The Best and Worst of Job Interview Tips
Over the past two weeks, I have come across a number of career development and interviewing articles. Out of this group of articles and blog entries, I have seen some of the best and some of the worst possible advice given to mankind in the name of interviewing.
Let's start with the worst tips first, so we can get the taste out of our mouths. I really hope this was a joke, but I couldn't find anything to indicate that it has satirical or humorous in any way. Just what was this guy thinking?
Some of the questions aren't outright bad, but could certainly use some tact in how they are asked. For instance, numbers 3 and 6 just scream "I'm lazy, and looking for the easiest path possible to showing up and being paid". There's no way I'm hiring someone that asks those questions, particularly in the manner they were written.
Now, moving onto some good advice: InfoWorld magazine has produced an IT Jobs Special Report which contains several really good resources and articles, including an interviewing article written by a headhunter. In general, the advice is very good. However, as a colleague of mine noted, the premise that you must look for the right job for you is highly utopian. There are so many things that can impact the perfect job -- even as quickly as days after you've accepted the offer, that you have to be able to deal with circumstances that are a little less ideal than that.
However, I won't argue with the overall premise that if you aim for the proper job, half of your work is done. (One can still have the perfect business plan for the supposedly perfect job and not get it because the hiring manager or interviewer is not equipped to deal with the interview, but one can always rationalize that as a case of the company not being the right one in the first place.)
The key to successful interviewing is to use the time to find out as much about the business and the opportunity as possible, as well as to sell the interviewer on the benefits you bring to the team and the organization. Obviously, this requires that you do some homework in advance, but in the same way that the interviewer needs to see you in person to glean additional details, you have to make use of that interview time to gather similar nuances about them as well.
In any event, the keys to job hunting and career development is to take all advice with a grain of salt, use multiple sources of information, try not to get way outside the bounds of your personality, and plan, plan, plan.
The more prepared you are, the better you'll adapt to surprises.
About Logik!
Andrew S. Baker aka ASB aka Logik!
Andrew is an accomplished, hands-on IT Executive with a solid track record of providing timely and cost-effective business solutions using technology. With over 16 years experience in Information Technology, he has proven to be effective both as a Team Leader and as an individual contributor in designing, deploying, securing and maintaining enterprise networks.
His personal interests include Astronomy, Basketball, Bible Study, Chess, Comics, Computers,
Family Life Ministries, Reading and Strategy/Role Playing games...
Some of his contributions include several whitepapers on technology and Information Security, the UltraTech Knowledgebase, various postings to technology mailing lists and forums, active participation on LinkedIn Answers, along with a number of interviews for articles published in industry magazines.
A condensed version of
Andrew's current resume is available here.