The Interview Process & Summer Plans

I'm so, so happy that I got my first choice of job for the upcoming summer!! :D Not really going to go around announcing it in person, but then... for those who read my blog, I'm going to be in New York this summer ^^

Written a couple of months ago while I was still in Shanghai, so you there are some..tense differences:

The process was quite nerve-wracking to be honest.

Since I'm in Shanghai, I kept worrying about being at a disadvantage of not being able to go into the interview in person. Like, I would have to be extra, extra impressive because they can only hear me through the phone. It's also a very competitive firm and position...on a side note, I'm curious to know how big the applicant pool is. 

In late October, I had my first interview and it was kinda bad loll because I felt like I said really stupid and insignificant things. One question I got was something along the lines of, "Tell me about a time where you had to teach someone something" and I talked about how I help my friend with her Chinese in Shanghai and somehow I started talking about how we always walk around the street aimlessly to find a restaurant with an English menu because we don't know how to order food otherwise wtf. Oh yeah, also we were supposed to do a video call, but my internet in my dorm was too slow to support the platform, so it ended up being a phone interview instead.

But a few days later, I got an email saying I made it to the next round of interviews. But then the sign up was full, so I panicked because I thought I fucked up by not signing up right when I got the email (time difference, so I was asleep when it was emailed).

Then I emailed the lady telling her about the issue I had with their video platform, but it was the only thing I was allowed to use and there weren't any alternatives, aside from phone call if it disconnected.. but I felt like it's such a disadvantage for me to not be able to show up to the event and then the interview day (hours long with activities I'm assuming), but it's even more impersonal to just be a phone call.. so I actually tried seeing if I could fly in because it was an option, but they didn't allow international travels >< 

Two weeks later, the night of my interview... it was at 2:00AM local time. The day before I had to scurry to find a place with an adequate internet connection and it turns out campus internet is a lot better and passes the speed test. But the issue was where can I go at that time of the night with privacy? 

I was able to get a key (luckily!!) for one of the classrooms in this building, but it closes at 11:00PM, so I asked the security guard if I could stay there for my interview. He said it's fine, but the condition was getting in before 11:00PM when they locked up and not leaving until 5:30AM because they probs want to sleep lol. 

There were some technical difficulties, but more on their end. I thought the interviews went well, but didn't want to get my hopes up. Plus during the interview, a lot of times, someone would knock and tell them the time is up, so I didn't want to keep them and I would kinda rush them off >_< So didn't know if they took that badly or not, ehh. 

I finished up my thank you emails and went back home. The security guard was very nice about letting me out too. I'm super grateful to them for that. 

But then that night, after I went to bed, I actually received an email from one of my interviewers telling me that I got the internship!! So I was super, super happy. In a way, I felt like a fuck up for bumming around the past two summers, but I think this is definitely something that makes up for it. I wanted a New York internship last year as well, but I never really made the effort to look for one there, but I'm glad that I did this time because it's something that I've wanted.

Super grateful for the upcoming opportunity.