High Five Corner

I am really glad the first time I was asked this question was NOT during an interview, because it would have caught me completely off-guard. First and foremost because I am not really a superhero aficionado – you would lose me at Marvel vs DC superheroes.  But the question triggered my thinking, and when it was later asked in one of my interviews, I was ready to answer it. Just because I had time to reflect about it, of course. And that is why I am sharing the idea with you. And no, this post is definitely NOT about super-heroes or that type of superpower – although if you are real life superhero with supernatural superpowers, good for you! The question is really probing us to reflect on our gifts, our innate talents, those characteristics that we excel or are good at without making any effort. I love the concept of gifts: because as much as each one was born with different gifts, they remain as gifts unless we put them into practice, unless we do the hard work of unpacking, unboxi...

 ... or internship pitfalls to steer clear of! I was reminded by a good friend following my posts that I focused on tips of what to do to succeed, but failed to share my learnings on things that were a common denominator for failures. I don’t personally like a post focusing on the negative, but I could see the value of at least offering the most common pitfalls to avoid – there will be plenty others that are unique to each situation that I could never possibly cover. I think it goes without saying that NOT doing the five main points of my last post is not a good idea, since those are the most common DO’s for success. So I will not spend time talking about those DON’Ts. I will focus instead on some other things to avoid: • Poor Time Management. Besides being on time for work and meetings, being on time with the deliverables assigned to us is non-negotiable. We must at all costs avoid the student syndrome of leaving things to be started last minute, because a failure in this case h...

 Congratulations!! You landed your internship position! By now, you are likely excited and terrified at the same time – I know I was! It took a lot of different people around me providing helpful insights before I felt ready for that first opportunity… I learned a lot from it, and after sharing those learnings with other first-timers over the years, and also by observing what worked and what didn’t through the tens of interns under my eyes, here are a few DO’s that were common and invariably present for all those that succeeded: • Be professional. And I don’t mean it as in being someone different than yourself. Being on time for work and for meetings, dressing in accordance to the dress code of the work environment, being respectful when treating colleagues, honing in our communication style to be clear and concise, maintaining a positive attitude, not panicking under pressure, and practicing being a team player: all of those are ways to be professional, and are important during ...

Yes, you read that right… Dating Apps are the first thing that comes to mind when I think about internship – or job – interviews. Because let’s be honest… An interview is very much like a first date with someone – but a much faster and straight to the point one, and with very different expected outcomes, of course! If this is your first internship application, it is also likely your very first professional interview. And just like a first date, it is normally awkward! Even when we know the other person as a friend or an acquaintance, a first date might be odd. So meeting a complete stranger that has decision power over something you are interested on might feel much more daunting…  My goal here is to share a few tips that were passed down to me as I got ready for my first interviews, and that I observed as success factors in hundreds of intern candidates I interviewed over the years since then… 1. Do your research: have a good sense of what the company does and their main values ...