Category Archives: Jasmine

The Best Rejection I’ve Ever Had

Posted on by
1
http://levoleague-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Failure-Success.jpg

Source: Levo.com. The Levo League is an online community of professional women, check them out! I’ve linked this image to their website.

In my last post, I was preparing for a big interview with a big firm for a summer internship. Long story short, I didn’t get the position and was crushed (see my 5 Stages of Rejection below). However, every cloud has a silver lining, and I’m excited to share what I learned.

Just to be clear, I loved the firm and was so hopeful I’d get an offer. Everything I’d heard about it only made me want to work there more: the chance to get solid accounting experience at a well-reputed firm, the emphasis on diversity of thought and community service, the learning culture, the big city location… I was even enthralled with the generous maternal leave policy. (I’m nowhere near that stage in my life yet, but as the daughter of a single working mother and past student in Core II Economics of Gender and Choice, it’s a big factor in my decision-making process when evaluating company fit.) So when I received that sad, carefully phrased rejection email, my self-confidence took a big hit.

How did I react? “Jasmine’s 5 Stages of Rejection” goes something like this:

1)   Crushing paralysis and self-doubt. Usually includes putting on my pink fluffy robe, crying in the fetal position, and questioning my path in life.
2)   Eventually I’ll attempt to be strong. This stage involves trying to convince myself everything happens for a reason and sending cheerful, make-the-best-of-this messages to the people who knew I was interviewing.
3)   Inevitably I feel like a liar and start crying again. I’ll phone my mother/older brother/boyfriend and ask them to tell me that I’m not a failure and that I’m going to be okay.

https://38.media.tumblr.com/38582f483d172130d8ed3d87d90d34f0/tumblr_mqncpfyLmW1sqhiuzo1_400.gif

Thankfully they aren’t like Edna Mode from The Incredibles.

4)   Netflix. Nature documentaries on ocean and snow environments are really soothing.
5)   For me, to learn a lesson is to find the silver lining that allows me to move on. So after rebooting my emotional system, that’s what I try to do. It’s frustrating enough to fail, but to not know what I did wrong? To repeat my mistakes in the future? Even worse.

The day after I received the news, I decided to email my interviewers and ask for feedback. Here’s the text I wrote. Feel free to use it if you need!

Dear XXX,

Although I was not offered an internship at XXX this summer, I continue to hold your firm in high regard and hope to find a place at XXX after graduation. I am writing to ask–following my interview with you, do you have any feedback for me? I would hate to make the same mistakes again in future interviews and would appreciate any advice you might have as I move forward in my search for summer employment.

Sincerely,
Jasmine

Vicki at CP&R cautioned me not to expect a reply, as companies’ HR policies may prevent interviewers from providing that information due to legal reasons. So it was a very pleasant surprise to receive the following response from one of my interviewers:

Hi Jasmine,

Thanks for reaching out! All three of us liked you and thought you were very well spoken. However, we struggled with your current lack of accounting experience and decided that at the end of the day we could not extend an offer to you at the current point in time without knowing whether you would have sufficient technical accounting knowledge by the time the internship starts. I definitely encourage you to apply again next year, either for an internship or a full time position depending on where you sit with your accounting units and do not get discouraged that you did not get the offer this time. My only advice to you from our interview is to take more accounting classes, do as well as you can in them, and be ready to discuss them next time around. Best of luck to you and I hope to talk to you again next year!

Sincerely,
XXX

Vicki had also told me to respond carefully. I needed to acknowledge their response and thank them, but could not misconstrue a reply as an invitation to further plead my case. Finding out that I had been rejected because I didn’t have enough classes yet, and not because of some irrevocable personal difference, definitely put my mind at ease. And my interviewer’s encouragement to reapply made this just about the best rejection I’ve ever had. So I sent a thank you to my interviewer saying just that, and then moved on with my search for summer employment. Wahoo constructive action!

To those of you who have never ever failed at anything and thus have never ever needed to learn from failure: I’m not sure what kind of a life you lead, but you’re probably doing something wrong. To those of you who have failed at some point in your job search, how did you deal with it? What did you learn? Post your stories in the comments!

Pick A Card, Any Card!

Posted on by
Reply

Random is definitely not a word I’d associate with the process of choosing my classes and major. Recently, planning my academics and extra-curriculars while trying to anticipate every outcome left me feeling dazed and confused. I overthought everything so much I didn’t know what to do. I went in for a counseling appointment at CP&R needing an outside perspective to lift me out of my fog of paralysis.

Enter Valinda and her magical Values Card Sort. Here’s how it works: you simply sort a stack of cards, each with a different value—an aspect of a potential professional role, in order of importance to you. My top ten values (in no particular order) are the following:

  • Structure and predictability
  • Knowledge
  • Diversity
  • Location
  • Advancement
  • Precision work
  • Affiliation
  • Exercise competence
  • Time freedom
  • Aesthetics

Because I’m a visual learner, ranking and rearranging the cards really helped me articulate my big picture end goals. Having this list in front of me enabled me to analyze exactly what I found so attractive about different career options. It also enabled me to compare them. Allow me to digress…

 When I was in elementary school, I was a huge dork. I loved books so much (Boxcar Children, Magic Treehouse, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Artemis Fowl were my favorites) that I would stay inside during recess to read. So it’s probably no surprise that my childhood dream was to become a librarian.

index

When I was in second grade, I got in trouble with Ms. Labagh for hiding a book in my lap and reading under my desk during “Reading” class. | Source: MagicTreehouseBooks.net

As I’ve gotten older, that little dream has been set aside by different experiences that led my decision to major in Economics-Accounting and minor in Art History. Since coming to college, I’ve been on track to become an accountant in the art world. It seemed to be the most logical marriage between my major and minor; my practical, orderly personality and my desire for unbounded learning and aesthetic stimulation…that, and I have to be financially independent after graduation.

So to return to my list of values above: being a librarian would satisfy most of the values I chose. But there probably wouldn’t be a lot of opportunities for advancement or a notable affiliation unless I worked at a big library. Being an accountant would satisfy a lot of these values too, but there wouldn’t be a lot of time freedom or aesthetic appreciation. Working my way through this list has helped me structure my analysis when considering other possibilities.

Last week, while researching internship opportunities to post on the NIC database as part of my responsibilities at CP&R, I realized there are so other many roles I’d love to try that meet my values. I could be a collections manager and be in charge of a museum’s art collection (a librarian for art!); or work in institutional development and help non-profits like Scripps and LACMA grow; or become an art appraiser and research artwork and market trends to value works of art. Reading through the job descriptions and comparing them with my values helped me picture myself in these roles.

In the words of AnnE, a fellow career consultant: “[Researching internships] is dangerous. I’ve changed my career path four times in the past hour!”

The revelation of there being so many potentially good fits was kind of scary. I’ve told myself and so many other people for so long that I want to be an accountant in the art world, that to let go of that goal at this moment isn’t something I can embrace just yet. I’m not ready to erase that identifier or change my major, mainly because I have no work experience in accounting (yet!). I don’t know what it’s really like. I hope my accounting interview next week goes well, but realizing that there are so many avenues beyond is a big reassurance too.

Taking the Scary out of Superdays

Posted on by
Reply

Hi everyone! In two weeks, I’ll be flying home to San Francisco to interview for a summer internship with an accounting firm. From what I’ve heard from friends, recruiters, and current employees, their internship program is well-established. It sounds like the perfect place for me to develop my quantitative accounting skills and build my network–and to get a taste of what a post-grad, full-time position would be like. I’m really excited, but one thing has me a little terrified. I’ve interviewed successfully for on- and off-campus roles, and have practiced my elevator speech during Life After Scripps. But what’s scary and new for me this time is that I’ll be going in for a “superday”.

What is a Superday?

A superday is a common final step in the recruiting process for finance, accounting, and consulting firms. They typically last anywhere from three hours to a full day with a firm. According to Wall Street Prep, the firm flies out a group of candidates for on-site interviews. There is often an informal dinner/networking event the night before, which should be treated by prospective candidates as interviews. In some rare instances, firms might make hiring decisions after this event and simply confirm their decisions during the next day’s interviews, so be careful what you say. On interview day, candidates go to the office. They will probably meet other prospective candidates again. 63c2bce17c54df7eb20ac119b2f10caafaa7a9a7f35410791882091e15d1896dWSP advises candidates to take advantage of the networking opportunity and exchange contact information–“don’t view them as competition as you never know how they can help you later.” Candidates will then have round after round of interviews with different hiring groups. These interviews are one-on-one or two-on-one, and the type of questions will include both technical and fit.

Main Differences Between Superdays and Regular Interviews

The main differences are that a superday is longer (3 hours to a full day, instead of 30-45 minutes) and puts candidates in different social situations. Also, a superday usually includes a technical evaluation.

Superdays help firms better gauge your social fit–your soft skills. Can you carry a conversation with other candidates as well as a senior manager? Can you represent the firm appropriately at more casual professional events?

Superdays also test your technical capabilities. Study for this! Finance and accounting firms will ask questions like: What happens to the financial statements when COGS increases? GAAP vs IFRS? Pitch me a stock. Consulting firms will have case interviews, where candidates are given realistic problems or challenges and asked to resolve the situation.

How to Prepare for a Superday (Answer: As you would for any other interview!)

If you’re like me, you’re not sure what you need to know. A helpful book from the CP&R Library I’ve been reading, Ditch the Flip-Flops by Sylvia Landy, broke down what I should know. Landy recommended I research:

  • my employer (mission, growth story, names of the top executives, focus/geographic scope, revenues/profit/loss, number of employees, recent news, hiring patterns, and any potential alumnae connections);
  • the market (factors affecting industry growth or slowdown, competitors and how they compare with the employer); and
  • the interviewers (try asking the recruiter or HR, “Do you mind telling me who I’ll be meeting? Will I be meeting the person who would be my supervisor?).

Superday Prep Resources

General Interview Prep
I’m really lucky to have a friend who just accepted a post-grad offer at the firm where I’m interviewing. I’m planning to grab drinks with her at the Motley so I can ask questions about what to expect during my superday interview. If I didn’t know her, I’d look through my LinkedIn connections or the LifeConnections database, and ask my friends and professors for introductions to their contacts. See CP&R’s Networking page for more information on how to do this appropriately. My favorite online resources for general information are Vault.com and GlassDoor.com, accessible through CP&R’s Websites and Resources page.

Business-Specific Resources for Technical Prep
Finance and accounting firms will test what you cover in class. For consulting firms, you’ll need to find practice case interview questions. A good general business website is TheGatewayOnline.com. Interested in accounting? Check out GoingConcern.com. Banking and investment? Try DrunkBankers.com or StreetofWalls.com (see Training). Consulting? Note most websites that come up when you google “case interview questions” are sneakily selling books or coaching services. But they might have useful information and a couple samples you can use. Ex. AceTheCase.com. Another helpful resource is the book Case in Point, available at the CP&R Library.

Have you ever gone in for a superday? What was it like? Please, please (!!!) share any advice you have in the comments! (seriously. I will buy you a Motley drink.)images

 

Salvation from Couch Potato-ness

Posted on by
1
Hi everyone! Jasmine here. I’m so excited to return to Beyond the Elms this year. Living in a single has given me a lot of quiet time to reflect on my path at Scripps so far. I’ve had a pretty diverse set of experiences I’m looking forward to sharing through this blog, and I hope you’re looking forward to reading about them too. Since this is my first post, I thought I’d share what I’ve been up to since last fall, just to give you a sense of what my sophomore spring and summer were like. I’d also like to recommend a solid back-up option for finding summer employment!
Spring: Happy happy joy joy abroad!
I studied abroad in London last semester through Boston University’s London Internship Program. I went abroad early as a sophomore, was the first Scripps student to go abroad on this program, and both were reasons to petition the Academic Review Board. If you have any questions about this process, please comment below! I’d be happy to tell you about it. You can also read my previous Beyond the Elms blog posts or my travel diary here.
Return from London…and face plant.
While I was abroad, I made the mistake of forgetting all about planning for my return. I came home in mid-May with stuffed suitcases, an empty bank account, and no idea for what to do. All the application dates for my target internships had passed.
I pride myself on being the responsible sibling, the one my mother can always count on, so it was very uncharacteristic of me not to have a plan. It was the summer after my sophomore year, my last summer to experiment. By the following summer–my last summer as an undergraduate– the pressure of finding an internship in my intended field would set in. (At least, that was how I saw it–I don’t want to stress all of you out!) I was so desperate, I started looking at Craigslist and searching the classifieds in the newspaper. It was *so* last decade. Then my mother, in all her sensible glory, convinced me to reach out to a temp agency.
Temp Agency Proceedings
For those of you who have never worked with a temp agency, here’s how it worked: I called to set up an interview with the agency, where I gave them my resume and walked them through my skills and experience. I told them what kind of a placement I wanted and what I hoped to learn. They contacted me in a few days with an opportunity fitting my description. After I gave my approval, the agency set up an interview with the employer. Through the agency rep, the employer extended an offer, which I accepted, and I started work the next week. Most temp agencies have separate departments for those seeking short term and permanent or long term positions. Summer work is considered short term, while a recent grad would most likely be seeking a permanent placement. It’s important to know that arrangements can change, given both your and the employer’s approval. My position was originally meant to last two weeks, but my employers ended up keeping me for ten, meaning my work lasted the whole summer.
Salvation from Couch Potato-ness Pros and Cons
It was frustrating finding out that the agency charged my employer $18/hr and that I only received $12 of that. It wasn’t particularly glamorous, compared to the lectures and press views I attended in London. But my job at the San Francisco branch of a nationwide engineering firm gave me a solid glimpse of civil and structural engineering despite my having no experience in those fields. And being an office assistant meant I helped and met everyone–whether that was the Vice President who needed a presentation updated, a project manager with shelves to reorganize, or a visiting employee in search of a good place for a lunch meeting. I learned how to compare costs of renting per month and booking hotels per night (Excel spreadsheets with formulas), how to work a comb binding machine (YouTube), and how to handle an upset client (stay calm and use what we at CP&R affectionately call the friendly, “baby lamb” voice). I even met the president of the company! I also gained transferable, basic office accounting skills I could put on my resume.
Moral of the Story
If your summer plans fall through at the last second, a temp agency might be a good solution. I made excellent professional connections and developed skills relevant to my intended industry. I also gained light IT skills I didn’t realize would be so useful in an office. Experimenting with a surprise company in a surprise industry helped me practice adaptability and strengthen my observation skills. It also broadened my level of exposure to other sectors of the economy–insight that will set me apart from other applicants in future. On a final related note, here’s an article on why diversity of thought is important in the workplace.

Don’t You Wish You Worked at CP&R?

Posted on by
1

I know that this blog post is coming on the heels of Thanksgiving, but there’s nothing like a national holiday devoted to being extra grateful to make me feel…well, extra grateful for all the help I’ve had.

I interact with the Career Planning & Resources office as a blogger, a career consultant, club leader, and of course, as a student; my multi-faceted experience has only made me more grateful to have a supportive network of women I know I can trust when I need help. Valinda has been incredibly supportive as the manager for this blog, and I appreciate the weekly updates she sends out so that we bloggers feel like part of the CP&R team, even though we might work from home. Grace is essentially my safety net when I’m on duty as a career consultant, and words cannot express how thankful I am to know she’s there when (not if!) I bungle an incoming phone call. She has the voice of an angel and could probably calm a stampeding rhino. I’m grateful to Lesley for walking me through the process of taking a Meyers-Briggs personality test. When students come in wanting to take one, I’m able to help them more effectively because of Lesley’s amazingly thorough explanations.

I’d like to offer a special shout out to Gretchen for training all of us career consultants back in August before school started. I’m grateful to her for a solid foundation in practical, career-related knowledge that I can use to effectively help my peers. Gretchen also does an amazing job of making our weekly job training sessions enjoyable and ensuring that we on the student staff feel like we’re part of the CP&R team.

Before I came to CP&R, I thought team building in offices meant awkward bonding activities and weirdly complimenting each other. Gretchen, on the other hand, has built our team by touching base as a group every Friday and providing a safe space to share feedback. I’m hoping to improve my own leadership skills by incorporating these practices into my extracurricular activities. I don’t know how else to say this, and most of you might think I’m weird for saying it, but I actually look forward to our regular training sessions. We’re all relaxed and comfortable being ourselves–Gretchen breaks out her killer Boston accent, Laurie and Janine practice being ninjas with the coasters, I make awful puns, and Megan and Chandra act like they’re too normal to be silly with the rest of us. I’m reading my post and okay, that doesn’t sound as funny as when it’s actually happening. Just trust me when I say you have to be there for it.

Last but certainly not least: Vicki is a bomb director and decision maker. She’s calm, cool, and collected in any event. A few months ago, I was working on a scholarship application in the CP&R Library when I realized that I wanted to make changes to a resume I had already submitted. The changes weren’t absolutely necessary and I believed the benefits might somehow outweigh the cost, but I didn’t want to attract negative attention to my application. Vicki showed me how to navigate this potential sinkhole by making my message about the reviewer instead of myself. In my short time at CP&R, I’ve witnessed Vicki handle sensitive situations with tact and poise. I’m grateful to Vicki for her emotional and professional support. I know that what I’ve learned from Gretchen and Vicki I’ll take with me even after I graduate. After barely three months here, I can’t imagine anywhere else I’d rather work on campus.