SAIS Bologna's Journal: "Power Shifts"

A Friday night filled with talk about South American female leaders, the U.S.-Iran civil nuclear proliferation pact, power cycle theory and climate change in the Artic.

Sounds like an evening in the library facing a small mountain of books?

This Friday will be a tad different than a weekend evening dedicated to the next big paper. The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs launches its 15th edition at SAIS Bologna's Alumni Weekend tomorrow.

Members of the editorial team will join Anne Deighton of Oxford University, the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony, to kick off the weekend's events and generate discussion the theme of this year’s journal -- "Power Shifts".

A decade and a half after its birth, the 2012 BC Journal has sought to carry on a tradition of showcasing authors of note.

Past contributors have included former European Commission President Romano Prodi, political economist Francis Fukuyama, European Studies expert David Calleo and former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski -- all of whom have connections to SAIS.

This year’s edition includes works from SAIS professors Karim Mezran and Charles Doran, and six articles by  SAIS Bologna students.

BCJIA's Editorial Board

The students' pieces highlight the diversity of their intellectual pursuits. The topics include Brazil's economic idiosyncrasies, Somalia’s path towards sustainable peace and President George W. Bush’s freedom agenda in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring.

Run by students, the Bologna Center Journal is testimony to the teamwork that characterizes SAIS Bologna.

The online edition of the Journal will be available on the evening of April 27. To request a hard copy of the Journal, click here.

We'd love to hear what you think.

Job interviews: Thrown in the deep end

Do you have a job interview coming up?

For most of us this is a daunting challenge. How do you communicate your skills and aspirations? How to behave? How will it feel?

If you have asked yourself those questions, practice can boost your confidence and awareness of how you can contribute to the target organization. SAIS Bologna gives you the chance to do this.

To help students hone their interviewing skills, faculty and staff put them through the paces during a series of mock interviews last week. Students launched the idea and drummed up support through a multimedia campaign. During the spoof sessions, faculty and staff adopted roles ranging from a senior World Bank executive to the head of HR with a business consultancy.

Students were thrown into the deep end from the start -- and had only a few moments to prepare before facing interviewers adopting roles from development, multilateral organizations, non-profits, government and business.

What kind of scenarios did they face? Here's an example:

“You have reached the final round interview for an entry-level position on the business analysis team of a well-known management consulting firm. The meeting takes place in the office of the partner and senior consultant to the business analysis team. Since this is a final round interview, you have already proven that you possess the right qualifications for the job. It has been noted in past interviews that you are a SAIS graduate, and since the firm has had generally positive interactions with SAIS graduates, past interviewers have complimented your interdisciplinary graduate education. You have perceived, however, that there may be a bias for MBA degrees at this particular firm. An HR manager who has taken a liking to you has urged that in your final interview you should stress your high level of technical preparedness for the job.”

Frank-Alexander Raabe

At the end of the two-hour event, participants retired to Giulio’s bar to share feedback on the students' performances and a refreshment.

Now we can look forward to SAIS graduates turning the lessons from the mock interviews into successful applications.

Frank-Alexander Raabe