Cadillac Interview Prep Flashcards
Tell me about yourself
small town, Michigan State- two degreees, IT minor, Bees Chevy, always wanted to work for GM
walk me through your resume
sequential order, belief about one opportunity building onto another one to give a breadth of skills
favorite book
Enlightenment now
- science and reason to solve the problems of the world
- looks at how far we’ve come
favorite movie
Batman Dark Knight. Superheros speak to the human condition and this movie is my favorite example of that.
favorite website
YouTube. I love learning new things and there is an unlimited supply of content in quick, short formats.
how would you spend 1,000,000 besides investing it
I would pay off student loans, pay off my parents mortgage, and get myself a condo in downtown detroit
what does success mean to you
Achieving the goals that you have set out for yourself whatever they may be. I think it’s a reflection of what you value
What person do you admire living the most and why
Bill Gates. He has dedicated his fortune to helping others especially in underdeveloped countries by working on minimizing disease and increasing quality of life
Why are you pursing this position
If I could write a job description for myself it would be this job. I love identifying better ways to do things. I feel that GM’s data could be improved and lots of labor hours can be saved. It is a problem that I want to be working on and solving.
What courses did you take
Minor in IT giving me a programming class python
- elective in R
- masters program, data mining, advanced statistics (regression, significance testing)
Why Cadillac?
- Cadillac is an amazing brand with a rich history
- In the middle of a huge product revitalization
- I want to be surrounded by intelligent people exchanging ideas and challenging eachother
What do you look for in an employer
I want to work with people who are smarter than I am. I want to be continuously challenged to learn more and never want to be in an atmosphere of complacent
What concerns you most about Cadillac?
The ELR and CT6 plug-in did not perform well. Tesla is a very strong brand right now with a network of superchargers and it will require a ton of effort and resources to compete with them in luxury electric vehicles
Tell me about what you did in NAMA
- Analyst for Mid large and sport
- spent the last 7 months getting familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of GM data sources and when to use which. Will be able to contribute from day one without training on these things
- I built a relationship with IT to help work on the Da Vinci and ION cubes
- Updated logo the second week I was here
describe a time when you had to complete multiple projects in a short time. How did you meed the deadlines while maintaining quality work
Subaru Special Topic with other NAMA duties
Do you have a system to manage your time
- Running to do list on ipad
- keep myself centered and focused
Describe a time where you have worked under pressure
Sales Day with reports
What is the most difficult work decision you have ever made? What happened? What did you learn?
Leaving MSU Admissions when I got the RA role.
-Don’t half ass two things, whole ass one thing (Ron Swanson) I learned that it’s not good to spread yourself too thin and to commit to being excellent
how do you define leadership?
- Analogy of rowing the boat with everyone
- Helps drive efficiency
When your leadership made a difference?
Office of Admissions, student social media takeover. After being on the test pilot, I was selected to lead the expansion and grew the program to 15 students
A time when your leadership was challenged, how did you deal with it?
When I was an RA, room of guys were being very loud, RA on their floor had experienced lots of issues with them, other people trying to study complained a lot, it was a running issue. I approached the room and told them to quiet down. 5 minutes later we got another call saying they turned the music back up again. When I went back I explained to them that excessively loud music was against policy and they were being inconsiderate of those with early commitments and who were trying to study. I also informed them that if they turned the music up again, I would be back and that they won’t like what happens
Describe a time when you had to give feedback to a team member or co-worker.
Social media admissions, an individual had posted a joke about skipping classes on the social media. It was my job to monitor posts, I had to immediately delete the post and reach out to her and explain that we needed to promote a positive image of the academic reputation of the University. I also acknowledged that it was a simple mistake and that she was clearly trying to make content that was relatable and engaging
When you had to persuade someone to agree with your point of view
Certain members of the NAMA team did not see the value in what power Bi could do that excel could not. What I did was start working on use cases and working prototypes. I also wanted to explain the differences between the two programs and how they each play an essential role in analysis.
What role do you typically play in a team
I try to facilitate discussion between people and get the group as organized as possible, delegating work to make things more efficient. I I want to make everyone feel comfortable to
do you like to work independantly or as part of a group
part of a group, I enjoy bouncing off other people. Debating ideas, and creating good relationships.
Describe a time when you worked for a dysfunctional team. What did you do to get the team back on track.
MSMR Demmer center project. We had one group member that was difficult.
how would your coworkers describe you
I would hope they would describe me as intelligent, driven, and most importantly kind
Describe a time when you had conflict with a coworker, how did you resolve it
MSUAA Write project
- go ahead with manager
- manager felt I was going to fast and not keeping him in the loop
- Even though the process ended up being slower, I decided to back off a little bit and let him delegate to others
- Learned that he was going to be there after I was gone and would have to live with it, I also didn’t want to burn any bridges
What types of people frustrate you
I don’t like people who are arrogant, dishonest. I also don’t like people who are resistant to change or hearing the ideas of others
What is your greatest achievement to date
Getting a full time job with General Motors. It was something that I had been working towards for years and having it work out for me felt really good.
What are your greatest strengths
-My willingness to always learn new things, and my drive to improve everything I can
Why should we hire you
- I have the academic background that gives me the correct skills
- I know a lot about the auto industry and am passionate about GM
- NAMA was 7 months of training on data sources
What makes you different than candidates we will see today?
I am probably the youngest. My programming background will help me build automated reports an build predictive models. I have a lot of passion about GM
What is your most significant weakness
Since I like to go above and beyond, sometimes I over complicate things and make more work for myself than is necessary
Tell me about a time when you failed at something
I mixed up my weeks and thought we had an MIA roundtable when we had a segment update and didn’t realize it until the meeting started. I skipped lunch that day and emailed my report out by EOD to those who would need it
What is the biggest mistake you have made
I spent about 6 hours programming my decision tree model without realizing that it was no more accurate than random chance, I was able to catch it and figure it out
Biggest disappointment in life
Not getting section leader in drumline in high school
Discuss a time when you had to learn something that was difficult for you? How did you approach it
AP Calculus in high school. I looked at online videos explaining things in different ways until the concepts clicked
Discuss a project that demonstrates your analytical skills
MSMR Capstone project, project Da Vinci
Talk about a time when you had to analyze or interpret financial information
Analysis of the incentive spend for vehicles in my segments and the method spread for the spending
How many ping pong balls would fit inside of a 747
a ping pong ball has a diameter of a square inch. A 747 is approximately as long as a football field 15 foot wide, 20 feet tall, 100 yards, 36 inches in a hard, 3600. 3600 x inches,
tell me about a time when you faced an ethical dillema
friends younger sibling came to me and had taken an edible that ended up being laced with something. As an RA I was required by policy to call the police, but I didn’t want him to get in trouble. I was able to make sure medical amnesty was applied
Who do you admire
Nate Silver. He has become an expert on predictions in both sports and in politics. He has made statistics more popular and the level of detail down to state congressional districts is impressive
What do you think is more important, intelligence or hard work.
I think that intelligence lets you accomplish more with less work but I think that working hard is more important.
give an example when you developed a strategy and executed it
MSUAA Social Media Strategy
How do you make decisions
1st, come up with an objective that will determine the winner, use facts and logic to objectively weigh alternatives, avoid personal bias
Describe a time when you had to make a decision without complete information
Admissions social media, we were building a student takeover format that hadn’t really been accomplished before so we had nothing to compare it to
Describe a time when you challenged or changed the status quo
I feel like I have done this at every job I have ever had. But most recently with NAMA, I have spent y extra time on learning as much as I can about data and reporting to figure out what can be done to improve it
What do you know about Cadillac
- XT4, XT6, CT4, CT5
- behind with a sedan heavy portfolio making XT4 and 6 important launches
- XT4 already leads its segment and has had good reception
If you were in charge of Cadillac, what two industry trends would you find to be the most significant?
- Shift from cars to SUVs
- Minus Tesla, Luxury Share of Industry is flat
Why General Motors? Please share why you are interested in being part of the Cadillac team?
- Lifelong fan of GM
- Dream since 8th grade to work here
- Passionate about improving the company
- Same story for Cadillac, the brand is legendary, feel grateful just to be a part of it
Describe a time when you sought feedback regarding your performance on an assignment. Why did you choose this assignment to obtain feedback?
I like to receive feedback any time I am doing something, especially for the first time. One big example of this was my Subaru special topic. I was going to be presenting to Duncan Alfred and wanted to seize the moment and show what I was capable of. Asked DQ and Dean for feedback a few days before. I trusted their expertise to make it better. I was glad I did, they helped me condense the important points down into a format that would fit
Tell me about a time you recently faced in which it was difficult to maintain a cooperative attitude toward a team member.
When I was presenting to everyone about what the PowerBI tool would be good for, a member of the team kind of took control of the meeting and would contradict things that I would say. He had a negative opinion of Power Bi and some of the things he said were incorrect. I respect this person a lot for their intellect and honesty and I felt in the end that I could eventually prove that it was a useful tool and show what its strengths were
Can you give me a background of your key experiences before we begin our interview
- Bees Chevrolet
- MSU Formula Racing Team
- Michigan State Office of Admissions
- MSU Alumni Association (survey project)
- General Motors
Of the positions you have held, which one do you like the most and why?
My current position with NAMA has been my favorite. Having access to all of the sales data and being able to do almost any analysis I want is exciting to me. I also am extremely thankful for the team and leadership. DQ, Dean, and the rest of the team have gone out of their way to support my growth at every possible chance. Very thankful for that.
What did you like least and why?
Returning to MSUAA after my GM internship. After working with a highly functional team, I realized that there was a lot of improvement that could be made. I especially think that the executive director should have given more strategic guidance over the direction of MSUAA because his lack of clear vision resulted in minor infighting and a lack of throughput
Describe a time when you took a significant personal risk?
I knew that I wanted to get a GM internship in college and that experience at a dealership would look good on my resume so I went into bee’s Chevy and I asked to speak to the manager about doing an unpaid internship. The owner said yes, but that he didn’t like unpaid internships so that he would pay me.
Why are you interested in this role?
I always knew GM, because I was interested in being part of electric vehicles and helping the environment
- Starting a few years ago, I have been getting more interested into computer science and data and being in my NAMA role has only accelerated that.
- I am really interested in helping make GM data more accessible for faster, better informed decisions and this is the perfect match for me to do that.
Describe a time you had to make a quick decision and gather information in a short amount of time
Just yesterday, at 11 Dean pulled me into the conference room and tasked me with ATP bucket assignment due in just 2 hours. It was based off of a request from Steve Hill
Tell me about a decision you made but later regretted?
Sophomore year of college, I added two jobs, and tower guard. I didn’t say no to any opportunity I was offered. I ended up being really stressed most of the time and had the lowest GPA of my college career. I should have narrowed it down a little bit more so I could have had more time to focus on school
What are you technically skilled in?
- MSMR degree is in applied statistics (regression, significance testing, predictive analytics, data mining)
- Python, SPSS, SPSS Modeler, and R
- Power BI and Tableau
- GM data sources
explain what you do to keep up in your field or area
I purchase courses on Udemy.com typically on data and programming. I have done python basic, SQL, data warehousing, and am working on some python for data science and another one that uses Pyspark for predictive analytics. I enjoy this website and plan to use it to learn new skills
What’s coming in your technical area, what’s the cutting edge
There are technologies that have come around in the last 5-10 years especially with cloud data and PowerBI. I want to see our sales data be extremely accessible so that people spend less time adjusting graphs and more time interpreting what is happening in the market
Tell me about a time when you publicly admitted to a mistake or failure
When I forgot to do my segment update, I found out right at the begning and immediately told Dean. I didn’t try to make any excuses or blame anyone. It was completely my fault and I owned up to that. Luckily he was very nice about it and didn’t bring very much attention to it.
tell me about a time when you worked for someone you did not trust
Executive Director of the Alumni Association. I interacted more with Alan Batey in my summer as an intern that I did working 3 years in his department.
tell me about a time when you had to learn something quickly
Summer Classes with Google Analytics and AdWords.
tell me about a time when you resolved conflict with your peers
A girl stole my charger, I found out she did it and got it back from her. I explained that what she did was upsetting because I had left it there assuming I could trust the people I worked with not to steal it. I accepted her apology and our relationship returned to where it was at (positive)
Tell me about a time you got results where others tried and failed
MSUAA storage, I had the drive to make sure that it got done and implemented changes that are still in place today
tell me about a time when you were in charge of a team and needed to get them focused around common goals
Admissions Social Media
