#HIRED at

What are your tips for students who are looking for a job?

I will summarize my advice very straight-forward:

• Leave a good impression from every single interaction you made with the company. Although I got rejected from National Grid internship, the hiring manager said if I ever applied again, let him know so he will put in the good words
• Be confident and assertive, ask for feedback about the interviews especially if you are rejected. Sometimes, you will learn that you are just not the right fit, companies want someone who is more junior than you and afraid that you will grow out of the role quickly (rejections become compliments!)
• My National Grid process took 3 months! Be patient and move on to the next interview or job application while waiting to hear back
• A job is like a match. No matter how many interests you have, you can only accept one offer, so no need to rush
• Apply to as many jobs as you can, even if you get rejected, you actually get to practice yourself for free to prepare for the best thing coming your way
• Be a nice person who people want to work with!

How did you learn about the company?

I have heard about National Grid ever since I came to Boston and been very interested in working for the leader in energy and utility industry of New England. In the summer of my first year, I applied for National Grid internship program, got to the final interview, but unfortunately, was rejected. Fortunately enough, the hiring manager really impressed me as a caring person who truly loves his job and the company so I asked for his feedback and recommendations on how I could do better. He encouraged me to apply again in the future and insisted that National Grid is a solid place to learn and build early career development.

How did you apply and prepare for the interviews?

Fast forward to my second year at Bentley, I started my job hunting early in the fall semester, sent out A LOT of job applications and attended a decent number of interviews. I applied to National Grid around October 2018 on BentleyLink (but it redirects you to company website for you can apply there as well), received an online test request in November. After I finished the test, at the end of November, I received a phone screen. The recruiter told me that I would only hear back in mid January 2019 regarding if I move forward to on-site interview or not. So in the meantime, I put National Grid on a side and still prepared for other companies' interviews. I practiced in person with Laura and with materials from career service, which was quite helpful. It was NOT because I got asked the same questions (I didn't) but these helped my brain in responding to similar scenarios quickly. There are times I have 3 phone calls in one week so some questions became more familiar and my answers became more natural. Yet, I was still rejected from a couple places.

Interview process:

Mid-January, I was contacted to attend the final round interview at National Grid main office in Waltham. I was very happy because for some reasons, I knew I was more ready than ever. Interview was 3 parts: individual, group case and group exercise. I enjoyed all of them and in fact had a good time. I was relaxed and comfortable expressing myself and my personalities. National Grid cares significantly about both my work and life experience. They like that I have studied abroad in Spain, have worked in California, currently interning and working on campus at the same time. For the group case, they care about how you treat other teammates, how you make decisions in time-constraint situations where you don't have enough data, when will you exercise leadership and team-player traits? But overall, do you have fun doing this?

Fortunately, a week later, I received the offer from them. My role is part of National Grid Graduate Development Program, which trains recent undergrad and graduate students, provides opportunities to learn about their business as a whole and particularly the department that you are hired in. I am very excited!