Corporate crash out? Will you cash in or crash out?
Oh man, I love a good interview. Share with me your best and
worst interview experiences. I really haven't had any
interviews go completely wrong. I had one guy interview me once,
it was a little awkward and AT shirt and he had like a
Chick-fil-A cup and he was like, sorry, I'm on PTO today, but I
was really excited about your resume, so I wanted to take your
interview. And I thought that was like
really endearing. Like it felt really real.
Yeah. But I haven't had any interviews
go like extremely bad. Like I've never had someone hit
me with a really hard question and be like, what the fuck?
But I know that happened. So I think I'm just like tunnel
vision over here, but I know that.
I think my least. Favorite questions are questions
where it's like too vague. Like it's like, tell me about a
time you worked with the team and what did you do to help the
team succeed? It's like, what the fuck do you
want me to say? I really, really hate those.
And I think that just shows like an underprepared company, to be
honest. Like I've only had people ask me
that when it's just not a great company or it's an HR person
that doesn't really know what else to ask me.
I think that's like, and then you have to do the store.
What is it? The star stories or whatever,
which I think a waste of time. I just want to talk about
actual, real things and not just like make up a story to tell you
just because you asked me for it.
But Claire, it's interesting that you haven't had any really
bad interviews because I definitely have for an interview
for an internship. I actually got my interviewer,
who ended up being my boss was 15 minutes late to the interview
and I had to like e-mail him and the HR person and be like, oh,
like, let me know where are you? And then he was like, oh, sorry,
I forgot. And then he was like just asking
me questions for like like 2 questions and then asked me what
else I have. And then I don't know, it worked
out. So, you know, But yeah, I've had
interviews where they schedule it and nobody shows up and then
I reach back out to the recruiting person, they respond
and then they never respond again.
I've had that happen. I've had interviews where it's
like a random company like CarMax, sorry to drop CarMax,
but they made me do this HR interview.
I did that. Then I did like another
interview and then they wanted me to do a super day for CarMax.
And I was like, what? And so I was sitting there for
three hours doing like cases and it was just the worst thing
ever. I anyways, but yeah, I've had
some really bad ones where it's a pretty technical job.
I would say some credit card companies, if it's really
technical, they which sometimes you can't really tell from the
job description, but they'll ask you like all these in depth
stats, like stats questions. And there were sometimes when I
was just like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
And then, you know, you keep moving on.
And some of my friends who are in kind of like a more tech
space also have that experience as well.
Like if you're in data science or data analytics, you're not
going to know everything. And they don't expect you to
know everything too. That's the other thing.
Like they just want to see what you do know and what interests
you have and what kind of areas that you like and know a lot
about. And that's kind of what they're
assessing for. But I have had that where I was
like about to cry because I didn't know anything they were
asking. Me, Oh my gosh, you know what I
actually have done which is like AI.
Think one of the weirder interview esque experiences I've
had is have you taken the Procter and Gamble assessment?
Yes, that was awful. Literally no.
I was pissed. Everyone was bitching about it
and I was like I'm going to go take this test.
And then I never even found out if I passed or not because
before I got my like score back there like the position had
closed that I applied for. I don't even know what my score
was, but no you, just you. Either pass or fail, and then if
you fail you can only take it again after another year.
I don't understand the point of it because I've heard some
people actually look up how to take it and what kind of person
they're looking for 'cause it's, I think it's part of, it's a
personality test, right? And also the consulting
companies do that too, which kind of annoys me.
Oh, this brings me to McKenzie. So maybe they've retired this, I
don't know. I honestly don't understand why
they put this much effort into it.
But two years ago and me and everybody else in the world, I
guess applied to McKenzie and their rounds before you could
interview with them was this case.
And the case was you're in a rainforest, no joke.
And there's like 3. No, no, I'm not even this is
even the worst part. They literally have like a whole
intro. I don't know who designed this,
but it seemed like an actual video game.
You go through the rainforest and you have to find like
animals to put together in a Biome and you need like 2
plants. I've done this.
I was like, oh, that was so fun. That was so much fun.
I liked that one. It was a waste of time.
Sorry. It took me hours to do because
it was like, oh, which one? If this is 76°, this plant needs
to be in and the altitude for this animal is 700 plus and then
you had to do that and it I don't know, it was just.
But yeah, I did take this one where you had to like make like
a microbiome or some shit, and it was like a simulation.
Is that what you're talking? About yes and they don't tell
you if you did well or not score attributed to it.
So you don't know like how to do the next one, which I think is
just annoying. I think the issue I have with
all of this, I'm starting to realize is that there's no
feedback. Because I think part of me is
that I can learn something and I might not know it straight away,
but I will make an effort to learn and change what I'm doing
in accordance with what you want as a business.
And I think the part of interviewing when there's no
feedback or cases when there's no feedback is kind of
frustrating to me. No, I get that because it's
like, who the fuck cares if I can figure it out on the first
try? Like, you're never going to
always figure out your job on the first try, so wouldn't you
rather have someone who's going to learn than someone who's just
coming in at one level and going to stay stagnant?
Exactly. And I think that's one thing
that if there's some companies that do recognize that and for
cases, they make it really hard. So that way you they kind of,
it's like a test of endurance to see how long you'll keep trying
to figure it out more than it is to will you get the right
answer. Like I've had some of those
cases before. But yeah, that's something that
always bothered me about some of the consulting ones is that I
give them an answer and they say, OK, and then you move on.
And I'm like, OK, so like, let's have a conversation.
What do you think about that? I want to, like, work with you
because clearly in this job, I'm going to have to work with other
people. I don't want you to just say OK
and move on. Like I want to hear your
thoughts and opinions so I can help, like tailor that.
And I've had some really good cases where people do give me
their opinions and we kind of like work together to come to a
conclusion. And I think that's a lot better
because you can kind of see what someone's personality is like,
if they're like, oh, it's my way or the highway or if they're
willing to work with you in compromise or also kind of that
aspect. But anyways, that's my rant.
Yeah, I've never actually done like I, I've never actually done
a case interview, but I'm getting kind of, I'm getting
kind of tired of like companies having more than like 3 rounds
of interviews for entry level jobs.
Like, yeah, I'm sorry. It makes sense for some upper
level jobs that you might have to do a little more probing, but
if you can't figure out if you want a 21 year old based off of
meeting them once or twice, then I have more concerns about that
company than anything else. I hate the ones that I think
it's also just that maybe they get so much of volume and so
they keep doing, you know, ones like, but I've had ones where I
have to do a higher view, OK, after the higher view.
If you pass that, then you get to do a case and the case is not
someone casing you. It's just an online case and
then you do that and then if you pass that, then you get to talk
with an HR person. And if you pass the HR person
one, then you can talk to another person.
Then once you pass that, you can do a super day.
And it actually just makes me crazy.
But I know investment banking is a very, very much like that.
Like you have to jump through hoops to be able to get it.
And I don't know if that's just to see how committed you are.
I'm really not sure but. Yeah, I'm convinced it's all for
show. I'm convinced it's all for show.
And then once they get there, they just kind of drink slushies
and play ping pong all day. Yeah, I play ping pong a lot.
My work actually. Now they have ping pong tables
on every floor. Every other floor I remember one
of my accounting internships and like obviously accounting.
So based on billable hours but I would like go get a coke and all
of the consultants would be in the break room just like ripping
up the ping pong table drinking their slushies and it really
made me. Sad what I thought.
They have billable hours too, So why?
Are they? I mean, yeah, but it's like way
more LAX, you know, accountants are uptight.
I feel like for mine it was the opposite.
I did an internship once and it was like real estate evaluation
and it was kind of stressful because they were like 90%.
Like you have to do all these trainings to be in compliance.
But then it was also like 90% of your hours should be billable.
And if you're with like below that threshold, then you get an
e-mail and say that, you know, you have to really bill.
And then I feel bad for billing people if I'm not 100%
productive in that hour. And then I just get Katie and
Katie. Welcome to my everyday life.
I'm not entered, I do everyday. Yeah, I that's, I think I
wouldn't do well in consulting and accounting just because of
that. Not even because of the work or
anything. I just, I feel so bad if I bill
stuff. And in consulting this is such a
problem because you can only bill so many hours and then you
have so much work you have to do.
And if you don't get the work done, but you got the hours
done, then people get mad at you because now you have to go over
hours. But if you not the hours done,
if you got the work done but didn't get the hours, then
they're like, well, now we're under billing the client.
So you just have to like do something.
It's just such a game. And I really am not down.
Yeah. And that's why there's this
whole like argument versus fixed fee structures and billable hour
structures with consulting and accounting projects and people
will go back and forth on which one will make the most money and
which is better, but. I used to work on those deals.
Like deciding whether you're going to do fixed fees or
hourly. Yeah.
And I would have to do like the finance, the financing behind it
and figure out, you know, how many man hours it would take and
OK, are we going to pay this in six years?
You get, I mean, like, how many days to pay and all that.
Like math financially for those like really big, like deals
above $60 million. I did that last summer.
Fun, Yeah. So what do you think?
Hourly or fixed? Fixed fee.
Honestly, I think this is kind of with the salespeople and it
just, I don't know, it's such a difficult space to work in.
But if that's what you want to do, it's like can be really
interesting because it's like a little bit of a strategy game
when you get to more of a managerial level.
But I kind of personally like the hourly one.
But this problem is like sometimes you're going to go
over hours. So then you have to come back to
the client and be like, well, now it's going to cost more
money. And then if you do the fixed fee
one, but you know, you were planning on this so many hours
internally and then you need more it.
I mean, both cause problems. But yeah, I honestly don't.
But I think you're just a gamble honestly.
Yeah, I think for a lot of companies are using more AI now.
So it's like, well, we're not going to have necessarily
billable hours. That's been a big issue because
if like AI is doing 20% of the work and we're only doing 80%
now, well, if we bill less hours, how are we still going to
get paid the same? So and then you want your hour
like billable per ratio to look better compared to the other
companies that are also competing for the bid.
And then I don't know if it's messy, I'm on a tangent.
But anyways. Anyways, we've covered
applications. Anything else you want to add?
Yeah, so have you ever gotten a weird interview question?
Cuz I have. This is what I was saying.
Why have I had the most chill last interviews?
Maybe it's just like accounting, but I don't really think I've
had a really weird question. Like I feel most of the
interviews I've had have just been people genuinely trying to
get to know me, what I'm interested in, and like what my
experiences were. So Katie, Katie, sorry I'm so
LAX on this topic, but please do share your weird ass interview
questions. And if you're listening and you
have a weird ass interview question, drop it in the form.
Some of mine have been so stupid and it's clearly like pulled
from a list company. Sometimes what they'll do, the
really big ones, is if someone's interviewing you, they just give
you a list of all these questions you can't ask them and
then you pick some. One of mine was is if you woke
up to 5000 emails and could only respond to 100 of them, which
ones would you choose to respond to?
Which is never going to happen in everyday life.
And why would I be getting 5000 emails as an intern?
I don't know. But I was just like, yeah, I'd
sort them by priority based on what my boss wanted me to work
on this week and then answer those accordingly and then get
to the rest later in the week. And that's all I had to say.
I mean, what else were you supposed to say?
I'm going to. I would say, I would say, I hope
I don't get 5000 emails because then I'm going to throw my
computer out the window. Maybe I might just.
Laugh. Yeah.
Then you laugh, and then they're like, this girl's funny, and
then you get the job. Boom.
Yeah, Claire, I've also had ones where they're like, let's say
there's a natural disaster in the Atlanta area.
How are you going to evacuate everybody?
And the fuck? I said, well, what kind of
disaster? Because if it's a flood versus a
fire, you know, it's a little different because you can't
really move in the direction of the fire.
And they were like, I don't know, just any disaster.
And so I said, OK, I would try to figure out public
transportation first and shut down anything that's going near
the natural disaster. And then also help make sure
that all the Google Maps and try and I don't know, everything
else was triangulated correctly so people could get out.
But it was actually really interesting.
But anyways. That's weird as fuck and I'm
sorry that you had to endure that.
That's like honestly though, if I was interviewing someone I
would love to like give a weird question like that and then
laugh about it and be like, you don't think I was serious?
Didn't. You but yeah, so you know,
you're going to get some weird questions sometimes, but that's
OK. Just ask weird questions back.
OK, wait, Katie. This brings us, like, really
full circle, though, about ending an interview.
It's like, you should ask them questions.
I feel like the worst thing you can do is sit across from that
table from that person to be like, no, I have no questions.
Yeah. I agree.
I always walk in with like 5 questions I'm going to ask them
because it's and also just like psychologically people like
talking about themselves and their company so it's going to
make them like you more. Yeah, I agree with that 100%.
I think when we were talking about that Google Doc, that's
one thing we forgot to put on there.
But Claire and I do come in with questions ready just in case,
and I think it's really great just to have something written
down because sometimes I'm like, fuck, I don't have a.
You kind of get to that point. You went through the whole
interview, you're kind of fried at the end and you're like, I
can't think of anything. Then you can just read it.
But I think some good questions I usually ask where you know,
obviously this is where links in preparation comes in.
Like make sure you understand their movement through the
company. If they have stayed at the
company for 10 years, ask them why they've stayed.
Was it the culture? Was it the work?
Was it the work life balance? What was it?
Or if you want to go more, I guess in depth, you can ask them
what specific projects they're working on right now and how it
expanded their skill set. Or sometimes I ask people, you
know, list one thing you learned this week because I'm really
interested in environments that I consistently can learn in.
And so I just want to know like what people are learning.
I don't know. I usually, I'm usually a little
more chill on that, but I've definitely like stumped some
interviewers. They like weren't expecting
questions, but like I'll also be like really specific, especially
if it's for a full time job, I'll like I'll ask very pointed
questions about the company. But and it's also like the time
to get any clarity on the position that you might not
already have from the job listing.
And obviously from them asking you questions is not going to
give you as much clarity about the role.
So I think this is a super important time to ask very role
specific questions. Yeah, I agree.
And like kind of, I forget if you said this, but yeah, HR
people won't know the role specific questions.
So if you do have questions, you know, bring that up in the later
interviews like Claire said. Oh, yeah, I'm definitely
thinking like later interview here, like final interview,
final decision, but but but also like don't take 30 minutes
asking them questions because that's excessive.
You know, have three to five really good questions.
Yeah. So again, yeah, be conscious of
their time. That's also a big thing as well.
And if you're coming up on time, just be like, hey, I know we're
coming up on time. Do you have time for another
question? If not, that's OK or something
like that too. But I think one of the other
things is for kind of larger companies that do read from an
internship question list or interview question list, you can
go to Glassdoor and look at the corporate page of the company
and then type in what position you're applying for and then
look through the interview questions for that specific job.
I've done that before and a lot of them are pretty accurate and
it just allows you to like prepare a little bit ahead of
time, which is really nice. And yeah, I think that I found
to be super, super helpful 100%. Also, some schools have a portal
that you can look through if previous people applied to the
internship and you can see what questions they were asked or how
much money they got as well, which might be useful for you
guys. I know our school has one and
I've used that multiple times. Yes, ma'am.
The other thing too is for like the sophomores and freshmen and
even juniors. If you're struggling to figure
out where to apply, you can also ask the Career Center at your
school to send you like a list of where people applied
sophomore and junior year and like what internships they
accepted. They'll usually have a list and
then you can apply to those as well.
That actually worked really well for me for my junior year
internship, I met with my career advisor in the Career Center at
our school and she actually recommended a company to me
where she knew a partner and was like a really close friend with
a partner. And she's like your guys's
values are like so In Sync and like you guys would get along
really well. And so she ended up so I ended
up applying for that job and saying like she gave me like a
reference. So I think that that's a really
great resource so that they might know somewhere where you
would fit in well. So don't discount asking around
where you should apply. Don't just go online blind.
Yeah, I agree. And then this kind of leads me
to the last thing I wanted to touch on is how to answer some
of these like weird questions like what is your biggest
weakness, Claire? How would you answer that
question? You're supposed to.
I've read that you're supposed to answer it and then say how
you combat it. Like I would say my biggest
weakness is that sometimes I'm a little unorganized.
So what I like to do is every morning write down everything
that I need to get done in the day and in prioritized order or
something like that. Yeah, exactly.
So I think that was one of the things I struggled with at
first. But I think, you know, our
school told us you just want to say how you're improving.
That's all anyone can ever ask for.
No one is asking you to be perfect.
But I think it's just showing effort that you're willing to
improve and try different things to better yourself.
And that's all that question is really trying to get at.
So I just wanted to bring that up too, because I know that's a
really common one. Absolutely.
Don't just be like, I'm always late and then like, no.
But yeah, also some places drug tests.
You all probably know this by now.
I've been so scared of getting drug tested my whole life and no
job has ever drug tested me and I just want to see drug.
Tested Claire. What if someone like I've seen
like, OK, I like poppy seed dressing.
Like what if people think I like do meth?
No, I freaked out once because I literally ate a poppy seed
muffin right before my drug test and I totally forgot about it.
So, but it was fine. I think there's certain levels
that, you know, they go underneath.
I think it's really only sensitive for I think military
people and then they do kind of our lot.
Those tests are more sensitive to it, but I think for just
corporate they have certain levels and thresholds they need
to be. Also, like a lot of very common
drugs like flag your test, like for example Adderall flags your
drug test. So you know, I've never been
drug tested for a job, but I'm just always scared like what if
something slipped in there I didn't know about it.
Like I don't do drugs, but what if?
In there. Like what if a Molly just
slipped in there? What if a couple?
What if a couple syringes just shut up, you know?
MTMAI don't know. Like what if I'm like, what if I
fail? But yeah, and then you can also
just tell like the drug test person or tell your, I don't
know if you have to tell your company, but the drug test
person should just be like, hey, by the way, I'm on this
medication. If that's going to interfere
with the test, just please write a note so they know.
And then I feel like, well. I mean shit, if something came
across my desk that one of the interns was doing drugs, like if
I got 1 and I was, I would just giggle.
You know, like who actually is looking at this stuff?
I don't know, but I know I think it's probably for health
insurance too, is part of it. I'm God.
They're like, yeah, I don't know if they get paid a little bit
more, like they get better value out of it because they know
they're not like, you know, treating anyone who's on
anything hard. But anyways, I think that might
also be an issue. I don't know.
But yeah, stay safe. Don't do drugs.
Get a job and don't do drugs. That's the moral of today's
episode. So 1 before your drug test.
Yeah, did I tell? You, how you see it, have to get
drug tested at school. Yeah, you've told me.
This right here. That's so mean.
I know. And my sister was on Adderall
too, so my mom had to like, bring the little prescription
pill and then be like, look, this is what she's on.
I have the prescription. And they'd be like, OK, like
take notes and we'd have to send our hair to the lab.
It was kind of excessive, but whatever, girl.
We wouldn't have a sports team at my school if, oh, I'm just
kidding, kind. Of OK, thank you guys for
listening so much. This episode I know is a little
content heavy this time, but yeah, we really appreciate you
guys. Please, please write in with
anything you guys have questions on or if you have any crazy
corporate stories, we'd love hearing from you guys.
So make sure to write in to our listener inbox or just DMR
Instagram if that's easier for you guys.
Slay, see you all next time. See you next time.