Cytiva: Portfolio Coordinator (Enterprise PMO) Summer 2022 Co-op

Company: Cytiva

Role: Portfolio Coordinator (Enterprise PMO)

When did you begin applying?

I began applying around Feb mid and got to seriously applying for 10 jobs per day by the 3rd week of February. I had applied close to close to 200 companies by the first week of March.

Which platform did you apply through for this job?

I mainly used NUWorks and LinkedIn to apply for different jobs. I was applying mainly for Project Management and Product Management roles but, NUWorks had limited Product Management roles.

Number of rounds -1

Round 1

Role of the interviewer in the company — Enterprise PMO Leader

Questions asked by the interviewer -

1. What do you understand about this role and why do you think you’re a good fit? (Explained what I understood from the JD along with stories about similar tasks in the previous organization I worked with. I also strategically emphasized the project management tasks I worked on along with my extensive experience with advanced MS Excel)

2. Tell me more about your role as Associate Project Engineer in the Project Management department.

3. Tell more about your experience with Continuous Improvement Plans. (I knew that this was a major part of the role from the job description so I had a good story prepared and mentioned that I had worked on a Continuous Improvement Plan while answering the second question.)

4. How proficient are you with excel? (This question was already answered in my previous questions in detail. The interviewer started off by saying I already know the answer to this question but let me ask either way. Since this was asked again, I explained what I specifically did in the software including using macros and VBA, maintaining project timesheets, generating KPIs using formulas, and prepping the data to be input into PowerBI to create dashboards)

5. Have you worked with international clients? (Found out that this company has business in over 40 countries and tailored my resume to highlight the major international clients I have worked with)

Question you asked

1. Can you briefly explain the extent to which a co-op is involved in an actual project there in terms of facing clients, independent tasks, and decision making?(Listen carefully to their answer to the previous question and summarize the answer starting “So as I understand…”)

2. Given the responsibilities you just explained, how do you measure the success of a co-op?

Duration before mail for next round — Got my offer the next day.

Final thoughts

1. It took me more than 250 applications, 9 interviews, and several rejections before I landed this co-op. Keep trying even if you keep getting rejections or even if your friends get placed before you. Every time I finished an interview I came back and noted the questions I couldn’t answer well and made sure the next time I prepared well in case that question came up.

2. Tailoring your resume definitely works, not just to get an interview but it also gives you the basis to answer several questions in the interview.

3. I believe most zoom interviews nowadays aren’t very strictly formal. I take my chance and make some small talk before and after the interview. Joining early to the meeting helped me do this, especially when there is more than one interviewer and you two are just waiting for others to join in. This also helps me relax and not appear nervous.

4. Researching before an interview does wonders for your confidence. Initially, I just went to the company website and read everything from there. But between getting rejects and watching BigInterview (A great resource!), I started analyzing the job description in detail and picked a couple of stories from my previous organizations for each of the main themes of the job description. A lesson named ‘Analyzing the Job Description’ in the Mastery Track entirely changed the way I prepared for interviews. I highly recommend it to everyone with access to BigInterview.

Experience shared by Vibin Roy