July 8, 2022
Thank you for your interest in our firm! We are impressed with your credentials and would like to invite you to move forward in the interview process.”
Receiving this email gave me a sense of relief. I had been applying for internships and jobs for a few months now, and this email was from my preferred choice. While my resume had caught the attention of the recruiters, it was now up to me to perform well in the job interview.
In preparation, I looked over my resume. I had only two previous jobs listed: a fast-food job from high school and my on-campus student accountant job. Since I was interviewing with an accounting firm, I focused on the latter as I brainstormed what I could say to impress my interviewers.
I thought about experiences I could share with the interviewer to highlight what I thought were my most relevant skills. I felt well prepared, but I worried that my limited experience doing simple account reconciliations and customer billings wouldn’t be enough to convince my interviewers that I was the best candidate for the job.
To add to the stress, the entire format of my interview was changing. COVID-19 forced almost everyone to move to online work and my interview was no exception.
I was confident in my ability to make connections in person, but I was skeptical that I could do the same over Zoom. I had done plenty of mock interviews, but it never crossed my mind that I would be talking to a screen instead of to my interviewer directly.
I also worried about the technical challenges that accompany video calls. What if I started answering questions while I was on mute? What if my internet connection wasn’t good enough to ensure a smooth conversation? What if my roommates forgot about the call and accidentally entered the discussion?
Setting my fears aside, I went to bed early the night before the Zoom call so that I would be well-rested for the interview. Instead of waking up feeling confident, I woke up in a panic.
I had forgotten that the interview had been scheduled for 9 a.m. Eastern time, not 9 a.m. Mountain time. Luckily, I had woken up before my alarm and was able to recognize my mistake. I quickly threw on a shirt and tie and logged on to the interview (still wearing my basketball shorts), trying not to give the impression that I had only been awake for few minutes.
Despite my chaotic morning, the interview started off well enough. I tried my best to be personable and confident, although it was difficult over Zoom.
After a few minutes of small talk, the interviewer looked down at my resume and said, “How about I ask you a few questions?”
All the experiences from my student accountant job that I had rehearsed started to play back in my mind, and I relaxed. These were questions I felt prepared and ready to answer.
Gesturing to my resume, the interviewer asked, “What is this? This time you spent in France. What was that all about?”
It took me a moment to register what he was asking. In all the preparation for my interview, I had not once thought about the internship I did with Les Petits Frères des Pauvres, in Paris, France.
Even though I had taken the professional competency development course during my internship, the course objectives had not been high priority for me. I was in France, so I wanted to be out sightseeing and meeting different people, not writing professional narratives!
Honestly, I had not thought that internship would benefit me professionally. I never thought that any potential employer would notice it, especially since it was completely unrelated to accounting.
I scrambled to put a response together, “Oh, that was an internship I did in Paris last year. I was working for a nonprofit to help fight isolation and loneliness among the elderly. It was a great experience.”
My answer sparked quite a few questions from the interviewer. He asked me what I did, who I was with, and what our goals were. I started to realize he was willing to be persuaded that my internship was relevant to the accounting job…I just had to figure out how, and fast!
At that moment, all I could think of was all the exciting things I’d seen, the delicious food I’d eaten, and the amazing people I’d met. I could not think of anything professionally relevant to share. I racked my brain to try and think of something, and that is when I remembered the work I’d reluctantly done for the required professional development course.
I recalled the team I was placed on and how I had written a professional narrative to describe the challenges I had and how I overcame them. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I shared my professional narrative.
I started with a claim that I could overcome differences on a team and then shared details about my internship experience. I explained that I was placed on a team with people of different ages, nationalities, who all spoke different languages. We all had different ideas and goals of what success meant at our internship, mainly because our supervisor left en vacances the day the internship started.
I found I had to be flexible with the goals I had and so did my teammates. I wanted to visit as many people as possible every day, even if this meant cutting some visits short. Others wanted to focus more on building relationships with our clients. This included long visits to the café or the park.
Since we had spent time bonding together before our work started, we were able to be honest with each other and discuss our goals. We compromised and came up with a plan that allowed us adequate time to connect with the clients while still meeting the required number of visits per week. Being willing to compromise and communicate was key to us fulfilling our responsibilities.
As the interview continued, I also tried to demonstrate my project management skills, focusing on risk management. I explained that I helped to plan a lunch for senior citizens and shut ins. Although the planning of the project went well, we could not have planned for the weather.
The day of the lunch ended up being the hottest day ever recorded in Paris. Because the elderly population was much more susceptible to weather conditions, we had many cancellations and on our way to the lunch, some attendees fell ill from the heat and from motion sickness.
With some flexibility in planning and the acquisition of fans however, we still managed to have a successful event that the elderly enjoyed.
The interviewer went on to ask specific questions about my other experiences but by using the same formula for professional narratives—making a claim about myself as a professional, sharing my experiences, and then explaining their relevance—I was able to share specific experiences from other points on my resume.
Each of my responses to the interviewer’s questions seemed to hold their attention and spark more conversation. Before I knew it, the interview was over.
After the interview, I felt confident. I felt like I had an applicable response to every question the interviewer asked and was able to demonstrate my skills.
A few weeks later, I received a job offer. I will start working there after graduation.
I would have never thought that my unpaid internship in France would help me land an accounting job, but it’s clear to me that my experiences and my ability to frame them as professionally relevant set me apart from the other candidates.