The Two Month Job Interview

By Barbara Hewitt

Many of you are well-entrenched in your summer internships at this point…hopefully happily engaged in projects and getting adjusted to the work culture. Such summer experiences often provide wonderful opportunities to learn new skills, build your resume, and network with professionals. They also allow you to see if a particular job or industry is a good fit for you personally and if it aligns well with your skills, interests, and personality.

For those of you (particularly rising seniors) in structured internship programs, the summer also often functions much like an 8 or 10 week job interview. While you are assessing the employer, the employer is also evaluating you on a daily basis to see if they want to offer you a full-time, post-graduate position. This is your chance to really shine – to show you are competent, a team player, articulate, and a good overall fit with the organization.

I attended a meeting last week comprised of recruiters from most of the large investment banks in New York and college career counselors from the Ivy League institutions. This is an annual meeting and provides a great opportunity to network, learn about trends, and generally discuss any concerns that might have cropped up over the course of the year…and did the recruiters express concerns this year! It seems that the summer interns at the banks have been making some major mistakes. (The complaints were not of ALL interns nor were they Penn specific, but they were shared by all of the recruiters present.) Here are some of the things they mentioned interns doing during the first few weeks on the job:

  • Openly sleeping during training sessions or simply not paying attention. You might be able to get away with this in class (although extremely rude!), but it is totally unacceptable in the work environment.
  • Losing company property. One firm reported that four interns lost their Blackberries during the first week.
  • Underage drinking. Several firms sponsored social events in which alcohol was available for students over 21. Wristbands were provided to indicate age. Interns who were not yet 21 were seen drinking, and it was quite clear that it would be extremely unlikely that these students would receive a return offer at the end of the summer. Hiring ethical employees is of the utmost important to most firms, and at a bare minimum they expect their employees to follow the law. Other recruiters reported that students of legal age ordered multiple drinks (as many as four…) during “last call” so that the company would wind up footing the tab for excessive drinking.

Some of these things may seem minor and students often believe they will go unnoticed. They do not. Everything you do during the summer is carefully monitored by most employers and play into your final evaluation. It is up to you to put your best foot forward if you hope to receive a full-time offer….work hard, pay attention to the company culture and norms, network, and ask for projects if you have extra time. In sum, do everything you can to show that you can be a real asset to the organization. If in doubt about anything, don’t be afraid to ask questions. The more feedback you can get early in the summer, the better you will fully understand and be able to meet the employer’s expectations.

Best wishes for the remainder of a productive and fun summer!

Author: Barbara Hewitt

Barbara Hewitt is the Executive Director of Career Services.