How to Ace an IT-related Job Interview
Now is definitely not the time to let your interview skills get rusty, especially with all the unexpected layoffs companies are having. Here are some tips to help you stand out from the crowd of job-hunters (and potential employers, too) so that you ace the interview and stay in the running for that much sought after job!
Whether you're looking for work or looking to hire, one thing you can't afford to overlook is the importance of a strong interview. This is particularly true in development, where technical interviews impose unique demands. Here are a few tips for people on both sides of the interviewing table.
For Interviewees, the most underused answer in technical interviews is, "I don't know." No one knows all the details on today's platforms. Feeling around for the correct answer to a technical question makes you look bad. Also, don't pad your resume with long lists of technologies that you supposedly know. Just because a technology was used at your company and you got within 10 feet of it doesn't mean you know it or should tout it on your resume unless you are an expert at it.
Make sure to bring some sample code, even if the interviewer doesn't ask for it. About five or six printed pages will do, and it need not be a complete program or module. This will impress the people you most want to impress. If the interviewer doesn't want to see it, that tells you something, too. Don't forget to stress the business value of your past contributions to a company. Most interviewers are a hybrid of business-oriented and technically-oriented. If you have that same balance, it will make you stand out. If you can't articulate the business value of your contributions, you need to take stock of yourself. There are two main possibilities: you simply don't care about the business side, or your contributions aren't really very valuable.
For Interviewers, make sure you are well prepared for the interviews and don't just wing it. If you're doing any significant amount of interviewing, you owe it to your company to have a list of questions you can ask, so that you don't have to think them up on the fly. Also, make sure to ask a combination of technical and "soft skill" questions. You need to gauge technical competence, but non-technical skills such as teamwork, attitude, process knowledge and so forth are at least as important.
Don't forget to ask for sample code. Stress that it need not be a complete project, and that you only need to see a few pages. Occasionally, someone will reply that all of their code is proprietary and they can't give you any. You can decide if that's a dodge, but it's a clear signal that the candidate doesn't do any serious professional development outside of work.
Keep your body language neutral while candidates answer soft-skill questions so that the person isn't feeling you for what you want to hear. You'll have many candidates who will be washouts in the first five minutes. Don't become abrupt or careless about your treatment of those candidates. It can hurt your organization's reputation among other developers.
When you're finished asking questions, give the candidate a chance to ask any questions of you. That includes asking you why you asked about certain things. They may have been coached to ask generic questions about the company, but what you're hoping for are deeper questions that reveal general inquisitiveness.
If your or your managers don't know how to successfully conduct interviews, there are always soft skill elearning courses they can take that will help them learn proper interview techniques. They can take computer based training courses so that they can easily learn on their own time.
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