My Tuck interview was the first one I did – probably not the best idea since it’s pretty high on my list of choices. I had been to the Dartmouth campus a few times during undergrad, so I was familiar with the environment. There were about 15 others visiting the same day as I, and I realized quickly how tight the timeliness were for completing an interview.
As everyone else does, I interviewed with a 2nd year student. I was a bit nervous, but I think that’s par for the course. Some of the good things:
- Similar work background to my interviewer, so I didn’t have to spend a ton of time explaining what I did.
- Had lots of good answers for what I would do if I had a year off from school…I said I would write a fictional novel about a guy who leaves his job to travel through South America, discovers a hidden river deep in the rain forest, and opens a white-water rafting company there. I really would.
- Answered the behavioral questions well…pretty much everything I do these days at work is managing people and expectations, so I feel confident that I’ve got some good instincts in this area.
- I asked lots of questions about the program, and felt I showed that I had done my research – avoided the basics and got to the details of specific things I’m interested in.
Some of the things I’ve avoided since this interview:
- Asking TOO MANY questions….at the end of the interview, I said I could go on forever asking questions. We were rushed leaving the room, and it felt a bit awkward. She almost forgot to give me a card. I thought a 30 minute slot was too short…I guess the author of Blink might disagree and say first impressions are the most important.
- Mentioning that I’m excited to get out of the corporate “jungle” for a couple of years. Just a bad statement altogether. Not sure if that one will bite me.
- Spending too much time on my resume. I realized about halfway through that I was giving too much detail…I tried to recover, but fear I glossed over some important recent achievements too quickly, while spending more time on my first position out of undergrad.
In summary, I don’t think the interview is going to set me apart in any way, but I don’t think it was a disaster. Probably a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10.
