Category: Jobs & Internships

Evaluating a Job Offer

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By Aleah Sexton

With post career fair in full swing, it is now the season of offers. If you have received an offer for an internship or full-time position – congratulations! Accepting a position is an exciting time, and there are a couple of points to keep in mind when evaluating a job offer.

  1. Salary : It’s always a good idea to do some extra research to see what the average salary is for candidates in a similar situation as yourself. Websites such as Glassdoor can give some estimates of salary. Do some research on the median salaries for your major, experience, geographic location, and industry.
  2. Position : Although you might have a good idea of what the job entails, it’s great to schedule some phone calls with current employees in the position to ask questions about their day to day activities. Perhaps they can give you insight on something you didn’t learn about during the interview process.
  3. Manager : Much like setting up phone calls with the employees of your position, speaking to the manager you would report to is an important task, as well. You can ask honest questions about how they lead and figure out if you would respond well to that management. New graduates should have managers excited to fuel the new hires’ career path.
  4. Location : Once you find out what office you’d be located in, be sure to do research on average rent, utilities, and expenditure costs. If you have a specific hobby, lookup if the city offers activities toward your interest.
  5. Benefits :  Based on your own values and preferences, it’s extremely important to be well-versed with the companies benefits. What is the leave? Are stock options available? What insurance is offered? Is there tuition reimbursement? By learning about the specific benefits, you can begin to analyze the pros and cons of your offers and understand which culture might best suit your style.
  6. Mobility : If you are interested in potentially exploring other positions or moving upward in the company, make sure to do research on the ability to explore other careers or promotions within the company. If longevity is highly regarded, it might be best to consider another company if you wanted great experience in your first few years.

 

By taking the time to research some important factors about the company, you can begin to narrow in on the pros and cons of the company. You will have a greater sense of the culture and your fit, and you can feel if your values align with their goal.

Interviewing Best Practices

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By Aleah Sexton

By now, the madness of Career Fair is over and interviewing season is upon us. If you were offered a first round interview – congratulations! It’s now time to buckle down and take the time to review the best practices of interviews.

  • To begin, it’s important to thoroughly research the industry and company. It can be daunting to learn many facts about different companies, but it’s crucial for the basic questions recruiters will ask. Be sure to elaborate on why you want the position and how the industry is interesting to you.
  • Remember how important first impressions are! Make sure you’re dressed according to the company environment, offer a firm handshake, and smile. Have a conversation with the person and ask general questions about their day. Building rapport with the interviewer is important!
  • Make sure you know your selling points! Much like an elevator pitch, execute your best qualities. Whether it be a past extracurricular activity or internship, be sure to elaborate on your best experiences and how they shaped you into who you are today. Also, have an answer for something they want to know about you that isn’t on your resume. Here, feel free to talk about your passions!
  • Try to compliment the company as you’re answering questions. When you speak about past experiences, rope in why you’re interested about the company and how they would build you as a person!
  • Be confident, but not too confident! It’s important to believe you’re qualified for the position, however, make sure you do not come across as cocky. Don’t oversaturate the interview by primarily speaking on all the experiences you have. Make sure it plays off as a conversation and always remember to keep the company first!
  • Appear calm, cool, and collected. Try not to fidget and be cautious of your own nervous habits. Maintain good eye contact and relax yourself! It’s always a good idea to practice interview questions in the mirror.
  • Ask good questions! Many recruiters have heard the same question over and over again, so come prepared with questions that are creative and will make you stand out and show you did your research. Also, tying in questions that relate back to the interviewer’s own experiences always show you were listening to them.
  • Send a thank you! Whether it be an email or a handwritten note, this step shows you were truly invested in the interview and you are still interested in the company. Many candidates skip this part, so this will make you stand out!

Overall, it’s important to be prepared. If you have an interview, they are interested and believe you are a good candidate for the job. Make sure to talk about how you can establish goodwill with the company and be confident in your answers!

Pre-recorded interviews: What are they and how can you succeed at them?

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Image result for pre recorded video interview

By: Marissa Humayun

As we move into Post-Spring ICE season, students are beginning the interview process for many companies. True to the age of innovating the world of business through technology, many firms, like EY and J.P. Morgan, are beginning to conduct pre-recorded interviews.

As a tool for cost efficiency, firms are now prompting applicants a series of questions, and applicants must record themselves answering the questions. From here, you are given a certain amount of time to give and upload answers. While you may be thinking, “Oh sweet! I can wear my pajama pants and do this interview!”, pre-recorded interviews are a lot harder than what meets the eye. You are tasked with remaining personable through a camera lens, not having someone else’s energy in the room to play off of, and on top of that, you must answer some tough questions with poise.

Here are some tips when trying to have the most successful pre-recorded interview:

1. Dress for success

While a pair of flannel pajama pants and your high school track hoodie sounds like the epitome of comfort, you should dress for the job you want! Wear a suit and look the same as if someone was right in front of you asking you the questions. It will show the interviewer that you take the interview seriously, and it will give you a boost confidence knowing you look your best!

2. Practice!

Practice makes perfect as they say. When given your questions to answer, take a minute and write down some key points and practice moving through each point, and how it connects to your question. Some good things to remember are to give specific examples to an interview question, and the CAR (context, action, result) response structure to interview questions. Another thing to keep in mind is to if possible, practice with your given software beforehand, giving you the best opportunity possible for being prepared. EY, J.P. Morgan, and many other firms in financial services are using Yello as their platform.

3. Be a person, not a robot

Do not read off of a script. Make your answers genuine and fresh. While it may be tempting to write out a detailed response to a tough question, that is definitely not how an in-person interview would go. Show your personality through the way you answer the questions (just be yourself! Something to be e aware of is your web cam/camera angles and lighting as well. Lights, Camera, Action!

4. Speak at a normal pace

As you would in an in-person interview, take pauses, speak loudly and at a normal pace. The cadence of your speech is an indicator of your personality and make you unique, do not lose that because you are behind a screen. If you are given the interview questions beforehand, practice with another person asking you the questions. Looking at another human asking you the questions will help you realize the importance of maintaining your personality.

5. Look on the bright side

The opportunity to do a pre-recorded interview can be a positive thing! You can prepare as much as you’d like, you will not have to deal with in-person interview nerves, and you can conduct it in the comfort of your home.  

Overall, we hope this guide will help you if you are asked to do a pre-recorded interview!

[photo: Goldman Sachs]

[content: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-tips-help-you-tackle-pre-recorded-job-interview-amy-edwards/]