BASE | Baseball Lessons: Job Interview
4/17/2020 10:30:00 AM | Baseball
By: Jack McCarthy
MORAGA, Calif. — I was recently interviewed by a startup that makes purchasing SBI and Workers Compensation simple. Before meeting their Head of Sales at the Saint Mary's Career Fair, I knew nothing about Small Business Insurance or Workers Compensation. All I knew were the lessons I had learned from baseball. I decided to apply these lessons to the interview process.
Introduction/Application - Locker Room
This stage was simple: meet the Head of Sales and a senior account executive. In order to make sure my resume stood out, I decided to speak with them for roughly twenty minutes. This is where my baseball skills kicked in. We talk in the dugout, on the field, in the locker room, and everywhere in between. Communication in a professional setting is no different. If you talk to people, learn their interests, and convey an ability to listen it will greatly help you while you look for a job.
Interview One - Tee Work
My first interview was a 30-minute video recording interview. This interview needed to be prepared for. I had to watch various YouTube videos on sales, talk to people in my life that work in sales, and I had to learn what Huckleberry was aiming to do. This was like tee work. It was not difficult; I simply had to record my answers on video and I even had my notes in front of me. Tee work is the foundation of the swing, just like this preliminary interview was the foundation for the rest of the interview process. The "tee work" I did to prepare for this interview gave me a base of knowledge for my remaining interviews, and it gave me more to research.
Interview Two - Batting Practice
After I had made it through my video recording, I was ready for a phone call with the Head of Sales. This was a 45-minute phone call, and they didn't want to know anything about my background in baseball, only my background in academia. This is batting practice, you are taking what you learned from the tee work, and applying it to your swing when the ball is moving. I had to think on my feet, and was able to do so because of the work I put in practicing my tee work over and over again. I learned from baseball that it is almost impossible to crush batting practice without putting in work on the tee first. The same is true with being interviewed. I researched possible interview questions, I went back and looked at my academic projects, I reread my thesis from junior year. This stage was important to prepare questions for their Head of Sales, and I worked on my questions, day and night, for a week straight. Baseball taught me to strive for perfection, and how to deal with failure. I learned how to OUT PREPARE the other candidates.
Interview Three - Game Day
This last interview was the hardest part. I had to look sharp, like we look on planes, and have my answers ready at any second of the interview. I prepared and prepared, I did my work on the tee and in the cage, and I was ready. I crushed this interview, because I understood the importance of work behind the scenes. This is a skill baseball teaches you, and by combining that with the social aspect of baseball, many ballplayers enter the job market as a very favorable candidate.
#GaelsRise
MORAGA, Calif. — I was recently interviewed by a startup that makes purchasing SBI and Workers Compensation simple. Before meeting their Head of Sales at the Saint Mary's Career Fair, I knew nothing about Small Business Insurance or Workers Compensation. All I knew were the lessons I had learned from baseball. I decided to apply these lessons to the interview process.
Introduction/Application - Locker Room
This stage was simple: meet the Head of Sales and a senior account executive. In order to make sure my resume stood out, I decided to speak with them for roughly twenty minutes. This is where my baseball skills kicked in. We talk in the dugout, on the field, in the locker room, and everywhere in between. Communication in a professional setting is no different. If you talk to people, learn their interests, and convey an ability to listen it will greatly help you while you look for a job.
Interview One - Tee Work
My first interview was a 30-minute video recording interview. This interview needed to be prepared for. I had to watch various YouTube videos on sales, talk to people in my life that work in sales, and I had to learn what Huckleberry was aiming to do. This was like tee work. It was not difficult; I simply had to record my answers on video and I even had my notes in front of me. Tee work is the foundation of the swing, just like this preliminary interview was the foundation for the rest of the interview process. The "tee work" I did to prepare for this interview gave me a base of knowledge for my remaining interviews, and it gave me more to research.
Interview Two - Batting Practice
After I had made it through my video recording, I was ready for a phone call with the Head of Sales. This was a 45-minute phone call, and they didn't want to know anything about my background in baseball, only my background in academia. This is batting practice, you are taking what you learned from the tee work, and applying it to your swing when the ball is moving. I had to think on my feet, and was able to do so because of the work I put in practicing my tee work over and over again. I learned from baseball that it is almost impossible to crush batting practice without putting in work on the tee first. The same is true with being interviewed. I researched possible interview questions, I went back and looked at my academic projects, I reread my thesis from junior year. This stage was important to prepare questions for their Head of Sales, and I worked on my questions, day and night, for a week straight. Baseball taught me to strive for perfection, and how to deal with failure. I learned how to OUT PREPARE the other candidates.
Interview Three - Game Day
This last interview was the hardest part. I had to look sharp, like we look on planes, and have my answers ready at any second of the interview. I prepared and prepared, I did my work on the tee and in the cage, and I was ready. I crushed this interview, because I understood the importance of work behind the scenes. This is a skill baseball teaches you, and by combining that with the social aspect of baseball, many ballplayers enter the job market as a very favorable candidate.
#GaelsRise
Players Mentioned
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