Interview Tips Presentation (Related to MBA Finance)

Agenda
Before the interview: develop your story The interview: The basic interview questions The interview: Finance questions The interview: The behavioral questions Personality The management style Problem solving skills Career aspirations Hobbies After the interview: You ask questions

Before the interview: develop your story and ask yourself the following

Good start:
Passion for the business/motivation
Why company X? Why am I interested to work in this field?

Key skills and experience and what makes you unique

Why you? What do you have to bring on the table?

Have a list of 3-4 smart questions?

Before the interview:

Check the following web sites:
http://finance.yahoo.com http://interactive.wsj.com/pages/front.htm http://vault.com http://www.businessweek.com/ http://www.cnn.com/ http://www.kellogg.nwu.edu/student/club/finan ce/fin_001.htm Companys web site

Before the interview: develop your story and ask your self the following

Be ready for the 60 second pitch!

What you did before (prof. and academic) What your strongest skills and accomplishments are What kind of position you are seeking?

The interview: The basic interview questions

Why Kellogg? What other firms are you interviewing with and for what positions? What are the 3 most important challenges our company is facing? What are your long and medium term career goals? Describe your ideal career? Whats your dream job? Tell me what you know about our company, its culture, its products?

The interview: The basic interview questions (contd)

Why do you want to work here? Tell me what you think our distinctive advantage is within the industry? We have a number of applicants interviewing for this position. Why should we take a closer look at you? What are your key assets? Strengths? Weakness?

 If you want to invest in a developing country, what are the criteria you are looking at? More specifically, you have the choice between investing in Austria, Mexico, and Germany what would you choose and why? How would you value a company? What key financial ratios do you look at when trying to determine a firms financial health? What is EBITDA? What is it used for? Describe the CAPM? If your company has too much cash, what would you advise it to do?

The interview: Finance questions

The interview: Finance questions

You want to merge/buy a company, would you use cash or stock? What is EVA? How would you compute it? What is a SWAP? What is a forward? How can you build a synthetic forward? Explain me what is a real option? Can a company function without working capital? Tell me the difference between NPV and IRR.

The interview: The behavioral questions How would your team-mates/co-workers describe

you? Whats the most creative project youve worked on? Tell me about a time you persuaded others to adopt your ideas? Tell me about a time when you implemented an unpopular idea? Describe me the concept of customer? What was the last book you read? Who is the person you admire the most? How would a former colleague or subordinate describe your leadership style?

The interview: The behavioral questions Personality

What would your friends tell me about you? What situations excite and motivate you? Describe a time when you had to assist a coworker? What type of management style do you think is effective? Describe a time when youve worked under pressure. The management style Describe a leader you admire. Tell me about a learning experience that affected your management style.

The interview: The behavioral Problem solving skills questions

Describe a situation in which youve applied technical skills to solve a problem. Tell me about a time you had to solve a problem analytically? How do you measure the success of your work? Describe the accomplishment you are the most proud of? Whats your greatest achievement to date? How do you usually go about solving a problem? Describe a time you found it necessary to make an unpopular decision? Tell me about the most difficult problem youve ever dealt with.

The interview: The behavioral questions

Career aspirations
What are your LT/MT career plan? What are your aspirations beyond this job? What career path interests you within the company?

Hobbies
What do you like to do for fun? What sport do you play?

The interview: The behavioral questions Tell me about your most difficult or personal
experience. Tell me about a project in which you were disappointed with your personal performance. How have you handled criticism in your work? How you prioritize your tasks? Would you agree to relocate? Tell me about yourself? What is the biggest risk you have ever taken? You have 5 minutes to convince me that you are the best candidate for this position? What is your GPA?

 Why did you join company X? What experience and qualification helped you to be prepared and qualified for this job? What are your primary responsibilities in your current job? What do you like the most about your job, your company, and your industry? What do you dislike the most about them? Whats been your greatest challenge? Why did you want this job?

After the interview: You ask questions!

After the interview:

Write follow up letters/e-mail with the companies you really like. Try not to write a platitude. Express your appreciation for the opportunity to interview with the recruiter. Express your continued enthusiasm.