Interview Tips

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Like most people I at some point was completely lost when it came to interviews. I still feel kind of lost but I have picked up some tips along the way, especially during our search for internships in New York City. This post are hopefully helpful to someone who like me feels a little uneasy with the whole thing.

First off, if you’re traveling a distance or staying out a day for several interviews; then there are things you should have in your bag. This is from my point of view as a women but I’m sure there are many things you could add/remove from your point of view!

Pack in your bag:

  • Resumes: ALWAYS have printed copies of your resume with you, if they ask for it and you don’t – terrible for your standing. This tip I got from my advisors and teachers here at IIB who all emphasised how important it was.
  • Notes: Don’t underestimate doing your research. It makes a better impression if you know your stuff!
  • Deodorant/perfume: Running around can get sweaty and using one of these or both could improve any possible smell but also make you feel more confident.
  • Wet wipes: This actually became useful to me when I was in New York for two interviews. I had time for lunch in between and managed to get an unfortunate stain on my white shirt. Luckily a wet wipe did the trick!
  • Water: If you don’t have a lot of time, water can be important because you don’t want to get dehydrated.
  • Change of shirt: Not necessary but if you’re away for an entire day and something happens – it can save your day.

These followings are tips for preparation, the day of the interview and some other things I’ve thought of:

  • Do your research!
  • Prepare your answers for the classic questions such as strengths, weaknesses, a conflicting situation you overcame, a problem you solved, a deadline you had to hit, your interest in the position – make sure it all is relevant to the position.
  • Dress well but be YOU! It’s not always worth it to be uncomfortable just to be well dressed. Make sure you feel good about your outfit – it shines through!
  • Be early! I’m a time optimist and always stressing out so getting to a location ridiculously early really helps me. Especially if you haven’t been there before, get there early and sit down at a café or something. Check out nearby coffee shops or restaurants on Google Maps before hand if you feel unsure! Take the time to revise notes and calm down.
  • Smile at everyone! I was told to both smile and say hi if acknowledged as anyone might be a potential coworker and having a good impression of you is therefore an advantage.
  • Freshen up!  Before you head to the office, freshen up and check your appearance quickly in a mirror.

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First interview – done!

Today I went to my first interview for our internship this spring. I woke up early in NYC, got dressed and walked over to Union Square. The sun was shining and once again I fell in love with this city. After spending a few weeks in New Paltz I started to enjoy the small town life more than the city life but no, now I’m hooked again.

My interview was at a company called Wikia. Wikia is founded by the same person who started Wikipedia: Jimmy Wales, who is also a friend of mine. I met with the New York sales director and the Vice President at 10 a.m and it was so much fun. I just love going to interviews.

Everything went very well and we will see if this is the company that I will work for during the spring.

Let’s do this!

New Yorker's Life

Hi Everyone!!

 

Our second week here in New York is ended!

I’m starting to get used to the working life (even if is not easy at all!!) and everything is completely different from New Paltz here: the subway, the crowd, the office, the projects, the responsibility that you have to take,…

We have to grow up in a short time!

Personally, I love the life in the City: my supervisor is amazing (I just need to improve more my English, in order to understand everything), she is so patience with me and lets me learn a lot about our HR thanks to all the project that she gives me.

I have to be honest: I was extremely scared two weeks ago, because this is my first job experience and I wasn’t really confident with my spoken English. But all my fear disappeared the first day, when I saw how Julie and all the other people in my department approached me: they are extremely kind and they do as much as they can in order to teach me everything about their sector!

Thanks to their behavior, every morning I wake up and I’m happy to go to work!

I’m doing my best and I hope to improve my knowledge and work ability during the next weeks!

 

And what about your experience? In these weeks we haven’t met a lot as in New Paltz: are you satisfied of your work?

First week of Internship!

Here’s a brief Q&A about the first week of work in NYC!

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How did your first few day go? The first days were crazy fast, during the weekend we did so many things that I didn’t even realized that Monday arrived.

Was it a challenge to be on-time? It’s not a problem to be on time as I take the 1 train to Columbus Circle and I walk few block to Madison Avenue. I start working at 9 so I can easily take the metro before 8:30am. Sometimes I still have time for breakfast before walking in the office. I’m late just if I have troubles with my tie!

Are you comfortable interacting with your colleague and supervisor? After five days at work I can say that I am comfortable with most of my colleagues, also my supervisor is very nice even if she’s busy all the time. So I actually still don’t know when to ask her things.

How is the work? The tasks are indeed starting easy but my effort was 100% in them so they are already really pleased of what I did. They are impressed that I already did so many things in few days of work and I had to do so many different things: flow charts, creating new reports, contacting investors, service providers…

Are you taking good notes? I usually take notes of what my boss says in order to do right everything. It can be difficult to understand where to find things if you don’t know where to look. So ask her from time to time if I really don’t know what to do, otherwise I try to work on my own.

I also take note of the things that I don’t know like organizations or specific financial documents, so that I can look at them when I have spare time. You can easily find Wikipedia up in one of my monitors.

What may you need to do differently to get the result you are hoping for? On Thursday I moved from the desk they originally gave me into the same room where the CFO, my supervisor, and the controller are. I really enjoyed that day because I could experience working with them, even if I did less than the other days as I was less concentrated. I am in fact usually in an open space next to that room but on my own, so I’ll probably ask them if could join their room in order to get involved in more things.

What is one new strategy you may adopt for next week?Next week I hope to receive a project that could take me more than one to be completed so that I have to organize the time and operations among 2-3 days.

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And here’s where I work! 26th floor, 590 Madison Avenue!