Preparing for interviews in another province/state

What do you guys do to prepare for interviews that are at least 500 km away?

Fill up the gas tank. And take a pee break before you hit the road.

#goodluck

I’d probably take a plane.

I had a successful one over a thousand miles away… aside from checking the weather, I’ll research the city intensely. Know what colleges are in the area, since people tend to work close to where they went to school and like to talk about it (would be great if you knew someone or something “oh I heard that college has a great _____ program”.

I don’t watch sports but I will catch up on how the local teams are doing.

Maybe yelp and see what’s the most popular in the area, in case you get a foodie and they go on and on about some famous place.

I was taught this in a past career, you want to find any common interest you can, from any clue you can get (linkedin profiles, social media of the interviewers and team)

Also, if the job requires a relocate, they will ask why you want to move there. Have a really good reason why. I don’t know your background but certain things may raise objections “but you’ve lived there all your life, why relocate now?” Be sure to have a good reply “that’s a great question, after a lot of though I felt this is the perfect opportunity for me to…”

you coming to ny?

^ Not unless you have a job for me :slight_smile:

I’m in Toronto but got a phone interview for a PE firm in Montreal. Just thinking ahead if it goes well and they ask me to come in for a face-to-face.

A PE firm is likely to care less about your interest in the city and more about your experience in the sectors of their portcos. Are you currently in PE or are you looking to make a switch?

Edit: I’m not that familiar with the PE market in Canada, but there are some differences in “typical” deal structures between east coast and west coast PEG’s in the US. If that’s also the case in Canada, you should familiarize yourself with the differences.

I actually agree that you need a good story about why you want to move to that city. It’s not directly important to the job, but it will help you establish an emotional connection with the interviewer and make you seem like a good long term fit for the position. All else equal, most normal, human interviewers will prefer candidates whose life motivations are consistent with the move, and not just that they want a nice job that pays money.

For us Americans that don’t understand km, 500 km is 2,854 miles.

^ Wait, I thought 500 km was 932 miles. You divide by 9/5 and add 32, right?

^thats for the conversion to Fahreheit to Kelvin

You are supposed to multiply 500km by 2.2

Fun fact: Did you know -40 miles equals -40 km?

A few years back I interviewed for a company in SF with strong career growth ops. They flew me out there but it turned out the office wasn’t in SF it was further down the peninsula. The office was a sh*it hole and my proposed workspace was an IKEA desk shoved in the corner. The building was also an old 1960s medical building with several gov’t services.

Take all variables into consideration when deciding to move to another city for a job. Good luck!

montreal was great, would love to work there. good luck