Basically, I got an interview for EY and today I got a notice that they were gonna do a “pre-interview pizza party” a day before the interviews. Now I’m like super worried because I have pretty good interview skills but one of my huge weaknesses is that I hate having to speaking over people or essentially fight for attention.
I have no issue with speaking in front of a crowd or anything, but I’m very passive and polite by nature so I really have a hard time interrupting people which from every “post-informational session” or “career fair” is essentially what you have to do to get noticed. Any advice for overcoming that?
Also how professional of conversations should I expect? Because I know at the career fairs and informational sessions, it was essentially all professional discussion with occasional moments of informality, but in the email it claims this “party” will be very casual and laid-back (jeans and sneakers encouraged!). All the brief research I’ve done on these pre-interviews seemed exclusive to some local restaurant, but this pre-interview involves ordering some pizzas and hanging out in one of the “event rooms” on campus. With that being said, it really worries me that I could potentially be in a room with 20+ people all fighting to make a good impression opposed to the small settings of 4-6 interviewees and 1-2 senior manager(s) at a table.
Furthermore, one of the major commonalities from advice to advice on pre-interviews was that you should be quite familiar with recent sports news (Football for USA), read up on recent celebrity gossip, be yourself, be polite, and have fun.
To me that’s contradicting; either I be myself or I be fake and read up on football news/celebrity gossip. With that being said if being able to talk about Football news and recent celebrity gossip gets me the internship, I’ll be more than happy to do that lol
Congrats on getting the interview! Relax and be yourself (and it may be obvious but don’t overindulge in alcohol even though it is free). No need to study up on things like celebrity gossip that you have no interest in. These parties are more the firms trying to sell themselves to you rather than the other way around so don’t worry. Usually the firm’s representatives (which can be people who will be interviewing as well as some staff they may send along) will split up and talk to different smaller groups of people. Good luck. EY is a great place to start a career.
If you have an interview, don’t worry too much about the pizza party. You will get a chance to have 30 minutes or so of direct contact with a recruiter. Go to the pizza party, enjoy some pizza, chat with a couple of E&Y people. Don’t put on a lampshade or take off your clothes, or eat 20 slices of pizza, and you will be fine.
@happy1 Thank you so much! Honestly, it was a huge surprise when i got the email about the interview. Fortunately, I don’t drink alcohol (too many alcoholics in my family for me to start).
@happy1@intparent I know I am probably overthinking this whole process and letting the nerves get to me too much, but I REALLY want this internship. Like I don’t mean the typical “big 4 is my dream” or “some type of internship”. I mean EY is my top Big 4 choice and risk consulting is my dream job (internship is for risk advisory).
So I wanna maximize my potential in getting it and be prepared for the worst as much as possible lol
EDIT: I know this may sound really stupid, but should I update my resume and print it on linen cotton paper prior to the interview? For example; prior to my email from EY, I had my school look over my resume as well as a few professors and they gave me a lot of advice to essentially redo the whole format and what not, to make it look much more appealing. I’m questioning it though because, I got the interview so obviously it was acceptable to them.
I don’t think anyone does the linen paper resume any more. You don’t want to come across as trying TOO hard. I get it – I really do. I used to work for one of those Big 4; I attended those pizza parties & also was on the recruiting side attending them. Make some small talk. Show you can get along with people. One thing that is a struggle is that you may get asked there and in your interview if you have questions about the company. You want to have questions if possible. It can be hard to come up with good questions that aren’t super obvious or super obscure.
I would not bring a resume to the pizza party. That is informal.
I think they will have a copy of your current resume already at the interview, but I think my S always brought a folder with some blank paper (in case he wanted to write any notes down after the interview) and a couple of copies of his resume just in case.
Try your best to relax, be yourself, and let your interest in the company come through. Good luck.