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      10-01-2011, 06:00 PM   #23
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Have a clear, positive mentality. make sure you tell them everything you have to offer. Dominate that shit bro.

Lol good luck though!
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      10-01-2011, 08:02 PM   #24
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Why work when you can already afford a $60k car and Chipotle?
Because I want a 250k car and I'd like to buy a Chipotle?
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because paying for and having a $60k car means you're successful in life. OP just retire
I'll put in 5 years or so and then retire. I planned on retiring by the time I was 30 anyways.
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Originally Posted by Seminole View Post
Which firm?

I interviewed with the Big 4 when I was in school. My take aways from each:

EY: Interviewed with a Manager and it was a comfortable interview. They asked the normal type of questions (tell us about a time you did X) and questions based off stuff on my resume. We also just had some random chit chat about other topics.

PwC: Interviewed with a Partner. He seemed really uninterested in being there and actually asked me if I could hold on for a minute when his son called him during our interview. Just asked standard questions off a sheet that was provided to him.

Deloitte: Interviewed with a Partner. He told me within the first minute that due to the economy they were mostly only on campus to show face and the chances of getting an office visit were next to none so we talked about football the whole time. (I was interviewing in 2008 just after the collapse of Lehman and Bear Sterns so everything was going to shit).

KPMG: Interviewed with a Manager. He had a list of standard questions but said, "I hate these dumbass questions because all you guys do is bullshit me anyways. Let's talk about whatever you want". So we talked about cars and football.

The results were:
Office visit with KPMG, EY, and PwC. As the partner said, I got nothing from Deloitte. PwC suprised me the most considering the guy seemed like he couldn't give two shits that I was there.

So now for my advice... Most firms have some type of pre-interview get together the night before (at least at FSU they did). I would 110% go to this and find out who you are interviewing with and try to chat them up. It makes it a billion times easier to talk to them in the interview when you already know them, plus it will give you a chance to feel out if they will be a by the book interviewer type or more relaxed. Be prepared to answer questions about anything on your resume as far as job experience/activities/grades go. Make sure to have a few stories ready to go about how you've assumed a leadership role, preferably in some type of group project type invironment.

Structure your answers in the following format:
1) What the problem was, I.E. hard group project with tight deadline.
2) What you did to address the problem.
3) What the outcome was.

Have a few questions prepared to ask them as well. I always hated this part because my only real question was are you giving me a job and how much are you paying me. But for an internship ask things like "what type of work will be expected of me as an intern", "what types of jobs will I be working on", etc.

Also, go in relaxed and loose. It can be stressful, but just be yourself. If you think you can get away with it, find something you have in common with the interviewer and get them off topic and discuss that with them. The interview will be much more laid back and they will probably remember you a lot more than just some person who they asked standard questions to.

Good luck.
Monday, I'm interviewing with a local company here in Cleveland and on Thursday, I'm interviewing with EY. We don't have the chance to meet with who we are interviewing with.

Thanks for telling me what your interviews were like. I was kinda scared that they were gonna be super technical or something lol.

To everyone, thanks for your responses. The information that was provided is great and exactly what I was looking for. Thanks guys!
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      10-04-2011, 09:45 PM   #25
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The interview on Monday went well. I got phone call today and they want me to come into the office for a second round of interviews with the auditors. I'm excited but I have no idea what to expect. I hope it's similar to what my first interview was like but just with different people.
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      10-04-2011, 09:50 PM   #26
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i was just reading an IAmA on reddit about a guy that's an interviewer for a big corp. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment...erviews_for_a/
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      10-04-2011, 11:09 PM   #27
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Ask the interviewer if they were in the middle of a bed with a beautiful lady and a gay guy what would they do. That should get you in for sure!
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      10-04-2011, 11:11 PM   #28
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Originally Posted by LACSTER View Post
Ask the interviewer if they were in the middle of a bed with a beautiful lady and a gay guy what would they do. That should get you in for sure!
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      10-04-2011, 11:14 PM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by silvergray545 View Post
The interview on Monday went well. I got phone call today and they want me to come into the office for a second round of interviews with the auditors. I'm excited but I have no idea what to expect. I hope it's similar to what my first interview was like but just with different people.
Once again, my experience is with the bigger firms.

With an office visit you'll normally have a little morning intro meeting where a few people from the firm will come and introduce themselves to you, tell you more about the firm, etc. Then you'll have a set of three interviews with partners and/or managers and a break somewhere in between them. Then you'll get taken out to lunch and do a little rap up before being sent on your way.

Take a deep breath, you're doing well if you have a office visit. The whole point of an office visit is for other people in the office to verify what the person on campus saw in you. Sometimes you'll have someone who nailed an interview on campus but when they come into the office you see a whole different side of them so they are no longer considered. Just be yourself and do whatever you did in the on campus interview that got you into the office visit and you'll be fine.

As an FYI, you MIGHT get an offer when you come back from lunch, I got pulled aside at one firm and was made an offer on the spot, but if you don't get one I wouldn't freak out. I had a friend who got an offer from KPMG by way of mail about a week after his interview.

Good luck.
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      10-11-2011, 07:51 PM   #30
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What is the proper amount of time to wait before sending a follow up/thank you email?
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      10-11-2011, 08:02 PM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by silvergray545 View Post
What is the proper amount of time to wait before sending a follow up/thank you email?
48 hours or less tops, or else the recruiter prob will not remember you (unless you had some really unique interview). I usually try to send them out the same day if I can. Speaking of which, I've got to send one out to BlackRock today.

Try as best as you can to make the interviewer remember who you are, i.e. mention something specific that you had in common or something that you talked about. Maybe add a follow up question, but NOTHING GENERIC. Interviewers will get dozens of "thank you" emails every day during recruiting season and I have seen them from the other end. 99% look exactly like this:

Mr/Ms. Whatever,

Thank you for taking some time to speak with me earlier, I enjoyed our conversation very much. Blah blah blah interested in blah position, blah blah great cultural fit blah blah blah my skill set. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Best wishes,

-Derp

If your email starts to sound a lot like the one above, then they have seen it hundreds of times before. Be different, or be ignored.

Good luck buddy, this is a tough year!
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      10-11-2011, 08:16 PM   #32
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Originally Posted by aut0sh0cker View Post
48 hours or less tops, or else the recruiter prob will not remember you (unless you had some really unique interview). I usually try to send them out the same day if I can. Speaking of which, I've got to send one out to BlackRock today.

Try as best as you can to make the interviewer remember who you are, i.e. mention something specific that you had in common or something that you talked about. Maybe add a follow up question, but NOTHING GENERIC. Interviewers will get dozens of "thank you" emails every day during recruiting season and I have seen them from the other end. 99% look exactly like this:

Mr/Ms. Whatever,

Thank you for taking some time to speak with me earlier, I enjoyed our conversation very much. Blah blah blah interested in blah position, blah blah great cultural fit blah blah blah my skill set. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Best wishes,

-Derp

If your email starts to sound a lot like the one above, then they have seen it hundreds of times before. Be different, or be ignored.

Good luck buddy, this is a tough year!
That's what I figured. I'm gonna wait about an hour and then send it. Hopefully when they get to the office tomorrow, they'll open up their inbox and my email will be the first one there.

I did a quick google search on follow up letters and found this: http://jobsearch.about.com/od/thanky...kinterview.htm. I'll probably follow that format since it looks nice and it's straight to the point.

Since I had two auditors interview me, I need to send out two emails. Should I make the follow up email unique to each person or kinda keep them both the same?
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      10-11-2011, 08:44 PM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by silvergray545 View Post
Since I had two auditors interview me, I need to send out two emails. Should I make the follow up email unique to each person or kinda keep them both the same?
I prefer unique. The format can be the same, but I would try to make them different in case they talk to each other.
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      10-11-2011, 08:51 PM   #34
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^I ran a google search for "interview thank you letter" and that was the first link. That means that theres a reasonable chance that someone else might send almost the exact same letter. Not great.

Will a generic letter kill your chances? No way, but why pass up one opportunity to help them remember you?

Either way, keep it as short as possible.

Hope this helped a bit!
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      10-11-2011, 09:14 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Seminole View Post
I prefer unique. The format can be the same, but I would try to make them different in case they talk to each other.
That's what I was thinking too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aut0sh0cker View Post
^I ran a google search for "interview thank you letter" and that was the first link. That means that theres a reasonable chance that someone else might send almost the exact same letter. Not great.

Will a generic letter kill your chances? No way, but why pass up one opportunity to help them remember you?

Either way, keep it as short as possible.

Hope this helped a bit!
I just googled it too see what I needed to do. I never really wrote a follow up/thank you letter before.

Keep it short. As in one simple paragraph or the structured route similar to the link I posted?

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.
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      10-11-2011, 10:08 PM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by silvergray545 View Post
I just googled it too see what I needed to do. I never really wrote a follow up/thank you letter before.

Keep it short. As in one simple paragraph or the structured route similar to the link I posted?

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.
I didn't look at the link, but if you are sending an email it doesn't have to be super long. I'd do something like a brief intro talking about how it was nice to meet them. The second paragraph would be something about how you enjoyed talking to them about X and you had a really good time meeting people from the firm and you think it would be a good fit for you and your skills. I'd close with a paragraph thanking them again and saying how you look forward to hearing from them.
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      10-11-2011, 10:45 PM   #37
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Originally Posted by Seminole View Post
I didn't look at the link, but if you are sending an email it doesn't have to be super long. I'd do something like a brief intro talking about how it was nice to meet them. The second paragraph would be something about how you enjoyed talking to them about X and you had a really good time meeting people from the firm and you think it would be a good fit for you and your skills. I'd close with a paragraph thanking them again and saying how you look forward to hearing from them.
Perfect. Thank you.

Stupid question...what would you put as the subject of the email? "Internship Interview" I'm not trying to sound retarded lol
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      10-11-2011, 11:08 PM   #38
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Congrats on getting through the first round of interviews. Why send a "thank you" e-mail when you can send a "thank you" letter? I've always sent a letter if there is time before the selection will be made.
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      10-11-2011, 11:18 PM   #39
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Congrats on getting through the first round of interviews. Why send a "thank you" e-mail when you can send a "thank you" letter? I've always sent a letter if there is time before the selection will be made.
Thank you. I agree. But the selection is going to be in the next couple of days.
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      10-11-2011, 11:55 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by silvergray545 View Post
Perfect. Thank you.

Stupid question...what would you put as the subject of the email? "Internship Interview" I'm not trying to sound retarded lol
I've always wondered about this myself. Lately I've just been using "Thank you" but I don't think it matters much
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      10-12-2011, 12:04 AM   #41
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I've always wondered about this myself. Lately I've just been using "Thank you" but I don't think it matters much
Haha we all dont know. I put "Thank You - Internship Interview"
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      10-12-2011, 12:14 AM   #42
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I interned at Deloitte this past summer and got an Offer with them to return next fall after graduation for Full Time.

I agree with NOT sending thank you e-mail. I bought thank you cards at Target and HAND WROTE them and, making them personalized for each interviewer. Sent them priority mail so they got there over night. Later that day I got an e-mail from the Partner I interviewed with saying he was impressed with the hand written card and that it's very uncommon these days....If you want to DIFFERENTiate yourself from the crowd, you've got to do something DIFFERENT than the rest. My different was the thank you cards sent first class mail.

Best of luck with the offers!
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      10-12-2011, 08:25 PM   #43
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This is actually one of the few topics I can talk about.

Last week I had my on campus interviews for Summer 2012 internships with Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC (I was not asked to interview by EY).

Night Before:
Deloitte had a semi formal dinner (business casual dress) with assigned tables and seats. You sat at a table of eight, 6 recruits, 1 interviewer, 1 greeter. The interviewers switched off half way though dinner so you got to meet both. Really laid back. No alcohol served.

KPMG had a dinner/social event (business casual dress) that didn't have assigned anything. You ate whenever you want, you talked to whoever you wanted, my interviewer wasn't even there. In my opinion it was a complete waste of time although it does give you an insight into their company culture. There was an open bar.

PwC had a semi formal dinner like Deloitte (business casual dress) with assigned tables and seats. Because there was only one interviewer for each set of people, only half got to sit at a table with an interviewer but I was still able to talk with my interviewer for about 35 minutes beforehand during the social hour. I personally sat at a table with two 1st years (one of which was greeting the next morning). Open bar.

As a side note, I would definitely recommend either a suit minus tie, or dress slacks, dress shirt, and blazer as your "business casual". It's really just one or two small steps below business professional but its whats expected by these companies.

Actual Interview:
Deloitte had an hour long interview slot, two blitz interviews (two one-on-one interviews, 30 minutes each) that were "behavioral". I use the quotes because I wasn't asked a single question, we just talked about college, life, Deloitte, the work, football, etc. They went by extremely fast. The first was with a Partner and the second was with a Senior Manager. I sent thank you emails same day to both greeters and both interviewers. I've been asked back for 2nd round in office.

KPMG had a half hour interview slot. It was a true behavioral interview, the partner had a sheet with a list of questions to go down for the first 20 minutes and 10 minutes at the end for my questions. In my opinion this interview did not go well (I've yet to hear back from them though) and it was over in 25 minutes or so and felt like it took forever. I sent thank you emails again the same day.

PwC had a 45 minute interview slot. It was another "behavioral" interview where I basically spent the entire interview in conversation with the partner I was interviewing with. It again went by really fast. Extremely enjoyable interview and really interesting guy. I've been asked back for 2nd round in office.

In Office Interviews:
I haven't actually been to these yet but from what I've been told you're taken out to dinner by a partner and recruiter and your buddy and maybe a couple other recruits Thursday night. They put you up in a nice hotel for the night generally attached to their office. The next morning they have breakfast for you and meetings/seminars that basically talk up the company and three behavioral interviews with partners/senior managers that are really just about seeing if you fit in or not. Generally speaking, once you make it to 2nd round, as long as you don't fuck up, you're in. These companies do their major pruning in the resume submission and after first round.

Best Advice:
Network. Network. Network. Seriously, I know it's cliche, but out of 200+ resumes for a very limited number of interview slots in both first and second round, they don't want to take a chance interviewing someone who they don't know and end up wasting their time. Make sure they know your name and your face, if they don't, you won't get an interview.

During the actual interview, turn it into a conversation, it will go so much smoother and easier and it will give the interviewer a chance to talk about themselves which will make them feel better about you as a candidate.

Also, the opinions of the greeters do matter, make a good impression. Be there fifteen minutes earlier. Give them a big smile, tell them good morning, give them a nice firm handshake and chit chat with them for the next 15 minutes before you're interview. Not only will the chit chat calm you down, it will serve as an ice breaker for yourself when you get to the actual interview because you'll already be talking.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to provide OP as much helpful and relevant information as possible. Best of luck!
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      10-12-2011, 08:32 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by silvergray545 View Post
Thank you. I agree. But the selection is going to be in the next couple of days.
Just as an example, I was told by the greeter that they make the selection that afternoon. So if you interviewed Tuesday, then Tuesday at 5pm they already knew who was going to office interviews. This is why I try and get morning interview slots. Send the thank you email (PERSONALIZED FOR EVERYONE!) before lunch time so when they check their email at lunch, they'll see it. Generally, by that time it'll probably be the only one there and it will make a good impression that you're on top of your game and you're professional.
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