Thursday, September 26 - "I Keep Rambling"

Good morning!

Just checking in you. How’s your Thursday?

Here’s what’s on the job description for today:

1. New roles from a company hiring more masters students than anyone, paying more than most, and providing an awesome name to the resume.

2. Charles asks, “when I get asked broad, open-ended questions, I keep rambling. How can I stop?”

IN HIRING

Amazon

• A company that’s been featured before on OTW, Amazon has a new batch of roles for anyone interested in tech, e-commerce, or making butt loads of money.

• Here are a few of the most interesting roles available

  • Product Manager, Alexa - Click here for full details

  • Program Management intern - Click here for full details

  • Manager, Emerging Technologies & Digital Asset Operations - Click here for full details

Click here for the company’s career page

TODAY’S QUESTION

Charles asks, “when I get asked broad, open-ended questions, I keep rambling. How can I stop?”

This is one of the most common issues facing those candidates that struggle with final round interviews.

Recommendation: rambling is usually due to a lack of structure. Here’s how I’d work on it:

• First, there are three types of questions that candidates usually ramble on. Figure out which of the following you have the toughest time with so you know where to focus your energy.

  1. Tell me about yourself

  2. How do you…

  3. Tell me a time you...

• Second, come up with some simple structures you can use over and over again. Here are a few I like:

  1. Before, during, and after - can be used for explaining yourself or a very specific detail on your resume. For example, before my MBA, during my MBA, and now after it…

  2. The simple rule of three - there are three reasons I want to work here; there are three things I do every time I manage a project; I follow a three part process when dealing with stakeholders.

  3. STAR - this is obvious for stories but can you honestly say you have a defined task and result for every story you tell?

• Finally, put it all together and do some mock interviews. Don’t worry about re-using the same frameworks or structures. It sounds crazy in your head but the listener will just find you easy to understand and follow.

Conclusion:

Even if you don’t ramble, you probably are less structured than you could be. Find a framework that you like and make it part of your process.

Get your question answered by replying to this email (or just say hi 😊).