McMaster-Carr Final Interview Flashcards

1
Q

Tell me a little about yourself.

A

-Fall graduate
-Majors
-Leadership positions
-Internships
-Law background

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2
Q

Why are you the best fit for the position?

A

-Take initiative
-Persistent problem solver
-Innovative
-Quick at mastering new concepts
-A natural leader

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3
Q

Stories about taking initiative.

A

-U.S. DOJ - only undergraduate intern

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4
Q

Stories about being a persistent problem solver.

A

-Café Hoop - setting up accounting practices from scratch as FM
-Chen Ran Law Group - real estate transactions
-Friend facing houselessness

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5
Q

Stories about being innovative.

A

-Wellesley Covid Action Plan - food/medical delivery system
-COTJ - TJ focus groups for a potential TJ program

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6
Q

Stories about being quick at mastering new concepts.

A

-Chen Ran Law Group - real estate transactions and new technologies
-Queens County Civil Court - conducting legal research and drafting judicial decisions

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7
Q

Stories about being a natural leader.

A

-Chen Ran Law Group and Queens County Civil Court - guiding other interns
-Compu21 Institute - nurturing students’ potential

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8
Q

What do you know about McMaster-Carr?

A

-Industrial supplier, Illinois, founded by engineers
-Top ranked B2B vender and e-commerce site
-Caters to engineers (easy to browse catalog, material explanations, no ads or brand endorsements, massive inventory variety, no minimum quantity for orders, same/next day shipping)
-4 categories: distribution, customer service, corporate, systems

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9
Q

Why do you want to work at McMaster-Carr?

A

-Real impact in a dynamic and supportive environment - background in project management - gravitate towards leadership - there’s nothing that satisfies me more than solving a problem no one else can solve
-Talked to Bernadette - nurture potential and support growth - year-long training period
-Excited to learn about industrial supply industry - COVID supply chains, used to be an art kid

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10
Q

How does the Management Development position fit into your career goals?

A

-From internships, enjoy a work environment where I’m kept on my toes and nurtures my curiosity
-Grow into a leadership role
-Strong foundation in management through hands-on experience and structure training
-Cross-functional movement
-Law school

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11
Q

A time you navigated conflict.

A

-Queens County Civil Court - conferenced landlord/tenant settlements

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12
Q

A time you used your persuasion skills to change someone’s mind.

A

-Queens County Civil Court - conferenced landlord/tenant settlements

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13
Q

A time you disagreed with a workplace decision.

A

-WAMI - abolition

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14
Q

A time you needed to prioritize equally-important tasks under a deadline.

A

-Balancing 4 Incompletes, summer course, and tutoring 12 hours/week this summer

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15
Q

A time you handled a crisis.

A

-COTJ - reports of racism, microaggressions, and interpersonal harm

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16
Q

A time you dealt with a problem with ambiguity/incomplete information.

A

-WAMI - sexual assault allegation

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17
Q

A time you made a mistake or failed/overcame obstacles and learned how to manage better.

A

-CPE - failed discussion events to Bipartisanship and Bubble Tea/gender-inclusive ballot initiative
-Pay attention to people’s interests and incorporate their feedback (or lack of feedback) to optimize my programming

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18
Q

Time management strategies?

A

-Google Calendar, to-do lists, and spreadsheets
-Plan time around fixed blocks
-Plan ahead/never wait until the last minute

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19
Q

A time you dealt with difficult coworkers.

A

-College Government Cabinet - conflict with COIL

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20
Q

A time you worked with someone with a different work style. How did you manage your collaboration?

A

-College Government Cabinet - conflict with COIL

21
Q

A time you used teamwork to navigate a tough project.

A

-Trans organizing - protest policy compliance for Trans Joy rally

22
Q

Tell me about a time you approached a problem from a creative angle.

A

-Trans organizing - protest policy compliance for Trans Joy rally
OR
-Wellesley Covid Action Plan - food/medical delivery system
-COTJ - TJ focus groups for a potential TJ program

23
Q

Work you are most excited about/least excited about?

A

-Most excited: solving problems no one else can solve - friend facing houselessness last summer
-Least excited: administrative work - but taught me attention to detail and now I have time-tested strategies

24
Q

Greatest weakness?

A

-Trouble letting go/delegating
-SGA at Chinese school
-Fixed with CPE
-More sustainable model = have faith others will do their work well

25
Q

A time you handled a stressful situation with a customer.

A

-Café Hoop - late order b/c post-it fell off

26
Q

A time you incorporated customer feedback.

A

-WAMI - criticism=too top-down education, not horizontal like outside organizing spaces

27
Q

Describe yourself in 3 words.

A

-Problem-solver, go-getter (takes initiative), curious

28
Q

What is your greatest strength?

A

-I solve the problems no one else can solve
-Café Hoop - setting up accounting practices from scratch as FM
-Chen Ran Law Group - real estate transactions
-Friend facing houselessness

29
Q

Your top three professional accomplishments?

A

-Chen Ran Law Group - real estate transactions
-Queens County Civil Court - drafting Sloan
-Café Hoop - overhauling accounting as Financial Manager

30
Q

A recent problem in which old solutions wouldn’t work?

A

-Tutoring - middle schooler lack of compliance

31
Q

A time you improved a system or process.

A

-Chen Ran Law Group - real estate transactions

32
Q

What is the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?

A

-Moving to China for school for a year in 8th grade
-Taught independence and why I take initiative now

33
Q

Have you ever had a supervisor challenge your behavior?

A

-Speech & Debate - “you make it easy to be cynical about you!”
-Huge wake-up call, now more mindful of others
-Always consult team before making decisions/posting
-Check in when people go AWOL instead of complaining

34
Q

What is your management/leadership style?

A

-Transformational leadership
-Micromanaging is not sustainable (SGA at Chinese school)
-Identify what drives each member and encourage taking ownership of work
-CPE - International Open Mics and political newsletter

35
Q

Describe your experience at the U.S. Department of Justice and how it applies to our position.

A

-Only undergraduate intern - taking initiative
-Investigative research - due diligence in considering all angles of a problem
-Legal analysis - critical thinking
-Discovery organization - analyzing data
-QCing - attention to detail

36
Q

Describe your experience at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project and how it applies to our position.

A

-Writing op-eds - communicating technical information to a lay audience/making target audience feel strongly about our cause

37
Q

Describe your experience at the Queens County Civil Court and how it applies to our position.

A

-Drafting and researching judicial decisions - mastering new skills and concepts quickly (landlord/tenant, insurance e.g. Sloan, motor vehicle accident)
-Negotiating settlements - interpersonal skills and problem-solving
-Guiding other interns through legal research/filing paperwork - natural leader

38
Q

Describe your experience at Chen Ran Law Group and how it applies to our position.

A

-Real estate transactions - mastering new skills and concepts, innovating and solving problems no one else thought to solve
-Client phone and front-desk reception - interpersonal skills and client communication
-Proofreading immigration documents - attention to detail
-Guiding other interns - natural leader

39
Q

Describe your experience at PEN America and how it applies to our position.

A

-Myanmar and Writers at Risk research - creativity and critical thinking (thinking how to find information suppressed by foreign governments)
-Afghan evacuee data entry - attention to detail
-Drafting social media content/press statements - communicating a message to a target audience/making target audience feel strongly about our cause

40
Q

Describe your experience at Goodwin Weber and how it applies to our position.

A

-Lobbying on Capitol Hill - communication/persuading a target audience
-Cross- and direct-examination of witness - sensitive client communication

41
Q

Describe your experience with the Committee for Political Engagement and how it applies to our position.

A

-Leading 9-person E-Board and 15-20 person committee - team leadership
-Hosting political events attended by 100+ people - head for logistics
-Publishing biweekly political newsletter - communicating information to lay audiences/grabbing readers’ limited attention
-Gender-inclusive ballot initiative - good at adapting to people’s interests/needs
-Student-admin liaison - comfortable communicating needs to superiors

42
Q

Describe your experience at Café Hoop and how it applies to our position.

A

-Accounting from scratch - mastering new concepts quickly, problem-solver, took initiative, good head for numbers
-Delivering a $27k loan application request presentation - communicating financial data to lay audience/persuading audience to achieve a goal
-Analyzing data and speaking to customers to optimize profits - 1. Chinese New Year event 2. Date Night event 3. teach-in at Latinx Culture Show
Pushing to launch boba - innovative

43
Q

Describe your experience with WAMI and how it applies to our position.

A

-COTJ - project management, innovation
-Presentations and social media - persuading people to a cause

44
Q

Describe your experience with SAW and how it applies to our position.

A

-WCAP - project management, innovation
-Presentations - persuading people to a cause

45
Q

Describe your experience with Compu21 Institute and how it applies to our position.

A

-Adapting to students’ learning needs - adaptable/interpersonal skills
-Inspiring students to find their personal narrative - natural leader
-Editing and proofreading essays - attention to detail
-Tracking deadlines - time management

46
Q

Walk me through your resume.

A

-Speech & Debate, Goodwin Weber and Judge Li
-Wellesley, PoliSci and Philosophy, student leadership
-More legal/public interest internships
-Open mind - good learning opportunity and culture fit

47
Q

What’s not on your resume that you want us to know about you?

A

-Deeply caring person - love language - translates to management

48
Q

Know the interviewers.

A

Thursday:
6pm - Group Dinner: Mara Thorne - Regional Manager
6pm - Group Dinner: Mitchell Marvin - Implementation Manager
Friday:
-10am - Welcome & Tour: Nora Etienne - Sales Side Regional Manager
-11:30am - Project Share: Michael LeClerc - Accounts Receivable Manager
-12pm - Lunch: Michael LeClerc - Accounts Receivable Manager
-12pm - Lunch: Will Meyer - Stockeeping Manager
-1pm - Interview: Patrick Fleming - Senior Director
-2pm - Interview: Jaime Rose - People Partner (Regional Manager)

49
Q

What questions do you have for us?

A

-Ideal candidate?
-Problem this role had to solve?
-Company culture?
-Opportunities for growth? 3-5 years?
-Love most?
-Most exciting projects?
-Trends in the industry?
-Pandemic effects?
-Next steps in hiring process?