Articles about what interviewers want have become very popular recently. I have interviewed a lot of people for IT/Digital jobs over the last decade and I have my doubts if all those articles pontificating about what interviewers want to hear are written by many with actual interviewing experience.
Here is what I, a real live interviewer, want to hear:
1. That interviewees have a half a clue about who our company is and what it is we do exactly. In my companies case it shares a brand with another company that does something totally different. This is very easy to find out in Wikipedia. If they cannot be bothered to look that up then that’s a fail.
2. As it’s technical jobs I care about, I’d like interviewees to be able to demonstrate how technical they are and to draw how stuff works on a white board. I am going to ask hard relevant technical questions to find out if they know what they are talking about but I won’t go down the Google & Facebook route of asking the square root of Pi or how many airports there are in the USA/world/wherever – this stuff is google-able. Also, if interviewees don’t know something, they should just be honest and say “I’d Google it”; obviously I don’t mean this to be used as an answer for everything!
3. Interviewees should bring a copy of their CV, I am reading everywhere now how one should have a short CV as no-one reads past page 2. Not true. If you are at mid level career and worked in more the 2 places, how on earth could you squash it all into 1 page? Okay, don’t be verbose but I need to get a feel for your experience and your achievements before I even call you to interview. Fine, leave hobbies and volunteer work etc. for the actual interview but I am the person who looks for gaps and will ask you about them. I am sure I am not alone.
4. I saw an article just today saying not to ask about flexible hours /child care /wages/holidays etc. In my experience this has never happened, this is interview etiquette 101; everyone knows not to do it and all recruitment agents would have or should have told their clients not to do it. So, to all the other article writers, it’s superfluous advice!
5. I don’t want to hear about any church/mosque/synagogue/prayer group. Ever.
6. I will ask an off the wall question to see:
A. How the interviewee handles it
B. Can they think on their feet
C. Have they a sense of humour
D. Get an indication of stuff/people/world issues that interest them – except politics of course.
If someone is going to be on a small team this stuff matters.
Be yourself, I say to them, there is no right answer. However, if we’re talking about celebrities, I don’t want to hear that they identify with air heads or lowest common denominator TV shows.
7. If it’s a contract job I don’t care where they want to be in 5 years so we won’t be going down that path.
8. If interviewees have a disgusting personal habit like snorting, hacking up phlegm, spitting when they talk, nose picking etc. then I’m afraid that’s it, show’s over.
Some 101 advice: Get to know how you appear to others and do something about it!
9. Finally, if interviewees are technically competent, I am just looking for some rapport with them. I want them to look me in the eye, smile, have a firm handshake, make relevant small talk on the way to the lift. This is also 101 stuff but human nature can ruin this bit.
P.S.
Here’s a list of things I was once asked in a Google (Ireland) interview a very long time ago, I am leaving out the answers in case any of our techies would care to venture the answers here – without using the Internet mind.
Tech questions:
-What power of 2 is closest to 2 billion?
-What is the Quicksort algorithm?
-What is the correct order of these from slowest to fastest: Disk sequencer ~Context Switch ~CPU ~Main Memory
Non-tech questions:
-What was your most recent college GPA or ranking? (Interviewer not exactly thinking about their audience there with American based criteria)
-Pick an everyday item (like an ipod or an iron) and tell me how you’d make it better?
-How would you improve any aspect of Google ?
Are the last 2 a bit of sneaky free idea generating …who knows?
A final bit of fun
I will leave you with a very amusing video created by Fast Company Studios, starring Upright Citizens Brigade actors, that reveals how employers really interpret what we say or ask during job interviews.
Bee Ooo Dee 