I’ve spoken with hundreds of 21-25 year olds over the past 24 months, trying to understand why so many otherwise quite talented individuals often miss important details when they interview. Oftentimes it’s just one thing that disqualifies you from continuing in the interview process. That’s right, just one thing. We pride ourselves on vetting you on our phone screens, and while we understand you don’t have decades of experience, it’s critical to pay attention to the details. Oftentimes, I watch great candidates that are not invited to on-site client interviews because you often miss the details. From our end, it’s frustrating because after you’ve been screened from 300 + applicants per week and come to visit us, we feel good about being able to help you get a job, except many candidates often forget that one thing. When you interview for a job, it’s important since you are marketing yourself as a product and you have a limited opportunity to show a hiring manager that you not only can do the job, but also fit within their culture and growing teams. In our case we focus purely on finding recent grads interested in the business development role for high-growth companies.

The problem is that for every person that I speak with there’s always something different. Some don’t research the company before they go into the interview; others forget to wear professional business attire. And while I understand that within the companies that we partner with, many have cool cultures that you may be able to show up in flip-flops, jeans and your favorite t-shirt, when you come to interview with us and you are invited to interview onsite with one of our partner companies, you still don’t have the job, so don’t forget the details - Wear the professional attire.

So what are these details that I’m talking about? Well I could go on and on with all the things that I’ve seen and heard, but as each of you read this you’ll probably tell me “that’s not me”. So what I’ve done is reached out to hiring managers of these incredible companies and asked each of them to pick one thing that they’d like you to remember before you interview with them. If you want to start your career in business, subscribe to our blog and read the articles listed as “The One Thing,” as we will be starting a series to help you better prepare for a transition into a business career.