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MAY 2003 MBA JOURNAL: INTERNSHIP INTERVIEWS Rich Morris: Navigating the Process "I had the sense that I was able to navigate my way through the interview decently well, at the least, I didn't seem to remember putting my foot firmly in my mouth, which, for me, is a success." If you've read any of my earlier entries, you probably know that I was fairly certain that I wanted to pursue a career in investment management prior to entering school. I started early in Mini 1 tailoring my resume, pouring over the alumni database, and contacting people I had met in my previous professional life to try and secure a buy-side research internship. So where did I end up? As a sales/trading associate at an investment bank, of course. Maybe it's funny how things change, after all. Mini 3 is internship recruiting season for MBA first-years at GSIA. As soon as we came back from winter break -- the first week back in fact -- companies began interviewing candidates for summer positions. The Career Opportunities Center (COC) uses an online system called E-Recruiting through which students post resumes, submit cover letters, and apply for positions at companies who are recruiting on campus. The way the system works is that in early December students begin seeing listings of companies that will be interviewing candidates in the coming weeks. Students submit their resumes and cover letters for positions they are interested in, in the hopes that they will get on the company's interview schedule. Firms typically interview anywhere from eight to 35 or 40 students, depending on how many positions are available and how many candidates the companies want to see before making a decision. As a general rule, there are many more students than interview slots, so competition just to get an interview is pretty tough. If you're lucky enough to get a slot, you usually have a week or two to prepare before the firm comes to campus. On the day of the interview, the firms will spend an entire day or two interviewing all of the candidates, usually in half-hour or 45-minute intervals. This procedure is fairly standard. From here, though, the process varies, depending on the company. For some firms, this initial round of interviews is the sole basis for their decisions. Other companies conduct second-round interviews, either on campus or at the firm's offices, and the timing of these second-rounds can be anywhere from one to six weeks after the initial meeting. I know of some students who have been waiting two months for a determination to be made about their fate. My experience was markedly different. I was on the turbo track, so to speak. Essentially, my internship search was over in two days. As I said earlier, I was targeting investment management as a career path. However (and this is one of the other beauties of business school), when companies come to campus, both for corporate presentations and for recruiting, you really get exposed to a wide variety of industries that perhaps you never would have considered. I remember reading job descriptions of positions I couldn't recognize at companies I'd never heard of and saying, "Wow, that might be cool". Unfortunately, you can't apply for every position that sounds interesting, since a) you don't want to be considered a "carpet bomber" by your classmates, b) it's difficult to tell an interviewer with a straight face that "this is the job I want" when, in fact, you've applied to 20 other non-related positions, and c) you simply don't have time to prepare properly for interviews if you have them every other day. Unfortunately for me, no investment management firms were recruiting for interns on-campus, so my buy-side job search had to be done outside of the COC. However, there were a few positions in E-Recruiting that, after some more thorough research, really did seem quite fascinating. One, in particular, piqued my interest. A prominent investment bank was recruiting on-campus for a sales/trading summer associate position. Having read a few of the business school staples (Liar's Poker, FIASCO, etc.) in the past few years, I had anecdotal knowledge of what a trader at an investment bank did. Also, having known one or two people who were traders at one time, I was always intrigued by the fast-paced, immediate, in-your-face nature of the industry. So, I decided to drop my resume in for consideration. Luckily, the bank is traditionally fond of GSIA students, and decided to interview about 40 candidates, with the intent (or so I hoped) of taking a few of us for the summer. I was fortunate enough to get on the schedule. The day of first-round interviews was nerve-racking. Prior to the interview, students are placed in a "waiting room" until it's their turn to be called. Because a fair number of us were being interviewed that day, I was waiting with a rotating crew of about six to eight classmates over the half-hour that I was in there. Despite the nervousness, the mood in the room was actually quite lighthearted. We were joking around, making fun of each others' shoes (mine were especially dirty), and basically trying to cut the tension before it was show time. Don't get me wrong, there certainly was some last-minute prep going on, mainly in the form of us quizzing each other. "Hey, what did [I-bank] close at yesterday?" "What's the yield on the 30-year Treasury?" "What happens to inflation when interest rates rise?"
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