After I applied for the position BentleyLink, I went through a coding challenge and two rounds of interviews. Both technical and behavioral questions were asked. It is very important to show my passion for the job. For example, when talking about previous relevant working experience, you can do a comprehensive introduction and demonstrate the value of your work (how your work benefits your clients or your business) so that your interviewer can understand that you love the relevant job and will be good at it.
I started to talk to Wayfair on 2018 Spring Career Fair when I was looking for a summer internship. Even though they were only hiring for second-year students, they collected my resume. Then, in September of the following year, I saw their job postings of a full-time business intelligence analyst and business analyst on BentleyLink. I applied for both and received invitations for interviews for both positions. The interview processes were very similar for both positions.
As preparation for interviews, I reached out to a Bentley alumna who works at Wayfair and had a 30-minute informational meeting with her on phone. From the call, I learned so much about her job at Wayfair and the culture of the organization. I also practiced behavior interview with the career advisor Laura Aiken who helped me to sound more natural and avoid rambling.
The 1st round was an analytics challenge which had a SQL question, a business question and an analytics exercise that requires manipulating a dataset. Then, the 2nd round was a case interview through Google hangouts. The Super day interview included behavior questions, a case interview and sharing a project that I have done.
The final case interview for the business intelligence analyst (data analyst) position was very challenging because I was thrown a 9-step model and asked to walk through each step within 20 minutes. I felt I didn’t do well as I didn’t expect a real model with numbers and formulas. Reflecting back, I think they may have not expected me to be able to understand every equation, but to ask for help when necessary and make the process engaging. I think that’s probably why I received an offer.
First, setting up a long-term and short-term career goal is critical during the job hunting process. With a clear career goal, you know what kinds of position you want to apply as well as what skills and knowledge you need to accumulate.
Second, seeking advice from the Graduate Career Services office is important. My advisor, Laura Aiken, gave me all kinds of guidance on my resume and interviews which helped me a lot.
Be genuinely interested in the company and the position you applied for. Being interested means researching the company and finding a few things about the organization which you could connect with the interviewer. Also, it means not only understanding the job requirements, but also finding opportunities to gain more experiences relevant to the job. They can be competitions, workshops and conferences. For instance, over the last one and half years, I participated in the Humana analytics case competition, IXL case competition, Bentley Business Bowl and different types of workshops that are related to analytics. They help my resume stand out and, more importantly, help me figure out what industry I prefer.