Yalies subpar on interviews, but who's to blame?

COURTESY UNDERGRADUATE CAREER SERVICES JOB TRAINING: Yale students seeking interview preparation are disappointed by UCS manuals.

If interviewing is a skill, as the Undergraduate Career Services (UCS) manual claims, then Yalies are not making the grade.

According to Sandra Goodson, associate director of UCS, "Over the years, the most common concern that recruiters have about Yale students is that they have a tendency to read the literature that a company sends, but that students do not go beyond that. They don't look at the industry and the trends that affect employment in the industry as a whole." It's unclear, however, whether Yalies or UCS should shoulder the burden of preparing students for interviews.

"I've heard through the grapevine that students lack preparation about the firm and regarding the job itself," said UCS Peer Advisor, Eric Misiaszek, DC '99. "I've heard recruiters say Yalies are among the least prepared of students in the Ivy League." Misiaszek said he has also heard that recruiters think that Yale students are overconfident. "Yalies expect a lot and aren't aware how competitive [the job process] is," he said.

Goodson offered some specific examples of Yalies' ignorance of the bigger picture beyond the job process. "At a registration meeting [for the on-campus recruiting program] I asked students, `What is going on in Latin America that might have an impact on the economy?' They were not aware." And according to Goodson, this lack of awareness may be costing Yalies job opportunities. "Banks with Latin American divisions were canceling their visits because they had no jobs, yet students were still applying," she said.

Goodson said UCS's position is that students must take the initiative to prepare themselves better. "There is no excuse for not being able to go beyond the literature," she said. "Faculty is a great resource. Parents are a great resource; they are working, and they have friends who are working. Read the newspapers. Look up CNN online."

She stressed that UCS holds meetings on effective interviewing techniques that include a question-and-answer session addressing questions from "What do I wear?" to "How do I respond if an interviewer asks me if I plan to get married and have a family?"

UCS also offers practice interviewers with counselors that can be videotaped at the student's request. "These interviews are general and not designed for any particular field," Goodson said. "During peak seasons, these interviews will be oversubscribed."

Still, many students blame UCS for their poor performance in interviews. "I definitely think UCS can do more to help students excel, especially in interviews. Peer advisors are at a loss, because they can only really direct students toward resources," Misiaszek said. He explained that change must be initiated higher up. "People know that I am a Peer Advisor and stop and ask me for help in the dining hall or on the street; I think this is a sign of a larger problem."

Misiaszek suggested UCS might try harder to engage students. "One possible solution would be a peer advisor who is available in the college after day hours," he said. "People are reluctant to go to UCS. A peer advisor could be available two nights a week in the college; he or she would be someone students know, and that would bring UCS to the students."

Raymond Ho, TC '99, was upset that Yale's main round of recruiting, which starts in January, began four months after recruiting season at many other schools.

While programs at schools like Harvard are similar
to Yale's, Harvard's Office of Career Services (OCS)
offers a vast amount of literature on interviews that
Yale's UCS does not. OCS puts out 60-page guides
like The Harvard College Guide to Consulting, with
12 chapters on different types of consulting and a list
of phone numbers and addresses of more than 100 consulting firms.

OCS Assistant Director Emily Helm said recruiters generally don't complain about Harvard students' interview preparation. "Our students tend to do a lot of research," she said. "Research is something we really stress."

Mike Buckstein, SY '99, admitted students should practice more for interviews. "I interviewed for M.D.-Ph.D. programs, so I had a total of about 50 or 60 interviews. It took 40 or 50 before I could present all the information I wanted to."

Buckstein sought help from a friend in Yale's M.D.-Ph.D. program. "He gave me the ins and outs. Friends are the best way to go about it. He taught me how to lead an interviewer."

Fred Dautzenberg, SY '99, also stressed that students should seek out advice. "I talked to a lot of friends in I-banking, mostly from the class of 1997 because [the interview process] was fresh in their minds."

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