A REAL job interview!! WOO!

[Zell]

After years of being the front-end work slave at the grocery store, stocking produce, and working in the IT department (which I still do part-time and I love every second of it), I have FINALLY gotten a real job interview!

I'm a Statistics major and have been applying like nuts now for internships. I've been denied a lot mostly because I am not a Junior or above. But I've now finally gotten a response back and am part of 3% of people who've been selected for an internship as an actuary for Genworth!

My interview is on Thursday. I'm nervous, but I'm preparing like crazy for it! Goodbye retail world, hello door to the real world

[HYHYBT]

Good luck!

[r2cagle]

So how'd it go?

[Zell]

So how'd it go?

Destroyed the interview! I did very well. I spent about 5 days practicing, one hour a day. I wrote out all the responses to typical questions, pulled out lots and lots and lots of experiences that I could relate to nearly anything, and even video-recorded my own responses to try and fix anything that I messed up (it was painful, but my uncle has written a book about interviewing and said it was important to do that). It all made a huge difference in my confidence. There was only one surprising question that I got: "When have you done something risky because you had a strong stance for something and stood up for what you believed in?" That was a toughy.

I asked some good questions, some that were logistical and a few that really showed that I had done my research about the company and had good questions about it based upon my research.

Gave her some examples of in-depth statistical analyses using SAS that I've done in my own time of data and such. She was pretty impressed with that.

At the end, I asked her that if, from our conversation, she could recommend me for the job, or if there was anything that would make her not want to choose me. She said nothing stuck out and she would absolutely e-mail me if something disqualified me, but she would get back to me.

I supposed to hear back from her by the end of this week. I sent a follow-up e-mail, but I should really have sent a physical letter. Oh well. But it sounds like it's going to be really good!

The internship sounds excellent; I'll be around other interns doing various other internships (along with my own), will be working with actuaries who will mentor me and I'll help out with mathematical projects, and I get a housing stipend. I read online that I will get paid, but I do not know how much. I didn't want to ask that because I feel it isn't really a good question to ask until they are going to offer the job, but from some stuff I've read online, I might be looking at $18-$19 an hour.

[underemployeed]

Enjoy good paying internships while you can, I made mistake of graudating a semester early because at the job fair most of the companies want a full time person in my field, no an intern.... so I pushed my self and took the max hours allowed. graduated a semester early, and by that time everyone wanted co-ops and interns because of the economy and the fact they were cheaper and easy to cut loose. Although, some employers on a Q&A panel said it doesn't hurt to send a e-mail but also follow up with a written letter afterward for added level of professionalism.