Coop Interviews

Looks like Blogger has a sleek new interface. So while scanning through some of the archives I came across this post, dated July 12, 2005. I hadn't published it at the time, probably out of fear that the parties mentioned would stumble upon it and crucify me. Now I figure the odds of that happening are remote, so why let a post go to waste? One of the things that strikes me is how much more candid and juvenile I sounded. Here we go...

Coop Interviews
July 12, 2005

Several weeks ago, my manager requested that I oversee the hiring process for next year’s co-op students, and I graciously accepted this task.

So, for the first time I ever I logged on to Jobmine as an Employer. There were about 50 applicants for the recruiter position, of which I selected 10 to interview.

What was my criteria? Foremost, I considered anyone in Actuarial Science or doing the HR management option in Business – as I figured they would naturally be the most inclined towards the position. Since the position was of an interpersonal nature, I looked for people that had done some sort of sales work in the past. Finally I weighted heavily those that had submitted a coverletter, as it showed the applicant had taken the initiative to compose one (even if it was generic, as most clearly were) and gave evidence of one’s writing skills. In fact, there was solely one candidate that I interviewed that did not present a coverletter.

So, on a splendid mid-July morning, both my manager and I departed to Waterloo to engage in the interview process.

The first girl we interviewed was by the name Iris. I’d pictured a geeky timid fob girl with acne and bottle glasses but she was more than just a pretty face however, and of all the candidates I’d say objectively that she interviewed the best.

The next guy we interviewed was Alex. I thought he was about as bad as Iris was good. We hired him anyway because he had done accounting work and my manager believed he’d show good attention to detail (for the Research Assistant position – essentially searching for vacancies and placing them into our system). Amy from Thunder Bay called in sick, so up came Brian; he’d taken two years off to work as a business analyst – so he was overpriced and didn’t appear too enthusiastic besides. Next came Amy; first impression was Whoa, all I see is the suit - what happened to the girl? Because she was so short and bony that when I shook her hand, it hurt. Still, she interviewed well and so she get the job. After her came Sandeep – this was a guy I knew. He started out really nervous (voice was shaking, looking down at his hands) but quickly settled in. he said all the right thigns since I’d coached him the night before – so he got the job.

In the afternoon the first candidate we interviewed was Choy. I thought this would be a guy, but much to my surprise a tall slender Chinese girl came in. This was an Arts/Business major and wanted to do HR work (for some inexplicable reason). She was the very talkative one, and so the interview which had been scheduled for 20 minutes ended up being 40 minutes long. Still, she said the right things and got the job. Following that came Tanveer. He plain sucked. Next guy was Anthony – fobby HK guy; reminded me a bit of one of the co-ops that works here now. He essentially talked himself out of a job when we asked him how he’d rate his work ethic on a scale of 1 to 5 and he said 3. Last guy we interviewed, 2B ActSci guy named Faisal (who’d worked in the UAE) was the consummate professional. He got the job.

Sitting on the other end of the desk turned out to be a lot more fun than I anticipated. We truly sampled the entire gamut of students – from the very shy and demure to the very loud and loquacious and everything in between. The key is I know now from observing the pros and cons of other interviewees - and viewing things as an employer , So next time I should sell myself and secure myself that internship at Deloitte or Swiss Re. :)