Courtney Crosby and Kelly Ayers are your MPA Peer Career Consultants.  They’ve successfully navigated the MPA recruiting process and want to help you do the same.  Check out their posts here each week for valuable recruiting tips.

Last week, Kelly provided an in-depth look at the upcoming pre-interview dinners. Today, I will focus on the other half of interview week – the interviews themselves. Here is what you can expect for each of your interviews:

  • Before: When you arrive at the FCC, you will interact with a greeter. This individual is usually a staff associate, and you may have interacted with them the night before at the pre-interview dinner. The purpose of this small talk is twofold – the greeter wants to make you feel comfortable before your interview, but he or she is also evaluating your professional demeanor. Be friendly and engaged in the conversation, because it is part of your interview. At the end of the day, the interviewer will likely ask the greeter for his or her thoughts on each candidate.
  • During: The direction the interview takes will depend on the interviewer. Some interviewers ask formal behavioral questions, some look to you to lead the conversation, and some just want to have a conversation about your interests and hobbies. Likewise, the structure of the interview differs from firm to firm – I have had back-to-back interviews with two individuals, two-on-one interviews, and basic 30 minute interviews with one interviewer.  Regardless of the scenario, you want to remain flexible, energetic, and enthusiastic. The company research and interview preparation you have been doing will help you be successful in any interview setting.
  • After:  Do not forget to email thank you letters to your interviewer(s) and greeter. You will want to do this as soon as possible, because you may forget specific points or conversations after having multiple interviews and pre-interview dinners in a row.

The recruiting process is ultimately about fit, because the firms know you have a strong technical skillset. The objective of all recruiting events – dinners, interviews, casual social events – is to identify which students would be the right fit for each firm. Keep this in mind as you interview; while your interviewers may seem intimidating, they are not trying to stump you. They simply want to assess whether or not you would fit in with their firm’s culture.

Kelly Ayers and I will be offering you words of advice throughout your recruiting journey this semester, so be sure to check out our posts in the newsletter each week! And, as always, if you have any questions about recruiting and want to talk about how to prepare, please feel free to email us at PeerMPA@mccombs.utexas.edu or come to our walk-in hours on Tuesday 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 – 5 p.m., Wednesday 9 – 11 a.m., and Thursday 11 a.m. – Noon.. Until next week…good luck with the interview preparation!