5 Very Serious Rules to Surviving Internship Recruitment
The fantastic thing about the New Year is that it brings with it a clean slate – a reboot button. You could be gorging on meat pies and apple crumbles on Dec 31st guilt free because you know you’ll be hitting the gym come Jan 1st. Or you could be enjoying that last splurge at Sephora because your resolution to switch to drug store brands doesn’t kick in until the date changes on the receipt.
But, if you’re lucky, you could be a first year MBA student to whom none of these standard rules apply. You spent your winter break preparing for internship recruiting, and you’ll continue to do so when the New Year has come and gone. Your determination is unswayed by weather changes and your persistence survives the festivities of the holiday season. You’re unfazed by sales and you’re certainly not distracted by the start of a new year.
However, if you’re truly lucky, and you have a wonderful, caring, supporting, partner along for the ride, then this time can prove a bit challenging. Because while you’re determined, persistent and unfazed, your partner is getting tired of not seeing you around. They don’t know that it’s absolutely imperative to practice 50 cases for that one interview, or that it is absolutely necessary to rehearse your TMAY such that it doesn’t sound rehearsed. They just want you to sit with them for five minutes and enjoy a relaxing cuppa joe.
I was that partner last year when my husband was recruiting for a consulting internship and I have some solid advice for y’all – if you like your frostiness very much outside the home. So here are my golden “5 Rules to Ensuring Your Relationship Survives This Difficult Time” (title subject to change):
- Talk to Your Partner! Tell them about your industry research. Share with them details about each company you’re recruiting for. Show them profit and loss statements. Talk to them about global technology trends. Discuss articles from WSJ. Seek their opinions on thought leader blogs. Bore your partner with so much talking that they prefer you to be outside the house
- Block Time on the Calendar! No seriously, block time on your calendar for classes, counselling sessions, interview prep, washroom breaks, walking the dog, everything. It not only helps you categorize and prioritize but it also leaves tiny windows of opportunities for quick dates with your loved one (yes, I mean the edible ones)
- Practice Interviews with Your Partner! Use your almost-always-available partner for interview rehearsals. Dress up in your fancy suits (so it feels more like a date than an interview) and ask them to quiz you about your leadership potential and crisis management experiences. It makes your partner feel important and involved. They can also vent out their frustrations with you via curve ball questions like “what is the most difficult life decision you have had to make?” Of course, be careful answering that one
- Help Around the House! Find one activity to perform with your partner whether it is cleaning the house or cooking or something as mundane as grocery shopping. Hone your managerial skills by delegating the big tasks to your partner and doing the bare minimum while taking a whole lot of credit. Convince them that you are the only one in your class doing chores around the house
- Reward Your Partner! If nothing else works, hook your partner in with a bait (a vacation/something they’ve been begging you to do) in the vague future if they just put up with you until you’re done recruiting. I guarantee that when all else fails, this golden rule does the trick!
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