The Importance of Being Well-rounded Job Candidate: Knowing How to Answer Unexpected Interview Questions

Summary

Podcast Summary

Podcast: Hillsdale College Podcast Network Superfeed
Episode: The Importance of Being Well-rounded Job Candidate: Knowing How to Answer Unexpected Interview Questions
Host: Lily Faye Kramer (Hillsdale College)
Guest: Christian Tracy (Hillsdale College Class of ‘99; Leader at Phillips 66)
Date: November 9, 2025

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Overview

This episode of "Beyond the Bubble," produced by Hillsdale College's Career Services, features an in-depth conversation with Christian Tracy, a seasoned professional in business transformation and corporate strategy at Phillips 66. The discussion centers on the value of being a well-rounded job candidate, especially in the finance industry, and offers practical advice for students and young professionals. Tracy highlights how a liberal arts education, intellectual curiosity, and diverse interests can be significant assets in interviews and career development, particularly in response to unexpected interview questions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Christian’s Background and College Experience

• Campus Life & Academics:

  • Christian ran cross country and track, majoring in finance (then called general business) with a minor in economics.
  • Managed rigorous athletic commitments with a structured academic focus:

    "I was pretty focused… get done when I needed to and then go to practice and then really after practice right back to, to studying." (02:16)

• Internships and Early Work Experiences:

  • Spent first college summers taking courses, then interned on Capitol Hill and later at an oil and gas pipe coating firm in Scotland.
  • The Scotland internship provided consulting-like experience and exposure to various aspects of business operations (03:22).

• Impact of Internships:

  • Helped clarify his career interests (moving away from political science towards finance/business).
  • Developed quantitative and analytical skills through both coursework and practical experience.

2. Influence of Liberal Arts and Special Coursework

• Reading and Writing Skills:

  • Liberal arts background cultivated strong communication skills, particularly the ability to write concisely and convey complex ideas simply—a recurring asset in his career.

    “You'd be shocked how many people I work with that can do neither, especially on the writing front.” (06:02)

  • The MBA workload felt “a lot less” than Hillsdale, underscoring the intensity and preparation provided by the college.

• Impactful Classes:

  • Extra focus on microeconomics and a course in money and credit proved useful throughout his career (07:02).

    “Help gives you a good understanding of banking, financial markets, how to take on loans and debt, and all of those things I've at one point or another in my career put into practice.” (07:02)

3. Professional Trajectory and Application of Skills

• Current Role at Phillips 66:
  • Leads business transformation activities (08:00).
  • Formerly led corporate strategy with weekly reliance on micro/macroeconomics and valuation methods learned as a student.

    “That’s everything that I learned went into that. All of my experience kind of led to that.” (07:56)

• Value of Academic Preparation:
  • Foundational courses like discounted cash flow modeling continue to be relevant in corporate strategy and finance (08:00).

4. Advice for Aspiring Finance Professionals

• Intellectual Curiosity:
  • Tracy's #1 recommendation is to remain interested, continually asking questions and learning—even after landing a job.

    “Nobody’s ever going to get tired of you asking why you may have a different opinion. Help me understand it.” (09:02)

• Long-Term Growth:
  • Building knowledge over time leads to promotions and new opportunities (09:17).

5. Interview Insights: What Employers Look For

• Beyond Technical Skills:

  • Christian downplays the importance of highly technical interviews, preferring to assess candidates on broader qualities reflected in their resume and demeanor (09:46).
  • His favorite interview question:

    "What are you reading now and what do you like to do in your free time? Because if I get somebody who's reading something very interesting, either in history or some other area that's maybe outside of finance, I'm interested." (09:46)

    • Looks for evidence of well-roundedness and interests beyond just finance.

• Red Flags & Standard Questions:

  • Traditional “Why are you a good candidate for this job?” is seen as less revealing; expects candidates to demonstrate understanding of company values through research (10:39).

    “Everybody has their pat answer for that, right? ...You have to dig into their annual filings, their 10Ks, their QS...” (10:41)

  • Panel-style interviews ensure coverage of technical and company-specific questions.

• Ideal Candidate Qualities:

  • Emphasis on broad thinking, writing skills, and capacity for learning over narrow technical prowess:

    “People that can think well, can write, learn quickly. Those are the people that tend to stand out.” (09:46)

  • Strong support for hiring intellectually curious, well-rounded individuals:

    “Can you continue to learn? Because even if you're hiring somebody to senior level, you can't stop evolving.” (11:52)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Value of Writing:

  “The amount of reading and writing I had to do prepared me really well, because you'd be shocked how many people I work with that can do neither, especially on the writing front.” – Christian Tracy (06:02)

• On Intellectual Curiosity:

  “Just continue to be interested and continue to learn, continue to ask questions. I think every employer likes that.” – Christian Tracy (09:02)

• On Interviewing:

  “My favorite thing to ask is, what are you reading now and what do you like to do in your free time?... If I get somebody that's only focused on financial markets and that's all they're interested in. I tend to find they don't do very well.” – Christian Tracy (09:46)

• On Standard Interview Questions:

  “Everybody has their pat answer for that, right?...You have to dig into their annual filings, their 10Ks, their QS...But if you do that, it still doesn't separate you. There has to be something different.” – Christian Tracy (10:41)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:28] Guest Introduction & Hillsdale Experience
• [02:12] Balancing Academics & Athletics
• [02:55] Internships & Impact
• [04:30] Key Influences & Chosen Specializations
• [06:02] The Value of Liberal Arts in Business
• [07:02] Elective Courses & Practical Knowledge
• [07:56] Applying Academic Learning to Corporate Roles
• [09:02] Advice for Aspiring Finance Professionals
• [09:46] Interview Insights: What Are You Reading?
• [10:41] Critique of Standard Interview Questions & Company Research
• [11:52] Ideal Candidate Characteristics

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Conclusion

This episode provides concrete, relatable guidance for students and young professionals aspiring to enter the finance industry or broader business roles. Christian Tracy stresses the practical value of a liberal arts education, a focus on continuous learning, and a genuinely well-rounded life. Through both his personal journey and his manager’s perspective, listeners gain actionable advice on how to distinguish themselves—especially in interviews—by demonstrating curiosity, breadth of interest, and the willingness to keep learning.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Hi there and welcome to beyond the Bubble, a podcast by Career services to connect alarms with current state. My name is Lily Faye Kramer and I'm here with Christian Tracy, a 1999 graduate. Christian, thank you so much for coming on.

[C]

Thank you for having me.

[B]

Of course. So to begin, I want you to tell me a little bit about you and your Hillsdale career. What was your major, what was your campus involvement and. Yeah. Anything else you want to include?

[C]

Sure. I came to Hillsdale in the fall of 96 really after considering a number of different schools, but was attracted to Hillsdale for a big reason, because of Coach Lundberg. And so I ran cross country and track at the school and was frankly most of my time was spent with the cross country and track team and traveling with the team. I was a finance major though, and I guess at the time it was more of a general business degree. So I concentrated on that and then economics was my minor.

[B]

How did you balance your academics with being on the track team?

[C]

Yeah, so in a lot of ways I think it helped, it helped me stay very focused. So I was had my job between three and six o'clock every afternoon. And so it helped me get my school, my classes in between kind of eight, I always had an eight o' clock and kind of one o' clock and then I would be focused on cross country and track in the afternoon. And so I felt found it just helped me focus my time was able to in between classes, focus, go to the library, study, get, get done when I needed to and then go to practice and then really after practice right back to, to studying. So I was pretty focused.

[B]

What did you do over the summer? What were some internships that you had?

[C]

Yeah, so the first couple of years I took the summer courses on campus. I did both terms and then my sophomore year after the second class here at Hillsdale, I went and did Whip east over the summer and spent about two months in congressional office working for Jim Ryan from Kansas. And then second summer, I did a internship with an oil and gas pipe coating company up in Edinburgh, Scotland.

[B]

Oh, cool. So it was more of like a study abroad.

[C]

Yeah, I do believe I got credit for that through one of the kind of business courses. So I think get some academic credit for it. It was an internship focused on kind of business operations and doing a little bit of almost consulting, like work with one of the guys I was working with where I was in the plant, doing kind of time and motion studies, trying to identify waste in the process. And then a bit toward the end of the summer, a little more finance focused, budgeting, forecasting, that type of thing.

[B]

So what did that internship leave you with?

[C]

So that's what Wit did for me. After spending a summer in D.C. i pretty quickly decided I wasn't going to be a political science major. Enjoyed my time there, but just realized politics were probably not for me. And then second semester or summer, it was really kind of an awakening to what business actually was. And so kind of got to see that and different facets of it. And the person I was working for had a background in consulting, and so I got a pretty good overview from him of, you know, what some of.

[B]

The options were and then how did that influence, like what classes you wanted to take and how did that help with your following internship and when you graduated?

[C]

So I think I pretty quickly realized something a little bit more quantitative, like finance was, was more aligned with my interests. I really enjoyed my economics courses at Hillsdale. Dr. Coppock, Lee Coppock, and Dr. Wolfram, who I spent a lot of time running.

[B]

With Dr. Wolfram still there?

[C]

Yeah, he's still there some this morning. They were big influences on kind of the direction that I took. And so the, the financial background, the economics background, and those classes just resonated more with me. So I. I decided I want to do more the finance track than the marketing track. And that's kind of where. Where I started my career as a financial analyst.

[B]

So what did it look like after you graduated?

[C]

Yeah, so I. I spent a lot of my senior year looking for a role and found one actually with a company that my dad worked for. Different location, but went to work in a R D lab, but at a finance capacity. So I was doing budgeting, planning, inventory, that kind of thing. And so it set me up well for that, especially the two summers I think on my resume really helped stand out versus, you know, kids that maybe had an internship which wasn't quite as popular back then or maybe not as promoted as widely in schools as it is now. So I had both those things on the resume and found it fairly easy to get in there. Had a good first experience, but quickly realized that high tech R and D type of environments weren't really my thing, so then moved to Texas.

[B]

Okay. How would you say the liberal arts helped with what you do now?

[C]

Thinking and outworking people? I think liberal arts is really good from, you know, I tend to find the amount of reading and writing I had to do prepared me really well, because you'd be shocked how many people I work with that can do neither, especially on the writing front. And. And people find it really hard to put ideas into concise, properly worded, statements. And so a lot of my career has been in PowerPoint. And so being quickly able to distill something into something that is understandable and simple. I think Hillsdale trained me well for that. And I would also say because I went on to do an mba, that the training I got at Hillsdale, I mean, the NBA was frankly a lot less work. And I found that I was very well prepared in all the finance economics courses that I had to take as part of my MBA program. So I felt like it set me up well on that front, which then of course is just one more thing to put in.

[B]

Was there like a niche class and elective or something that didn't align with your major that really influenced you at Hillsdale?

[C]

Boy, that's a good question. I mean, because I finished in three and a half years, I literally graduated with, I think, the exact number of credits that I needed. So I didn't take a lot of other. You know, there were. There were electives obviously within business that I had to take. And I would say it was more the upper level. I would say it's more around my minor and what I focused on. So I took more in microeconomics than probably I had to. But that's the stuff that I really enjoyed and I think it helped give me a good understanding of markets. Dr. Coppock, who's now at the University of Virginia, had a money and credit course that I took that was very helpful. Just. Just help gives you a good understanding of banking, financial markets, how to take on loans and debt, and all of those things I've at one point or another in my career put into practice. So I think it just gave me a good grounding and understanding of the world and how markets work.

[B]

What do you do with your job right now? How does that work?

[C]

Yeah, so right now I. I lead a business transformation program at Philip 66. And I would say I use probably a little bit less of my education, but of course, everything kind of compounds and your experience grows. And that's what positioned me to do that. But before this job, I was in a corporate strategy job. I led corporate strategy for Philip 66. And in that capacity, it's how to read markets. It's. There was a healthy amount of valuation of companies. So I was also involved in some M and A activity then how to think about the valuation of the company, how to position the company in public markets. So that's everything that I learned went into that. All of my experience kind of led to that. You know, certainly the things that you learn in microeconomics. Macroeconomics is part of your core curriculum and then your foundational courses on how to run a discounted cash flow model and do the math for that. All of those things I put into practice weekly, frankly.

[B]

What's your biggest advice to a Hillsdale student who's looking to go into the finance fee field and industry? What's your biggest piece of advice for them?

[C]

It sounds kind of corny, but just continue to be interested and continue to learn, continue to ask questions. I think every employer likes that. And so nobody's ever going to get tired of you asking why you may have a different opinion. Help me understand it.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

So I think that's. That's probably number one, just intellectual curiosity. Over 10, 15, 20 years, it. It built, you know, just builds your knowledge base, and that's what leads you to ultimately getting promoted and better positions and gets you opportunities that maybe you hadn't thought about before.

[B]

So when you're hiring someone, what's the biggest green flag when you're looking for someone?

[C]

Green flag or red?

[B]

Green flag. Unless you want to talk about red flags, too.

[C]

Well, I've got those two, actually. My favorite interview question.

[B]

Okay, what's your favorite?

[C]

I actually really don't like interviews that get super technical because I generally. Off of somebody's resume, I can tell if you bring me a resume and it's down in Houston, if I get a Rice you University mba, which we hire a lot of, I know that you know the basics, right? You've gotten through the coursework, you know the material. My favorite thing to ask is, what are you reading now and what do you like to do in your free time? Because if I get somebody who's reading something very interesting, either in history or some other area that's maybe outside of finance, I'm interested. If I get somebody that's only focused on financial markets and that's all they're interested in. I tend to find they don't do very well. It's people that can think well, can write, learn quickly. Those are the people that tend to stand out.

[B]

Okay, so what's your favorite interview question when you are hiring someone?

[C]

What are you reading?

[B]

What are you reading?

[C]

What are you reading now?

[B]

Do you ever ask why are you a good candidate for this job?

[C]

No.

[B]

Why not?

[C]

I mean, everybody has their pat answer for that, right? I mean, you're going to get asked that. You need to have an answer that's rooted in the company, what the company values, things of that nature. Right. To show that and demonstrate that you've done the work, you have to dig into their annual filings, their 10Ks, their QS description of their business, their annual report, if they make, if they produce one. Not every company does their latest investor material. You go through all that stuff, you have to know that stuff. It's going to come up and you need to exhibit that you are living the company values and what they believe in and that you can articulate them beyond that because everybody kind of does that, that's successful. If you don't do it, you're not going to get the job, I can tell you that. But if you do that, it still doesn't separate you. There has to be something different. I tend to do these as part of an interview process with other people. So once you're at a bigger company, I typically have two or three other people interviewing them as well. So along the way somebody's asking that anyway. So I tend not to focus on that. I tend to like more of the behavioral probing things on what are you interested in? What is this person really about?

[B]

So you're really looking for a well rounded person who's curious.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

And is they know what they're doing or whatever they're applying for.

[C]

But they also, I mean obviously if, if it's something like a, a Treasury position where you need to know how to manage cash, there's aspects of that that you have to dig into. But the things that are of greater interest to me are, you know, can you continue to learn? Because even if you're hiring somebody to senior level, you can't stop evolving.

[B]

I think that's such a good takeaway. Well, that's all the time we have today. Thank you, Mr. Tracy, so much for joining me.

[C]

Of course. Thank you.

[B]

I'm Lily Fay Kramer. This has been beyond the Bubble, a career services podcast connecting students with alums thank you so much for joining.

[C]

Thank you. Lily Fay.