I interviewed with a Chicago alumnus in OC yesterday. We met over lunch, at a crowded fish taco place – in retrospect, not the best location for an interview. My interviewer began by explaining that he wanted to keep things casual and allow enough time for me to say what I wanted and ask my questions.
We began easily enough – with a resume walkthrough. He let me finish and then asked me about what I most enjoyed and didn’t enjoy at work. He followed this with the only “gotcha” question really – “If you didn’t have to worry about money, then what would you want to do?” Ended the work section with a discussion on a challenge I’d faced at work etc. So far – OK. Then came the Why MBA, why Chicago part. He then asked me about specific plans to contribute to the Chicago community. I had an answer prepared and launched into this. The answer eventually segued into his work and experience (which were sort of related) and we began discussing the industry he was in. I asked him something about his Chicago experience – and that discussion soon moved into a discussion of a business idea that he had – and about how the Chicago NVC could help build on that idea.
Anyway, about this time I realized that the formal “interview” portion had ended and I was just having an interesting conversation. I also realized that a lot of the usual questions – leadership, teamwork, extra-curriculars etc. had really not been asked. So when he finally asked me if I had anything else to add, I responded by quoting from my Chicago essay 4 about some extracurricular activities and how my personality fit with the Chicago GSB philosophy. Overall it was a good experience, though I think I could have performed better with my answers overall.
