Avoid wasting time in the interview process: Part 2 of Prof. Jack Derby's advice on the job search

MOVING THROUGH THE INTERVIEW PROCESS 

The first interview 

As I’m sure you know, first impressions are critical. Jack Derby echoes many job search experts who strongly encourage you to research the company and position, and he explains why. Don’t waste time in your interview walking through your resume step by step - they’ve already seen that. Instead, point out 2 - 3 critical items and focus on your value and what you can do for the company (and this is why you need to conduct that research!). Take notes and ask questions to show that you’re interested.

Follow up after interview

Keep showing your value and your interest. Even after the interview, it’s critical to show that you’re interested. Jack told us a story about one of his students who was applying for a job at a company where he had connections. She did calligraphy as a hobby, and she thought it would be great to send them a beautiful hand-written thank you note. But she didn’t get the job, and when Jack asked why, he was told that they hadn’t received a follow up from her, so they gave the job to someone who seemed to want it more.

Moral of the story, follow ups are important. Don’t send a boring and awkwardly short email that just says “thanks for your time, hope to hear from you!”  But, if you're going to invest time in making your follow up high quality, keep in mind that you need to expedite this correspondence.  The purpose of the follow up is two-fold: to thank them for the interview and the time they spent with you, and to get to reiterate your interest in the job while they're deliberating over finalists.

What's a high quality follow up?  Make your thank you more than a pointless formality - take the opportunity to expand on something mentioned during the interview (for example, link to a blog post you wrote or an article about something you talked about). And keep following up even after the initial “thank you” email - it shows that you really care about this position. People are often concerned about being annoying. Avoid poking them every day to ask if they’ve made a decision, and instead provide something of value without asking for anything in return: Send an article you think they’ll appreciate (shows you’re paying attention to the industry). Even better, do some work for them! No better way to show how you can help than by giving them some suggested solutions for a problem they’re facing. More on how to not be annoying in a follow up and how sample work makes you stick out from other follow ups from career site The Muse.

The offer 

Know what you want in case you get an offer. Negotiation is good because it shows you’ll stick up for yourself, meaning that you’ll also bargain on behalf of the company.  But also, as entry level workers, we don’t have a lot of leverage, and you don’t want to sound arrogant. Know the typical salary range for that position so that you can tell whether you’re getting what you deserve. Look up the position on Glassdoor to see the average salary range for someone with your background and skills. Also, figure out the cost of living for the job location. You might think that job in NYC pays well but once you account for how much it costs to live in the city, the offer actually isn’t ahead of the others. Jack encourages students to figure out what matters to them throughout the whole job search process which includes prioritizing in your salary negotiations.

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"Why do people buy Cheerios?", Part 1 of Prof. Jack Derby's advice on the job search

This past spring, I attended a workshop led by Jack Derby, a marketing professor in the Entrepreneurial Leadership Studies Department at Tufts. Jack has his own management consulting company and sits on the board of the investor network Common Angels. At Tufts, he teaches Entrepreneurial Marketing. Students in the class requested a lecture focused specifically on the job search.  In part 1 of this post, I thought I'd highlight Jack's advice for preparing your job search tools.  In part 2 of this post, I'll highlight his suggestions for the interview process.

PREPARING YOUR TOOLS

Targeting the best you

Look at your strengths and weaknesses, and work from there. One trick is to find someone on LinkedIn who has the job that you want, and look at their qualifications and strengths and how they present themselves - then aim for that as you build yourself. In the short term, you need to prepare for interviewers to ask about your weaknesses - have a response ready to counteract their concerns. To evaluate yourself, try using a SWOT analysis - a template frequently used in business to break down Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. You can find more on how to do a personal SWOT analysis from Forbes and Monster.com.

Resume

Your resume...is actually only “moderately important,” according to Jack. What’s more important is your CVP or Customer Value Proposition.  If you want more on resumes check out the Career Center’s links on resumes or schedule an appointment this summer to have someone look over your resume. (Yes, the Career Center is open 9am-5pm during the summer!)

CVP (Customer Value Proposition) trumps resume, aka, “Why Cheerios is the best-selling cereal” 

This is the part of Jack’s presentation that really stood out to me, and I think it’s an idea that I will keep in mind for the rest of my life. He took out a little box of Cheerios, and told us that Cheerios are the best selling cereal in the world - with twice the sales of any other cereal. He asked us why, and people said because they’re healthy, they’re good for your heart. And that is the Cheerios value proposition: that’s what they say they’ll do for you.

The nutrition facts on the side of the box? That’s your resume. It’s dry and boring, and it’s not important in the purchasing process. People don’t buy this product because it has 3 grams of fiber and the ingredients list has whole grain oats and trisodium phosphate. Yeah, 3 grams of fiber, so what? People buy Cheerios because Cheerios are pitched as being healthy and good for your heart. What does this tell us? Well, it’s not really about your specifications. It’s about the value you will deliver.

I think this mentality is the most important thing I’ve learned from Jack. Look at your resume (or any answer to an application/interview question) and ask yourself, “So what?” Okay, I did this internship and I completed these tasks. So what? I have experience in A and B area. So what? I can help your company improve in this area because I bring X and Y to the table. That's what you need to get to. What is your value? I don’t care about ingredients - what can you do for me?

LinkedIn

Employers really do search for you on LinkedIn - an interviewer has asked me about things mentioned on my profile. It’s a chance to flesh out your experience without the limits of a one-page resume. For example, my LI profile has links to blog posts I’ve written. Here is Jack’s list of LinkedIn best practices (because a badly done LinkedIn profile may be worse than none at all):

• Complete profile (i.e. fill things out)
• Professional-looking headshot 
• At least 150 connections 
• At least 5 recommendations (written positive reviews - not to be confused with endorsements, which are just a +1 for a particular skill) 

Email signature

Here’s what you should have in the automatic signature at the bottom of your email:

• Name 
• School & graduation year 
• Cell phone number 
• LinkedIn 
• Twitter 

This makes it easy for the recipient to remember you and to reply later. And perhaps most importantly, your LinkedIn allows them to effortlessly find more info on you.

References

Keep in contact with past employers so they remember you and retain a positive impression. Ask them to write you recommendations on LinkedIn and then potential employers who might not bother to spend time actually calling people will still get positive reviews of you.

Personal blog or website

Many people might claim to be really passionate and experienced with x topic, but with a blog, you’re putting your money where your mouth is. It’s an extra step that makes you stand out from your peers (more on that in our previous blog post on How To Get A Job With Fluffy Liberal Arts Skills)

Next time, I'll highlight Jack's thoughts on the interview process.

Reach out to Jack! 

I know this sounds cheesy, but Jack really is dedicated to helping students succeed in their careers. He stays in touch with his students, and one day in class he mentioned that he’d woken up early for a 4am phone call with a former student in Singapore (12 hour time difference). He has a very extensive network and frequently recommends students to his contacts. He's been giving me frequent advice on a tricky situation I've been dealing with, and connected me to his friend who had done a talk for our class. I met with him for an informational interview, and he's now going to forward my resume to some of his contacts. But don’t expect Jack to hand you a job on a silver platter. Do your homework and show him you’re worth it.

His email is on the last slide of the presentation (I don't want to write his email out because of spam bots), or you can find him on LinkedIn.

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True Story: Networking With Alumni Pays Off

Credit to Chester Zoo

Early last fall, I “met” a 2013 alum from Digitas when I saw her speak at a career panel at Tufts. Digitas is a huge marketing company in Boston that I’d been eying ever since I applied to their summer internship program during spring of my junior year. Then, in November, I met her properly and actually talked to her for a bit at Diversity Networking Night.

Tufts organizes many great speakers and networking events, but not many students take full advantage of these opportunities. Some students avoid networking events like the plague because it makes them nervous (if you’re one of those people, check out our earlier blog post here). But trust me, these connections can make a big difference. You never know who you're going to meet or how they'll be able to help you. Here’s my story of how everything comes together if you put in the effort of going to events, reaching out to people, and building relationships.

The day after the networking night, I went to Digitas' Open House recruiting event for seniors (we have blogged about it before), and I happened to see her again because we were riding down in the elevator together as the event ended. At the Diversity Networking Night she had mentioned that she’s part of a Digitas social club called Perspectives, supporting diversity at the company. (Digitas has 700 employees in the Boston HQ, and there are social clubs for everything from running to LGBTQ issues, so that people can meet employees outside their own team.) Well, the other person in the elevator happened to be the founder of the Perspectives club she’d told me about, so I asked more about that. I ended up standing in the lobby talking to the two of them for twenty minutes. And it was a real conversation, not a stiff "And what do you like most about your job?" career conversation like I'd had with other alumni that night. I think we really connected - we were even making fun of each other. Months later, in February or March, she friended me on Facebook out of the blue, but we hadn't spoken.

Flash forward to March, I saw her speak on a panel of recent grads who work in digital media hosted by the Communications and Media Studies Program. The panelists talked about their career paths, and it turns out her first job out of college was in Account Management at Digitas - the EXACT position I had an interview for the next day. So I got her email from the staff assistant who set up the panel, and messaged her to ask if we could discuss her first job. It was a shot in the dark, because I wanted to talk to her the very next day and I assumed her schedule would already be filled. But she replied right away, and we set up a call just one hour before my interview. She is very involved in career events at Tufts so she might have agreed to a last-minute informational interview with any Tufts student, but I definitely think it helped that I had already built a bond with her through other events.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE! The day after my call with the alum and my interview, I attended my Senior Dinner. (About 130 seniors at a time go to the President's house for dinner. Alumni are there to speak and network, and you get to meet President Monaco and take a picture with him.) One of the alumni gave a speech about how much informational interviews helped him - he went from 40 applications and 1 interview, to 20 applications and 15 interviews. During this speech, I was thinking about how I needed to email the Digitas alum and thank her. Then President Monaco introduced an alum who hadn’t spoken yet, and guess who it was? What’s funny is that when we were saying goodbye on the phone, I joked “I’ll probably see you around, we seem to go to the same events!” Little did I know it would literally be the next day.

Right after alumni speeches comes an open mic where seniors speak about their Tufts experience. During this time, I approached the podium and said that I wanted to second what the first alum had said about the value of informational interviews. I told my fellow students how I had been at the CMS panel on Monday, and talking to my alum gave me an advantage over other candidates because I knew how to pitch myself for that exact position. Then I brought it back to "So, definitely reach out to alumni for informational interviews. They want to help you, and it can really make a difference in your job search." When I stepped away from the podium, I made eye contact with the Digitas alum and she nodded and smiled. I followed up the next day (“It’s so funny that we ran into each other, again, so soon”) and thanked her, again. We kept in touch via email leading up to my second interview, and I learned some things that I could not have gotten anywhere else - such as the pay range for the position (so that I could give an appropriate range when asked.)

Long story short, if you go to a lot of professional events, you can slowly build relationships that will pay off later. That last-minute call was really valuable for me. Regardless of whether I end up getting this job, I now have a solid contact in the industry and in a company I aspire to work for, and the advice that she shared will help me if I apply for jobs in account management or at Digitas in the future. I already knew what Account Management was, in general, but I had the additional opportunity to ask about specifics: what entry level workers typically handle, what she liked about the position, what skills you use, what the challenges are, etc. Armed with this knowledge of entry-level Account Management, I could pitch myself to fill that role at Digitas.

As a result of my efforts, one of the interviewers asked how I knew so much about the role, and another interviewer noted that she had to provide the other candidates with an intro to Digitas, while I seemed to be very familiar with the company already. After my interview, I sent the Digitas alum an email telling her about those interviewers' comments to illustrate how her advice had made a difference for me, (and thanking her again.) I think knowing the company and the position really well made me stand out from the other candidates. I’ll hear back from Digitas in mid-April, but even if I don’t get the job, the whole process has been a great experience that has taught me so much about the importance of building relationships in the job search.

UPDATE: I recently learned that I didn’t get an offer. While I’m really disappointed, I’m proud that I took the right steps to get to an interview with a company that receives thousands of applications, even for internships. I’m writing a new blog post about dealing with rejection in the job search and about what I’ve gained from this journey even though the end result wasn’t what I’d hoped.

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How To Get A Job As A Liberal Arts Major With "Fluffy" Skills

Help, liberal arts majors don't have any hard skills!

My sophomore year, I knew that I had things to offer, but I didn't really know what I wanted as a career. I knew I should be getting internships, but I didn't know what I was looking for, and that really freaked me out.

And it made me really nervous that my resume said things like "critical thinking" and "analysis" that can't be measured or proven and may be perceived as "fluffy." How is anyone supposed to hire me just because I say I know how to think critically? I also had my parents' voices echoing in my head telling me that sociology "isn't a practical major." But you know what, lots of people major in the liberal arts in college and still get jobs. So how are they doing it?

Here's the good news: Soft skills are real skills that employers want, and they're broad enough that you can use them anywhere. But that begs the question, where exactly should you look for jobs?

This blog post will cover: 

1. What liberal arts majors have to offer
2. Who's a good fit for the standard business departments in any company
3. How to stand out and get a job

In February, I attended an all-day Business Boot Camp for liberal arts majors hosted by Hubspot, a Boston company that makes a software platform for inbound marketing. They started this boot camp because tech companies actually need the skills offered by liberal arts majors, but liberal arts majors don’t often know where they fit in a tech company. There are a lot of generic business positions you could be qualified for, but do you know what all the different departments of a business actually do and which one is best for you?

For this blog post, I’ve selected the parts of my notes with broad applicability across businesses, but if you want to know more about Hubspot specifically feel free to email me for those notes. The rest of the presentation included things like an intro to the Software as a Service business model (SaaS) and Inbound Marketing. You can sign up to get notified when next fall's Boot Camp applications open.

What do liberal arts majors have to offer?

Michael Redbord is a Tufts grad who majored in international relations and philosophy, now working in Support at Hubspot. He gave this breakdown of how a liberal arts education can be your launching pad:

What do you have that hiring managers actually care about?

1. You can ask "Why?" (critical approach)
2. You can communicate clearly and within context.
3. You can use frameworks to learn new skills faster.
4. You work well alone, in pairs, and with groups (flexible working style)
5. You know how to spin things ("sales and consulting skills")

Okay, but these skill sets are really broad. So...

Where do I fit in business?

Operations 

Operations is exactly the kind of vague business title that Boot Camp helped me appreciate. The way that I understand it, Operations is like internal consulting - you’re constantly analyzing the company’s processes from the inside, making sure that the machine works effectively and trying to improve it. Operations is one of those quiet backbones that nobody really notices as long as it’s functioning well - but when it’s not working, you suddenly realize just how crucial it is. When Operations does its job well, your business operates very smoothly and efficiently, which allows the company to pivot quickly and get first mover advantage.

As an example of the kind of projects Operations works on, the Operations presenter (Liz) told us about the Hubspot wiki - a giant collection of all knowledge in the company. Operations analyzes the wiki’s performance by asking questions like “Who looks at the wiki? How do they navigate the space? If people aren’t engaging with it, why not?” Or, a more generic example of a problem Operations looks at is “How do we source candidates most effectively?” That includes looking at things like the rate of hire for candidates sourced from online portals vs. recommendations from current employees.

Am I a good fit for Operations? 
Liz characterizes working in Operations as kind of a hybrid job.

• Scientist: You like research and analysis - breaking down problems and measuring change. 
• Politician: You can’t just say “my way is better” and steamroll your agenda through. People are already accustomed to their way of doing things, and they don’t enjoy being told that their process is flawed. You have to persuade and cajole people into doing things differently. 
• Inventor: You’re creative and you enjoy problem solving, like figuring out how to measure things that aren’t easily measured. 

Sales & Services

There’s a common misconception that being a good salesman is all about making a convincing pitch. But there’s a lot more to it than just presentation. The presenter, Mark, argues that it’s about building trust and understanding the prospective client’s problem. Different people want different things - so don’t just pitch your product to them without learning any context first.

Instead, you start by asking questions about the prospect’s situation - their problems, their goals, what they want from this kind of product. Build trust and focus on helping the prospect, not talking about how great your product is. Once you understand what they need, then talk about how your product solves that problem, using the same language that the prospect uses. Working in sales teaches you a skill that you’ll use for the rest of your life and could apply across many industries and positions: 83% of Fortune 500 CEOs came up through sales. 

You’re a good fit for Sales if: 

• you like working with people 
• you like the chase and the satisfaction of closing a deal 
• performance-based pay according to your output sounds exciting, not stressful 

What employers look for when hiring for Sales:
Mark says that if you don’t have any prior experience in sales or retail, he looks for coachability and a record of excellence in whatever you’ve done. For example, one of their salespeople is a former Olympic athlete - and from that, you can tell that he’s really driven and willing to work hard to improve. Obviously they don’t expect everyone to have Olympian-level credentials, but you get the point, right?

Sales might not be right for you if:

• A quota hanging overhead and the possibility of being demoted due to poor performance would stress you out 
• Constant rejection gets you down (the majority of people you pitch to will say no)

Services is comprised of Consultants (who work with customers for 4-6 months at the beginning of their time with HubSpot) and Account Managers (who are responsible for revenue among the customer base). Together with Support and a few other teams, that's the bulk of the Services team.The primary difference between Sales and Services is that Services people work with customers to make them successful and keep them as customers, and Sales aims to acquire new customers by working with non-customers (prospects) and explaining the value of what we sell.

You might be a better fit for Services if:

• you’d like getting close to the product, learning all the ins and outs 
• you want to build relationships working with people, without the stress of sales 
• you find it gratifying (not frustrating) to help people with their problems 

Marketing

86% of people skip TV ads, 91% unsubscribe from email, 44% of direct mail is never opened, 200M(illion) on the Do Not Call list.

Every company divides up marketing differently, so the names and responsibilities will differ by company. I lunched with an employee from the marketing side who provided a breakdown about how the department is organized at Hubspot and who’s a good fit for each department.

Brand & Buzz: 

• it’s all about Hubspot’s own brand 
• this is what people generally think of when someone says “marketing” - public relations, graphic design, events 
• good fit if you have that creative flair 

Product marketing: 

• it’s all about the product itself  - market research
• product launch intersects with engineering: translates tech functions into everyday language 
• good fit if you like writing, technology, and storytelling 

Funnel:

• it’s all about getting leads and converting them to customers 
• lead generation, conversion, landing pages 
• intersects with sales 
• good fit if you like analytics and problem solving 

Content production:

• it’s all about how to market (in general) 
• blog, ebooks, webinars, videos, etc. on marketing 
• good fit if you like writing and learning about marketing 

Support

Support is one department where you probably already know what they do. The presenter, Michael, says that typically Support people are more technical and more problem-solving focused, as opposed to consultative or revenue focused. As part of the Support team, you:

• solve customer problems 
• empower customers and employees to do more 
• create the best SaaS (Software as a Service) customer experience 

What he looks for when hiring for Support: 

• Initiative - you got it or you don’t 
• Customer mindset - empathy and/or retail experience 
• Technical knowledge/capacity - experience (or Code Academy + a blog) 
• Culture fit - you got it or you don’t 

Okay, I think I know where to aim. How do I get hired?

Michael Redbord, the presenter on Support, has an entire blog post on how to get a first job as a liberal arts graduate. Everything below is excerpted from his blog post, sometimes paraphrased/reordered for brevity.

GPAs and credentials are mostly uninteresting outside of academia, finance, and consulting unless they're truly, remarkably exceptional. It's experience that sets candidates who get jobs apart from those that don't. It has everything to do with hiring managers who are willing to take calculated risks and read through the lines on a resume to understand the narrative of a person's life. 

Here are some examples of hypothetical applicants who have done something that shows potential:

• A Cum Laude Psychology major who also has a totally tricked out blog on their cat? They probably picked up some HTML/CSS along the way to make that blog and can learn new tech skills quickly.

• A captain of a field hockey team who did Teach for America on math? That's a good promise of a future leader with ability to learn smoothly and work with all sorts of clients and situations.

• A current Apple Store employee who also does some video editing for walking around money? That's a self-motivated learner who understands technology and can work with people.

Everyone can look like they have potential, but not everyone can take action to show their potential. Remember when I was worried because "How is anyone supposed to hire me just because I say I know how to think critically?" Well the answer is, they won't. The mantra you need is: Show, don't tell. 

Mike says: "Personally, I interview about a dozen entry-level candidates a week, and no more than 25% have taken that mantra from their successful term papers and turned 'potential' into action. Businesses care about action. Find that one extra step that 75% of your peers aren't doing, and do it." 

(If you still feel not quite ready, check out Mike's full post. It includes things like "The 9 Steps to show your potential + skill, and get an outstanding entry-level job.")

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Networking Tips: How exactly do you "mingle"?

Have you ever been to a networking event where you’re just supposed to “mingle”? It’s hard to know what to do in such an unstructured social situation, and it pretty much feels like this at first:

You don’t want to end up awkwardly wandering around hoping to make eye contact with another single person or awkwardly hovering outside an existing conversation. Which is exactly how I spent the beginning of my first professional cocktail party, so I wanted to write a post with tips to help out other students who may have to deal with this kind of situation.

Starting a conversation
This particular event was a launch party for the new Boston chapter of the Women In Media Mentoring Initiative, so people were very friendly because the explicit purpose of the event was to help each other. Still, after I put down my coat and got some food, I didn’t really know what to do.

I had met a few other Tufts students headed to the event on the Joey, and for the first few minutes we just talked to each other. Going to an event with a friend can help you feel more comfortable, but don’t stick with someone you know the whole time or you’re selling yourself short and not getting as much out of the opportunity. And you might come across as not open to others - it’s really intimidating to go up to two people who are clearly friends already.

First, I talked to another student for a few minutes to sort of ease in, and then I introduced myself to literally the first person who walked across my path. She turned out to be a really valuable contact, because I’m currently in an Entrepreneurial Leadership class and she works at a company we’d need to sign licenses from as the foundation of our proposed business plan. So don’t be narrow-minded about who you talk to – even if someone isn’t in your industry, you never know how they might help you. That being said, it can be valuable to look at the guest list ahead of time and find a couple highly relevant people to make a point of meeting. For example, I made sure to talk to a recent Tufts grad who works at a company I’m aiming for.

When I didn’t have someone to talk to, I’d try to find someone else who was also alone at the moment and then I’d go up and introduce myself: “Hi, I’m Morgan. I’m a senior at Tufts majoring in sociology, and I’m working on going into marketing.” If I’m the second to introduce myself, I finish with a question about their work or otherwise my default question - more on that later. Think of your one-line intro ahead of time and practice it so you have it memorized. I learned this last summer when calling around about internships: phone calls made me nervous back then, so in the middle of a sentence I’d totally blank on what I was supposed to say and it came out really halting and awkward. Once, I was leaving a message and I forgot my own phone number.

Not a good first impression. Soooo practice saying your intro ahead of time.

Trying to strike up a conversation with a total stranger can be nerve-wracking, but if you act friendly and confident, they’ll feel the same way and it’ll go smoothly. Fake it till you make it if necessary. If there were no single people near me, I’d look for another Tufts student and join their conversation. They’d pause and introduce me, so it was a comfortable way to break in. In a large group (like say five people), you can start by introducing yourself to one person and asking what the conversation is about.

The actual conversation
The simplest tip I can give here is: don’t try to eat while you’re talking to people. Even if you stick to easy-to-eat foods, it makes shaking hands tricky, and there’s a lot of potential for embarrassment. I accidentally tipped my plate and something fell off and rolled across the floor, and also I ate something that was difficult to bite off and then I ended up with it awkwardly hanging out of my mouth. Luckily, this while I was still talking to other students at the beginning, and I quickly learned my lesson.
I did like having a drink because it gave me something to do during pauses in conversation. Hold it in your left hand so your handshake isn’t cold and wet. And needless to say, even if it’s a cocktail party, don’t get drunk, or even tipsy. Just don’t.

There’s a time and a place for that, and this isn’t it.

As to the actual conversation, I came prepared with a few questions that would apply to everyone so I could get the ball rolling and also have a topic waiting in the wings if conversation started to peter out. Obviously this will vary depending on your particular situation, but since we’re students, a good standby for any occasion is “Do you have any advice for someone looking to break into this field? What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out?” You should listen more than you talk - especially since, as students, it’s pretty much guaranteed that we have more to learn from them than the other way around.

Ending a conversation
I had a lot of questions for the person relevant to my business plan, and I could easily have talked to her for half an hour or more, but don’t spend too much time on one person because then you won’t get much networking done. If you’re really hitting it off, get their contact info and ask if you can follow up. That will lead to a stronger connection anyway, so it’s good to save some conversation for later. That being said, don’t feel like you have to meet every person in the room. Better to make a few strong connections that have only short superficial conversations and end up not leaving an impression on anyone.

When you’re ending a conversation, don’t feel the need to make an excuse about why you have to leave. Nobody will fault you – they want to meet a lot of different people too. It’s totally acceptable to just say “Well, it was great to meet you, I learned a lot about ___. I’ll definitely look into ___. Can we exchange contact info?” The worst thing you can do is let a conversation run on when you’re no longer interested and start glancing around for better opportunities. You may think you’re smooth, but you'll look like this:

You can't hide that you're looking away and they'll know you're not interested. And it'll ruin any progress you've made in connecting with them. For the time you’re talking to someone, be there 100%, even if the conversation doesn’t seem directly helpful to you. As my rugby coach tells us, "if you half-a** it because you can't decide, you're gonna fail at both things."

Follow up
After the conversation, jot notes on the back of their business card so you remember who this person is, what you talked about, and any follow-up needed. I did this after every interaction and it was really helpful for when I later added them on LinkedIn because in the “add me” message I could refer to something specific that we talked about. Still, you should add your new contacts as soon as possible while you’re fresh on their mind. If you do look into something they told you about, you can message them on LinkedIn or Twitter to thank them. It’ll help them remember you, and they’ll feel needed/useful, so they’ll be more likely to help you out in the future.

In short:
Be friendly and confident, just walk right up and introduce yourself. Same with breaking into existing conversations - it's difficult at first but you just have to screw up your courage and do it. (But practice your introduction first, and have some broadly applicable default questions ready.) Talk to anyone, because you never know who might be helpful. Don't try to eat while you're talking to people, and definitely don't get drunk. When the conversation has run its course, politely thank the person you're talking to and move on, no excuse needed. Afterward, jot notes on business cards to remember individual conversations, and add the people you met on LinkedIn as soon as possible using personalized thank you messages.

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My First Professional Conference

A few weeks ago, I went to FutureM, a marketing conference in Boston organized by the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange. I’m sharing my experience to give other students an idea of what a professional conference is like and why they should consider going to one.

If you asked students why they haven’t gone to a professional conference, they’d probably say something along the lines of:

1. What? I didn’t even know that was happening.
2. I don’t have time, I’ve got classes.
3. Doesn’t that cost like five hundred bucks?
4. Why would I go to a professional conference if I’m not a professional? It’s not for me.

I found out about this conference through the Career Center and Imaginet (Tufts’ marketing club), but you could also take initiative and stay on top of the local scene using social media - by joining a Boston LinkedIn group in your field, or following local companies on Twitter (they tweet about how they’re attending or speaking at conferences).

Even though classes prevented me from going to most of the three-day conference, I had no classes on Friday. Likewise, maybe you’re done with classes by 12 and could make the last four hours of the conference on two days, or maybe you have no classes till 3 on one day and can go to all the morning sessions. Even one day of sessions was worth it to me, since I only had to pay the student rate of $35. Many conferences have a steep discount for students, if you poke around. While there’s no central Tufts fund for professional development, you can sometimes get your department to pay for some or all of your registration fee. As for the last reason, I’ll address that later.

What’s it like?

It was my first professional conference, and since most students haven’t been to one I thought it might be useful to give you an idea of what it’s like.

Types of sessions: 

Each day started and ended with a Keynote Lecture by particularly notable speakers, attended by everyone. After that, most sessions took the form of panel discussions, in which a moderator would ask a broad, open-ended question and then each panelist would answer, followed by a looser round table discussion for maybe 15 minutes and questions/comments from the audience. A few companies or researchers gave solo presentations on their area of expertise, such as “Connect with the Sports Fan Through Marketing and Technology” presented by Turner Sports. And there were one or two demos, like three members of Google Glass’ Explorer program talking about the technology’s effect on changing the brand/consumer interaction. All these different types of events went on simultaneously, with 3 – 5 options in each scheduling block.

Lastly, passes included at least one after-hours social event each night, to give opportunities for networking and having fun. These social events ranged from an unstructured mixer at a pub, to a “fireside chat” with a career guru, to Boston.com’s Hive 25 Under 25 awards and afterparty.

The type of events will obviously differ depending on the industry, but I think this was a good representation of the potential variety. One thing this conference lacked is breakout discussions - talking in small groups - which is useful for generating a variety of different ideas about the same topic, or for delegating different topics so the group as a whole can tackle multiple things at once.

Tips: 

At any conference, I recommend that you check out the schedule ahead of time, and pick sessions based on topics and speakers who interest you. Personally, I made a point of going to see speakers that work for companies I’m interested in. That gives me a feel for the company’s style, and allowed me to tweet at them in hopes of getting noticed. If you really want to be prepared, you can come up with questions for the speakers ahead of time to ensure that you engage with them during the session, and that opens the door for a follow-up conversation after the session where you can really connect.

Social protocols: 

I didn’t know what to expect at the conference, but the atmosphere turned out to be more relaxed than I had assumed. I saw people in everything from a full suit and tie, to leggings and neon Nikes. But most people went with “business casual,” like a collared shirt and khakis, so that’s what I’d advise. The tech etiquette also surprised me – about a third of the attendees had their laptops, phones, or tablets out, and I saw people openly checking their email (but nothing blatant like Facebook). Since this was a marketing conference the expectation was that participants would be engaging on a second screen – tweeting quotes and having a real-time discussion with other attendees. The social protocols will be different at every conference, so err on the side of caution, but I’d say you should dress professionally and bring both a notebook and a laptop, so you have that option in electronics use is socially acceptable.

Don't be afraid to introduce yourself to your neighbor while you're waiting for a session to start - I met a guy who just founded a startup, and it turns out they're a client of the marketing agency I interned at over the summer. I love the concept of the company, and I now know someone internally if I ever apply for a job with them.

Why students should go to professional conferences:

On the face of it, you go to a professional conference to gain exposure to cutting edge ideas, new resources, and debates in the industry. This exposure improves your analytical thinking on issues in your field, in the same way that regularly reading business magazines hones your business sense as you start to get a feel for common reasons that companies succeed, etc.

Furthermore, a conference features the hot topics of the industry, which make good interview questions, so it’s helpful if you’ve thought about them. For example, I just applied for a summer fellowship and one of the essay questions was “What media industry issues within the past year do you think have had, or will have, the greatest impact (positive and/or negative) on the future of the electronic media business?” FutureM is all about the future of marketing, so this is exactly the sort of thing I heard discussed on panels.

On a more immediate/practical level, going to a conference helps you get more engaged in the local industry. I connected with FutureM and MITX on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where I'm exposed to discussions and job postings. By noting where speakers worked, I discovered a lot of local companies I can now apply to after graduation. I made a few face to face connections by talking to panelists after the session, but most of my new engagement took place on Twitter: After the conference, I looked up all the speakers I saw and their respective companies on Twitter, and followed the ones that seemed useful. By using and following the FutureM hashtag, I got new followers and found new people who tweet about marketing to follow. Some of the speakers even followed me after I tweeted things they said.

Why does something as small as following a person on Twitter matter? Besides general engagement with what's going on in marketing and the local scene, I can read a link they posted and reply with an interesting comment, which at the least gets my name into their heads. And following local marketing people and companies means that I’ll see it if they post about a job opportunity.

Then when I apply, the conference makes a good intro/talking point for interviews and cover letters (“I first became interested in your company after I saw so and so speak…”), because it shows initiative. At one panel, a guy stood up to ask a question and introduced himself with his name and “I’m a student at BU,” and one of the panelists joked about how people should take his resume. It’s impressive if you’re so on top of your game that you’re already attending professional conferences as a student. You stick out because it’s clear that you’re serious about going into this profession and you’ve been working hard to learn and prepare.

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A Crash Course on Case Interviews for Consulting Jobs

Preface: What do consultants actually do?

Consultants are experts hired to help organizations decide on new strategies or improve efficiency in ways that might not be visible from inside. An outside consultant provides a fresh perspective, unhindered by biases or an entrenched way of thinking regarding how things “should” be done. Some of the more widely known consulting firms, like McKinsey and Bain, are generalists who help with strategy and management in any industry or department (IT, operations, financial services). But there are also tons of smaller consulting firms that specialize in particular fields. For example Putnam Associates - whose employees presented our Case Interview Tips event last Tuesday - focuses on pharmaceutical and biotech companies. If you want to learn more about consulting and whether it’s a good fit for you, check out the Career Center’s page on consulting resources and industry information.

Why do consulting firms use case interviews? What are they looking for?

When we interview for a new job, we’re accustomed to interviews questions like “What’s your greatest weakness?” “Tell me about a time when you…”, or “If you strongly disagreed with your boss, what would you do?” They’ve already seen your qualifications based on your resume, and now they’re looking at your character/fit.

But in the consulting industry, case interviews often make up almost half of the “score” that determines whether you get an offer. Usually, consulting companies are not hiring based on expertise in a particular industry, but rather for your ability to think critically and innovate in any industry. And that’s a skill set difficult to prove on paper. Case interviews are an entirely different style of interview, built to show the interviewer how you think. The questions aren’t about you - they’re logic and strategy problems involving math, analysis, and business sense. (That being said, you don’t have to come from a business or quant-heavy background to get into consulting. Firms actually like liberal arts candidates who can bring a different perspective. At least year’s Careers in Consulting Networking event, I met a Tufts alumna who’d majored in Spanish and Community Health.)

Case questions are simplified, miniature versions of the kind of project you would actually work on as a consultant, so it’s directly relevant to how you’d perform with a client. You need to do more than get the right answer - you have to present it well. If you can’t confidently and effectively communicate your analysis to the interviewer, you won’t be able to convince a client either. The Tufts alumni from Putnam Associates gave a list of assessment criteria that sums this up - in other words, here’s how the consultants evaluate you in a case interview:

Assessment Criteria

• Analytical skill - think logically; determine what’s relevant and ask probing questions
• Adaptability - take cues from the interviewer, and if he/she challenges your reasoning then show you can think on your feet
• Communication skills - confident, engaging; make it a conversation not a monologue
• Organization - easy to understand, clear thought process
• Business sense - good grasp of business strategy; creative solutions
• Personal traits - self-motivated, creative, diligent, poised, trusted, curious, people person/team player (solo projects are pretty much nonexistent)

Types of case questions

Basic (aka “back of the envelope”)

• Estimation scenarios and market sizing questions that rely on quantitative abilities and logic to estimate a numeric answer
• Ex: What is the size of the disposable diaper market in the US? (answer here)

Strategy scenarios

• How will you enter a new market, develop a new product, create a pricing or growth strategy, or acquire a business?
• Ex: Our client purchased a popcorn manufacturing plant that packages popcorn for two mid-sized brands. Once he saw the margins, he decided to manufacture under his own brand. What does he need to do? (answer here)

That’s a very basic breakdown - honestly, going through an example is really the only way to understand what a case interview entails. It would take too much space to go through an example case here, but luckily, there are plenty of resources to help you do that.

How to practice

With real people:

• Career Center group case interview prep - If you haven’t done a mock case interview before, this is the place to start. It’s informal and geared toward beginners. I did one on Monday with no preparation and it was really helpful. Now I actually understand case interviews.
• Career Center one-on-one mock case interviews - If you’ve already practiced on your own and attended a group session, make an appointment for an hour-long mock interview.
• With friends or family who are willing to help!

Online:

• Many companies have practice cases and interview tips on their websites
• BCG, McKinsey, and Bain have interactive practice cases
• Deloitte has interactive cases divided by type
• A full guide from Wharton, sample questions from Ace the Case (a book guide), look around and you’ll find more.

In print:

• Case in Point, by Marc Cosentino - known as the aspiring consultant’s Bible
• 4 copies in Tisch Library, 1 in Dowling Resource Library
• But, our Putnam alumni also cautioned that you shouldn’t feel like you have to stick to Case In Point’s rules. Here’s a blog post from Vault (a career guide publisher) on the dangers of practicing too much for case interviews.
• The Dowling Resource Library (adjacent to the Career Center) has the Vault Career Guide to Consulting, the Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms, and a directory of consulting organizations

Advanced tips for preparing, from Putnam Associates:

• Research the firm and interviewer as much as possible - context will help you figure out where the case is going and what kinds of knowledge and analysis will impress
• Read business articles from publications like the Economist, WSJ, and Businessweek to hone your business sense and provide business analogs you can reference in interviews
• Practice makes a huge difference, so it’s clear when you haven’t practiced and that shows you’re not serious about consulting. Make sure you practice with people who will give you brutally honest feedback, and you can also practice on your own with anything that comes to mind. For example, figure out how to calculate how many hours student spend in the Reading Room each week.

If you have more questions, you can make an appointment with a career counselor. You can also go straight to the source by talking to employers from consulting organizations at the Career Fair this Friday (Sept. 27). Check out the Career Fair Guide (consulting companies are listed on page 40) to learn who’s coming, a little about them, and what they’re looking for. And you can find out more about specific companies by coming to their on campus info sessions - look on Jumbo Jobs to find out when they’re here.

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Hello from one of your new Student Ambassadors!

The Tufts Career Center is excited to welcome two students to the Career Services Ambassadors team. In addition to writing articles for this blog, our Ambassadors will also be helping to create content for and manage our social media outlets. Read their posts, and stay up to date on the latest Career Center happenings by following @TuftsCareer and liking us on Facebook! And now, a welcome back posts from one of our new Ambassadors, Morgan Kee.

Hi Tufts!

I'm Morgan, and I'll be one of the two Student Ambassadors keeping you connected to the Career Center through Facebook, Twitter, and this blog. I'll be recapping career-related events on campus, profiling notable students and alumni, and blogging about miscellaneous other career-related news and tips.

Here’s little about me, so you understand where I'm coming from: like a lot of Tufts students, I started out as an International Relations major. Sophomore year I decided to double major in IR and Sociology, but at this point I'm solely a Soc major. Dropping IR was a tough decision, especially since I'm only 3 credits away from finishing the major, but I felt that sociology and my newly added Communications and Media Studies minor would be more useful for me after college.

Earlier in my time at Tufts, I was really worried about finding a job considering that my liberal arts major seemingly came with no specific skill set, just vague, impossible-to-prove abilities like "analysis" and "critical thinking." But after four internships, I’m pretty sure I've sorted it out. After graduation, I’m hoping to apply the skills and knowledge I've learned from sociology and CMS towards a career in marketing. I've interned at two nonprofits (when I was still interested in nonprofit work as part of IR) and this past summer I worked at a small marketing agency. My work in the Career Center will be my fourth marketing internship.

I'm glad I can help spread the word about all the great stuff coming from the Career Center, because I think many students simply aren't aware of the resources available to them. And I'm excited to investigate and report for the blog on all kinds of things. Let me know if you have any questions or ideas for blog posts - this blog is for you!

You can email me or tweet @morgan_kee, where I post a lot of articles about social media, branding, technology, and startups.

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