GMAT Club Legend
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 4307
Given Kudos: 5
Location: Back in Chicago, IL
Concentration: General/Operations Management
Schools:Kellogg Alum: Class of 2010
Q49 V42
Re: Setting up interviews to use as "practice"
[#permalink]
19 Mar 2009, 08:41
This type of behavior is really frowned on since basically you are screwing your classmates...its a good way to get classmates to think less of you if that is why you are doing an interview. If you are somewhat interested and its a plan C thats one thing and people might find it annoying but that is pretty common. A lot of big companies come and interview 12-24 people, some are super popular with lots of people and you may be taking an interview slot from someone whose dream is to have that job. If you arent interested in working for a company and know if you got anything else you would never ever take that job...then do not drop a resume and cover letter for it.
That said, at Kellogg there are these is "first come-first serve" this means after bidding for open list spots if there are any spots still available they get posted. There is a certain time these come out and if you are right on it, then you definitely can pick up one of these spots. The first few rounds usually has a few of companies get posted. No one will ever complain about you taking one of these.
A way to ensure some of these companies if a school has open lists you can bid on those...if it is only going to be practice its in poor taste to bid high since that means the company is popular and plenty of people really want to work there. At Kellogg can bid 0 points and it gets you on the list and if not enough people bid points then you can get a spot. Its the same as "first come-first serve" in my opinion because no one can complain about you interviewing if you only bid 0.
Alright now that you know what is the more socially acceptable ways of getting real life practice interviews, personally I see absolutely NO reason to do that. Clubs do interview prep, 2nd years are more than willing to help, classmates (some of whom interviewed lots of people in the past) will help you, and of course there are video taped mock interviews. The video taped mocks are great practice since not only do you practice your answers to questions but you can watch your body language. Personally 2nd years and clubs are one of the best resources, some do a better job. Honestly, I think sometimes the biggest advantage of a school in their recruiting for specific things is the strength of those clubs. I heard how great of a job our MC club does in prepping people. If a school has an amazing rep in a field, some of that is probably directly related to the club, students, and how well they prepare their people.