| Topic Name: |
No Interview |
| Message Name: |
but... ?? |
| Date Posted: |
12/06/2002 |
| In Reply To: |
I agree with you that I should have spent more time researching each individual firm and spending more time networking with people. However, having 30 interviews and not landing a job is fairly common at Yale or any of the Ivy League Universities. Some of my classmates interviewed with as many as 50 firms and did not receive any offers. I had much more success getting offers when I am not interviewing at Yale, but back in Southern California, where I live. For my previous internships, I only interviewed with a few firms before receiving offers from both Merrill Lynch and Prudential Securities for finance internships.
It is very difficult to find out if firms "are really hiring." All firms that interview at our college claim they are hiring, but in reality some, if not many of the firms, decided not to hire at all.
A typical top 10 firm would screen about 300 resumes for potential candidates. They would interview about 20-30 for the first round and bring back about 3-4 candidates for the final round. Typically, they would only hire one applicant and sometimes none at all.
I must admit that where you go to school and your academic creditials are not the only factors firms look for. Leadership experience, work experience, and other untangible factors are just as important. |
| Message: |
I have an Ivy League degree, and I've never heard of someone interviewing with 50 firms. The people who do fewer interviews often end up with plenty of offers. The more interviews one does, the more confused he becomes, the poorer presentation he makes, and the lower his conversion rate (rate of converting interviews into offers)... to the point that conversion falls to 0%. And 0 times any number is still 0.
I turned down 1/3 of my interviews to focus on the ones I really wanted... and I should have turned down more. I advise seniors to focus their interviewing. I've not yet seen the strategy backfire, even in this economy. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, but don't spread your eggs so far and wide that you can't keep them all warm.
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