Sunday, September 25, 2011

Shadowing Job Interviews and Advising.

On Tuesday (9/20/2011) I had the opportunity to sit with Dr. Gross and shadow two interviews and an advising session. It was well worth my time as I was just sitting in the computer lab with nothing to do specially giving the fact that I had an upcoming interview with Cardinal Solutions on the same week.

The advising was for a student who joined the school and was interested in joining an internship program. She was not qualified as she did not have the credit for it. So instead Dr. Gross talked to her about the 2 year program since she was interested in grad school anyway. The main lesson to learn from this is to go out and ask. The worst that we can hear is a "No". In this case, It turned out for the best and the student got her course plan set up for what she is trying to major in (being prepared before a meeting is a huge plus and it looks respectful).

The two interviews following were interesting as I have never been in the seats of an interviewer before. I have always seen the behavior questions as useless as the questions they are asking can be really vague and it is hard to answer a questions without knowing what the questioning person is trying to get. After witnessing the interview, It seems as if they are more about how the person answers the question over what the "correct" answer should be.

The last interviewed student was a friend of mine and I personally think that he have done a great job in asking a post-interview questions and express a personal interest in the position. The points that he brought up (Tutor diversity and how it could help the students) which, while obvious, showed both experience and understanding of the work to be done.

Interviews are tricky as it depends on who is on the other side of the table. I was interviewed by Dr. Gross himself and I was shocked when he asked me the behavioral questions. I remember that I was stumped enough to the point where I actually asked him to skip a question (which I don't think is a great idea now since the answer is not what the interviewer is asking, but how you would behave when answering these questions.). I am expecting a lot of interviews in the future so the more experience the better.

Finally I would like to add that I was interviewed by Cardinal Solutions last Thursday. I had my ups and downs. I did a bad job preparing for the interview and I showed up late (I know .. I am still regretting it right now and will be ashamed of it for the rest of my life. We all make mistakes). What I did good was I learned a lot about the company and the interviewers before Thursday.

Overall, The interview went very well (except, you know, the part where I came in LATE!). I enjoyed meeting the people. I love the company already and I see it as a great fit for me in every way.

It seems like I have a lot of interviews to face. I will keep what I learned in mind when I go for my next interview.

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