Interviews For Beginners – Guide/Opinion/Advice

If you’re seasoned at interviews and you’re constantly getting offers, this post is not for you. This post is for the people who can’t seem to get an offer or feel like they are dropping the ball when it comes to interviews. I’m not a hiring manager of any sort, but I have some advice and tips I’d like to share.

First, let’s start with what I feel is the biggest part of the interview: Know your audience. This is true for an interview and any presentation/talk. In an interview, you are a salesman. You’re selling yourself. But knowing who you’re selling to will help determine diction and depth of explanation. So, who’s giving you the interview? Possible future colleagues? Possible future manager? HR? This will determine how technical you should get.

Now, let’s talk about the “I don’t know” responses. It’s fine not to know everything thrown to you in an interview, especially if you’re fresh; however, I would not suggest answering with a simple “I don’t’ know.” For most questions, it’s not about seeing if you 100% know the answer, but the process of you trying to figure out the answer. “I’m not entirely sure, but knowing process A and process B and little of process C and how they relate, this seems like a possible solution” sounds a lot better than “I don’t know.” You may be off, but it shows that you put some thought into a question and had a bit of troubleshooting techniques into your answer. You want to know how processes relate. Also, don’t be scared to think out loud. It is encouraged. You shouldn’t have a long pause. Talk yourself through a problem. Remember that in the real world, you’ll most likely have Google-Fu to use.

That brings me to my next point. Don’t cheat. If you’re asked a question in a phone or Skype interview, don’t start hacking away at your keyboard. The interviewer can hear! If it is something that you’d need to Google, say that. Nobody is impressed with cheaters and liars. You know when you were in school and your teacher said you wouldn’t have a calculator at any time. Well, that’s not true, but you learned the processes better without a calculator. The interviewer knows the strengths of Google and Google-Fu is a really good skill to have, but don’t try to pass it off as remembered knowledge.
Now, I’m not going to focus on what to wear too much. You should know the popular opinion. Don’t wear red. Dress appropriately (slacks, dress shirt, dress shoes, tie, maybe suit). But remember to look neat. I’ve seen wrinkled suits. Get it pressed. Iron or steam your shirts. Why go through the effort of wearing nice clothes if you’re going to look sloppy. Tuck in your shirt. Buy clothing that fits you. Baggy clothing looks sloppy. Be clean shaven. Keep your hair neat.

Be yourself. Unless you’re a horrible person haha. People want to hire someone that is knowledgeable and someone they feel like they’d get along with. You’re going to see each other a lot, so you don’t want to clash often.
Ask questions! It shows you’re interested and shows that you’re not afraid to ask questions. What would a typical day be like in the position? What is the work culture like? What type of growth plan does the organization offer? What type of mentorship program does the organization offer? How big is the team that would be working with you? Remember that while the interview is important in selling yourself, the organization is also silently selling themselves. That means if you’re the right candidate for them, you have to find if they’re the right organization for you.
Take notes. It’ll help you come up with follow up questions. It’ll also help you look up stuff later that you didn’t know during the interview.

Be prepared to answer anything about your resume. Don’t lie on your resume. If something is listed as a core strength on your resume, you better know it.

Be prepared to answer questions that relate to the job posting. The job posting would discuss some of the responsibilities that you’d have in the position. Do you actually know them? Make sure you do or at least can be trained pretty easily.
Now, eye contact. It’s very important. Don’t keep your head down. Keep focused. If you have multiple interviewers, don’t just focus on the one that asked you the question. It’s like a presentation. You’re not just addressing one person. You’re addressing them all.

Those are some tips/advice or whatever you want to call it. Comment what you think.