M A RY E L L E N B U H LM E B 7 @ C O R N E L L . E D U

“TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF”TIPS ABOUT CONDUCTING AN EFFECTIVE INTERVIEW

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“TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF”TIPS ABOUT CONDUCTING AN EFFECTIVE INTERVIEW

“TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF”

Consider Discussing…

What Makes You Unique?Your favorite hobby or interesting piece of information

Personal Information:A little background about yourself – what makes you unique?Where did you grow up? Your family?

Job Related Information:How you became interested in your major or area of interest?Why did you come to Cornell for your masters?How do you plan to use your educationHow do these plans “fit” with this employer?

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF

• My name is Janet Smith. I grew up in southern New Jersey. I am the youngest in my family of three brothers; one a Doctor, one a dentist and another a professional dancer.

• After completing my Bachelor of Science at UCLA, majoring in Computer Science, I wanted to learn more about human computer interaction and Cornell seemed to have a good reputation in that field, so I decided to complete the one year MENG program here at Cornell.

• By the description of this position, it sounds like you are looking for someone that might combine my programming experience and HCI knowledge, so I am very happy to be interviewing for this position today.

• And on a side note, I like to travel; and in the last two years, I travelled to China, Europe and Australia.

“TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF”

Your *talents *strengths *interests *values *goals

Organization’s *mission

*goals *business

needs *culture *values

It is All About Fit

INTERVIEWS

BehavioralTell me a time when…

Case StudyEvaluates how you:

Process information Solve problems

React to new and surprising situations Teamwork

BEHAVIORAL ANSWERS

S - SituationT - TaskA - Action YOU TookR - Results (measurable)

BEHAVIORAL QUESTION

Tell me a time when you were on a team and things did not go as planned?

So-So Answer:I was on a team that had to figure out a production problem. There was a student that didn’t come to our meetings, so I spoke with her and the result was that we did well on the project.

BEHAVIORAL QUESTION

Tell me a time when you were on a team and things did not go as planned?

-Situation / Task-In our process design class last semester I was a member of a team of 4 members. Our objective was to define the reasons for a 2% reduction of production for large manufacturing plant in the N.E.

BEHAVIORAL QUESTION

Tell me a time when you were on a team and things did not go as planned?

-Action -• After the first two meetings, one of the students was late to

both meetings and I sensed that she was not engaged so I decided to talk to her to see how I could help.

• I found out that she was overwhelmed with coursework and had a personal problem back home.

• So I offered to help her with some of her responsibilities of the project while assigning smaller tasks with longer deadlines, that would still contribute to the team’s mission.

BEHAVIORAL QUESTION

Tell me a time when you were on a team and things did not go as planned?

-Result- As a result, she felt a sense of accomplishment in helping her team members and our team received an A and very positive comments from the professor.

YOU – THE INTERPRETER

Job Description

Your Resume

THE FIT / THE JOB DESCRIPTION

Project Engineer - • provide detailed engineering & design• manage multiple small & medium

sized capital improvement projects within the structure of a gated process

• have ownership and stewardship of projects from conception to start-up.

DUTIES INCLUDE…

• Provide *stewardship for reliability centered maintenance programs that include troubleshooting, developing repair scopes, specifying technology upgrades in equipment, and documenting changes

• Champion reliability improvements using established plant standards, best practices, operational needs, and deficiencies identified in day-to-day activity

• Facilitate team members in Root Cause Failure Analysis in solving complex problems

• When required, lead the formal funding approval process for project execution

• Assist in development and implementation of preventative and predictive maintenance programs

• Participate in the development of cost estimates and material purchases

• Oversee reliability driven field execution

* an ethic that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Civil or Materials Engineering

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, leadership ability and ethical judgment

• Ability to work collaboratively within team and with other departments

• Ability to work effectively with minimal supervision

• Proficiency with computers and computer applications

MATH CASE QUESTION

How many beige washing

machines were sold in Canada

last year?

Avg. Household size = 3

10 million households

5 million in houses

5 millionapartments

6 million without machines

3.5 million machines in houses

0.6 million machines in

Laundromats

0.5 million machines in apartments

4.6 million machines

1.15 million

sold each year

230K beige machines sold each

year

184K beige machines sold last year

*35,158,300~35 million

people in Canada *2013

HOW MANY BEIGE WASHING MACHINES WERE SOLD IN CANADA LAST YEAR?

50% live in apts

50% live in houses

30% don’t own machines

90% don’t own machines

1 laundromat for every 1 household

10% own machines

Replace every 4 years

70% own machines

Poor economy decrease sales 20%

5 in 1 machines are beige

CASE STUDY EXERCISE

Business Question? Your client manufactures hair

products. The company is thinking about entering the sunscreen market. Is this a good idea?

CASE THOUGHT PROCESS

Step 1: Determine why. What is the goal, objective, Does it fit into our overall strategy?

Step 2: Determine the state of the current and future market – size, growth rate, growth status, who are the customers and how segmented, technology role and how quickly it changes, how will competition respond?

Step 3: Investigate the market to determine whether it would make good business sense to enter – who is the competition and size of market share of each competitor; how will we price our products and services; are there substitutions available; barriers of entry and exit; what are the risks?

Step 4: If decide to enter the market – do a cost benefit analysis of 1) starting from scratch 2) acquisition 3) form a join venture

CASE STRATEGIES

Listen carefully to the question.

Silence is golden No one "right" answer Ask questions Construct a logical framework

to explore the critical issues Prioritize the issues and

objectives. Think outside the box.

BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER

Research the employer’s website/can use for questions/research buzz words

Check where the interview will be held

Be at the interview 10 minutes early Review the highlighted job description

and your resume Ask yourself why are you here Appearance is worth 1,000 words Take a deep breath Effective handshake

BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER

Be positive and enthusiastic Maintain eye contact and good

posture – body language Be articulate and communicate

clearly Show your interest Prepare questions Do not take notes during interview Follow up with thank you SMILE!!