First Interview Impressions

This Wednesday, I was lucky enough to have my first formal interview with PNC Financial Services. I was notified that I had been invited about a week ago, and I flipped. Who knew first-year sophomores could actually get interviews floating their resume through cyberspace? The internship in question was an analyst Summer position that was pretty general, but once accepted, you were sorted into one of their divisions to work. I took interest in their Capital Markets programs since, although PNC doesn't deal in equity, it had related sales work like Loan Syndication and Asset-Backed Securities. So, I signed up for a mock-interview, which went well, and was met with praise for my quick-thinking and confident demeanor. So, what could go wrong?

Most of the questions are general, can be anticipated, pertain to the resume, and I practically just aced a demonstration of a real one, right?

Wrong.

Wednesday I walked into the interview room, calm, confident, and ultimately ignorant of what kind of dance me and Brenden McGuire, Senior VP of Corporate Banking, were getting in to. I don't think it would be appropriate to walk through the entirety of the 30 minutes, leaving a nervous, sweaty shadow of student and one drowsy, unimpressed recruiter, but I think that I should definitely hit on some challenges I faced.

After glancing over my interview and sizing me up a little, I was told that I had a good resume, was selected for my unique Waffle House experience, and then asked "Well Michael, tell me what's not on your resume?" In the safe confines of my mind, where dumb, ineloquent thoughts can be culled before speaking, I panicked, desperately racing to think what part of my life I hadn't reduced to the 8 by 11" sheet of printer paper. My response came out a little like this: "Ummm me like moosic... me think it big part of life."

Awkward award! *Move back five squares and return dignity and confidence cards to deck*
Pretty bad, huh? But, now I at least knew what the rest of the interview would be like
(HIGHLY INFORMAL), so I cut my losses from the first five minutes and did my best to make it a great interview.

This brings us to...

Survival Rule I: Be prepared to talk about things you like and what you're about. Employers may see a hundred resumes that look great and qualified, but at the same time, 100 top songs with the same tune is still a bore. When they see people with the same GPA and club activities every day, it's hard to impress these guys with the stats; they've already seen the resume.

"Huh? But Krum love business!"

So instead, dazzle them with the fundamental of being a decent, interesting human being to have a conversation with, and if at all possible, lay off the caveman speak. It'll go a long way.

Survival Rule II: In most cases in life, fake it till you make it, but if it's the Senior VP of Corporate Banking, a demigod of Financial Services, be as modest as you can in your attempts to sound intelligent. I'm not saying you shouldn't try to have an intelligent conversation, but when you're talking about so many departments, your handful of jargon might not always be appropriate to the situation. I have taken all the intro business classes, but that base-line terminology wasn't going to get me hired. Instead, humble yourself, stop trying to impress so much, and focus on being a good listener. If you're going to interject, use it to ask small questions that they can elaborate on. If they say something interesting or edifying, when it's your turn to speak, show that you were listening by explaining the point from your current understanding, and maybe even asking for clarification on certain parts. If you get the job, a big part of it will be learning the new business, and soaking up information and experience from a team of elites. Therefore, showing that you can interact, take in, and catalog information for later use is a lot more important than what you've learned from a Micro/Macro textbook.

If you're going into an interview, keep these things in mind, be natural, and I'm sure you'll do fine. Don't have an interview? Well, I can say now more than ever: "Hurling resumes into cyberspace isn't always the best answer." Despite all my good grades and achievements, in the end, I was chosen from a stack of 100 because well, someone had heart and thought "Hell, I want to meet the Waffle House kid." Want to be more than an 8 by 11" sheet of paper? Check out
Mergers and Inquisitions Networking Video (used under the context of Investment Banking, but still great strategies for anyone to use) Again, Good luck as recruiting starts!
                                                         -The Waffle House Kid