Author: mbairishechoes

How not to get an internship at Google

By: Nitesh Srivastava

This photo was taken either during the first week of my internship, or shortly before security arrived to escort me off the premises. (Photo courtesy Nitesh Srivastava)

My colleagues here at MBA IRISH ECHOES asked me to write about the famed Google interview process, given that I interned with Google Fiber during my time in the Notre Dame MBA program. Here is my story. Full disclosure: I may or may not have embellished some of the details.

I never liked using Google or other online search engines. I always preferred instead to shout my questions at passersby on the street, or (as is high fashion nowadays) to make up my own facts. However, when I received an email in February 2016 that Google wanted to interview me for a marketing internship with Google Fiber, I figured that visiting www.google.com might be a prudent first step in preparing for the interview. I regained consciousness some days later with dozens of tabs open in my browser, my keyboard imprinted on the side of my face, and my phone informing me that my interview began in five minutes.  Continue reading “How not to get an internship at Google”

The top 3 highlights of living in South Bend

By: Andrew Crown

Four Winds Field, home to the South Bend Cubs. (Photo courtesy Andrew Crown)

Like most Notre Dame MBA applicants, I was delighted when my phone rang with a “574” area code and an invitation to join the program. Even though I was elated to be coming to Notre Dame, I admit that I had some reservations about making the transition from the big city of Denver to the small town of South Bend, Indiana. Fortunately, I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of life in the South Bend area.

Fitness: A short drive from the Notre Dame campus is the Riverwalk in the neighboring town of Mishawaka. With several miles of paved trails on either side of the St. Joseph River, the Riverwalk is the perfect place for a walk, jog, or bicycle ride. With wide paths and gorgeous scenery, the Riverwalk provides a nice diversion from schoolwork. 

Sports: One of my favorite things to do when I was living in Denver was to go to sporting events. There is just something special about taking in a ballgame on a warm evening with your friends. Although it is not Major League Baseball, the South Bend Cubs provide a fun experience at the intimate Four Winds Field. With cheap tickets and concessions, you can have the full ballpark experience for $20. Not a bad deal on a student budget!  Continue reading “The top 3 highlights of living in South Bend”

The reason why business needs the liberal arts

By: Ephrem Shaffer

(Photo courtesy University of Notre Dame)

By all accounts, I don’t have a typical MBA background. In high school, I was crazy about theater and competitive speech. In college, I joined a seminary and got a philosophy degree. To this day, one of my favorite pastimes is binge-watching the year’s Academy Award nominees for Best Picture.

Yep, I’m a liberal arts guy. It runs in the family. My dad is a high school English teacher, my sister is a music teacher, my other sister is a writer, and the list goes on.

So why did I decide to get an MBA (other than to be different from my siblings)?

My interest in business first emerged during my three years at Korn Ferry, the world’s largest executive search firm. I found business to be a thrilling arena in which competition, collaboration, and problem-solving all collide.  Continue reading “The reason why business needs the liberal arts”

Here’s every case study that you will read in business school

By: Nitesh Srivastava

Pseudonym Inc.’s headquarters in Anytown, USA. (Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Many classes in the Notre Dame MBA program (as well as other MBA programs) involve reading and analyzing case studies. For those of you not familiar with case studies, they often look like this:

INTRODUCTION

John Smith, CEO of Pseudonym Inc., stared out his office window on a Friday morning. He had just gotten off the phone with someone who had conveyed a really dire business problem to him. Would Pseudonym Inc. go bankrupt? Do CEOs actually stare out the window every time they get a phone call?

BACKGROUND

Pseudonym Inc. was founded in the 1970s by Steve Gobs. It had a breakthrough product in the 1980s with the Banana II personal toaster oven. In the 2000s, it revolutionized the personal toaster oven category with the jPod and the jPhone, which fit in consumers’ pockets and allowed them to heat up individual nachos or small handfuls of chestnuts on the go. This poorly disguised company history will be of no help in solving the case.  Continue reading “Here’s every case study that you will read in business school”

The war for team rooms in Mendoza, part 2

By: Nitesh Srivastava

Artist’s rendering of the Battle for Team Room 143, the geopolitical repercussions of which are still being felt throughout Mendoza today. (Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

In the Notre Dame MBA program, students have exclusive access to team rooms in the Mendoza building where they can work on group projects together. Given the high demand for these rooms and the relatively low supply, the fight for these rooms often reduces students to their basest instincts. These are their stories.

Read Part I here.

After much politicking and the deployment of a complex pulley system, my friend Bill and I had claimed a team room so we could work on our marketing project. Unfortunately, I dozed off during my shift guarding the door. When I woke up and peeked through the window in the door, a horde of entrepreneurship students had amassed outside the room.

“Bill, I need your help!” I cried heroically.

“Just a minute. I’m close to a breakthrough,” Bill said as he entered really, really complex marketing formulas into an Excel spreadsheet.  Continue reading “The war for team rooms in Mendoza, part 2”