Seniors Tell Juniors
One of CES's many available handouts is entitled "Seniors tell Juniors about Job Hunting," a compendium of advice both serious and witty from veterans of the interview processes. Some of the choice responses: Looking back, if I could do anything different, I would...
Do exactly what I did; interview only with the few companies in which I was interested.
Interview with more companies to increase my chances of a callback.
Go to MIT if I knew I wanted to be a scientific researcher.
Best thing about going through recruiting was: Seeing all your classmates each day in CES; it's a chance to see your friends more in three months than you had in three years.
Interviews. What other excuse do you have to talk about yourself for an hour and not feel guilty?
Experiencing interviews, learning about myself, experiencing real humility for the first time in my life.
Seeing all the other members of my class in suits for the first time since Freshman Week.
The job offers.
The worst thing about going through recruiting was: Having to explain over and over again why I had majored in religion.
The pain of dealing with the harsh reality that a sutnma cum laude graduate of Dartmouth can still have a hell of a time finding a job.
Realizing that the world fails to await your arrival with open arms.
Losing sight of other fields; banking and retail are not the only fields out there.
The toughest questions that I was asked were: After a job history of pure social service, why banking?
What would your sorority sisters say are your worst traits?
Why is your GPA what it is? Why should we spend our time on you?
In preparing for first interviews, my advice would be: Practice with Burt, a friend, your dog.
Convince yourself you are the coolest thing that ever walked the earth.
To realize its overall unimportance to life.
In preparing for second interviews, my advice would be: Have a nice suitcase so you don't have to walk in with a duffel bag.
On the humorous side, one recollection that stands out is: Flying out to Cleveland a week early for my second interview with General Electric.
Realizing that I was interviewing for Proctor & Gamble when I thought it was E.F. Hutton and this after some 20 minutes...
Walking into an interview ten minutes late, throwing out a joke about Dartmouth alums, and then hearing the interviewer say. "I'm an alumnus myself. That's strike two."
