Unprepared for that Interview? Good for you!

By David Sokol

To my head-scratching surprise, I recently learned that Yalies are poorly prepared for job recruitment interviews among students at Ivy League and Ivy-comparable schools. This was probably the first time in my academic career that I've heard that Yalies are substandard at anything, and I have determined to find out, or at least to conjecture, why.

Eric Misiaszek, DC '99, a peer advisor at Undergraduate Career Services (UCS) whose two years there attest to a greater mastery of the place than I could ever have, confirmed what I had heard.

"Generally, the impression among recruiters participating in the On Campus Interview Program is that Yalies are least prepared among all people interviewed," Misiaszek explained. Most of these companies are involved in Investment banking and consulting, but Yalies have little knowledge of them and of what's going on in business in general. Preparation, he said, can be as simple as reading these companies' annual reports, or even the Wall Street Journal (more than once).

Misiaszek feels that Yalies come into their interviews as "cavaliers," with the attitude that they have been sought out and therefore do not have to be prepared.

So what's going on here? The biggest Wall Street firms are clamoring for Yalies' attention. They tempt us with full-page advertisements and free lattes at XandO--cocktails at the Union League, even--and we don't even have the courtesy or decorum to find out what trading commodities means? I would think that interviews are something to take seriously. Why, then, the behavior toward such different ends?

Perhaps Misiaszek hit on the explanation for this paradox, but let's consider some other alternatives--any number will do. Yalies are incredibly preoccupied with extracurricular activities and don't have the time to prepare for anything that has to do with UCS. Yalies just have an utter disregard for UCS in general--why not add UCS to the list of ineffectual, bureaucratic Yale organizations you encounter during your undergraduate career? Yalies really do possess an arrogant sense of entitlement and do not feel it necessary to take any initiative in seeking employment.

Or perhaps we Yalies might also have some idea of what a terrible existence a working life is. Along with the art of coffee- making, those summer internships are lessons in the miseries of commuting and fluorescent lighting. Accordingly, denial is the best defense for that first on-campus interview. The other four stages of grief will follow the contract signing, I'm sure.

Considering these options, I would still like to side with Misiaszek--but with a twist. Consider another aspect of the word "cavalier." If you know your 19th century southern stereotypes, you know that besides the arrogance about which Misiaszek spoke, cavaliers prize their education. If you're not familiar with your stereotypes, then just think of chivalrous Rhett Butler on his plantation, surveying the crop with a scotch in his hand, sipping it as only a gentleman could. He would not be so refined, however, without that time he spent as a gallant youth at the academy. So if Yale is a bastion of cavaliers who interview poorly, then perhaps we are also one of the remaining schools that stands for the liberal arts mission.

Take our "famous" students, for example. They have nothing to gain financially by attending Yale, or any college for that matter. As a matter of fact, I would think that it is potentially damaging to give up some visibility in order to attend school. So why be here? Because we value learning itself. We can't all be famous with predetermined careers (hence, UCS), but I would like to think that more than a few of us can identify with the value of education. To be learn for the sake of learning, isn't that refreshing? Not for the piece of paper, not to spit on your high school bullies, but to read Emerson or Milton, or to learn about diminishing marginal whatevers.

The answer is yes--that is refreshing. Isn't that what college is all about, in a humanist sense? These few years pass by too quickly and call for making the most of what could be our last academic experience. Rather than be a student body with a mind solely set on securing financial gain, we are learning for learning's sake. The problem here is that when we reach the end of that college career, the real career that is supposed to follow finally surfaces as an afterthought, albeit a desperate one. How could being caught off-guard like this not result in poor preparation for those UCS interviews?

Fortunately, knowledge really is not overrated. If the consequence of this is a poor interview through UCS, then so be it. You should still cut the attitude (Ivy League snobbishness is so unbecoming), but don't let that choice interview change your ideals about a college education.

David Sokol is a sophomore in Branford.

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