Ask about the FIELD Immersion during your next interview

From Argentina to China, over 900 first-year students recently wrapped up a 10 day immersion experience with organizations around the globe. The immersion is part of the FIELD curriculum where student teams develop a new product or service concept for an organization in an emerging market. Not only is this a unique experience for HBS MBA students, but it provides an interesting perspective for recruiters. The FIELD immersion exposes students to a variety of areas that can shed light on the skills they could bring to your organization as a new hire. With first-year recruiting in full swing, here a few ways to learn more about candidates through their FIELD immersion experiences:

Teamwork – A central and crucial component to the FIELD immersion is teamwork. All of the students work in small teams of six with the end goal of presenting their final idea to their global partner. By asking students about their team dynamics during FIELD, you can gain insight into how they might interact within your organization.

Consumer interactions – During the immersion, students interact with customers to gain insight into their organizations’ target demographic. These interactions shed light on a student’s ability to engage with a diverse group of people and apply the knowledge he/she gained from those conversations to solve a problem or dilemma. Delving into the customer interaction experience provides insight into a student’s ability to work with diverse audiences.

Ambiguity – During FIELD, teams are presented with partial information and they must work to fill in the gaps. In many ways, the immersion simulates a real life version of the case method providing insight on how students deal with ambiguity and uncertainty.

These are a few suggestions to keep in mind as you interview students to learn more about their FIELD immersions as well as different skills they can bring to your organization.