Question 1:
Could you please introduce your background (position) and your experience in interviewing candidates?(e.g. years of experience, frequency, for what positions, what type of candidates)
Hi Lulu, thanks for inviting me to your program! Hello, everyone! I am a senior partner with one of the world's largest management consulting firm. Over the past 20 years, I have been a strategic management consultant to lead highly talented teams to work closely with our clients, solving their most complex business issues.
As talent is the most critical asset for our business, I spent approximately a quarter of my time every year, interviewing candidates who are either fresh college graduates, MBA graduates or experienced hire candidates with significant years of working experiences. The candidates normally come from top universities or MBA programs from around the world for our analyst or senior consultant roles or from other leading management consulting firms or renowned multinational companies for our experienced hire positions.
Question 2:
What aspects do you take into account when assessing the candidate?
From an assessor's standpoint, an interview (or a series of interviews) is aimed at assessing the candidate's candidacy in three aspects: experiences, skills and personal attributes:
1) experiences– to understand if the candidate has the relevant working experiences, this is typically related to the nature of the applied job;
2) skills– to test if the candidate has mastered the critical skills to be effective at work; such skills typically include numeric,analytical and logical reasoning skills; and
3) personal attributes – to assess if the candidate has the right personal attributes that are important to the individual and the firm's long term success. Such attributes typically include team related: leadership, team work, conflict resolution; creativity related, e.g. creativity, out of the box thinking; and ethics or work ethics related, e.g. ethical challenges, professionalism,hardworking, etc.
Question 3:
Any particular tips you would like to share in the resume walk-through session?
Walking through resume is perhaps the easiest to prepare. Yet you will still need to do your homework well. I have four tips here:
1. Make it your"story" – As an interviewer,what I am most interested in understanding are about your passion and your preparation: where did you come from? What did you do? What have you achieved so far? Why are you here today? Particularly, what have you done to qualify yourself for this job opportunity?
2. Talk in sequence and concisely: typically in chronological order and highlight only the most relevant experiences; for each section, you should not only talk about what you have done but also hint/highlight what you have achieved and its relevance to the next job. The tricky part is to put those three elements in very succinct sentences and in a proactive tone. This will make it much easier for your interviewer to follow your story.
For example, "I have managed to intern in three leading management consulting firms, so that I am familiar with working environment in this industry." "During this period, I have chosen to work on a really intense piece of research project that required a combined set of highly analytical and independent research capabilities."
3. Tailor your story when necessary: If you are applying for multiple jobs, remember to tailor the most relevant sections to reflect the most important experiences, skills and attributes that is required by the job you are applying for.
4. Practice, practice, practice: all best presentations come with practice. I remembered many years ago, I used to practice resume walk through at all times, as I was taking a shower, walking on the road, in front of a mirror. The goal is to make it come out so naturally that you can complete the walk through clearly and convincingly within 1-2 minutes.
Useful Phrases:
In my coursework and internship (previous job), I've had extensive experience in ….
I have both theoretical and practical experience in…
I've become very familiar with (certain tools/programs/procedures)
I had the opportunity to apply the skills in (certain projects)…
I was in charge of/I'm responsible for…
I played a key role in…
I coordinated with/collaborated with…
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