Tell me about your interview experiences

[todesengel]

Just interviewed with Microsoft for software dev. After getting through a 1 hour on campus interview I went up to their HQ for a day. 8am-4pm interviewing with 5 people. Questions ranged from fun to brutal. Anyone in comp sci that's curious about what kind of questions they asked feel free to PM me.

[Pin]

When asked by potential employers about her weaknesses, my old collague used to reply, "Underdone strengths."

It's brash but deployed like a quip it stops people dead.

But not like replying, "Loose women, hard liquor and the finest drugs money can buy."

[ProfMonnitoff]

Its an economy question so you should have gone with the whole "less social programs/entitlements, immigrants are less of a charge, immigration becomes only positive" kind of bullshit. They just wanted you to adopt a quick and easy stance that made sense with what an economy major would be interested in.

I went on about comparative advantage for a bit after her bizarre answer. I'm not sure it's this question that broke me, but it's the one that stood out as the most bizarre.

[ProfMonnitoff]

I have an interview with an alumnus (alumna?) from an Ivy league school in two weeks. She is now a teacher at my former high school. She wants to meet me at a cafe in downtown Vienna.

Do I pick up the bill? If she offers, do I insist?

[djrajio]

Who suggested to meet at the cafe? Is she interviewing you? How old is she?

If this is for an interview, insist on paying or come early and pay and wait. If you insist and then she insists on paying, then let her pay (assuming she is older)...

[retrored]

Second interview at the Public Defender's Office in Riverside County. I was asked what I would do if I was defending someone who raped his infant daughter and I was privy to evidence that would incriminate him.

I froze. Thought about all sorts of professional responsiblity stuff and pulled some extended answer-basically I was saying you would need to pussy out, and shut the fuck up.

I found out later from a alumnus that the correct answer would be along the lines of "fuck that. do i have the evidence? physical possession? burn it or hide it."

Djrajio - How much of what you do correspond to your education? And how much is related to your past job experience? You get to wear nice duds, consider 30k+ time pieces, and travel around the globe. I want to know if this lifestyle corresponds to your education (formal and informal).

[djrajio]

I use my education daily for my job, but mostly at an applied/skill set level. The actual theory that I studied in school, I don't use very much. I suppose if my firm decided to develop a next-gen platform/business plan, then we'd need to look into new research literature, theory, etc. But like most big-business, we tend to just buy licenses from third-parties and use their technology, services, etc. I'm at a bank though, so its more math/finance heavy. I suppose if I went to Google, Microsoft, etc., I'd use more of my engineering theory knowledge. However, I don't think its been that big of a disadvantage, since I've learned the finance/math on the job and leverage my engineering degree to be best operator on both ends. Just keep learning new things and improving yourself....

I really don't understand how to answer the last question. This is my first job out of college. But there's lots of money to be made in IT. I think its just the nerdy/geeky culture that makes it less appealing. Lots of my friends in IT make amazing salaries, but put less of a priority on clothing, status, etc. but wouldn't hesitate to drop 1,000 of dollars on video games, computers, etc. I think its just a difference in personal consumption.

[apu]

so whats the average salary for a

1) fresh grad (no/little industry exp)

2) masters grad student (no/little industry exp)

i know it would vary between diff. industries...

[djrajio]

I only know banking & private equity. This is from Wall Street Prep....

* Note it doesn't matter if you have a master's, you'll still be pooled in the analyst pool....

2006 Investment Banking Compensation Report

US Bulge Bracket and Comparable Firms

Analysts

Low end Majority High end

First year ('06 BA)

Signing bonus $10,000 $10,000 $10,000

Base Salary 55,000 55,000-65,000 70,000

Bonus (June 2007E) 40,000 50,000-80,000 80,000

All-in 105,000 115,000-155,000 160,000

Second year ('05 BA)

Base Salary $55,000 $60,000-70,000 $75,000

Bonus (June 2007E) 50,000 60,000-90,000 100,000

All-in 105,000 120,000-160,000 175,000

Third year ('04 BA)

Base Salary $65,000 $65,000-75,000 $85,000

Bonus (June 2007E) 50,000 70,000-100,000 110,000

All-in 115,000 135,000-175,000 195,000

2006 Investment Banking Compensation Report

US Bulge Bracket and Comparable Firms

Associates

Low end Majority High end

First year ('06 MBA)

Signing bonus $40,000 $40,000 $40,000

Base Salary 90,000 95,000-100,000 110,000

Stub bonus 50,000 60,000-100,000 120,000

All-in 180,000 215,000-240,000 230,000

Second year ('05 MBA)

Base Salary $95,000 $100,000-105,000 $115,000

Bonus 150,000 210,000-240,000 300,000

All-in 245,000 310,000-345,000 415,000

Third year ('04 MBA)

Base Salary $100,000 $105,000-110,000 $110,000

Bonus 180,000 220,000-270,000 350,000

All-in 280,000 325,000-380,000 460,000

[hamham3001]

lets stick with IT.. seems many of us are from or is somewhat connect to that field..

i wish i wasn't such a lazy bastard and do what rajio says.. learn new things and improve myself.. i just play games with my freetime after work and go on sufu..

[djrajio]

I'd say 75,000 - 85,000 for a straight out of undergrad engineer to a top IT firm isn't unreasonable. But the bonuses tend to be much lower and don't have as much of a multiplier effect as consulting/banking.....

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199202140

[sean_]

i'm so in the wrong industry

damn my incredibly poor math skills

[home]

I hate when an interviewer asks what my weaknesses are. it boggles my mind trying to think of something that would sound sincere but at the same time something that would not significantly affecting the job I'd be doing. I'm lazy sometimes and often run late, but I can't tell that.

fuck! deja vu. happened to me for the first time all of six hours ago.

completely blind sighted me. by struggling to come up with a response (balancing sincerity with truth with something that isn't that bad) i felt as if she was beginning to think that i thought my shit dont stink.

it does.

whats a the ideal response to something like that anyway?

[djrajio]

whats a the ideal response to something like that anyway?

I usually say that I tend to take too much responsibility and I'm too much of a to-getter. Often times I need to say `No` to projects to insure the success and efficiency of prior commitments.

I think the trick w/ the weakness question is to that no matter what weakness that you choose, you express the fact that you've made it into a strength or recognize that the weakness can be changed to a strength...

[mike lowrey]

I think the trick w/ the weakness question is to that no matter what weakness that you choose, you express the fact that you've made it into a strength or recognize that the weakness can be changed to a strength...

yea exactly. the job I was being interviewed for was an administrative/organizational function at an advertising firm. the job had very flexible and irregular hours so I kind of used that to my advantage and replied that I tend to like flexible hours and like to work in my own pace rather then follow a strict schedule, and that I couldn't work an assembly job for example because I like to have variability. I think this fitted the job so I think it was a good answer.

at another interview the guy asked me what weaknesses at this particular job would be. it was a design agency so I said that my weakness would probably be that I'm not familiar with all the tools they use, but as a strength I mentioned that I can adapt and learn new stuff quickly so it wouldn't be a problem.

[hawkeye]

I think the trick w/ the weakness question is to that no matter what weakness that you choose, you express the fact that you've made it into a strength or recognize that the weakness can be changed to a strength...

Exactly. I met with a recruiter who told me another way to answer this is to give some sort of weakness, like "I am disorganized," then right after say, "so I've learned to keep a spreadsheet of all my to-do's and I mark them off as the day goes along." Or something like that, you need to follow up your weakness with an example or a story of how you have learned from it and how you are working to correct it.

[retrored]

thanks djrajio - this confirms that i have wasted my life. although money isn't everything it's nicer to have, then to want.

[DaBestSpoona]

yea, i should try consulting, but after getting rejected by Mckinsey/BCG and seeing that Accenture unwilling to sponsor H1B VISA, i gotta explore my other options

you should be glad that you dont work for Assenter

[peteyross]

Weirdest interview question I've ever gotten was from the Co-Founder of the company I currently work for (interview was 2005):

"Talk to me about MBIA reinsuring their own offshore entities and the relation it has to American automakers and their rental car leasing securitization programs"

Luckily I was in the habit of reading the Wall St. Journal and I knew where he was going with his questioning. If I drew a blank, I'm not sure that I'd have the job the I've got today. Whenever I meet someone important, I make sure to review the news from the past few days just in case.

[apu]

needless to say i got decline for the internship

why is it so hard to find a job/intern here?

i am thinking that i am lacking the interview skills or are companies just unwilling to sponsor H1B VISA (since every interviewer asks that)

[djrajio]

"Talk to me about MBIA reinsuring their own offshore entities and the relation it has to American automakers and their rental car leasing securitization programs"

Ironic how recently that got downgraded by Moody's....

needless to say i got decline for the internship

why is it so hard to find a job/intern here? i am thinking that i am lacking the interview skills or are companies just unwilling to sponsor H1B VISA (since every interviewer asks that)

I think the fact that you're an international student means you'll have to go above and beyond your fellow classmates for a position, basically so much so that any employeer would look over the fact that they need to sponsor you. Also remember, the economy sucks right now so companies are scaling back on intern hiring, so there will be more applicants for a smaller pool of spots. I suggest you read those guides I sent you and be better prepared for any interview that come your way. Knowledge is ammunition, so the better prepared you are for an interview, the easier it will be to get the internship. Interviewing is like any other skill, you get better the more you practice.

[apu]

yea, i understand that interview is just like every other skill u need to have, and its a process that you demonstrate your ability to sell yourself

my last chance is with Novartis, hopefully that goes well. its a full time position (Graduate Management Development Programe - 3 yrs and get to spend 2nd year in japan... nice), so hopefully i will proceed to the final round

[djrajio]

So this morning I had a second round interview with a managing partner of a very well known Venture Capital firm off Sand Hill Road (The "Wall Street" of the VC world). The firm started four years ago with the founders from some of the most famous VC firms in the industry. The interview was 30 minutes long and like almost all VC interviews its all about "fit": No technical questions. No guesstimate or puzzle questions. I think the hardest question they asked me was what industries I was interested in investing in and why...

Things I learned from the interview:

- Be really concise and eloquent with your answers. These guys hear pitches from hundreds of start-up founders a month and can cut through bullshit really fast. I learned this the hardway when I interviewed w/ a VC/Hedge Fund three weeks ago and fucked up on three or four questions because I wasn't concise in my answers. The interviewer called me out on it.

- Know markets/industries really well and be able to explain them clearly and concisely.

- Expect the interviewer to be ridiculously smart. My interviewer went to Stanford MBA after being the head CFO of a billion dollar web-retail site after only five years.

- Despite the conception that the world markets are dry and credit and funding is scarce, the VC market has TOO MUCH MONEY. Yes, my interviewer told me that they have too much fund money and NOT ENOUGH good investment opportunities. This surprised me a lot.

I also got an e-mail from a head-hunter today asking me if I would consider a trading job for a well-known hedge fund. Catch is, its in Dallas. The only thing that popped into my head when hearing that was "Equities in Dallas" from Liar's Poker. Haha. Can anybody comment on Dallas and what it's like to live there?

[ktothe]

EDIT: n/m........

[DaBestSpoona]

needless to say i got decline for the internship

why is it so hard to find a job/intern here?

i am thinking that i am lacking the interview skills or are companies just unwilling to sponsor H1B VISA (since every interviewer asks that)

It may be the H1B. The lawyer's fees are expensive.

I wanted to renew my wife's expired greencard. Since her company's lawyers had originally filed the paperwork for it, I asked them how much it would cost figuring it would cost a few hundred bucks and avoid the risk of misfiling since the forms are long and tedious. The company's immigration lawyer wanted 6000USD to do the paperwork. I filed it online myself for 130.

[Lloyd]

Interview with someone from a medium size City based Broker/Analyst. This was my first City interview after uni., sadly it proved to be something of an anomoly.

Met him in a restaurant for lunch. One of the first things he said to me was, "I was successful early on: I bought my first jaguar aged 26". In addition to this, sleasy comments about the waitresses made me think he was a bit of a tosser. Conversation became more entertaining howeveras lunch progressed, perhaps due to the 2 bottles of wine consumed. Soon he was regailing me with stories such as the one about the man who came into work at the stock excange wearing brown shoes and ended up having his trousers run up the flagpole, and I was finding his company more entertaining.

As we left the restaurant, he warned me "Lloyd, now we are going to a bar where ladies take their clothes off". Next, a cab to an independent establishment of that sort, just off Bethnal Green Road. When there, he introduced me to the regulars, held forth somewhat about church spires and bought me a lapdance.

Next, to the office where, swaying slightly, I am introduced to a couple of his colleagues. Finally he says goodbye, as he has a "meeting with complience", and I stagger out into the sunlight, slightly worse for wear.

Sadly (or rather fortunately as I'd hate to work as an analyst), I fell down at the second interview, being described as knowing "too much maths". Evidently passed the drinking and naked ladies test with flying colours though, hurrah!

[peteyross]

So this morning I had a second round interview with a managing partner of a very well known Venture Capital firm off Sand Hill Road (The "Wall Street" of the VC world). The firm started four years ago with the founders from some of the most famous VC firms in the industry. The interview was 30 minutes long and like almost all VC interviews its all about "fit": No technical questions. No guesstimate or puzzle questions. I think the hardest question they asked me was what industries I was interested in investing in and why...

Things I learned from the interview:

- Be really concise and eloquent with your answers. These guys hear pitches from hundreds of start-up founders a month and can cut through bullshit really fast. I learned this the hardway when I interviewed w/ a VC/Hedge Fund three weeks ago and fucked up on three or four questions because I wasn't concise in my answers. The interviewer called me out on it.

- Know markets/industries really well and be able to explain them clearly and concisely.

- Expect the interviewer to be ridiculously smart. My interviewer went to Stanford MBA after being the head CFO of a billion dollar web-retail site after only five years.

- Despite the conception that the world markets are dry and credit and funding is scarce, the VC market has TOO MUCH MONEY. Yes, my interviewer told me that they have too much fund money and NOT ENOUGH good investment opportunities. This surprised me a lot.

I also got an e-mail from a head-hunter today asking me if I would consider a trading job for a well-known hedge fund. Catch is, its in Dallas. The only thing that popped into my head when hearing that was "Equities in Dallas" from Liar's Poker. Haha. Can anybody comment on Dallas and what it's like to live there?

From my experience (you know who I hear it from) they say this all the time and to a certain extent it's just part of talking the talk. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the too much money chasing too few opportunities speech in the past few years. The top tier PE/VC crowd never seems short for equity since they get a never ending supply from the Yale, Harvard, etc endowment funds. The VC/PE firms love it too because they get paid on committed capital, not funded capital.

You can definitely see the same phenomenon with the large PE firms that raised funds in the past 12 months too. Some of the top tier firms went for $20 billion funds but others went for somewhere between $10 and $15 billion. The argument that the 10-15 billion crowd gives is that they didn't get caught up in the pissing contest by trying to have the largest fund. They decided not to take as much money because they didn't think they could use it effectively.

I've seen a lot of Asia funds cap themselves fairly low too since they really don't know if they'll be able to spend the money.

About Dallas...unless you're getting paid a lot more and it will lead to something good in the future, I think it'd be tough. I guess it depends on how much you're willing to sacrifice your non-work life for your job. You'd have unprecedented access to corny white chicks though.

[djrajio]

Thanks Petey!

[artificialsky]

Unless you have a few cowboys cheerleaders waiting for you in the jacuzzi after you get off work every night, I wouldn't do it.

Remember: A player, Raj, or nothing.

[6MT]

before i got the job i have now, i went interview for a head designer position at a private lable company.

when i went for my interview, he had me waited for about 45 minutes, at that time i lost my patience, i just dont think any one should put some one in the position of having them wait for no apparent reason. i dont care u own the company, when u r not on time, u r wasting my time.

at that time the line they have in their showroom, more cater to the "stripe shirt" true religion wearing sort of client, and i wasn't very found of that styling, when i walk into their parking lot, mind you they have a pretty shitty building in the middle of bad neighborhood, and yet the owner has a f430 park right there, immediately the co. send out a pretty bad image. To me in order to have a successful company is by taking care the people who work for you, not by putting yourself in a more superior position, instead of having a ferrari, u should improve your office, improve the worker's morale, establish a better work enviroment, but none of those elements were there when i went for my interview.

so finally, he came out shook my hand, fast not very sincere.

went into his office, we sat down, at that point, i was eager to leave, so i wanna fuck his time up royaly by telling him anything he doesn't wanna hear. and as i guessed it, he was wearing a stripe shirt half button, and a pair TR, and some of those really horrible metro club scene, pointy ass leather emboss shoe.

"so have u heard of our line"

"nope"

"have u check out our website"

"dont even know u have a site"

"well, by the way u see every thing, do u have a certain outlook for our company"

"nope, i dont think your line would go anywhere truely, it looks pretty bad"

"well, do u atleast have your portfolio"

here is the thing, when i go for interviews, i try to bring the best of my work, something that would suit the co. that i was meeting with, and most recent as well, so i dont carry a whole catalogue of my work.

so i answer:

"yes"

he flipped thru it,

" is that it???"

"yap"

so right there, that confirm what my instinct was telling me that his company was shopping for a design slave, some one that was expandable.

i left the office, he looks absolutely pissed. but fuck him.

so for those of you who are eager to enter the design biz, choose the gig wisely, dont waste your time on those sort of company where they just wanna get the most out of you and dump you.

take my experience as a advise perhaps.