Career Prep 2009 Summer Blog

Start with your pitch. Keny Zurita from Harvard University suggests you share your own personal background – i.e. hometown, college, previous work experience, etc. – and ask for theirs. Stick to open-ended questions which allow people to elaborate. Similarly, Salvador Maldonado from Harvard University recommends that you approach a person with an open-mind, as the easiest way to start a conversation is with where you’re from. Bianca Caban from Harvard University provides specific follow-up questions, such as: Where are you originally from? If a recent college graduate, where did you go to school? How long have you been working/living in New York? Where do you work in the organization? What projects are you working on? How long have you been working in that role? Do you like the nature of the work? What job did you have before this? Ingrid Aparicio from Pace University adds: How have you been able to apply some of your past work experience at this company?