ProMazo is My Go-To Interview Strategy
My experience at ProMazo has been unique, purposeful and enjoyable.
I first heard about ProMazo two years ago in my corporate finance class. A company that pairs students with companies? Doing work that interests and relates to you? Great pay? It sounded too good to be true. But it wasn’t. This was the first time I heard about the company that I have since become a passionate advocate for.
I’ll be honest; at first it was the pay that motivated me to apply to ProMazo. But after my first project it was all for the experience. When I first came to college my resume was terrible — I just didn’t know it yet. My work at ProMazo helped take my resume from high school sports awards to professional work, featuring phrases like “Marketing Research” and “Project Manager.” These experiences made me confident walking into an interview. Not only would I nail any “Tell me about a time when…” question, but I also had something that made me stand out. How many other kids did work with a Fortune 200 company and presented at their headquarters? Not many.
So what did I do for ProMazo?
During my first project with ProMazo I completed market research for a textbook company that was looking into the virtual classroom business. This was my first time getting exposed to fundamental marketing tactics such as surveys, focus groups and SWOT analysis. I met a number of new friends and became really close with our project manager Imani. Not only did she help me put together our final product, but Imani also walked me through her thought process behind organizing the team. From her I learned how much work goes into managing a group of college students, which were skills that I applied during my next venture with ProMazo as a project manager.
Working as the project manager taught me more about management than any management class I have taken. Not just studying, but experiencing how people work together, was essential to this learning. I learned how to efficiently manage ideas and communication by practicing it in real situations.
What did I gain?
I fully realized the importance and potential of ProMazo during my sophomore year, second semester at the career fair. The Career Fair was awful. It was packed with a lot of companies and even more students in lines. How am I supposed to stand out to someone who is seeing 100+ students in the time span of three hours? It was then that I realized ProMazo has the potential to change the entire recruiting process. ProMazo gave me the experience recruiters were sure that I, a sophomore, needed another year of classes to gain. ProMazo taught me more about working in a professional setting, communicating and perfecting my technical skills than any class.
I used my new networking skills to land an internship with a CEO that I met through ProMazo. That is what ProMazo is all about! Giving students the opportunity and confidence to stand up in front of a high-ranked executive and present their own ideas as a professional. I have become an expert at networking, sending emails and pitching ideas, all due to my involvement with ProMazo.
A question I’ve been asked in multiple interviews is: “What’s one of the best decisions you made within the past 10 years?” My answer is always one word: ProMazo.
#standout
Nicole Calderon is a finance and economics student at the University of Notre Dame who worked for ProMazo. She wrote this piece as a guest writer for the Student Stories series in ProMazo’s Millennial Voice. Check out what ProMazo writers are doing to disrupt the current job recruiting model here, and read our other writing here.
