Sunday, December 18, 2005
I am not alone :-).
Here is a not so clueless MBA with a very interesting article...enjoy reading
KV - thanks for the message. 1 more day to go for 15 days of vacation. Just can't wait :-).
Now back to the Strategy book (not that I am done with Finance)
All in a day’s interview
By Laura Huang
Published: November 27 2005 18:36 Last updated: November 27 2005 18:36
Alittle while ago, I was asked: “How many jellybeans can fit in an aircraft?” I was not talking to a precocious five-year-old. I was talking to a 40-something-year-old man, at one of the leading companies in the world, in the process of interviewing for a coveted position within their organisation.
//
In this same interview I was asked: “What is 36 cubed?” and: What do you think the interest rate will be on February 17, 2007? The exact interest rate please, to the nearest hundredth of a per cent.”
As any MBA student can tell you, we are in the recruiting season.
What is interesting is that this interview was not at an investment bank or a financial services institution, as my cohorts here at Insead might have guessed. It was actually for a position within a sales and marketing department. Despite the seemingly casual interview process for sales and marketing posts, at least in comparison with those for investment banking roles, this particular institution had nonetheless incorporated the “stress interview” into their repertoire.
The stress interview is one in which rapid questions are fired at you, usually complex and time-intensive in nature, with the goal being to see how you react to “stress”. This type of interview can take on other variations, such as when an employer lines up a group of interviewers, either one at a time or en masse, with each given the sole mission of intimidating you.
Contrast the stress interview with the behavioural interview, where applicants are asked to describe past experiences where they demonstrated leadership, teamwork or creativity. Here, any answer is accepted; what is important is how one describes the situation.
There are also informational interviews, the structured interview and the semi-structured interview, among others.
And here in Singapore, where we are sometimes interviewed by companies that frequent only the Fontainebleau campus, there are also video-conference interviews, on-campus interviews and on-site interviews. These, in fact, form a different axis on which all the other types may be plotted.
Preparation for each nuance of interview has proved to be time consuming. But the best advice that I have received about interviewing is this: relax and remember that you are interviewing them, just as much as they are interviewing you.
This advice helped me to rule out one employer who chuckled when I said that five years from now I wanted to be in a job where I felt a sense of joy in my career. He replied that he had not experienced a single day of joy in the course of his 20-year-career and that it was called “work” for a reason. This, I decided, would not be the company for me.
It also helped me rule out a potential employer who had invited me for a final-round interview, only to reveal that the position was not actually in Singapore, as I had been led me to believe.
The advice has also helped me rule out consulting, to the horror of many of my fellow MBAs.
Instead, I have decided to remain true to my strengths and passions and not be led astray by contracts etched in gold. I will continue in the realm of sales and marketing and devote myself to shaping consumer behaviour.
I may be atypical, as it amazes me how many MBAs turn out to be career-switchers, whether they opt for a change in location, function or industry.
There are former strategy consultants looking for management roles in industry. There are those from business development who are trying their hand at investment banking. There are entrepreneurs bidding for top-tier consulting jobs. And there are those tired of working for others, trying to start up their own ventures. Everyone wants someone else’s job.
Why not create some kind of internal market for these jobs? It is analogous to the “double-coincidence” problem we studied in macro- economics.
In the past, people would trade bread for eggs and eggs for bread. But in order to do so, the baker would have to find exactly the right person who was willing to take his bread and give him eggs in exchange. And when the baker wanted milk he would have to find another person who was willing to trade bread in exchange for milk.
And, thus, monetary units were created to solve this problem, where the baker sold his bread for money and then used money to buy whatever else he needed.
In the same way, we should create a system for jobs pre-Insead.
The number of fellow participants at Insead who are scared they will not find a job is amazing. These are people who have excelled their whole lives, been showered with praise and large sums in year-end bonuses, only to admit that they are afraid they are not good enough.
Despite any change or lack of change in functions, we all bring with us many newly cultivated MBA skills. Even I am impressed by my recently developed Excel skills and my ability to create macros and pivot tables when, just a year ago, I was one of those people who would scroll down a 30,000 line spreadsheet using the little down arrow.
I now also notice marketing campaigns in a different way and feel (almost) compelled to tell anyone who will listen how they might be improved. I find myself thinking in frameworks and wish that people would express themselves in more organised and concise ways.
I think of new ventures and products that would thrive in Singapore and observe organisations that are not spending enough on their sales force or need a significant change in management.
As we enter the last of five academic periods, I suppose we are almost ready to re-enter the real world. All that is left is to determine who is ready to accept us, with all this fresh MBA knowledge.
The company is out there and when I find it I am sure the interview will go very well, now I know that “six to the sixth power” and “whatever interest rate is printed on the front page of the Financial Times” are not clever enough answers.
Here is a not so clueless MBA with a very interesting article...enjoy reading
KV - thanks for the message. 1 more day to go for 15 days of vacation. Just can't wait :-).
Now back to the Strategy book (not that I am done with Finance)
All in a day’s interview
By Laura Huang
Published: November 27 2005 18:36 Last updated: November 27 2005 18:36
Alittle while ago, I was asked: “How many jellybeans can fit in an aircraft?” I was not talking to a precocious five-year-old. I was talking to a 40-something-year-old man, at one of the leading companies in the world, in the process of interviewing for a coveted position within their organisation.
//
In this same interview I was asked: “What is 36 cubed?” and: What do you think the interest rate will be on February 17, 2007? The exact interest rate please, to the nearest hundredth of a per cent.”
As any MBA student can tell you, we are in the recruiting season.
What is interesting is that this interview was not at an investment bank or a financial services institution, as my cohorts here at Insead might have guessed. It was actually for a position within a sales and marketing department. Despite the seemingly casual interview process for sales and marketing posts, at least in comparison with those for investment banking roles, this particular institution had nonetheless incorporated the “stress interview” into their repertoire.
The stress interview is one in which rapid questions are fired at you, usually complex and time-intensive in nature, with the goal being to see how you react to “stress”. This type of interview can take on other variations, such as when an employer lines up a group of interviewers, either one at a time or en masse, with each given the sole mission of intimidating you.
Contrast the stress interview with the behavioural interview, where applicants are asked to describe past experiences where they demonstrated leadership, teamwork or creativity. Here, any answer is accepted; what is important is how one describes the situation.
There are also informational interviews, the structured interview and the semi-structured interview, among others.
And here in Singapore, where we are sometimes interviewed by companies that frequent only the Fontainebleau campus, there are also video-conference interviews, on-campus interviews and on-site interviews. These, in fact, form a different axis on which all the other types may be plotted.
Preparation for each nuance of interview has proved to be time consuming. But the best advice that I have received about interviewing is this: relax and remember that you are interviewing them, just as much as they are interviewing you.
This advice helped me to rule out one employer who chuckled when I said that five years from now I wanted to be in a job where I felt a sense of joy in my career. He replied that he had not experienced a single day of joy in the course of his 20-year-career and that it was called “work” for a reason. This, I decided, would not be the company for me.
It also helped me rule out a potential employer who had invited me for a final-round interview, only to reveal that the position was not actually in Singapore, as I had been led me to believe.
The advice has also helped me rule out consulting, to the horror of many of my fellow MBAs.
Instead, I have decided to remain true to my strengths and passions and not be led astray by contracts etched in gold. I will continue in the realm of sales and marketing and devote myself to shaping consumer behaviour.
I may be atypical, as it amazes me how many MBAs turn out to be career-switchers, whether they opt for a change in location, function or industry.
There are former strategy consultants looking for management roles in industry. There are those from business development who are trying their hand at investment banking. There are entrepreneurs bidding for top-tier consulting jobs. And there are those tired of working for others, trying to start up their own ventures. Everyone wants someone else’s job.
Why not create some kind of internal market for these jobs? It is analogous to the “double-coincidence” problem we studied in macro- economics.
In the past, people would trade bread for eggs and eggs for bread. But in order to do so, the baker would have to find exactly the right person who was willing to take his bread and give him eggs in exchange. And when the baker wanted milk he would have to find another person who was willing to trade bread in exchange for milk.
And, thus, monetary units were created to solve this problem, where the baker sold his bread for money and then used money to buy whatever else he needed.
In the same way, we should create a system for jobs pre-Insead.
The number of fellow participants at Insead who are scared they will not find a job is amazing. These are people who have excelled their whole lives, been showered with praise and large sums in year-end bonuses, only to admit that they are afraid they are not good enough.
Despite any change or lack of change in functions, we all bring with us many newly cultivated MBA skills. Even I am impressed by my recently developed Excel skills and my ability to create macros and pivot tables when, just a year ago, I was one of those people who would scroll down a 30,000 line spreadsheet using the little down arrow.
I now also notice marketing campaigns in a different way and feel (almost) compelled to tell anyone who will listen how they might be improved. I find myself thinking in frameworks and wish that people would express themselves in more organised and concise ways.
I think of new ventures and products that would thrive in Singapore and observe organisations that are not spending enough on their sales force or need a significant change in management.
As we enter the last of five academic periods, I suppose we are almost ready to re-enter the real world. All that is left is to determine who is ready to accept us, with all this fresh MBA knowledge.
The company is out there and when I find it I am sure the interview will go very well, now I know that “six to the sixth power” and “whatever interest rate is printed on the front page of the Financial Times” are not clever enough answers.
