14. What good is an MBA?
• VERY mixed opinions
• Be humble!
• What else ya got?
– Industry expertise?
– Technical skills?
– Business skills?
– Product skills?
McDowell |
15. Recruiting for MBAs
• Most positions don’t need it
– … and may not even value it
• On campus recruiting for big
companies
• Networking for startups/smaller
companies
– Be aggressive!
McDowell |
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The Great Pitch
Tells an [engaging] story
Sends a message.Who are you, really?
Addresses your “stereotype”
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Goals of Answering BehavioralQs
Good
Content
Good Communication
+
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Structure 1: Nugget First
Lead with your “thesis”/ nugget
Grabs thelistener’sattention
Givesthemcontextforwhereyou’regoing.
I’m most proud of program I set up to …
Q: What accomplishment are you most
proud of?
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Structure 2: S.A.R.
S
A
R
What was the issue?
What did you do about it?
What was the impact?
What’s themessage?
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Story Diagram
Story1 Story2
NUGGET
SITUATION
ACTION
What&Why&How
RESULT
THEMESSAGE
DO DIFFERENTLY
25. gayle in/gaylemcdgayle 25Gayle Laakmann McDowell
Most
Common
Issues
Too much “we”, too little“I”
Especiallyleaders&women
Too littleaction
No message
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What I’m looking for
If you’ll admitto bad stuff
If you’ve really failed
How you respond to bad things
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Weaknesses, Failures& Mistakes
Be REAL
Be COMPELLING
Be CHANGED
The best candidates connect
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Make sure youknow
Favorite WEBSITE
Favorite MOBILE APP
Favorite PHYSICAL PRODUCT
Favorite COMPANY PRODUCT
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Your Favorites
Why do you love it?
Whoare the users?
What do they use it for?
How do they competitors compare?
Whatproblems are there?
How would you improve it?
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Step 1: Ambiguous Information
Just in theUS? Or Worldwide?
Profit or revenue?
Pastyear? Or average over history?
Gmail only? Or includeGoogle Apps?
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Step 2: Outline YourApproach
1. Estimate # of Gmail users
2. Estimate annualclicks
a. Top clicks
b. Side clicks
3. Estimate $ per click
a. Top clicks
b. Side clicks
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Step 3:Break downcomponents
Estimate # of Gmail usersin theUS
1. Assume 300 million people in the US.
Exclude0 -12 yearsold and65 - 75yearsold
~200 million
2. Assume 80% of people use email
But 50% only use their work email acct
3. Assume 80% use a “major” email provider
Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, etc.
… and so on …
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Step 4:Sanity Check
Suppose you get US rev. = $5 billion.
No, because…
Google’sannualrevenueis~$30billion
$16/ UScitizen(notjustgmailusers)
47. How would you launch Amazon
in Turkey?
How would you price
a new e-book reader?
User signs up drop after launching new
profiles. What would you do?
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Many other questiontypes!
Problemsolving
Acquisition rates dropped. Why?
Strategy
Should wedo X orY?
Marketing
How would youmarketX to Y?
Pricing
How would youprice X?
Launching
How would youlaunchX incountryY?
Brainstorming
Nameas manythings youcould do with X
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If you forget everything…
Know who you are
(andwhowethinkyouare)
Focus on theuser
Structure your responses