Speed interviewing leads to internship offer

Speed interviewing leads to internship offer

Junior Alyssa Rokita of Jerome, Michigan hoped to do well in the speed interviewing assignment that was part of her Marketing 2010 course (Introduction to Marketing). But she got an unexpected bonus: an internship with Thomson-Reuters.  

Rokita and 250 other students interviewed with 33 judges from 27 companies, spending just five minutes each with three interviewers. In addition to being a class assignment, speed interviewing is a competitive event, where interviewers score the students on the two-minute “elevator pitches" they had prepared in class. The event’s goal is to help students prepare for interviewing in the real world.

“Natalie Lampas with Thomson-Reuters was the first person of three people I interviewed with that day," Rokita said. "There were a lot of business professionals there, but I picked her because she was smiling and I thought she looked nice."  

Despite having spent weeks preparing for the event, Rokita admitted that she was "super excited and super nervous.” The allotted five-minute interview went quickly, and Lampas gave good feedback to improve her next speed interview. After the competition finished, Rokita returned to Lampas to thank her for the counsel.

“She asked me if I had a second, and I said yes,” Rokita recalled. “Then she asked me if I was interested in an internship, and I said yes, of course!”

Scores from each of the business professional judges determined individual student winners, who included:

The individual student winners were:

• First place: Thomas Crookston
• Second place: Sarah Kennedy 
• Third place: Alyssa Rokita  

Even aside from the Top Three finish and internship offer, Rokita emphasized the value of the speed interviewing event. “Getting feedback from actual business professionals is just the best thing; they notice things that you wouldn’t even think about, and the process makes you more confident," she said. "I was really nervous at first, but I’m so glad I did this; it opened me up to a great opportunity.”