This post is about sticking with it and staying cool, even if the interview starts to collapse around you.
I think I will focus this post on behavioral interviews, as they are the most common type, even among financial firms. They ask the dreaded questions like, what are your strengths and weaknesses, why do you want this position, and the dreaded tell me about yourself.
My advice is fairly simple, I write down my answers. Tell me about yourself or walk me through your resume does not mean go down the columns of the page. It means tell me a story. A compelling story about where you come from and where you are going. You have about 2 minutes to get it all out, so writing things down and practicing it helps.
Let me tell you about an interview experience I had last year. I traveled into a city, got there early, dressed in my suit, pantyhose, the whole shebang. I sat in the lobby and waited 20 minutes. I kept calm, attempted to appear at ease and un-agitated. Any moment, I thought I would see my interviewer. He was, after all, an important man, and the opportunity to speak to him would be worth the wait.
So I waited. And waited. And finally an assistant came to lead me to his office. I had done my research, so I had his bio in hand and had seen a WSJ sketch of him. There he was, sitting behind his desk, plugging away at his computer. I stood in the doorway for a good minute before he looked up. “Oh” he said. I moved forward and stuck out my hand. A firm handshake was exchanged (no dead fish!) and I kept standing. “Sit” he said, and I did just that. (Though many find this old-school, I wait till I am asked to be seated. It gives the interviewer a sense of power-which they like-and it conveys respect.)
“Tell me about yourself” he said scanning my resume. “Well I am a junior majoring in Economics…”I took a breath to continue.
“That’s enough” he jumped in and stood up. I stood up, fairly perplexed. Most times when people say tell me about yourself they mean it, its your chance to shine, to tell them how great you are, how excited you are about the firm.
He strode out of his office and I followed. He strolled into an analyst’s cubicle, who was working on Excel.
“Can you do this?” he pointed furiously at her model leaning over her. “Do you know how to do this?” he repeated before I had even had time to look over her shoulder.
“Yes, sir, I can,” I replied, surprising myself with my boldness. Whatever it is, I thought, I can learn it.
“Send her the model,” he barked to his analyst. “Give her your email,” he said to me, as he turned on his heel he said his assistant would show me out. WOW, I checked my watch. The interview had lasted four minutes.
I went downstairs, perplexed and frustrated. I had traveled over an hour, missed class, and the next train wasn’t for sometime. I opened my laptop. I got the analyst’s email. The Excel was doable, my work in a wealth management firm had taught me the basics. It looked tedious, but I wasn’t intimidated by it. He obviously didn’t like what he saw, and I hadn’t given him any proof to dispute his first impression of me.
Then I looked at what I HAD. I HAD the analyst’s email. I quickly wrote to her asking questions about the work, the day to day, how she enjoyed the office, the team, etc. Within a few hours she had written back long answers and said it was a pleasure to talk to me. At least I made one friend, I thought.
Two days later I got the call. Mr. XXYY was very impressed with me, the director of HR (human resources) confided. The analyst had told him about my email to her, the questions I asked, and my insights into the work. He had apparently been seeing if any candidate would ‘prove’ themselves in such a way. They wanted me back. Four minutes and an email and I had a job.
Though I didn’t take the offer, I must say I learned two important lessons from that interview:
1. The importance of reaching out to analysts before, during, and after the interview.
2. NEVER give up. NEVER sell yourself short. You are capable of the job. If you want it: GET IT. And don’t let them see you sweat.