ISA (International Studies Abroad) Program Manager Interview Questions
& Process

The entire interview process was conducted over the phone, which was probably because they were still in the process of acquiring Global Links in Colorado. It was a pretty straightforward and easy process. It mostly involved questions about my experience, particularly regarding my focus on Australia and New Zealand for the PM role, and success stories related to customer service. I ended up declining the offer because of the minimal vacation time and very low salary. My reasoning is that if you're going to have employees talking to people about traveling all the time, the company should also encourage its employees to travel. Hopefully, their policies are better now.

I had an initial interview that went well, it was pretty relaxed and informal. They asked basic questions about my study abroad experience. Then, I didn't hear back for three weeks. I tried to follow up with the interviewer and the next person. I got an email saying I wasn't selected. Weirdly, about a week later, they contacted me for a second interview, without mentioning the rejection. I went to the second interview, and it seemed to be going okay. I asked about career growth. Here's where it got odd. ISA is mostly based in Spain, so most employees speak Spanish. The job needed another language, and I'm conversational in Spanish, which is on my resume. But the interviewer seemed to think it wasn't enough, and implied that to advance, I really needed to know Spanish. This made the conversation awkward, especially since I have a Master's degree, and felt like I might not be good enough just because Spanish wasn't my primary language. The whole process dragged on and ended up being quite uncomfortable. Oh, and in the first interview, they did mention I'd likely have to work a lot of overtime, so keep that in mind.

ISA moves very fast to hire people. The HR person was nice and asked pretty normal questions before passing me to the hiring manager. Knowing the site you'll be working on is super important, and also how you can work with students and parents in a nice and professional way.