Ernst and Young Visits Beta Alpha Psi

Lucy Wardlaw, a Tulane graduate student alum, as well as several other Ernst and Young (EY) employees came to Beta Alpha Psi’s weekly meeting on Friday, February 27th to talk about the interview process. We learned that the three main keys to success in an interview are Preparation, Performance, and Punctuation.

Preparation is the work a candidate must do before the interview. It is your resume, your research, and your personal preparation. You must have a finely tuned resume for every job application and you should print out several copies of your resume to bring with you to an interview. You must do your research on the company as well as the position you are applying for before you enter your interview. Being prepared to ask questions relevant to the company is one of the keys to nailing your interview. You should also prepare personally meaning you should practice your answers to at least ten to fifteen typical interview questions so that you are readily prepared once in the actual interview.

Next we learned about some common interview deal breakers. These deal breakers included: don’t bring props, don’t have a rehearsed speech, don’t use bad language, don’t bring up uncomfortable topics, don’t be insincere, and don’t bring your cell phone! Some of these interview deal breakers may seem obvious but as Lucy explained, “you would be surprised at how many of these things actually have happened.”

Towards the end, we played a quite hilarious game where two volunteers came up to the front of the room to act out an interview. The funny part was that one was given a personality to act out and the rest of us had to guess what the personality or cue was on the card. We had someone who was supposed to stay quiet and not answer any of the interviewer’s questions. Another person was supposed to not make any eye contact with the interviewer and instead was told to look everywhere else around the room. And the in the last duo, the cue was to not stop talking and to keep rambling on. This game showed us, in action, how to not act in an interview.

After the presentation we had the opportunity to talk to the other employees that came from EY about their experiences and ask them any questions we had. EY was also kind enough to order some delicious Jimmy Johns that everyone enjoyed! It was a pleasure having EY come speak to Beta Alpha Psi and we cannot wait to have them back again.