Job Interview advice/tips

[Aurara]

Well shit, I should just have an interview with you guys over Skype or something and you can tell me what I'm doing wrong. I swear I do all of this and still can't manage to secure the position.

Lol i kinda wanna do this sometime >_>;;

[Bumbles]

Part of my job is to prep people for interviews. These are just examples of what people fuck up on. Give all the interviewers a copy of your resume/credentials.
Research the company this will be important at the end. Some interviewers like quick and short answers no more than 20 seconds per answer unless you need to. If they ask, "tell me about yourself" use 3 adjectives describing your personal qualities, So like I am hard-working, knowledgeable, and a team player (relate to the job).
Also when you go in to the interview learn your interviewer(s) names and use them when they address you. Personalize it.
Keep it a conversation and show that you can hold a conversation with them. Eye contact and confidence is important. Don't be afraid to ask questions about the company (if you did research you should know the answers don't ask questions you don't know the answer to). (This is kind of ballsy but, you can ask one of them "what do you think is the most rewarding part of this job").
If they ask you about strengths and weaknesses do this : for your strengths use the 3 adjectives again you can re-word it if you want to. If they ask about weaknesses spin it into a strength this is an example "My mother makes the best pasta ever, I have tried very hard but, I cannot match her pasta all my friends say that my pasta is the greatest pasta they have ever tasted but to me its not good enough one day I will make a pasta better than hers." Don't make the weakness about your professional habits/ experiences, you can make up some bullshit most of the time, they interview 5-20 people and will probably forget all about it, but in turn never bring homemade pasta. If they ask "where do you see yourself in 5 years, say "working here as a seasoned worker (if you want to be ambitious say a supervisor or some shit)." "What are your goals?" "Learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can, and execute all I have learned to the best of my abilities." At the end make sure to ask questions about the company or purpose of the company or whatever pretend like you care. Thank the people for the opportunity. Don't ask about pay, if they don't tell you ask when you can expect to hear from them.

edit: oh ask like 4-8 questions don't irritate them, show that you can be a team player and you take direction well (even if you don't). edit 2 this is just a pet peeve of mine but don't use a clip on tie.

[The Stig]

Bumbles, I'm curious. Obviously you train people to give basic answers, such as what you said:

hard-working, knowledgeable, and a team player

I was reading a newspaper the other week which talks about resumes/interviews and basically it was saying "don't be too cliched" because words like you described there would come across as *rolls eyes* for the interviewer. Obviously in this case, for the OP, it's a first job and he's very junior/young, but as it stands, would that answer be acceptable for someone a little more experienced? Or would it still be acceptable to provide basic/boring/cliched answers to the interviewer?

I ask because I am thinking that those answers would automatically put you in the rejected pile. I know you said you train/prep people for interviews, but in what context, I'm not sure, so this is just an " up in the air" question. You could be training very young people, or the same, older and more experienced people. I don't know of course.

OP, if you're reading what I am saying, please don't take it to heart, it's just that as we're on the topic, and someone here says they train people, I wanted to know their input.

[Alvinho]

Be brutally honest. I got my current job by basically saying what needed to be said, but nobody wanted to say. At a previous job (in the US), I also got a 2 dollar raise when questioned why I didn't do something I was told to. I told my boss straight up "well, I feel so underused that I spend most of the day doing practically nothing, and by the time something to do came around, I was so used to doing nothing, that it completely escaped my mind."

Balls of steel, son.

[Tyche]

Know the mission statement. Memorize the mission statement. Work it into conversation. "the reason I chose to work here is your mission...blah blah blah."

[Hiryo]

Mostly going for customer service and account management stuff, things I should actually qualify to do.

What should be a good amount of time to spend in an interview. My last 2 interviews were 50min and 45min from the time I was told to arrive to the time that I end up sitting in my car. I always believed that the longer you can converse with the interviewer, the more information that can obtain from you. Of course, the newer, ballsier attitude being showcased on the internet is to keep it 30minutes maximum and tell them exactly what they are missing if they DON'T hire you. I'm not really sure if I'm ready for that step lol. However, if my interviews are too long then I need to shorten my answers.

[Enedin]

In general, you need to be remembered by them (stand out and be interested) in a positive way (be confident and polite and show respect) that relates to the position (make it clear that you have the skills and attitude that you need for the job).

Balls of steel accomplishes the first two.

[Kerberoz]

Interviews for low-level positions are mostly just for weeding out asspies and slobs. It's a pass/fail system. Since they called you to come in, you'll get the job as long as you don't mess up. Stick to the cliches, keep your spaghetti in your pockets, and you'll be fine.

[The Stig]

I remember goiing for a second interview 2 weeks later into some office.

The security guard, despite not really having talked with me when I first visited the office, got my temp pass ready for me already. When I asked, how did you know, he said "because you left a good impression last time". That felt good. I didn't get the job in the end when it was between me and the other guy. Turned out he had more qualifications than I did, so they went for him lol

Talking about balls of steel, I recall a story being told, not sure if it;s true or not.

Some guy turns up for an interview.
Interviewer does his usual, and then at one point asks "do you know what risk is?"
The guy answers "yes" and walks out the door and office and never came back. He got the job after a second interview lol

Trying to find the source, but not much luck for now.

[Waraji]

Shit the only advice I can give is, don't bullshit them, and they won't bullshit you. Tell them what you can do, based on what the job description is. If you are not as efficient in a certain aspect of the job, say so, but that you are capable and eager to learn to do it. If you're in school, even better, since you can leverage that with the skills you may/not have and how both parties benefit with the experience of you working there.

[Racey]

For the love don't slouch. Every time I interview someone your age for an internship or help desk position I get at least one cocky kid dressed nicely that comes in and slouches and they have never gotten the position. Also these questions people are telling you to ask should not all be about what the employer can do for you or what you think you're entitled to. Not saying that you would, but it is a far too common situation in the IT field and never ends with us choosing to hire that person. Honesty and enthusiasm are the best things. (Everyone knows you're nervous, everyone is nervous on an interview so don't worry about it) Let your geek flag fly. Let them know you have a strong work ethic and are willing to put in the effort.

[Tweek]

crazy to me someone can be in college and has never had a job before

[Cream Soda]

He's white!

[zoobernut]

He's white!

I am white and come from an upper middle class family and I still had several jobs before college. Being white is no excuse!

[Aurara]

crazy to me someone can be in college and has never had a job before

Not sure if this was meant as a snide remark(assuming not, so please don't take offense)? But I didn't have a job simply because I did swimming/waterpolo in high school, and every summer i would go back to MA, or in the case of 2010 I did Semester at Sea, in which I was gone the whole summer and had 0 opportunity to get a job(I did several unpaid jobs on the ship). And Summer of 2011 I really didn't do shit, so that's my bad.

[Nevex]

The days when job reviewers were pretending to be gullible morons are long gone so attempting to fool them into believing you're Mr. Perfection not only will not work, but it will also backfire spectacularly.
They'll see through your lies and start asking questions that will put you in a lose/lose situation. You don't want that.
Be honest, let them know if you have any flaws or weaknesses and you'll make a much better impression.

[Tweek]

Not sure if this was meant as a snide remark(assuming not, so please don't take offense)? But I didn't have a job simply because I did swimming/waterpolo in high school, and every summer i would go back to MA, or in the case of 2010 I did Semester at Sea, in which I was gone the whole summer and had 0 opportunity to get a job(I did several unpaid jobs on the ship). And Summer of 2011 I really didn't do shit, so that's my bad.

That's cool man everyone has a different experience makes a lot of sense considering what you did in the summers. for me everyone i knew worked from ~16 during school years etc some of us started a couple years earlier. I didn't mean it as a snide remark and hope you all the best in getting the position, I didn't really have any other advice to offer since I came to the thread late and most people offered genuine advice



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