, but don’t make you sound too cocky. Make sure to practice just incase you are faced with this interview.

2) Case Interview
This is where you are presented with a case in your interview and are asked how you would solve it. These interviews are mostly to access your problem solving skills. There is really no way to prepare for this type of interview. However, you must be confident. If your solution seems ridiculous, then you must stick with it. Interviewers are looking to see you you will react in certain situations.

3) Stress Interview
This is quite possibly one of the worst interviews. It is true to it’s name―it will stress you out. It is mainly designed to see how you will perform under stress. Interviewers may ask you many quick questions, they may respond rudely, or even make you wait until your interview. Just remember to remain calm, don’t let them take advantage of you, and stay sane.

4) Behavioral Interview
This interview is based on getting to know you based on your past experiences. It may seem somewhat impossible to prepare for an interview where they ask about any type of situation. However if you are prepared, you will be able to answer the questions accordingly. Before your interview, make sure that you have thought of possible scenarios and what you learned from them.

5) Phone Interview
This is possibly the hardest interview. Many interviewers take advantage of phone interviews to narrow down a wide pool of applicants. When you are interviewing, remember that they can’t see your body language. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t smile, smiling actually helps lighten your voice and helps you destress.

There are many types of interviews. Some may be a combination of the ones above. If you are prepared for each, you will do well in your interviews. Good luck!

About the Author
Neltje Maynez is a freelance writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com. My Colleges and Careers helps people determine if an online education is right for them and helps them understand which online schools they can choose from to reach their goals and start top careers.

Photo credit by bpsusf

image by orangeacid

Have you found yourself getting headaches? Do your eyes feel strained? Do you have difficulty refocusing your eyes? Does your neck hurt? Do you have irritated, or dry eyes?

You may have computer vision syndrome. Did you know that almost 90% of those that spend more than 3 hours on the computer have this syndrome? As a student, you are most likely looking at the computer screen for well more than 3 hours. Students use their laptops for everything.They use it to watch movies, play games, use social sites and do homework.

What is Computer Vision Syndrome?
Computer Vision Syndrome, or CVS, is an eye related problem that results when people view a computer screen for long amounts of time. It can get worse the longer someone is looking at a computer screen. There are many symptoms of this syndrome. They include: blurred vision, eyestrain, headaches, and dry eyes.

Looking at a computer screen is very different than actually reading a printed page. The presence of reflections or glares makes reading more difficult. Letters on a computer are also a lot less focused, and causes eyes more strain.

If you are student that is constantly using the computer to do your homework, you may want to do something about this. You don’t want to be a squinter for the rest of your life, do you?

Here are 4 ways to combat computer vision syndrome:

1) 20-20-20 rule
This is used by optometrists, and will help you get rid of CVS. This is where you look away from your computer screen every 20 minutes, at something that is 20 feet away, for 20 seconds. A simple trick that will help your eyes tremendously.

2) Blinking
This one may seem silly, but so many people get involved in their work that they forget to blink. They constantly stare at the screen. While this means that you are concentrating, you might want to give your eyes a little break and blink every once in a while. It will help your eyes stay hydrated and you won’t feel your eyes drying out.

3) Glasses
If you find that you are having a hard time focusing your eyes, you may want to consider small plus-powered glasses. These glasses are over the counter and can help people focus on small objects in front of them.

4) Location, Location, Location
This has to do where your computer screen is. A computer screen should be from 4 to 5 inches below eye level, and should be 20-25 inches from the eyes (about 2 feet).

In the age where we use technology everyday, from work to online college classes to entertainment, it is important that we take care of the things that we may take for granted everyday―our eyes. If you do not take care of them, you will suffer from CVS. These simple tips will help your eyes out. You’ll be glad that you used these tips when you get older. Your eyes will thank you.

Neltje Maynez is a freelance writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com. My Colleges and Careers helps people determine if an online education is right for them, helps them understand how they can find the best online colleges, and which ones they can choose from to reach their goals.

image by forbes.com

As I sat in my apartment, I felt that I had nowhere to go. I didn’t like my job, my friends all had abandoned me. I was just barely paying my bills, and I just was stressed out. I sat there with my freezer burned Ben and Jerry’s and moped around. I felt like a failure. That is when one of my friends sent me the news that Steve Jobs was quitting Apple.

I honestly didn’t care. Why did it matter that Steve Jobs was quitting? I had better things to think about a millionaire that revolutionized technology. I was busy worrying about my own life. This is when I found this quote from Steve Jobs, “. . . I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.”

Steve Jobs was sounding pretty good to me. I guess I was feeling that I had been hit on the head with a brick. And I didn’t know what to do about it. I didn’t know how I could make my life better. Is this how you feel? Are you feeling down about work? Do you feel like you are going nowhere?

I know how you feel. This is when I began thinking about going back to school. I had gone straight from high school to a job. I didn’t even think about going to college. I have always loved graphic design, but I never have had any formal training. I was able to learn a little bit here and there, but I never had the time or resources to develop my talents. After realizing this, I knew I had to go back to school. But I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I couldn’t just stop working and go to school full time. I still had to make money.

I began thinking about going to an online college. I would be able to choose when I wanted to go to school and wouldn’t have to give up work.

Two years later, I have graduated and I am starting my new job as a graphic designer. I would have never done this if I wasn’t failing. I would have never had the guts to change my career. As Steve Jobs said, “You’ve got to find what you love. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

I had settled for a little bit. After the failure, I had found what I loved and I made a career out of it. If you feel the same way, it is time to sit down and evaluate where you are going. Sometimes, failure can be fabulous.

About the Author
Neltje Maynez is a freelance writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com. My Colleges and Careers helps people determine if an online education is right for them, helps them understand how they can find the best online colleges, and which ones they can choose from to reach their goals.

image by Andrew Currie

This is a Guest Post by Kenji Crosland from TeachStreet. TeachStreet is a website dedicated to providing local and online classes, as well connections with reliable Math Tutors.

For decades, teachers have believed that giving their kids praise for a job well done was an effective way to bolster their self-esteem and thus encourage them to continue doing well. Recent research has found, however, that praise is all well and good, but teachers should be aware of the types of praise that they’re giving they’re kids. Some praise, can actually be very detrimental.

Praise can be effective, as a study done by Muller and Dweck has shown. What’s surprising however, was that certain types of praise actually discouraged students from trying harder. In the study a group of 5th grade students were given a relatively easy task to complete. On completing the task, one group of students was praised for their intelligence (“Wow, you’re really smart!”) while another group of students were praised for their hard work (“Wow, you must have worked really hard!”).

After the students were praised the students were then given the option of solving an easy task or a difficult task. The students praised for their hard work invariably picked the more difficult tasks while the the students who were praised for their intelligence picked the easier one.

The “Smart” students most likely picked the easier task because all of their self-worth was tied up in the concept of “being smart”. If they chose the more difficult task, they ran the risk of failing, and every time they failed they wouldn’t be able to consider themselves “Smart” any more.

Over time, this “avoidance of the difficult” just to get good grades or to be considered “Smart” can be extremely detrimental. All of us know the sad stories of “Smart” students who take a whole bunch of classes in college guaranteed to be “easy A’s” instead of challenging themselves with classes that they may not get an A in, but would be much more fulfilling and useful for them later on in life. When they graduate, they find that this strategy doesn’t help them one bit.

Students who are praised for their hard work, on the other hand, will continue to challenge themselves, even if it means not getting the right answer the first, second or third time around. They will learn, at a very early age, the value of persistence–something that’s infinitely more valuable than a spotless GPA.

So whenever a student or child of yours has done a good job for their hard work, praise them for it! But whatever you do, don’t ever tell them they’re smart!

image by: By Cory M. Grenier

When you think about it, it’s really sad how much time we spend commuting to school every year. As an undergraduate, it used to take me at least forty-five minutes to drive to school, fifteen to find a parking spot and another twenty to walk across the campus and get to my class. I hated how much time I wasted commuting every week when I was hard-pressed to find more time in my day. Eventually I started looking for ways to make my commute to school more productive. Here are some tips that I’ve found incredibly useful.

1. Study – If you’re the one doing the driving, don’t try this. But if you are sitting on a car or bus, instead of looking out the window or dozing pull out your textbook and start reading. If you don’t want to do heavy duty learning, take out your class notes and review them. iPhone and iPod Flash cards are also great, especially if you’re walking. You can read one flash card, look up to make sure that you’re not about to crash into anyone, and then go on to the next flash card.

2. Listen – Listening to audio books in your car or on your iPod is a great way to catch up on some leisure reading or to learn about new things. You can also tape your classes and review them while commuting. If you’re taking a language class, you can practice your new skills by listening to audio books in your new language or learn new skills by listening to instructional tapes.

3. Phone Calls – Use this time to make phone calls or send text messages. Many people don’t enjoy spending time on the phone because they feel like they could be using that time more productively, so this is a great way to multitask and kill two birds with one stone. Just make sure that you are not speaking too loudly if you are in a public place.

4. Proofreading – Use your commute as an opportunity to take a large chunk of time to sit and proofread an essay. This is especially great for people who find it hard to sit long enough to get tedious tasks like this done – it’s not like there’s anywhere you can go to hide from your essay!

5. Meditate – Instead of just dozing off or lying in your seat half awake, use this time to meditate and organize your mind. You may also want to consider doing breathing exercises that can help you reduce anxiety and stress – things all students experience during finals week! If you do your meditation right, it will help you feel more awake and clear your mind so you will have a more productive day at school.

This a guest post by Ryan Embly from the website Car Rental Express – a provider of rental car comparison services.

Image provided by: OregonState.edu

I wanted to give you eight items that you probably are considering buying, but shouldn’t! By avoiding some of these items, you should be able to save a few hundred bucks.

#1 New textbooks: I highly recommend that you purchase your textbooks used. NEVER purchase your items in the bookstore. Instead, use sites online such as Amazon, Half and more.

#2 A car: If you’re going to live on campus, don’t purchase a car. You will find that you can take the bus, ride your bike, or even hitch a ride with your friends. Now, if you’re going to live at home during college, then you will need a car.

#3 New clothing: Sure, you may want to make a fashion statement, but is it necessary to purchase $80 jeans? Save that money, and apply it toward your tuition. You can buy all the nice things when you get a good job in the future.

#4 High-end phone: I saw so many college kids walking around with an iPhone, and more. While it’s great to have a phone like this, consider getting an iPod Touch instead, and connect via WiFi if you really want the apps like the flash card iPod touch app Cram. This way, your cell phone bill won’t be $100+ a month.

#5 Software in store: Don’t go to your local Best Buy, and purchase software at full price. Instead, highly consider looking for freeware versions, or consider getting the student versions in your local bookstore.

#6 High end laptop: You may want to consider just bringing a lower end laptop to your school. This way, if it was to get stolen, you wouldn’t have to worry as much. In college, any laptop will do, especially if you’re using it for word processing, and more.

#7 A printer: There’s really no need for a printer in college. You will find that as long as you’re a student at the college, you should be able to print for free in your library.

#8 Your meal plan: Carefully look at your meal plan, and crunch the numbers. You may find that 9 times out of 10, it’s going to be cheaper to go to the grocery store, and purchase your food, rather than get junk at the cafe.

When it comes down to college, look at your expenses and really ask yourself if you need the item, or not. When you do this, you’re going to find that you can not only save a lot of money, but avoid purchasing items that won’t be used that often in school.

This post was written by Elizabeth Cutten. You can find more of her work at FindSecuredCards, a secured credit card / getting out of debt blog.

Every iPhone owner has experienced the “switch-a-roo” while trying to get a little more work done on their iPhone before going to sleep or just enjoying a little late night browsing and quite frankly it’s so annoying when you screen goes one way and you want it to go another.

Well, I have a solution for you – lock your iPhone portrait mode. When Patrick showed me this, I quite frankly heard angelic songs of heaven come down as well as a beaming white light, it was amazing! So let me share this loveliness with you. All you iPhone bed web surfers will thank me.

When you lie down in bed with your iPhone or iPod running iOS 4 using any app that allows you to use the app in portrait or landscape mode (like Cram) you should lock portrait mode. To lock portrait mode:

1. Access your background tasks by double tapping the Home button.

2. Swipe all way to the left to view to the first screen. It’s the screen before the first page showing your apps.

3. Tap the left icon (the grey button with the lock button) to lock/unlock portrait mode.

Now that was simple and something that I am super thankful Apple included in the iOS 4 update. Unfortunately, this will only contribute to my late night iPhone browsing habit.

When you see your battery life dwindling away, wouldn’t you like to know exactly how much battery life you have left, besides that dreaded “20% Battery Life” warning? Well if you have an iPhone 3GS this quick tip is for you…

For the iPhone 3GS, you can now display a percentage meter right next to the traditional battery life indicator. To enable the battery life percentage meter:

1. From your iPhone home screen, tap on “Settings“.
2. Next tap on “General“.
3. Now tap on “Usage” and flip the “Battery Percentage” switch on.

Now you’ll see the percentage of available battery right next to the battery icon! If you ever want to turn it off or find that this trick is not for your, simply flip it off. Now that was a little too simple wasn’t it.