| Several Entry Level Positions |
For the Marketing Associate position, I gained an interview only after
calling the company and leaving messages for the directors of
recruiting. I never got a position at Corporate Executive Board by
applying over email: there was just too much competition and people in
talent management (human resources) were overwhelmed!
Interview: 2000, for Marketing Associate position.
For the Marketing Associate position, I interviewed with one of the
human resources recruiters and later with a seasoned marketing (sales)
director of the company. During my discussion with the human resources
employee, the recruiter asked me about my previous employment
experiences, what I learned in college, and about my interest in
Corporate Executive Board. Then she explained what the company did,
talked to me about the marketing associate position, and then scheduled
an interview time for me with the marketing director, whose name was
Natalia Pert-Newkirk. During my second interview with the company, Ms.
Pert-Newkirk asked me about my background, asked me about my interest in
marketing and sales, and asked me what I knew about Corporate Executive
Board. Most of the time, I remember her talking and remember that I was
the one asking questions - such as how my position interacted with
clients and interacted with the rest of the marketing department. The
most important part of the interview was when she asked me what product
I believed in and asked me to try to gain a meeting with her to sell the
product in person. Since marketing associates call potential client's
offices and schedule sales meetings, this was obviously her way of
testing my abilility to introduce the company's mission and products to
potential clients. Soon thereafter, the company called me and hired me.
Interview, 2001 and 2002
For the Research Associate positions, there are also two interviews.
I interviewed with the human resources staff and then interviewed with
two research managers for the program that I was interested in. The
human resources staff asked me about the kinds of skills I developed, my
interest in research, and then talked to me about the research position
openings. Later, they scheduled a meeting pairing me with two research
managers. The research managers asked me about my background, about my
studies in college, and spoke about the positions they were hiring for
(entry-level research associate). I emphasized my communication skills
and writing skills, refined through my experiences in college. They
gave me one case question, where I was to talk about how I would help a
company to determine the best way to increase the sale of insurance
policies in Asia. In order to ace this question, a person must talk
about the process he or she would use to help a client learn more about
Asia and insurance policies. I indicated that I would first see whether
Corporate Executive Board had researched this topic previously. Then I
would conduct a new search to see if journalists had written on this
topic. I would use all the information I collected to write a report on
the topic. That answer got me the job each time.
Interview, 2004, New Business Development Associate
This year, I interviewed for a position with the company's new business
development group, which creates new research programs for the company
and refocuses poorly-performing existing research programs to meet
customer demands. In this position, I interviewed with two senior
analysts. In New Business Development, there are three main positions:
(1) associates, who are entry-level staff; (2) analysts, who are tenured
staff; and program directors, who lead the group. They asked me about
my responsibilities in positions I held at Corporate Executive Board.
They also asked me to tell them how I would invent two new research
products for the company and what my business case for such products
consisted of. That question requires a two part answer: first, what
kinds of new programs would you add, and second, why? If someone can
answer that second question well, they will have a good interview. I
did not get the position.
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