Job Interview 101

[Studio Touch Visagie]

Hey guys, I thought we could all contribute towards a thread to give other users some tips for job interviews. I'm going to add a few tips from my own experience, things that actually happened in interviews (I have administered several interviews for execs at a software company) and most of the tips here are valid for just about any company.

Alright let's start.

1. This one is offensive to most people but it's true, I have seen this over and over. If you're tall and handsome (male) you already have a 50% better chance of securing the position than the other candidates. If you're female, cute and well-spoken (all three, that's the prerequisite) you have 80% better chance of getting the job than the tall handsome guy.


2. Dress correctly for the job type, and no matter what that might be leave your sneakers at home. Unless of course you're going for the Justin Timberlake look which could be a hit or miss affair.


3. Practice your speech skills. People with high qualifications but the inability to talk about it proactively in the interview rarely get the job. I have witnessed people with zero qualifications get positions simply because they "sound like they can do the job" according to the execs.


4. Be trendy. Executives like it when candidates bring in a fresh approach to things. Google some phrases that are currently hip and happening and try to use that in conversation. Phrases like "cool bananas / cool beans" are tried and tested as it can be cool yet sophisticated, and sometimes funny. Execs just love 'cool yet sophisticated'.

Don't use phrases like "No pun intended". Nobody (apart from NAG magazine readers) cares if your puns were or were not intended. Don't ever say "No offense...". They'll focus and what you have to say next and be offended by it. Don't mention how you might want to improve on this or that at the company unless they specifically ask you to.


5. When it comes to hobbies, there are certain ones that you should avoid revealing no matter how much you love them: Rallies, street dices, hunting (sometimes frowned upon), fishing (don't sound like you're boring), gaming (don't sound geeky), skateboarding (execs think it's anti-social or punk). Anything that high society yuppies would frown upon is no-go.

Ones that Execs love: Hiking, Kayaking, Horse-riding, Mountain climbing, Reading novels, Blogging (about arts and music of course), Music (classical, artsy or yuppie like Parlotones).

Hobbies are actually very important. Open-minded Execs can discuss and analyze a candidate's hobby for hours and make various (usually BS) conclusions about it. They'll even Google it to match hobbies to personality types so be careful. Remember, the key here is Hip and Happening.


6. When you communicate with the interviewers pre- and post interview via email, follow some general language rules. Don't ever emphasize words with all caps. Ever. Emails with sentences like "Hi I REALLY enjoyed the interview I cannot WAIT ..." will be deleted. You are mocking their intelligence doing things like that.

Don't type any sentence in the email message's subject (students do this all the time) unless you want them to laugh at you, reply in the subject with "bye-bye", and then delete your email.



I'm going to take a quick power nap and then I'll continue. Please do add some if you can, but it has to be from experiences that actually happened.

[Dune]

What would be good to say if you are a applying for a technitian job and you are not exactly in your early tewenties, it will be your first IT job?

[Tribble]

That depends on what sort of tech position it is. Junior? You are perfect - Snr - well you will have a problem. What is your experience?

[Abatis]

3. Practice your speech skills. People with high qualifications but the inability to talk about it proactively in the interview rarely get the job. I have witnessed people with zero qualifications get positions simply because they "sound like they can do the job" according to the execs..

i cannot stress this enough, know your skills, be able to sum yourself and your skills up in a min to two minutes depending. and try to reinforce this in later conversation by saying where and how you used these skill

[Rid1]

What would be good to say if you are a applying for a technitian job and you are not exactly in your early tewenties, it will be your first IT job?

Know how to spell your job title at all times... gammar nazis very rarely get any jobs!!!

[Siemens]

Email me and I'll send you a compilation of interview questions. It's very very usefull.
alexjg42@gmail.com

[Tiza]

The first thing anyone notices is your shoes and finger nails, so polish those shoes and cut your finger nails.

[Cupis]

5. When it comes to hobbies, there are certain ones that you should avoid revealing no matter how much you love them: Rallies, street dices, hunting (sometimes frowned upon), fishing (don't sound like you're boring), gaming (don't sound geeky), skateboarding (execs think it's anti-social or punk). Anything that high society yuppies would frown upon is no-go.

Ones that Execs love: Hiking, Kayaking, Horse-riding, Mountain climbing, Reading novels, Blogging (about arts and music of course), Music (classical, artsy or yuppie like Parlotones).

Hobbies are actually very important. Open-minded Execs can discuss and analyze a candidate's hobby for hours and make various (usually BS) conclusions about it. They'll even Google it to match hobbies to personality types so be careful. Remember, the key here is Hip and Happening.

as said this is very important. On a few accounts i have heard an interviewer comment on my hobbies that 'I am happy you get out and take a break'. In my opinion its a good indicator of the morale probability of your 'future employee'. I personally would not want to hire someone for an IT related job, if i knew he went home, and sat down at the computer and continued to 'square out his eyes'. i would only see that as a ticking time bomb. Although people say and appear to be happy doing this, human nature is not one to sit confined in a room, on a seat for his whole life. Well this is how i see it.

Another factor to see from this is that you know your future employee most probably has socializing skills. Even if you are the biggest and Nerdiest programmer out there, and sit in the closet of the basement, i would think that employers prefer have social skills on the programmer side. You want your employee's to mesh well, in order to create a good working environment for all of its employee's.

Come to think about it, you probably can fish out a whole bunch of things on this topic. So go out guys, and get hobbies get your bodies in shape you know your body asks for it. Go make friends with nature, after all its where we all came from. Socialize your socks off, because you know your imaginary friend is just not quite good enough

[hamin_aus]

How many successful job interviews have you lot had

I love how some 20-somethings (or younger) can speak with authority about what employers look for in a prospective employee.
99% of this stuff is common sense.
But then you lot cant resist trying to sound knowledgeable...

Be trendy. Executives like it when candidates bring in a fresh approach to things. Google some phrases that are currently hip and happening and try to use that in conversation. Phrases like "cool bananas / cool beans" are tried and tested as it can be cool yet sophisticated, and sometimes funny. Execs just love 'cool yet sophisticated'.

**** right off with that silliness.
Be eloquent but concise and do not use slang or stupid catch phrases.

Don't use phrases like "No pun intended". Nobody (apart from NAG magazine readers) cares if your puns were or were not intended.

How about not making puns - unless you applying for a position as a clown.

When it comes to hobbies, there are certain ones that you should avoid revealing no matter how much you love them

Bullshyte. If your hobbies are illegal or socially unacceptable, don't mention them - otherwise feel free. If you enjoy stamp collecting, or playing the banjo mention it. There is nothing wrong with being a gamer or being passionate about PC's. Especially if you are interviewing for an IT job.
Also, don't make up crap just to sound interesting, chances are your interviewer will remember that you listed horse riding as a hobby a few weeks down the road and this could come back to bite you in the bottom.

Choose your lies carefully. Lying about trivial crap like your hobbies is a waste, rather save the lies until they ask you about your job experience

Also, operating on the assumption that you will be interviewed by an "executive" is silly.
You will most likely be interviewed by your prospective manager and a member of HR. And if you are applying for a technical position he may ask about your hobbies, but probably doesn't care - until he hears you like kayaking or base jumping or some other physically demanding outdoors activities. Then he is probably going to imagine all the work you will be missing due to injury, or all the standby you will not be doing while you go camping and hire the nerd who enjoys Starcraft 2 and is passionate about computers at work and at home.

[Cupis]

lol, well my comments are what i have had interviews comment on to me and my hobbies... so what i have spoken about, is what i have seen in my interviews.

[hamin_aus]

Yes, and I have had two managers tell me that they prefer staff who are not reckless daredevils or prospective iron man champions as that usually means lots of time spent away from work with extracurricular injuries.
What I'm saying is that if you are asked your hobbies, list them truthfully. Dont make çrap up because some morans on an internet forum said employers dont like people who are not outdoorsey.
If that were true I would be unemployed.

[rustypup]

"sporty" and "social" tjops get negative marks when i'm interviewing - they suck at self motivation, can't function independently, can't focus and need constant reminders of how much "value" they're adding... and then they get their panties in a knot when their bare minimum work ethic delivers a bare minimum performance bonus...

life's too short... give me a dysfunctional obsessive any day of the week... they might be creepy, but they're efficient, focused, creative problem solvers and welcome erratic workloads like they're made of deep fried chocolate... :/

[hamin_aus]

What kind of self-loathing masochist would work for you....

I don't care how badly I needed a job, if I walked into an interview and you were on the panel I'd do an about-face and march right out.

[Tribble]

I would not be able to work for the Puppy - I would be too busy laughing all the time

[Siemens]

Since we are on the topic and since I am currently looking for work(as a quantity surveyor). I'll list a few websites that is pretty good with up to date adverts for posts available etc.
Feel free to add it to the first post and feel free to add some more websites.

www.pnet.co.za
www.ioljobs.co.za/Default.aspx (this gets published in The Star and other ioL newspapers on wednesdays)
www.gumtree.co.za
www.jobmail.co.za

[Ryan_Cooper]

I can maybe add some to this....
I have had a total of 4 jobs over the last 8 years, all of which was the first job I applied for and I got them on the first interview.

the thing that has always worked for me is .
1. never lie
2. talk about what you know instead of trying to sound clever, you can be caught out in the end.
3. dress comfortable but look representable (this works in most cases unless you applying for an exec job)
4. ask questions (this normally shows interest)
5. Be yourself (this is probably the most important)
6. be early to the interview and if you are running late let them know ahead of time
7. if you get asked technical questions don't let your answers be too complex (there are instances when you can)

[hamin_aus]

What you should do is walk into the room and ask the interviewer to say "thug aim" out loud 3 times quickly.
Then stare him down until he breaks eye contact, and then walk out.

Before you make it back to your car someone will come running to offer you the job.

[rustypup]

lose it, you will...

[StarPhoenix]

Whatever you do, if you are asked whether you mind if the interviewer
lights up a cigarette, answer politely and remember that this person may
be senior to you if you should get the job.

<cough> True story....

[hamin_aus]

Whatever you do, if you are asked whether you mind if the interviewer
lights up a cigarette, answer politely and remember that this person may
be senior to you if you should get the job.

Wat.

Where was this interview conducted - in the mens toilet at a train station

There is not one single office left in SA where smoking is permitted - so the chances of anyone ever using this little nugget are infinitesimal

[Tribble]

Where I train - most of the people coming on courses are in IT or programming. They smoke like chimneys. So we have to allow smoking on the balcony. But at least that is outside.
I must admit - I have noticed that fewer people smoke these days

[doo_much]

Whatever you do, if you are asked whether you mind if the interviewer
lights up a cigarette, answer politely and remember that this person may
be senior to you if you should get the job.

Wat.

Where was this interview conducted - in the mens toilet at a train station

There is not one single office left in SA where smoking is permitted - so the chances of anyone ever using this little nugget are infinitesimal

As far as I know, 'smoking offices' are allowed for if all the occupants agree to it and suitable ventilation is allowed for. Ventilation usually taking the form of an extraction fan?

[hamin_aus]

I'm sure it's legislature now that you cannot smoke in a public building or place of business

[StarPhoenix]

Wat.

Where was this interview conducted - in the mens toilet at a train station

There is not one single office left in SA where smoking is permitted - so the chances of anyone ever using this little nugget are infinitesimal

'Twas in the office of the company chairman.
This was for a temp. position in 1999.
The Rules may have changed since then - about time too!

Despite my indiscretion, I got the job.

[doo_much]

I'm sure it's legislature now that you cannot smoke in a public building or place of business

Tell you what - I'll find out just because you asked!