Anguishing Interviews

Every year, a new batch of seniors dresses up in their best business attire and subjects themselves to what is often a grueling, stressful and disappointing process: recruiting.

As "Walls of Shame" spring up in senior rooms across campus, students anxiously await replies from top investment banking and consulting firms.

What is this mysterious process which consumes the precious hours of so many seniors as well as those sophmores and juniors who elect to enter the recruiting process for summer jobs?

While recruiting myths abound at Harvard during this time of the year, the feelings of students undergoing the process range from alienation to elation.

Some find the routine intimidating and painful.

Cecil S. Yau '96 compares the process to a conveyor belt.

"You trek out to Hilles, which is pretty far if you don't live in the Quad and as soon as you've finished your interview they're calling out the next person's name; you're in-and-out," he says.

But Yau, an applied math concentrator, concedes that "the interviewers are nicer than they would have you believe."

He also says job-hunting experience gained through the recruitment process is a valuable thing to have, as "things generally go smoother the second time around."

Evan M. Schwartzfarb '96 says he was particularly struck by the "random" aspect of the process. "One company will interview you, and their major competitor won't and there doesn't seem to be any reason."

In addition he says the results of interviews often seem haphazard. "Interviews are more about a personality fit than they are a reflection of your abilities," he says.

The stress of recruiting really got to Brian M. Go '96. An economics concentrator, Go's thesis is due shortly after his recruiting interviews.

"If I had to do it all over, I would try and get recruiting done earlier, leaving myself more time to work on my thesis. It's due the 20th," he says with a panicked note in his voice.

"I feel like I didn't take the process seriously enough and I unnecessarily prolonged it," he adds.

Susan J. Lee '96 says she had a fairly positive recruiting experience because she knew what to expect.

"I went in with some summer experience and a very clear idea of what I was looking for," she says.

But no matter how much students may plan their attack, the recruiting process can often take them by surprise.

Lee had a final round interview on the night of her 22nd birthday. Her interviewers found out, she says, and got her a dessert with a candle and sang to her in the restaurant.

Lee says she had another unusual interview experience in the form of mistaken identity. Susan S. Lee '96 also went through recruiting. Susan J. Lee and Susan S. Lee both made it to the final round for the same company.

"When the interview began, I was really enthusiastic and was going off about my resume. Then I looked over and realized the interviewer looked kind of confused. She was looking at Susan S. Lee's resume," Lee recounts with mock horror.

Lee says the embarrassed interviewer began the interview from the top, this time with the right resume.

Yau says he had an interviewer with laryngitis who couldn't talk.

"He gave me a couple of typed pages to read instead of giving me a speech, and the first few minutes of the interview were dead silent," Yau recalls. "It was a little bit awkward."

And then there are the interview questions, infamous for their difficulty. Go says he found the questions about himself hardest to answer. "When they ask you to talk about your worst failure, of course you don't want to tell them your worst failure because you're scared they won't hire you."

Interviews often combine the standard interview questions with unusual queries.

Schwartzfarb says he was asked to solve some math problems off the top of his head, including "What's 23 squared?"

In a different interview, Schwartzfarb says his interviewer asked him about one of the things he had listed as an interest on his resume--movie quotes.

"This guy gave me some quotes from these British movies and I wasn't able to identify them. He didn't seem too happy," Schwartzfarb remembers.

Yau says he had to describe the most difficult thing he'd ever overcome in 25 words or less.

"I don't think I could even describe the situation in 25 words, let alone how I overcame it," Yau complains.

Most seniors have reached the end of the recruiting process. The factors influencing students' final decisions include level of responsibility, location, future co-workers, the company's reputation and how interesting the job seems.

Lee says she tried to take advantage of her contacts within the industry to find out more about the companies she has been looking at.

"I called up a friend to get his advice," Lee says. "He put me on a three-way line on mute and called one of the VPs of his company. He asked the VP what he thought of all the companies I was thinking about and so I got to hear a very objective, detached opinion."

Though most people don't have access to such devious methods, it is generally agreed that it is a good idea to research potential employers.

As this cycle of recruiting draws to an end and new graduates head out into the work force this summer, the next cycle is already beginning as juniors begin to look ahead to next year's recruiting process.