The “Deconstructed Interview” — Transcript

And welcome to the deconstructed interview panel.

Before we get started, if you have any questions during this discussion, please feel free to utilize the Q&A button that should be located at the bottom of your zoom bar.

Our goal in this session is to really think about the interview, a key tactical component in the career, and our hope is that we'll be able to well, deconstruct and to think about the components of it, what's it like being in the interviewee versus the interviewer, and hopefully give you some insights so that you will feel more confident and and able to succeed when you have an interview.

To get rolling, we have a initial poll that will help us to see who's on our audience today. Please bring up a poll number one.

And as we're getting ready on closing that poll, are we able to see the the results?

So it looks like on our panel today, we have a a pretty diverse group from sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a slight edge uh to seniors.

In terms of our majors, our majors are also quite a blend with a mix from those in the health care medicine field to technology, both at uh 20%. Uh some that are interested in academia and consulting, each at 10%. And uh an even larger group who are in the either undecided or other. So this is I think will be great as we dig in because we have a diverse group of panelists from different different industries and different backgrounds.

So with that, let's uh go around and have a introductions. If each uh member of the panel would please list their their name, company and role, their connection to pen of course, and also maybe add in their favorite place on campus. With that pass uh to you, uh Angie.

Thanks John. Um hi everyone. I'm Angie Low. Um I am currently a senior university recruiter at Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, um which is our self-driving group. Um I'm a 2011 bio major. Uh so obviously, you know, your major does not dictate what you end up doing. Um my favorite place on campus is not necessarily this background which is the bio pond. Um but I thought it was a nice throwback um to you know my days um heading over to lecture. Um, I would say my favorite place on campus is probably um that green space um in front of the highrises. It was like a fun place to hang out um and meet people outside. Um, but looking forward to meeting everyone today.

Wonderful. Thank you. Khalila.

Hi, I guess it's good afternoon. Maybe good morning for some. Uh my name is Khalila Lawson, class of 2000, a great year for for that's 20 years ago, my goodness. My uh major was sociology and interestingly enough, though I didn't go to academia, um, I do feel like some of the research that I learned, um, the way to do research that I learned at Pen has helped me in my career. So I'm currently the director of executive search for Comcast, specifically for core functions, HR, finance, communications, and government affairs. Uh my favorite, one of my favorite parts of Pen would be Houston Hall. Spent a lot of time there whether that be partying and or um studying because there's always this great cove to spend time in. So thanks for for for being here.

Thank you and Jamie.

Hi. Uh thanks again for having me today. Um my name is Jamie Zinn. I also graduated from Pen in 2000. Um so definitely a great year. Uh I was a psychology major. Um and I spent a number of years working in um executive search as well as campus recruiting and I'm now an executive director of Human Resources at Morgan Stanley, um as part of the wealth management division. So I have recruiting as uh part of my responsibilities. Um in terms of my favorite places at Pen, I have to say um probably spent a lot of time at Smokes. Um and when I go back to Philly, I love to go to um Scootoville to get ice cream, which I know is off campus, but it's one of my favorites.

That's great. Thank you. And I'm I'm John Adractas. I'll be moderating today. I was a Pen undergraduate uh class of 1998. So just just a few years prior. Uh I studied mathematics and philosophy. I think my parents uh cried slightly when they first heard of my majors and taught about what that transcended into. And I have to say the the ways in which I have used them have just proven proven over and over again to be so versatile.

Uh one of those we have to kind of close your eyes and and follow your heart and I did. Super pleased. I am the CEO founder of the Circle Labs. We are trying to build trust into home construction and our Fintech currently in stealth mode. And for me my favorite place on campus uh not not so much a place but kind of this walk. I for me I think just a just a feel that I get when I was a student and or an alumni uh coming back, there was always something magical about walking down walk and uh I still love it to this day.

So with that, uh let's jump right in. And as a starting point, let's really kind of think about the structure of an interview itself, right? What are the key components that's think about before, uh during and after uh an interview. Uh so with that, uh who would like to um to kick off and perhaps let's just focus on before right now. What does one do is you're thinking about um you have an interview how do you how do you get prepared?

I'd be happy to start, John.

Excellent. Thank you. Um so I think preparing for your interview is is really important um and as you're going through your interview process, I'm sure um you're also busy and it may feel like you can just wing it. but uh really important to take the time to prepare. I would say one of the most important things is doing your research on the company, um on the job that that you're interviewing for. Um I know for Morgan Stanley actually our website has a a section that's dedicated um specifically to campus interviewing and to helping you prepare for your interview and understanding uh the firm and company jargon. So, um whatever company you're interviewing with or or organization, uh spend the time looking at their website. Um and network. Um, if you know that you're interested in a specific company, make sure you're taking the time between now and and whenever your interviews come up to attend all the the various networking or um, just educational events that that organization um might have on campus and so to just help you be even better prepared for your interview. Um, the one other thing I'll say and then I'll turn it over to my colleagues is make sure that you spend the time Um, preparing for what you're going to say during your interview and thinking about how you're going to sell yourself. Um, so I'm I'm sure my colleagues have a similar things to say, so I'll hand it over to them.

Thank you, Jamie.

Yeah, I can um jump off of that. Um, so I was also a career counselor at UC Berkeley. Um, so putting on my career counselor hat, um, you know, I definitely agree with Jamie in terms of preparing some of those talking points or stories. Um, so think of about, you know, what are past experiences, what are projects that you've worked on, um, that you would like to share. Um, and you know, the star method is kind of a nice way to do it, situation, task, action, result. Um, there's a lot of different ones I've heard. Chi, challenge, hurdle, action, um, you know, I think implementation or something. Um, but really like understand some of your past experiences, how they might apply to a lot of different behavioral questions or even how they might apply to technical questions too, um, in terms of working with challenging colleague, um, you know, overcoming a obstacle. Um, you know, think of those, you know, preparation points as really key and you can apply it to, you know, not just like one company's interview but a lot of difference so that you're really strategizing um what you're preparing understanding that your time is limited as a student.

Thank you, Angie. Khalila, do you see do you see it the same way? Are there thoughts?

That's my right. So my colleagues uh and Jamie really hit it on the head. I would definitely say all of that and one of the things that I've noticed um when it comes to preparing for the interview, not only is it just, you know, looking at the company, but it's also what is the company doing in the community. There's so much around um community impact and then being able to understand not only what they're doing currently, but what their plans are. Another quick tip before you walk into your interview, it's to Google or whatever search engine you choose. The company I just see what is um top of mind. So maybe they had a really great product that launched the day before or maybe it launched that morning so you'll have credibility when you walk right inside that interview saying, oh, I see that this happened. Second is really understanding what the position description says and how you meet those must have. So go through the five or six that they have, try to align and if you don't, that's okay. You talk about it. And you really just create your story. So I do agree with my my two colleagues on the preparation part is key, but then also being as authentic as you can.

This this this careful balance of one prepared, you don't want to walk in and suddenly be so rigid as you're you're you're reading your script and ready to go because as we'll get into uh in a minute that you won't be able to control what happens in the room and that's probably not what you want to present as you arrive, but yet how do you feel prepared. I I I particularly like the point about being conscious of news and things that may have changed recently, whether a company had new fundraising, customer announcements, product announcements, challenges. And I'll add to that as well, you can often learn a lot about who's interviewing you. This is also a time where you may very well be able to see that person's blog posts, uh perhaps they've presented or spoken before and in some ways you can understand a bit about the people who you'll be uh meeting.

So with that, let's let's flip it now to think about during. So you've done your preparation, we've assumed you've you've put put those efforts in and now it's the actual day of the interview. What? What are the things that kind of come to mind as the most important things to be to be thinking about as you're going to your interview. Who would like to kick us off?

I can kick off. I can kick off. I'm happy to.

I'll speak the point.

Go.

Okay, sounds good. Um, I think the first thing to remember is, um, your interview is not some sort of exam or test. Um, there is a human on the other side, there are multiple humans on the other side of the interview, um, and they really want you to succeed. You know, no one wants a bad interview for both the interviewer and the interviewee. Um, so, you know, take some of those hints or take some of those follow-up questions and, you know, I think like if your interview is not going well, you can recover from it. It's not that the first impression is made in 10 seconds and then the next 30 minutes don't count for anything. Um, you know, we all want you to succeed in your interviews. That's why we scheduled the interviews in the first place. It's a valuable use of the team's time, um, for, you know, them to be taking time out of their workday, um, to be interviewing you. Um, so they want to maximize it as much as you do as a student. Um, so there's definitely a two-way street there, um, in terms of, you know, us both channels, um, wanting you to succeed. And I think the other thing is also don't take anything personally, um, during an interview. Um, unless it's something very egregious, which, you know, is a different discussion. Um, you know, they're really just trying to get at, you know, why are you a great fit for this role? Tell me more about you. I want to learn more. Um, and so I think at the end of the day, you just have to remember that there is a human on the other side of things, um, and we do want you to succeed in an interview. And I think sometimes it's easy to forget when you're kind of stuck in like exam season and interviewing at the same time.

That's great.

Angie reminds me of when people say show your work.

Remember?

Oh, back to basics.

Indeed.

And I I would certainly just add to that. personally as an interviewer, I often ask questions that I think are unexpected by many candidates. So you can tell that they're ready to tell you about all these details on their resume and I actually have a habit of interviewing people without having looked at a resume and it's somewhat intentional because I'm really interested in the person and also has to do with kind of what I'm trying to achieve when I'm interviewing. And I'm often asking why questions and I'll I'll many times just start with you know they I'll I will know that they went to school or not so we're careful in terms of that question but to ask so what did you study and why did you study that? And I I think people sometimes are sort of surprised what point in your life did you decide that this is what you wanted to pursue and you could have you could have been an astronaut you could have been a far far any whatever variation on a theme and it is interesting to just see how when people really open up what's I'm accomplishing the goal that I have in my mind which I really want to understand the person in front of me that I have what 30 minutes with 45 minutes and then instead of asking what they did at a job. I'm asking why they chose that job. And why did they choose to then move on? And what was the what was the calculus in their head as they were thinking about that because that particularly helps me to understand you know how reflective they were, how were they thinking about their personal goals and then that next question of also well what do you want next? And many times saying you know let's assume that you know company that you're interviewing at didn't exist. What would you be considering? And why? And it's amazing how these simple my questions. I often find you you can get a really authentic person that comes through or sometimes you get a person where it feels pretty pretty limited like it was just set up for this perfect one setup. And and that's a a glearing difference at times.

So with that we've really we've really done in here on the on the durring. So when the interview is finished, is that it? Is there something that comes after that one should be thinking about? What's the post interview thought process. Anyone like to jump in?

I'll I'll go.

Um, this is probably one of my favorite parts of the interview because you can leave um, I would say you could leave your impression on an individual afterwards. So probably at the end of the interview asking for that person's email address could be helpful. Just so you don't have to go scouring and looking for it later. And then it's okay to then send a LinkedIn invitation. Um, after that. Um, I would also say a hand-written note goes a long way. Jamie, myself and Andy and John were talking about a hand-written notes as much as it might be antiquated, it still feels special. And you want individuals who are interviewing you to feel so special because generally speaking we don't get email. I mean, we don't get mail. We get a lot of email, we get a lot of, you know, digital connections, but there's something I know it's COVID times, but there's something you know, different when you actually receive something in the mail. So you could send it to wherever you went. Um, you know, make sure you write the address down and the zip code and then you send it off. It's just a really um, it's a lovely opportunity just like Jamie said, do it the next day or even do it that day. So they would receive it pretty quickly.

Uh anyone see it differently?

Same page?

I definitely think it matters, but if you're interviews on Zoom, you can use the virtual background like I'm using it right now. Cover up your messy room.