Tuesday, May 8, 2012

How to Interview like an MBA, the first book review


The Premise

The basic premise of "How to Interview like an MBA" is pretty obvious. The book promises to get your interview, network and resume skills up to par with an top MBA program student through ten different section reviews. 

The Delivery 

I'm a reader, since this is the first book review I'm doing I'll throw that out there. I love information, I love the way different people convey the same ideas, and I love words. I'm kind of a nerd like that. That being said, I really thought  Dr. Shel Leanne did a great job of expressing the nonfiction technical information in a way that didn't bore me to tears.  She also really covered every area of concern, from what your plan of attack for your resume should be to what you're probably going to have to explain to a recruiter (why you had a rough second semester or how your work covers area not generally considered in that function.) 

Pros

She's incredibly thorough with topics but very concise when it comes to explanations, a combination that I admire and appreciate.

There are examples given for just about every type of communication you will encounter from cover letters to thank you notes, which is something I plan on referring back to.

There are 100 sample questions, in case you're a little bit nervous about interviewing an need some practice.


Cons

I would have liked for there to have been more about pre interview work, ie job hunting like an MBA, but maybe that will be its own book.

There is a lot of stories from professionals who experienced a good/bad situation dealing with the topic. After a while I started skimming those passages. 

The Take Away

These are just some details I would offer to someone else 
  • There are four points of research you should do for any interview. 
    1. Industry (The main characteristics, the trends, any recent shifts)
    2. Company (The main competitors, any recent news, the company's strategies etc etc)
    3. Interviewer 
    4. The Job (Who do you interact with, what are the responsibilities, how much ownership do you have of your products)
  • Questions to ask your interviewer to leave the best impression 
  • How to shape the interview to best demonstrate you as the right fit. 
All and all, definitely worth reading. It may be a bit of over kill for people actually pursuing an MBA who have a full time Career service staff at their disposal but a good reference point. 



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