Suprise Interview!

Early this week, a recruiter from Company X (I’ll say their name in a later post if I work there) called and told me that the Marketing position I had applied for had been filled with a contractor because they really wanted someone to be able to work full time into the Fall. She said they found another internship that they wanted to talk to me about based on my experience. She sent me the link, and although it wasn’t a Marketing internship I let her know that I would like to talk to the hiring manager more about the position and just get some other details. I said I was available Friday morning, and she told me she’d let me know when the hiring manager would give me a call.

I never received a confirmation email, so I assumed he was busy on Friday morning and we’d schedule something for the next week. At 10am, I was woken up to my phone ringing. I answered and it was the hiring manager plus another colleague calling me about the position. I was in shock/panic because I honestly had no idea they would be calling me. So they started off telling me how impressed they were with my resume, and then jumped right into asking me why I’d be a good fit for the position. And that is where I really panicked. This was an actual PHONE INTERVIEW.  I really thought I’d be talking to them about the position details so I could determine if I was interested.  I somehow asked them for more information about the position so I could buy some time to grab my computer and pull up the description. I went into how I thought I’d be a good fit, and then they asked me a few more questions about my background and experience. I’m a little calmer now because I think I recovered somewhat well, but it was short lived because they asked me what questions I had for them. Clearly I hadn’t prepared any questions except how much does it pay, and I didn’t feel comfortable asking them that right off the bat. So I somehow came up with 3 questions for them. They asked me one final question, “we normally give our candidates a chance to wow us with a last statement as to why we should hire them since Company X is so competitive.” Yikes. I talked about a few of my strengths that I knew were important to the company in general and backed them up with a few examples from an old boss and project.

My surprise phone screen was over. I’ve never really had that experience where I had no idea someone would be calling and I was completely unprepared. I honestly didn’t think I would be offered the position because as a former recruiter, I would be able to tell that I was super unprepared to start off the interview. I talked to my Dad shortly after and he laughed at the situation and even thought they may have caught me off guard to see if it was really was flexible and adaptable to different, “surprise” situation. So I took it as a learning experience, and hopefully I won’t have to experience a surprise phone interview again.

Later in the afternoon, the recruiter called me and said she had some feedback about the interview. She said the hiring manager liked me, and wanted to extend the offer. I told her I’d let her know in the next week because I wanted to make the best decision. Clearly, I recovered better than I thought. My past as a recruiter definitely paid off in the situation because I knew how to recover and knew certain things to do and tell them. So my first interview of this internship search process turned out to be a success! At least now I know that I will have an internship this summer!

18 days. 18 days. 18 days.

COME ON MAY 9th!

Only 18 days until we are finished our FIRST YEAR! 18 days until we are 2nd year MBAs!

This year has absolutely FLOWN by. We've learned so much and grown together as a class. It has been an incredible experience so far. Next year will be completely different. We only have 1 class together each semester all together, and the rest we're split into our concentrations. I'll definitely miss having everyone together in the majority of our classes and being able to work with Team Dominate for everything, but I am excited to get into more Marketing focused classes.

Now the only thing that stands between me and being a 2nd year MBA:

MarkStrat paper

Markstrat presentation

Brand Management presentation (paper is finished!)

Tech Management presentation

Brand Management take home final

Supply Chain Homework #3

Supply Chain Final

Finance cumulative Final.

A few fun things throw in the mix...Beach Music Fest, my Birthday and the End of Year Party.

The worst really is saved for last. If I say Finance test, its still hard. And each test was roughly 4-5 chapters. When I say Finance cumulative Final...I panic. Because not only does it include ALL the information from test 1 & 2 (9 chapters?) but also the 3 remaining chapters that weren't covered on a previous test. Yikes. 12 chapters of Finance. Hard Finance by the way. Hopefully I survive this one...

MarkStrat Results

Our MarkStrat simulation ended last week. Each of our 5 teams started out with 2 products in the Sonite market, with the option to go into the new Vodite market. It ended with 13 Sonite products and 5 Vodite products.

Our team decided on a strategy that would benefit us in the last few years. We did a few rounds of R&D on both of our Sonite products because they were pretty bad to start out with. We had a good idea of what our target audience was looking for, however they did change preferences slightly each period. We also made the decision to enter the Vodite market as soon as we could. This was fairly risky because in picking the specs of the product, we had absolutely nothing to go on and it was pretty much just picking numbers out of a hat.

We started out as last in stock price, last in Sonite with only 16% of the market share, and the first couple years in the Vodite market our product was getting crushed by our 1 competitor.

The end was slightly different. We were #1 in stock price by over 750, #1 in Sonite market share at 40% and #2 in Vodite at 46.1% (only #2 by 1%).

We took everyone by surprise because of our presence in the top 3 highest growing areas. They might not have been the biggest the first few years, however they grew at a ridiculous rate in the last few years so our stock price, market share and net contribution numbers soared.

Quote for the rest of the semester!

I will act now. I will act now. I will act now.

Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday until the words

become as much a habit as my breathing and the action which follows

becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids.

With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for

MY SUCCESS.

I will act now.

I will repeat these words again, and again, and again.

I will walk where failures fear to walk.

I will work when failures seek rest.

I will act now for now is all I have.

Tomorrow is the day reserved for the lazy.

Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed.

I am not a failure.

I will act now.

Success will NOT wait.

If I delay, success will become wed to another and los to me forever.

This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.

 

I WILL ACT NOW.

One of my favorites..

"The cure for anything is salt water;

sweat, tears or the sea."

-Isak Dinesen

I found this quote last week, and it's pretty much perfect for me. When

I'm upset about something, I can do 1 of a few things.

1. I go work out. The instant rush of endorphins automatically puts me in a better mood.

I listen to my iPod, clear my head and forget about my own issues a least for a little while.

2. I cry. I don't let anyone see me cry though. Crying is just an

emotion that lets me personally let everything out.

3. I go to the beach. I read in a hammock. I lounge at the pool. I listen to music

on the beach. I'm instantly in a better mood as soon as I hit Route 10.

Something about it is just a relief, its a home away from home.

 

The stress of the last third of the semester has definitely set in. We have Easter break

next week and it couldn't come at a more perfect time.

As usual, a few things stand in my way of 4 days at the beach.

-Finance test

-Brand Management project paper

-Supply Chain Homework

 

This entire weekend is pretty much dedicated to Finance. The second test

is definitely going to be harder than the first, so looks like a

very busy weekend of Finance for me!

 

But only 5 more days until the ocean takes away all my stress for 4 days!

 

 

 

 

Sweet Sixteen

If at the end of last year or even the beginning of this season, someone would have said NCSU's basketball team would be 4 points from beating Kansas in the Sweet 16, I would have laughed.

Hard.

I am a huge NCSU basketball fan. Let me reiterate that. HUGE FAN.

My Dad went to State, so I've grown up going to football & basketball games. But it wasn't until I started my freshman year that I really became an avid basketball fan. That was back when Julius Hodge was the star player (and he actually came to my b-day party sophomore year!) My freshman year, we lost a heartbreaking OT first round game to California. Sophomore year we lost in the 2nd round to Vanderbilt. Junior year we lost in the Sweet 16 to Wisconsin. Senior year we had the opportunity for revenge again California in the first round, but fell to Texas in the 2nd round.

I grew pretty accustomed to watching NCSU play in the NCAA tourney each year. Then I graduated and NCSU basketball must have been depressed that I left because they didn't make the tournament again until I came back!

We made a strong run in the ACC tourney, almost beating UNC in the Semis. Earning an 11 seed in the NCAA tourney, we won our first game vs San Diego State and went on to beat Georgetown in the 2nd round. We had a great chance to beat Kansas, but in the end we lost by 3. Heartbreaking loss, but hey it's just the beginning!

2 starters are sophomores, 2 are Juniors and 1 will graduate. Not to mention we have 3 of the McDonald's All American players in our recruiting class coming here next year! I'm hoping the 2011-2012 season was just the start of great seasons to come!

Great season Pack! Can't wait until next year!

MarkStrat

With marketing as my concentration, I take more of a vested interest in the projects and topics we go over in class. MarkStrat is our big project this semester. It is similar to our BSG simulation last semester, but this time around I have more of an idea what to do and how to achieve our goals.

Our class was split into 2 Industries: Wolf and Pack. We are Team I in the Wolf Industry, so we are competing again 4 other teams. Each team started out with two products in the Sonite market, all of varying market shares and profitability. The Vodite market is completely new, and there was no information on any of the segments involved. By sheer bad luck, we ended up with the two worst products in the entire game. I took this as an opportunity to use the targeting/positioning skills we learned the first few weeks of class and to prove that we could turn these awful products around.

We also are able to introduce new products into both markets as well as update current products. The first period we were not able to do any updates or new product introductions so naturally we ended up in last place after the first decision. We changed around our cost allocations with our research, production, advertising and sales force and after the 2nd decision we moved up to 4th place. In the third period we introduced 1 updated Sonite product and a brand new Vodite product. After these decisions were finalized, we moved into 3rd place.

Today we just entered our period 4 decisions, and we are anxiously awaiting the results. We introduced our second updated Sonite product and are hoping the new specifications hit our targeted segment directly. We also had to develop a Marketing Plan based on our decisions thus far, and our goals and plans for the second half of the game.

At the half way point, we currently have 2 products in the Sonite market and 1 in the Vodite market. I can't give away any secrets for our future plans, but we are hoping to make a big impression in both markets!