Ok so I had an interview and it went well. Now for the next one, the interviewer asked me to come up with 10 achievements. I have no idea what to put down. I've come up with a few but they come across as cliche (1st gen college, Junior year internship even though Covid was at its height). I didn't realize I was so unaccomplished lmao. I feel like the interviewer will laugh me out of the interview.
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10 achievements is pretty silly... They don't need to all be stereotypical major accomplishments, you can include things that were personal victories (accomplishing a major personal goal, winning a sports title with your team, etc.) and break down larger ones into sub-achievements (first generation to go to college, maintained whatever GPA while working/participating in societies, attained leadership position in x org, etc.)
Lots of things can be spun into an "achievement." How about doing well on a assignment / in a class you found to be particularly challenging? A positive development in a club / extracurricular you're involved in? Maybe helping out a friend / peer / family member when they needed you most?
10th one will be easy.
Came up with 9 achievements.
These are less about pegging your actual achievements than getting a peak at your values. Something like “I’ve built solid friendships and relationships with my classmates” seems innocuous, but just may be the thing that lets you pick up the phone and originate a deal. Being yourself is important here.
So interesting question ahead of an interview for sure... My personal guess as to why is that the firm is tired of asking young applicants questions like "what have you done" and getting awkward silence and a lot of "umms ahhas uhhs" (trust me... this happens a lot, and senior people find it f-ing annoying, TALK in interviews, that's the point).
So, here is my advice (note, I was mentoring a now alum from my UG school who was interviewing for a IB gig I connected him to, the MD was also an alum, so major tie-ins, this is advice I gave them as a result of getting feedback they kinda bombed parts of first interview by being too quiet... just giving some background, side note. they got the job, then left for a big name REPE shop a few years later.. still awaiting the steak dinner lol...)
ADVICE - what you really need to do is practice telling stories about yourself. These "stories" (which should be kinda pre-rehearsed, practiced, memorized, etc.), should be ready for deployment for any number and type of "tell me a time when....." type questions or even the open "tell me about yourself/background". Thus, in the stress/heat of the interview, you don't need to think of WHAT to say, just figure out which of the "stories" you have that best fits the question and how to adapt/angle the story so it is a legit an answer.
Some guidelines for these "stories"...
- All should present you in a positive light, but all need not be some big "victory", can also include "learning moments" (overcoming difficulties, challenges, etc.)
- Should be legit meaningful to you, and can be told with some passion/emotion (if you are bored by them, you are F'd)
- Should be mixed around professional (internships and/or club officer roles, etc. if a UG), personal (can school related for sure), and then "special" (like backpacking around Europe, collecting barbie dolls, building an orphanage in Haiti... etc... stuff that makes you seem interesting/cool and motivated.... but don't BS, keep it "real").
- Should be able to connect to qualities sought by the firm, clearly those where you learned a new skill, nailed a successful project, raised money for charity, etc... all point to "I get shit done".. that and stuff like that should be natural elements of these stories when/if possible.
So 10 seems like a lot, and an odd request, but sure if they want. Personally, I gave the advice of 5 stories. If a UG, I'd aim for 2 from academic/school stuff (like winning the NAIOP challenge or acing a hard class, etc.), 2 from "professional" world (internships, RE club, RE orgs.), and 1 interesting/personal (like the orphanage in Haiti type stuff).
If you do this well, you can often outshine your competition easily. Clearly as you get more senior this should be natural and you have more legit "stories" from work, but at the UG new grad level, you gotta think about this ahead of time. It's too easy to F it up in the interview seat!
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