SKEMA organised a two-week-long job interview preparation event for SKEMA students. Over 480 professionals were recruited to carry out more than 1000 individual interviews with students on the five SKEMA campuses in Europe, Asia and North America.
Each interview lasted around 45 minutes.
This annual event is organised to give SKEMA students the extra boost that will make them stand out in a tougher job market. The event helps students perfect the job finding process and gives them valuable job interview practice and feedback.
Monica, a participating MSc student from Mexico, explained: “This was one of the most useful exercises I have done in my job search. Usually, after an interview you just get a “yes” or a “no”; nobody takes the time to tell you the reasons why. In this exercise the interviewer was there to give me some advice and feedback which has improved my chances of getting a “yes” at my next interview.”
Lasting 45 minutes each, the interviews were carried out under job recruitment conditions: students had to make the right impression and discuss their career plans as well as the specific job they are aiming for. The participating professional interviewers posed relevant –sometimes tough– questions.
At the end of the interview, students were given extensive feedback and a final decision: “Go” or “No-Go”. Those who got the “No-Go” have to go to SKEMA’s dedicated careers advisors to review and brush up their career project, and find ways to make improvements to succeed in future interviews.
The participating professionals came from all the varieties of business functions (HR, marketing, purchasing, senior management, chief executive, finance, etc.)
Jonathan, a student who wants to work as a market-study project manager, said “It was actually more useful for me than a normal job interview because I got feedback on every point of the interview, and in quite some detail too. The interviewer identified weaknesses and gave me pointers on how to do even better.”
One of the interviewers, who works in Monaco, pointed out: “This event shows that SKEMA really cares about its students’ job placement after graduation… I have interviewed a couple of students so far. I advised both to target and tailor their job search to positions and companies they really want, rather than just sending out the same CV to hundreds of companies”.