As Samir mentioned in his blog post, currently student-run executive hiring is at its busiest in the Commerce program. As Co-Chair of the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition Executive, I recently sat through over 40 interviews in two days as we tried to find the best candidates to join the QEC 2012 team.
The whole hiring process has been a great learning experience. As first and second year students, you are primarily the ones who are sending in applications, sitting through interviews, and receiving feedback from the interviewers, who are mostly upper year students. This year, I got to experience what it was like to sit on the other side of the table–from publicizing open positions, to reading through applications, and of course, conducting interviews. It was really interesting to observe which applicants had done their research and who were truly passionate about something, compared to other students who failed to prepare in advance of their interview. Similar to job interviews you may have had outside of school, showing up late or having your cell phone ring definitely left a negative impression. Those who were well-spoken and had confidence in themselves gave me more confidence in their skills and qualifications.
Interviews for hiring in the Commerce program are run as fairly as possible. From ensuring gender representation on the panel, to bringing in a third-party Commerce Society (ComSoc) representative from outside of the hiring committee, to asking a standard set of screening questions, these hiring requirements are in place to ensure that potential bias is minimized. If a candidate has any concerns during the interview, he or she is able to contact the Human Resources Officer of ComSoc who will work to rectify the situation.
The interviewing process is a valuable tool for Commerce students of all years. Whether you’re receiving interview feedback or learning to remain professional amongst your peers; executive hiring is a good way to prepare for interviews with future employers. Getting to experience the hiring process in the Queen’s Commerce program gives you insight from both sides of the equation.
Katherine Wong Too Yen, BCom’12