Dressing Interview Ready on Budget

After working at my district's career fair recently, my fashion forward co-worker and I began to chat about how it felt to be on the other end (the person looking for a job) and all the emotions and feelings that you feel being at a job fair...nervousness, excitement and especially feeling overwhelmed.  One of the things we discussed was dressing for an interview and how as college students funds may be limited to spend on new clothes.  So hark, a blog post idea came on sharing budget friendly and simple ways to dress appropriately for a school counselor interview.

I thought back to my first rounds of teacher interviews fresh out of college (I was a teacher before becoming a counselor) and I wore the "unofficial interview uniform"...a black dress suit.  Not just any suit, this said suit I thought was quite snazzy (for 12 years ago).  This two-piece suit had a dress and a black long-sleeve jacket to go over the dress accompanied with black pumps AND off-black pantyhose (gasp)!  Did I mention that I did my interviews during the summer months...in the south (HOT)!  Since then, my interview dress has been a little more relaxed and I don't think I've worn a suit to an interview since then.  There are ways to dress professional without wearing a suit or breaking the bank.

I'd like to share some affordable ways to dress for your school counselor interview.  I stuck with basic clothing pieces and things that most people are likely to already own (or have a friend they can borrow them from).

So here are Basic Clothing Pieces to start with:
-Black or Navy dress pants
-White Button-up Shirt
-Basic Black Dress
-Black  pumps

Pants: JC Penny, Shirt: Nautica  Pumps: Nine West

Black Pants: Banana Republic, Navy Pants: JC Penny

Dress: Old Navy

Here are some ideas on how simple pieces can update your look, while looking professional.

Black or Navy Pants + White Button Down Shirt + a Statement Necklace:  

Statement Necklaces: NY & Co (Left), Gifted (Right)

Black or Navy Pants + a Stripe Shirt + a Statement Necklace:

I added brown pumps since it's great compliment color with navy pants. 

Shirt: Old Navy, Necklace: NY & Co, Shoes: Naturalizer

Black or Navy Pants + White Button Down Shirt + a Stripe Blazer:

Blazer: JCrew Factory

Black or Navy Pants + White Button Down Shirt + a Stripe Blazer+ a Statement Necklace:  

Basic Black Dress + Belt:

Belt: Gap

Basic Black Dress + Belt + Cardigan +Statement Necklace:

Cardigan: JCrew, Necklace: Belk

Basic Black Dress + Belt + Cardigan + Scarf

Scarf: Old Navy

See there's potential awaiting you in your closet as you prepare for your upcoming interviews!   Veteran counselors these looks work for us to, just for a regular school day.  I loved writing this post, I plan to share more shopping and outfits that are school appropriate and budget friendly. Pin It

Intern Advice From An Intern

As school gears up for us school counselors, graduate students will be gearing up for their internship experience.  Since I've been out of the intern scope for a couple of years, my intern from the last school year Kelly was so kind to share some tips based on her experience:

-Give a little background about yourself :

Hi, I'm Kelly and I just graduated May 2014 with a master's degree in Counselor Education from East Carolina University (Go Pirates).  I also completed my undergraduate degree in Sociology from ECU.  

Originally, I started my undergraduate studies in early education, but soon decided I wanted to focus more on individual or a small group, which lead me to sociology. One of my older volleyball teammates (I played on the volleyball team at ECU) was in the counselor education program also, and really got me interested in the field.  I went straight to graduate school after graduating from undergrad, and I have absolutely LOVED the program and am so in love with counseling!

-How did you manage graduate school and internship, without feeling completely overwhelmed?

Throughout the year, my supervisor was great about allowing me to set my own schedule or change days that I came to my internship site if there were grad school assignments that I really needed to work on. Setting a schedule was really nice for me in order to stick to days where I focused mostly on my internship, and others when I focused mainly on schoolwork. However, I know that many sites which my classmates were in, set a schedule for them to come to their sites. Many of my friends handled both their internship and schoolwork by dedicating certain days to their schoolwork similarly to me being able to create my own schedule. There were times when it was overwhelming to juggle both my internship and finishing my graduate school program, but the more I stuck to a set schedule and completed things weekly in a set manner, the more in control I felt and got through the semesters with ease!

-What's something that you learned about yourself you didn't know from your internship experience?

I was fortunate to complete both semesters of internship at the same great school, and I think I learned much more about myself being here all year then having to split semesters! I had no idea that I was going to like classroom lessons and small group settings as much as I have. I was pretty sure that individual counseling was my primary focus, so I started off my internship just wanting to talk to individual students more than leading groups or classes. However, I learned throughout the year that I am pretty good at classroom management and leading a group. Although it shocked me some, I have had so many awesome opportunities to lead by myself that I have become much more comfortable!

-What did you enjoy about your internship?

Joyner has been such an amazing school for my internship experience! I have truly felt so welcomed, and have enjoyed all of the staff appreciation events that we (as counselors) helped lead and display around the school. The nerves were definitely large at first, but after being treated like a part of the school, instead of just an intern, I was really able to excel and find out the type of school counselor I will be, and what I enjoy most/least about the position!

-What advice would you give to someone about to begin their school counseling internship?

My advice is to keep an open mind and be willing to try everything…even if it isn’t specific to the counseling position! I attended many workshops, conferences, and trainings which were offered by the district, my school, and counseling associations! I truly put the most into my internship experience to get the same in return and be prepared for my first year as a school counselor!
Thanks for sharing Kelly!  Are there any other tips former interns would like to share?

Good Luck!

Thanks for sharing Kelly!  Are there any other tips former or recent interns would like to share?

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Gift Ideas for Your Counselor Interns

 For those of us that supervised interns this year, when the internship comes to an end, we usually want to get them something to show our appreciation.  Here are some gift ideas:

-Plan a celebration, this year at my school there were 3 interns so I assigned each grade level a breakfast item to bring (muffins, doughnuts, juice, flowers, plates, cups/napkins, utensils, biscuits, flowers, etc) and we had a breakfast for our interns.

JYJ Interns, congrats ladies!

Intern breakfast

-School supplies!  You know that you have extra school supplies laying around your house and counselor office.  Pens, notebook paper, folders, crayons, you name it, I probably had 3 or 4 sets of them.

-Personalized note cards, I am a HUGE fan of bringing back a letter writing campaign.  Writing notes to students, parents and staff especially when someone does something nice for you is a must for me.  I ordered note cards from Vistaprint.  Also from Vistaprint I ordered a confidentiality poster and a welcome to the school counselor's office banner.

-Personalized binder covers, I found (free) printables on Pinterest (click on the link).

-A counselor bag, of course!  I ordered a SCOUT multi-pocket tote from Amazon (I had to stop myself from ordering one for myself). 

-Where's the counselor sign (taken from a previous post, printable in the post)

 Here's the finished gift:

Intern gifts: Bag, personalized note cards & binder cover, where's the counselor sign, confidentiality poster

 Each year I'm excited to work with a energetic and excited intern and at the end of the year I'm always sad to see them leave, but glad to know that I had an opportunity to learn and them learn from me.  Congrats Kelly and to all counselor interns graduating! Pin It

Tips for Supervising an Intern

You may have added a new counseling member to your team this upcoming school year, meaning that you'll be supervising a school counselor intern.  This is my third year in a row supervising an intern.  I actually really enjoying having an intern and have been fortunate to have interns that have been fantastic to work with.  Each year I have learned more and more on how to improve the counseling program at my school and having a "fresh pair of eyes and ears" has been extremely helpful.

Here are some things that have worked for me as I've supervised school counselor interns:

-Meet and discuss what types of things your intern is strong in, areas they want more practice in and things that they would like to learn more about.

-Remember that everyone doesn't think the same as you, it takes some time for the intern to adjust to the school setting and working with you (same with you too with adjusting to a new intern).

-Give feedback, if there were areas that you may need some feedback on, wouldn't you want to know?

-Collaborate and communicate, this has been a key piece with my interns.  Collaborating allows "great minds to think alike" and allows even more creativity in your school counseling program.  Plus it also allows your intern to have some ownership in things being done at school.

-Enjoy the experience, I was fortunate to have an outstanding student teacher and counseling intern experience and I want the same for the counselor intern working with with me.  When an intern is introduced to students, it's not "oh here's the counselor intern", it's "this is the 2nd counselor who will be working with us this year, you are welcome to talk to her just as you talk with me". 

Having an intern has been great and has been a learning experience not only for them, but for me too.

Previous counselor interns Anna and Dhruti

I warmly welcome counselor intern Kelly this year!

Are you supervising an intern this year?  Please share your tips and best practices.


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