Interview Prep Session: Tech - Students · 2019-12-13 · frameworks and business concepts to...

Interview Prep Session: TechMBA Career Management

Samuel Jones

December 7, 2016

Agenda

MBA Career Management

2

Inspiration

• Senior executives modeling great

answers

Research

• Analyze job description and match to your resume experience

• Wharton insights: Offer Directory, WRAP, CareerPath Notes, SY

Interviews, Alumni Interviews & Past interview Questions

• Industry trends – deep dive on the industry

• Company SWOT interview preparation – deep dive on a company

Skills

• 5 Most asked questions

• Model answering question “Walk me through your resume”

• STAR – behavioral interview framework

• Case and mini-case framework

• Follow-up

Senior Executives Modeling Great Answers

3


Executives Questions

How to talk about a company’s

aspirations:

• What is the high-level description?

• How is it elaborated?

How to make the product better:

• What is the problem?

• How did fb address the problem?

How to communicate high-level

aspirations:

• What is the vision?

• How does he believe the vision will

be achieved?

Satya Nadella, Microsoft

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook

Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0nhqOnsRcg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72A4rdsuV8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQdJ39Kyq7A

Senior Executives Modeling Great Answers


4

How to talk about a company’s aspirations:

• “Empowering every person and organization on the planet

to achieve more.”

• A learning, living culture; a culture informed by the research

of a “Growth Mindset”

How to make the product better:

• Need to get trust right

• Past: Too many options around privacy

• Solution: Simplify the options, have them visible when

writing a post

How to communicate high-level aspirations:

• Economic opportunity for every member of the global

workforce

• Develop the world’s first economic graph connecting

people, companies, jobs and universities

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook

Satya Nadella, Microsoft

Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72A4rdsuV8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0nhqOnsRcg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQdJ39Kyq7A

Research

Tech Team Curated Resources

Road to the

Internship

ONLINE-Tech Page

-Monthly Coaching Letter

-Student Memos

-Interview Questions

-MBACM Company

Insights

-Alumni Insights

WORKSHOPS-Industry chat

-Big 6

-Next 15

-Navigating the Enterprise Job

Search

-Interview Prep Session

-Fireside Chats

BIG EVENTS-NYC Treks

-West Coast Treks

-Wharton Tech Conference

-Semester in SF

ONE-ON-

ONE-Office Hours

-Scheduled Appointments

-Career Fellow Mock

Interviews

MBACM GENERAL RESOURCESOnline

-CareerPath Profile -Job Search Agents

-Industry Communications -Resume Book

-Job Board -Offer Directory

-Spike -LinkedIn

Workshops

-Tune up Your Pitch

-Resume Book Training

Employer Events

-Employer Information Sessions

(EIS)

-Coffee Chats

-Interviews


https://students.mbacareers.wharton.upenn.edu/job-search-resources/research/research-industry/technology-industries/

Analyze Job Description


Review Offer Directory and WRAP


Offer Directory

• Identify Wharton students who

accepted internships or full-time

positions at specific companies

• Learn about students’ summer

internship experience

Wharton Recruiting Analytics Platform (WRAP)

• View current and historical offer timing, source,

trends

• Review and analyze current and historical salary

data

https://students.mbacareers.wharton.upenn.edu/job-search-resources/networking/offer-directory-search/

https://apps.wharton.upenn.edu/authentication/

View Company Notes, Student Memos, Alumni Perspectives and Interview Questions


Technology Industry Page


• Spreadsheet of historical job postings

• Resumes of second years and recent alum who

interned in tech

• All previous Tech Team workshops

https://students.mbacareers.wharton.upenn.edu/job-search-resources/research/research-industry/technology-industries/

Company SWOT: Interview Preparation

11

To prepare for interviews:

1. Build a SWOT Preparation for each A-List company

2. Find 10 sources

• >5 Analyst reports

• ~1 Sr. Executive Video (>15 min.)

• ~2 Articles

• ~2 current/former employees

• 10-k

3. Topics: products, customers/users/markets, operation, revenue, competitors

4. Fill-in the chart

5. Ask yourself how the chart relates to the role you applied to?


Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

Sample LinkedIn SWOT (from 2013)

12


Strengths

• Leading professional social network

• Hiring solutions disruptive to online job

market

• Barrier to entry = network effect

• Value to recruiters depends on data, not on

user engagement

Weaknesses

• LinkedIn members less engaged than

other social networks

• Hiring solutions susceptible to

economic conditions

• Concentrated usage by a minority of

users

Opportunities

• $50bn gap between online internet usage

and ad spend

• Expansion into B2C online advertising

• Under-monetized internationally

• Well positioned for shift to mobile

• Still room to grow user base (LinkedIn

membership is 27% of professional

workforce)

• Students and recent college graduates =

fastest growing member segment

Threats

• Competition

• Heavy investments in technology to

upgrade product

• Increase in international sales force size -

longer productivity ramp up in less

mature markets

• Balance user needs with recruiter and

marketer needs. User wins out.

Skills

5 Most Asked Questions (1000 Questions)

1. Walk me through your resume. (Drill down questions into a few bullets)

2. What is a tech product that you love? How would you improve it?

3. Why do you want to work in technology?

• E.g., Passion and interest

• E.g., Data-driven

4. Why our company?

• Aspirational element of their vision

• Product

• Customer

• Culture

5. Why this function?

• Career enhancing

• Career switching


Walk Me Through Your Resume – Sample #1

15

Pros Cons

• Starting point: What is on the

mind of the interviewer (why you

want the job and why you are

qualified) and connect the dots

for him/her

• Demonstrate that you

researched the role and

company

• You may not be able to lead with

a “hook” or strongest attribute

TIPS

Start with role

and give them

roadmap that you

will connect your

resume to their

role

Work backwards

Virtual goads to

traditional

eCommerce

Option #1: Start with the role you want and work backwards

I am very interested in becoming a PM at a company like Amazon. As I

walk you through my resume, I’ll make some connections back to this

goal. Working backwards, I decided to get my MBA at Wharton

because of the program’s emphasis on analytics and specifically

customer analytics. Prior to Wharton, I was a Producer at Riot Games

where I worked closely with our engineering team and our Community

Managers to help connect user insights with new game features such

as virtual goods. While it was interesting to sell virtual goods, I came to

realize that I wanted to move in the direction of eCommerce and sell

actual goods.



16

Pros Cons

• Highlight the three most

important things about your

candidacy

• Easy for the interviewer to follow

• Does not allow for sequential

story telling as other options

TIPS

State three

themes

Work backward

or forward

User-insights and

customer-

centricity

Option #2: Start by stating 3 themes relevant to the company

As I go through my resume, I want to highlight three themes that have

driven decisions I have made about my career: user-insights, cross-

functional teams and new technologies. Prior to coming to Wharton, I

was a Producer at Riot Games, in this role I worked very closely with

our Community Managers to gain user-insights which is very similar to

Amazon’s customer-centricity. At Riot, we always considered the user

first when creating new game features […]



17

Pros Cons

• Provide a lot of detail

• Sequential story is easy to tell and

prepare

• Risk losing the attention of the

interviewer who is waiting for you

to get to the point

• A lot of potentially irrelevant

information

TIPS

Start with

undergrad or prior

Work forwards

with your first job

Virtual goods to

traditional

eCommerce

Wharton

Goal of joining

Amazon

Option #3: Start from undergrad or before

I grew up in California outside of Los Angeles. After graduating from

high school, I went to UCLA where I majored in Marketing at the

Anderson School. While I was at UCLA, I did two internships at Clorox

and Riot Games. After graduating from college I joined Riot Games as

a Producer where I worked closely with our engineering team and our

Community Managers to help connect user insights with new game

features such as virtual goods. While it was interesting to sell virtual

goods, I came to realize that I wanted to move in the direction of

eCommerce and sell actual goods. This lead me to my decision to

come Wharton for my MBA. At Wharton, I am an organizer for an

analytics panel at the Tech Conference and I am a Student Life fellow.

My goal after Wharton is to join Amazon in the RLD or PM program.


18

Situation

• Describe the action you took

• Use more “I” than “we” language, even if discussing a group project or

effort

• Don't tell what you might do, tell what you did

• Highlight your skills and expertise most relevant to the interviewer

Action

• What happened?

• How did the event end?

• What did you accomplish?

• What did you learn?

Result

• Describe the context of a specific event or situation from your past

• Establish big picture and background information

• Provide enough detail for the interviewer to understand

• E.g., from a previous job, from a volunteer experience, Wharton

experience, or any relevant event

Task • Summarize your specific role, contribution or obstacle to overcome

STAR Framework

Assumption: past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior

“Tell me about a time that you…”

STAR Framework for Behavioral Questions


Sample Behavioral Questions

Category Questions

Influence Tell me about a time when you had to convince others.

Ambiguity Tell me about a time when you made a decision with limited

data.

Conflict Tell me about a time you had conflict on a team.

Problem

Solving/

Analytics

Tell me about a time when you had to solve a complicated

problem.

Leadership Tell me about a leadership experience.

Accomplishment Tell me about an accomplishment.

Failure Tell me about a time when you failed / made a mistake.


Mini-Cases: What Do They Assess?


20

Communication:

Collaborative

Clear and

concise

Knowledge:

Industry- specific

Technical/function

knowledge and

skills

Problem Solving:

Structured Thinking

Creativity

21Sources: Formal Case = Vault; Mini-Case = MBACM

Formal v. Mini-Case Questions


Formal Case

Goal: understand and frame the

problem

Focus: process

1. Take notes

2. Be careful about assumptions

3. Ask questions

4. Listen to the answers you get

5. Maintain eye contact

6. Take your time (30 minutes)

7. Lay out a road map for your

interviewer

8. Think out loud

9. Present your thinking in a clear,

logical manner. Where useful,

use

frameworks and business

concepts to

organize your answer.

10. Quickly summarize your

conclusions

Mini-Case

Goal: present a plausible solution

Focus: smart content (demonstrate

knowledge of their business, tech

trends, tech products) creatively

(combine outside knowledge with the

problem) communicated (clear, concise,

passion)

1. Take notes

2. Articulate assumptions – it is not

just about asking the right questions

3. Ask some questions

4. Listen to the answers you get

5. Maintain eye contact

6. Take your time (2-5 min.)

7. Quickly frame your response (1

sentence)

8. Think out loud

9. Present your thinking in a clear,

logical manner. Where useful, use

frameworks and business concepts

to organize your answer. (Use a

framework, but don’t sound like a

textbook, flow naturally)

10. Quickly summarize your

conclusions (one or two sentences)

Tech Mini - Case Sample Questions

Function Sample Questions

Product If you were a hacker and wanted to take down Gmail, how would you

do it?

Marketing How would you market the Surface tablet to an 80 year old senior

citizen?

Operations Why would we ship iMacs via sea, but iPhones via airplane? (What's

the motivation behind that?)

Finance Pretend I'm the product manager for Bing Maps, and you are a

finance person who is thinking about shutting down Maps, if its

projected profitability is too low. I have all the data you need. What

would you ask me?

Business

Development

Who should Facebook think about partnering with?

Corporate

Development

What factors would you think about when evaluating a private

company? Public? What are some of the areas Cisco should think

about expanding into for growth?

Corporate

Strategy

Talk me through a go-to-market strategy for new software product.


Wharton Podcast – Tech Interview Prep


Sample Mini-Case

Sample Mini-Case

25

Question: How would you market the Surface tablet to an 80-year old senior citizen?

1. Let’s think about the end user and make some assumptions about who is our customer

within this demographic

•Mid to high socio-economic bracket (=access to broadband, cost of device)

•Retired (likely not using the Surface for work purposes)

•Open to new experiences (willing to learn how to use the device)

•Aspiration of live full and textured lives in senior years

2. Most probable uses

•Communication (keeping up with family members)

-Skype

-Email

-Social Networks

•Entertainment

-Film & TV

-Games

•News & Information

Answer provided by an alumnus who interviews using tech mini-cases


Sample Mini-Case (cont.)

26

Questions: How would you market the Surface tablet to an 80 year old senior citizen?

3. Advertising campaign

•TV commercial of a grandfather communicating through Skype using a Surface tablet

with his grandson in a college dorm room using Skype on his Xbox.

•Magazine print of same narrative of grandfather connecting with grandson

•Newspaper print ad of female senior citizen sitting at her outside patio with flower bed

in the background using Bing on her Surface to look up some gardening tips.

4. To give a quick summary. I would target mid-high socio-economic seniors with TV and

print campaigns showing active senior citizens using the Surface to connect with family,

and enjoy learning and leisure activities.

Answer provided by an alumnus who interviews using tech mini-cases


Sample Formal Case

Sample Formal Case

28

Question: If LinkedIn wanted to develop an offering for college admissions

officers to help facilitate undergraduate admissions, what product features

would you include?

Tip: In general I like to structure my thoughts in terms of the following frameworks:

1. Industry (5 forces) 2. 5 C’s of Marketing / running a business in general

(Customer, Competitor, Company, Collaborator, Context) 3. 4 P’s of Implementation

(Product, Price, Promotion, Place)

1. Understand College Admissions Officers – Always start by understanding the

customer

Size the total addressable market of college admissions budgets in different

regions / countries. Estimate revenue to LinkedIn.

Research into admission officers pain points (Focus group to understand what’s

broken about undergrad admission process and why, surveys to get broader

feedback, perhaps an ethnographic study to dig into day-in-the-life)

Understand the industry: What other players are there, what is the industry size,

5 forces of colleges recruitment industry

Answer provided by an alumnus who interviews using formal tech cases


Sample Formal Case (cont.)

29



would you include?

2. Competitive Analysis

Identify competitors, what they do, how much they charge, compare products &

services to LinkedIn’s

Identify potential collaborators and partners in adjacent services (i.e. admissions

consultants, college applicant tracking systems), how they would interact with

LinkedIn




30

Question: If LinkedIn wanted to develop an offering for college admissions officers to

help facilitate undergraduate admissions, what product features would you include?

3. Product

Do we have existing products at LinkedIn that can be repurposed for admissions officers?

What do we need to create from scratch, what companies are doing this that we could

acquire?

We could think about college recruitment as a 3 stage cycle. Possible ideas to address

each stage:

Attract the right candidates: Targeted advertisements to high school students on

LinkedIn homepage and profile pages, LinkedIn Career Pages can be used to

dynamically target the right high school candidates, Use LinkedIn Recruiter product to

identify ideal candidates and invite them to events, Admissions officers can use

LinkedIn’s Mobile CheckIn tool to record all candidates they meet

Select the right candidates: LinkedIn doesn’t have many offerings in the interview /

applicant tracking space. Do we need to explore whether to create something, acquire

a product, etc?

Retain the right candidates: LinkedIn Groups – how do college admissions officers

want to use these to market to those who have been admitted?




31



would you include?

4. Price:

Figure out customers’ willingness to pay in different customer segments /

countries (focus groups, experiments)

Benchmark against competitor pricing

Calculate marginal cost to LinkedIn of up-keeping this product, as the floor




32



would you include?

5. Packaging:

Instead of offering a bunch of separate products, how can we package them

altogether as one product + service offering targeted toward college admissions

officers?

Will packages be segmented by spend level, customer needs, or some other

criteria? Can we create dynamic packages that change depending on your

segment?

What country / regional variation do we need to consider for packages?

6. Place / Distribution: What % do college admissions officers travel? Would a mobile

version of these products / services help?



Tie it All Together: Sample Interview Research


https://students.mbacareers.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/LinkedIn_Research_-_Sample_Research.pdf

Thank You and Follow-up

• Finish the interview by reiterating that you are very interested in

the job

• Thank the interviewer

• Follow up with a brief email:

Play back a key point you learned from the interviewer about

the company or role

Share something that resonated with you. (e.g., “When

you talked about the goals of the Economic Graph it really

resonated with me because …)

Do not evaluate the interview or interviewer (e.g., “You

asked excellent questions.”)

Restate your interest in the job


Questions?

Interview Prep Session: Tech - Students · 2019-12-13 · frameworks and business concepts to...

Documents

Transcript of Interview Prep Session: Tech - Students · 2019-12-13 · frameworks and business concepts to...