McBride ’88 on how to crush internships

JUSTIN FORTIER ’18
NEWS EDITOR
“Only ask questions you know the answer to,” bellowed Bryant McBride ’88 as he fleshed out the secrets to landing a job in his lecture, “How to Eat and Elephant.”  His talk was a part of day one of the Bantam Student Success Program, put on by the Career Development center.
Although the aforementioned advice may seem counterintuitive, it is consistent with the theme of mastering the interview. McBride urged the students in attendance to stay sharp an know as much as possible about the company you are interviewing for and the person who is conducting the hiring process.
McBride, certainly knows a knows quite a bit about the hiring process as he began his managerial career as the Vice President of Business Development of the National Hockey League, and has since transitioned to lead four companies through infancy to successful sales, netting handsome returns for himself and investors.  Throughout his business experience he has been a part of at least 100 hiring decisions, directly or indirectly and had dozens on anecdotes to back up the advice he gave to students.
“The good news is that being smart Trinity students, you all will have jobs, but the bad news is most people hate their jobs.  About 90% of people dislike their job and 10% love it, you want to be part of the 10%, never settle, ” McBride said.  In order to be in a position to have the job you love, you need to add value to every organization in which you are a part of.
In the lecture, McBride was dynamically able to explore the hiring process from both sides. As, a business people are the most important asset, so when it comes to on-boarding new staff, management needs to know they can count on every member of the team.
When the interview finally comes it is important to be in a position to market your tangible skills and cash in on your networking opportunities. Make sure to arrive early and have several  hard copies of you resume to give out to those you meet.
The process may be daunting but McBride, in a Tony Robins-esque performance energiezed the crowd and convince evryone in the audience that they too can eat the elephant of the task that is the hiring process, by approaching it the only way  possible, by digging in and devouring one bite at a time.