The Job Interview challenges the student to successfully interview for an entry-level position in marketing with a panel of 3-5 judges. Judges in this event assume the role of a selection committee from the hiring company and facilitate the interview process to determine which candidate best meets the overall job requirements.
The Job Interview Application Procedures
- Download the Job Interview PDF form here (available on September 29, 2023).
- Please have your student submit their resume and cover letter by Friday, November 3rd at 11:00 pm to [email protected] with the Subject Line: OCMC Job Interview Application.
General Judging Considerations
The student’s role is to successfully interview for an entry-level position in marketing by clearly providing relevant/focused, honest answers to all interview questions with tangible examples. It is assumed that each judge is from the client company, and each may take on a specific role.
This interview will last 20 minutes and include questions and answers regarding the student’s relevant education, work experience, industry, company, customer and competitive knowledge.
The top candidate will provide a targeted resume and cover letter that supports the job posting as it relates to their true key skills, knowledge, and fit for the organization. The top candidate will clearly understand the job duties/responsibilities by continually and effectively relating their skills and experiences with relevance to the job posting. They will demonstrate high interpersonal skills throughout the interview as a result of their exceptional communication skills (verbal and non-verbal), enthusiasm, authenticity, poise.
They are calm yet confident, personable and can gauge and adapt to all members of the interview panel effectively. They will also demonstrate exceptional preparation through specific, relevant research about the industry, company, customer and its key competitors.
Event Objectives
To demonstrate the students’ ability to:
- Successfully interview for an entry-level position in marketing.
Eligibility
All participating students must be from diploma-level marketing or marketing-related programs. Post-diploma, graduate certificate or degree program students are not eligible for this event. Repeat OCMC students cannot enter an event in which they have previously participated.
Student Preparation
- Participants should familiarize themselves with the evaluation criteria. Please refer to the Job Interview evaluation form for details.
- The job interview scenario will be provided by the host college by Friday, September 29, 2023.
- Students must submit their application (cover letter and resume) as per the job application procedures provided above.
- Students and coaches are not allowed to contact the company in any way (phone, email, or social media) when preparing for the job interview. They may research the website for basic information about the company, but personal contact of any kind is forbidden.
- Interview times will be assigned randomly. Please refer to the Job Interview schedule in the program. No changes will be made unless a conflict situation exists.
- The interview time will be 20 minutes maximum.
Interview
- The interview time will be 20 minutes maximum. However, note that the judges do not have to use all of the time that is allocated for the interview.
- Participants are responsible for managing their time when interviewing. Judges will be conscious of time when listening to interview answers and will ask a candidate to stop if necessary.
- At the conclusion of the interview, the candidate will leave the room.
- The judges will use the remaining minutes in the cycle to complete the job interview evaluation form.
Evaluation by Judges
- Prior to the competition judges will read all candidate submissions (resumes and cover letters).
- Judges will also read through the structured job interview screening guide provided by the hiring company and will ask all competitors the full set of questions. This guide will include instructions on how to:
- Open the interview: greeting the candidate; explains the purpose and interview format, a preview of the job and a little history of the organization.
- Conduct the interview; each member of the selection panel will take turns asking the candidate predetermined relevant job interview questions.
- Close the interview; candidates are provided an opportunity to ask the panelists questions, as long as time permits.
- Evaluate the interview.
- Judges will not provide any verbal feedback to participants during the competition.
- Judges will complete a job interview evaluation form with numerical scores and appropriate summary comments.
- Judges will rank each student candidate from top to bottom. In the case of a tie between any of the top 5 student candidates, they will re-evaluate those individuals to break the tie. There cannot be a tie amongst individuals ranked one to five.
- Judges decisions are final!
Feedback
Each student candidate will receive a feedback form from the host College approximately three weeks following the competition.