An edited version of this article was recently published in the October 2011 issue of NTUC Lifestyle - “Singapore’s Largest Circulating Magazine”. Here’s the original article in full.

Leaving a memorable impression should be your #1 goal in an interview. If an interviewer can’t remember you after 24hrs of meeting you, you have no chance. Of course, memorability works both ways. You either remember someone for something great or for something horrible. Knowing where you fall is the key. It would be simple if you could just ask the interviewer, but there are some unspoken signs you can pick up – clues from the body language of the interviewer to see if you’re on the right track. Even the best trained interviewers will give you certain “tells” as to how you are doing.

First Impressions Matter

Interviewers tend to know within the first five minutes whether the candidate has potential or is simply a waste of time. The answers to the two most common opening questions are all the information they need. “Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Why do you want to work for us?” As you give your prepared answers, how is the interviewer reacting? Are they simply rushing to the next question and giving you a slight brush off, perhaps because they’ve heard this answer a hundred times, or does the interviewer seem genuinely interested in your responses?

Follow-up questions from the interviewer during the introduction are a very good sign. It shows that you’ve piqued some interest. To do that, you must go beyond simply repeating what’s already on your resume. Share your motivations about your current career path, and be very specific about why you’re interested in the role. Keep your answers to a maximum of two minutes per question, so as not to bore the interviewer.

People Buy People First

You’ve all heard this phrase before – people buy people first. In an interview context, this means that interviewers are looking beyond your experiences and skills. They want to know who you are as a person, your philosophy, your values. And the more you have in common with the interviewer, the better.

As you think about what stories and experiences you will share in the interview, ask yourself whether the person sitting across from you will relate to them the same way you do. Will they think your biggest accomplishment is really a big deal? Can they even appreciate the difficult situations you’ve overcome? Have they experienced something similar?

Cracking of a small (or big!) smile, or a consistent nodding of the head from the interviewer are two strong signs that you’re making a connection with them. Try to use their same lingo and industry terms in your stories. The more you can sound like them, the better connection you can make. Remember to talk about more than just what happened. Share your thought process and your plans. Interviewers want to know not just what you’ve done, but how you think, and whether or not you’ll fit into their team.

Closing Strong

When it comes time for you to ask your questions, don’t forget that you’re still being evaluated. This is not the time for you to ask selfish “me, me, me” questions. It’s not about you; it’s still about them. Think of questions about the company’s direction, or challenges the interviewer may be facing. You’ll know if you’ve asked a good question by the answer you receive. If the response is short and curt, you’ve missed the mark. If the interviewer takes the time to elaborate on their answer and is enthusiastic, you’ve made another good impression.

The biggest sign you can get near the end of the interview is when the interviewer stops asking questions, and starts to tell you more about the company’s direction, the team, or the role. The interviewer has now switched to “sell mode”. Now that they’ve determined you’re a possible strong fit, they want to try and get you excited about them.

Good interviewers are trained to be neutral during an interview, and to be consistent and fair with all of their candidates. However, if you watch carefully and do the proper preparation, you will be able to leave a positive memorable impression that will help you secure the job.

You’ve done your research, you know what you want, and now you’re prepared for the actual event. What do you do when you finally arrive? Here are 2 more tips to help you really stand out at the actual fair itself.

4. Ask Specific Questions

So you’re done your research, and you’ve done your preparation. Now what? You need to start approaching people at the booths and try to make a strong impression. Over the course of 1 day, I’ll probably talk to over 50 people, and will have heard all the boring questions and standard pitches. If you want to stand out, asking an intelligent and insightful question will be a like a breath of fresh air to me, and the key to being noticed.

Stay away from asking “selfish” questions, questions all about you, such as: what roles are there for me? What training do I get? What is the salary range for this position? Let other’s ask these basic questions, while you stand nearby and hear the answer.

When it comes to your turn, always start by introducing yourself. You’d be surprised at the numbers of times that this never happens. Then start your question with a preamble – a short description of what you know, what you’ve read, what you’ve heard from others about the topic you want to discuss. This will give you a chance to show off all the research and preparation you’ve done ahead of time. Be specific whenever possible and stay away from open-ended questions, such as, “what is the favourite thing you like about the company?” This does not impress anyone.

Once you’ve gotten my attention with your good questions, you can then start to talk about yourself and your strengths, the roles you’re interested in, and how you hope to contribute. If you want to stand out, you need to be unique but genuine, and really show your deep knowledge. Just remember this, when it comes to questions, it’s not about you, it’s about them.

A good way to build your confidence and to get some practice is to start by approaching companies you’re interested in learning more about, before you head to the ones that you’re extremely interested in.

5. Close Strong & Follow-Up

As a company representative at a job fair, it is my job to talk to as many people as I can. Once you’ve had your opportunity to ask 1-2 questions, thank me and move on. Be respectful and don’t monopolize my time. If you think you’ve made a connection, or if you have more questions, then ask for a name card.

More often than not, if you’ve done a good job presenting yourself, and asking intriguing questions, I’ll want to keep in touch with you, and even ask for your name or resume. That’s why I’m spending my time at the fair, to scout out potential top talent.

Once you’ve obtained a name card, make sure you follow-up with an email within 24hrs. In this email, keep it short and sweet, but be sure to reference something specific about the conversation we had so I can recall your face in my mind. Remember, I’ll most likely have spoken to over 50 people in a day, so sending a simple, “Thanks for your time, please keep in touch” is not very helpful.

If you’re not asked, or you’re given an excuse about not having anymore name cards, take that as a big hint that you probably haven’t succeeded in standing out. If you then proceed by asking if I’ll take your resume, I will of course say yes; however, the chances that resume will lead to anything are slim to none.

The best part about a job fair is that you have an immediate opportunity to try again with the next booth. However, before you head over there, take a second to think about what went wrong and where you can improve. The opportunity to accelerate your job search is real, so before you decide to just ask the same standard and boring questions as everyone else, take the time to follow these tips in order to get noticed. The more practice, the better you will get.

A Master of Business Administration has become one of the most popular and biggest money-making degrees, both from a revenue standpoint for educational institutions and for those who succeed in making a huge-leap in the pay scale post-graduation. It’s a program that’s also extremely popular. But to be admitted to a top program requires careful planning. Whether you’re thinking of applying this Fall or a few years down the road, let me highlight a recent trend that will force you to start planning today.

The Average Age is Getting Younger

In the past, all business schools used to “strongly recommend” that candidates possess a minimum of 2 years work experience prior to applying. While 2 years was the usual guideline, most admitted participants would enter with 5-6 years, putting the average age at around 27-28.

The argument was simple. Most of the learning that occurs in an MBA is through class discussion, and sharing of stories and experiences. Without enough work experience, you would have less to share and potentially have a tougher time really appreciating some of the situations that are studied. With my MBA experiences still fresh in my mind, I totally agree. It was obvious in class to tell those students who had been around with amazing experiences under their belt to share, versus the younger students who when challenged had a hard time defending their views.

With that being said, there is a new movement and philosophy regarding this topic, led by schools such as Harvard and Stanford. These schools are slowly but purposefully trying to lower their average age to 25-26. Harvard recently introduced its 2+2 Program (http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/2+2/), encouraging those still in their undergraduate programs to apply. If accepted, you are basically pre-admitted to the MBA program 2 years from today, while you go off to get your 2 years of work experience after you get your first degree. Harvard will even assign a Career Coach to help you with your job search. Not bad, eh? The only catch: You have to apply the summer before your final year of undergrad; otherwise, you have to go through the regular MBA process.

Why the sudden change?

One of the first reasons has to do with recruiting. Top B-schools such as Harvard pride themselves on attracting superstar candidates. By encouraging young applicants, Harvard is attempting to be the first to latch on to potential top talent before other schools do, or other distractions such as a rising career or family get in the way. Harvard wants to ensure that these top candidates enrol, and when they go on to do amazing things post-graduation, Harvard is able to take the credit for the “sudden” transformation. It doesn’t hurt that these superstars become amazing alumni (i.e. big donors!) too.

A second reason has to do with the statistics. One of the most important numbers, besides rankings, that prospective applicants look at when assessing a school is the percentage increase of salary a.k.a. the ROI – how high does your salary jump pre-MBA to post. Many believe that this metric is the main (and some say only) reason people invest in returning to school. Personally, if this is your only motivation, there’s lots of easier ways to make that happen than B-school. However, by admitting younger applicants, schools are making this number look way better than it really is. Younger applicants with less experience come to B-school with lower salaries, so of course, upon graduation their percentage increase is going to be much higher.

The most important reason though comes from the feedback of professors. With students in their upper 20s, many professors are finding it extremely challenging getting through to them. It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Older students are much more set in their ways. With more work experience under their belt, many are more skeptical of some of the generic teachings that professors try to impart on them. How much can you really learn and actually change as a person in a condensed 10-month/1-year program like an INSEAD or Ivey?

However, the main driver of change has been the huge number of corporate scandals that have tarnished the reputation of the MBA: Jeff Skilling (Enron – Harvard), Joseph Berardino (Arthur Andersen – Harvard), Anil Kumar (McKinsey – Wharton). Students that are younger with less experience will come into the MBA program with a more open mind and be more receptive. To put it more bluntly, professors will have an easier time breaking down an impressionable 25yr old and then brainwashing them with the “proper” MBA training that will hopefully prevent any future Enrons from occurring again. At least, that’s the theory.

What does this mean for you?

If you’re thinking of waiting until you have 4-5 years of work experience to apply, think again. As more schools begin to follow the lead of Harvard and Stanford, your best chances will be when you’re 25-26. Of course, there will always be schools that will buck the trend (e.g. IMD avg. age 31 & INSEAD avg. age 29). This means that you may need to start planning right now.

A well-planned and well-executed MBA admissions strategy can take a good 2 years. You must first start by assessing your strengths, but most importantly where the weaknesses in your application may be. Then you need a plan on how to fill these gaps, whether it’s more leadership examples or strong letters of recommendation. If you only start 6 months before you apply, it will be too late. Admissions Directors know all the tricks, so if you all of a sudden start pilling on the community service, or become a Big Brother just 1 year before to pad the application, they will see right through it. Those of you interested in a program like the Harvard 2+2 may need to start planning as of your 1st year of undergrad.

One of the most important reasons for potentially moving up your MBA timetable is where you’ll end up in your career immediately after graduation. Many large multi-national employers such as GE, Johnson & Johnson and LVMH have standard MBA leadership / rotational programs for students to enter where everything is standard, including your pay. In investment banking and management consulting, two of the most popular post-MBA professions, regardless of your background, experience or age, everyone starts at the Associate level.

So, if you graduate at 26, you could really take a big leap forward in your career, while if you’re now 30, you may have only taken a small step forward, and some would argue that if you didn’t take 2 years off for school you’d be at the same place now or maybe even further along. There are some older MBA graduates that even have to take a pay cut or a step back in their career progression, in order for them to make the transition into a new industry.

The flip side is that having more experience will give you an advantage over your younger peers during the job hunt. Your resume will have more depth, and in the interviews you’ll have more stories to tell. Companies will also tell you that although all graduates start the same, because you have more experience, you’ll move up faster. While that might be true, there’s no guarantee.

In short, if you’re thinking of an MBA down the road, now is the time to start planning! If you’re lost on where to start, below is a list of some of the major tasks in the MBA admissions journey.

• Determining your Personal Brand and Future Goals
• Assessing your Application’s Strengths & Weaknesses
• Creating a Plan to Fill your Gaps
• Writing the GMAT/GRE
• Finding the Right School & Program
• Visiting Campuses
• Securing Letters of Recommendation
• Crafting your Admission Essays
• Revising, Revising, Revising…

Too many people come to see me 1-2 months before the deadline for help. By that time, any major challenges or gaps in your application are hard to overcome. Spending the time now to put together a plan will guarantee that you’ll improve both your overall application and your chances of success to get in to the program of your choice.

Blogging has definitely become very mainstream today, not only in our social lives but in the corporate world as well. CEOs maintain blogs, companies may have a recruiting blog, even Business Schools have admissions-based blogs. Last week, I happened to find the blog of Steven Sinofsky, who used to be the SVP at Microsoft in charge of Microsoft Office, but several years ago was promoted to President of the entire Windows Division.

To try and stop some of the exodus of Microsoft employees to other up-and-coming technology firms (aka Google), Steven was asked to start a blog to reach out to potential Microsoft candidates and offer insights into what it’s like to work at Microsoft, the different roles, and generally the valuable contribution new graduates can make at the company on Day 1.

As I was scrolling through, a short post from 2005 caught my attention that offered some advice I want to share with you today.

From Steven Sinofsky’s blog (Dec 4, 2005):

A few weeks ago I was on a panel discussion at Cyberposium 2005. The panel’s moderator was Ken Morse, a lecturer and managing director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center. Professor Morse has quite a lot of experience with startups in the technology industry (having been involved in launching companies like 3COM, Aspen, and others) and is also a founder of the MIT center.

Although Steven specifically mentions Product Development, I believe the 2 points above can be applied to many different areas outside of technology. Let me know what you think my leaving a comment below. I hope to share more of these nuggets along the way, and will also be posting some interesting video clips on our Facebook Page. Make sure you become a fan today.