Successful Interviews

Everyone has probably read hundreds of articles and books about how to successfully face an interview. More often than not, all these articles state the same points in different ways. What we tend to forget is that the interview panel consists of normal people like us who have also gone through this phase and have read all these articles when they faced interviews and they are aware of all the tricks mentioned in them. What I am coming to is that, everyone knows when you are faking something right out of the books.What interviewers are looking are for is originality and spontaneity

Of course, tips and tricks will differ with the domain. Tips that apply to a Software Programmer's interview will not be applicable to a Marketing manger's job. Coming from a business software development background, my observations and suggestions below are more towards facing a Software interview in specific but some points can be applied to any interview in general

1. Dress Code:

   Almost all books ask you to wear a business suit for an interview.Though this is the safest bet and ensures that you are aware of office etiquettes, I have rarely seen this matter to software folks. Never do we ever wear these suits when we sit at our desk trying to churn out business code. So why fake it. I would suggest your best business casuals with a matching tie (tie, only if comfortable) which makes you look well dressed but casual enough to approach your interview with confidence and your natural self.

2. Introduction:

   You will be advised to introduce yourself with a pleasant smile and greet everyone on the panel before you sit down to face the interview. I completely agree with this etiquette. I have seen some books suggest starting some casual conversation like the drive to the office, the weather etc. I will suggest to keep it to a minimum where you do some quick talking to convey that you are someone who can express himself but also know when to stop! If you start telling stories about how you just missed an accident getting to the office, the interviewers are most probably going to give you a miss.Just be precise and keep this introduction conversation to about a quick minute

3. Talk about yourself:

   "Tell me something about yourself." This is a favorite question at interviews. It gives the interviewers a chance to gauge many things. They want to know if you can talk and express yourself but also that you can talk right. They don't want to know when you were born and what pranks you played as a little kid.But then we all know that and neither do these books advise you to do that. Apart from your communication, the interviewers are also looking to gauge your technical expertise so that they can ask you related questions. This sets up the direction of an interview. My observation has been that most of the jobs are decided on how successfully you answer this question. Since you are given the opportunity to talk, its expected that whatever you tell them you know, you know it very well. The questions are most probably going to be directed to what you say you know.You can steer your interview if you are well prepared on this question. You must be aware about the client's requirements. You should stress on the skills that they are looking for so that they feel confident that they have the right candidate in front of them. Again, keep it precise and stick to the requirements at hand and the domain in mind. If you are interviewing for a company who deals mostly with Insurance projects, please don't talk more about the fantastic project that you did for a finance company. Sure, you can mention technical aspects involved, which will interest the interviewers but try to talk more about any insurance project you may have done so that they are more in known territory and direct questions well.

4. Answering technical questions:

   There is no special trick to this one but to answer the questions correctly. Having done very well in Point 3 above can get the interviewers excited about your potential. But, this can only be proven if you answer these questions correctly. Some books suggest that you don't question back the interviewers in this phase. I disagree. You don't have to snap back but you can certainly ask them, say, how did you design your software using a particular technology when some other option seemed to be a better fit. This is very polite and also shows that you are interested in knowing more about technology and also the project you are being hired for. You can ask similar questions which also steer the interview in the right direction

Most books suggest that you have at least a couple of questions ready to ask the interviews to show your interest in working. This is certainly useful but can be easily caught as a fake question. For example, one of the interviews, we finished with the candidate and asked him if he had any questions for us. He was ready. He immediately asked a prepared question, if hired, will I be working in this building or the building across the street. This question totally put us off. If you look at it, the question is perfectly about work and the project but the context of asking it so wrong. So, please make sure that you keep the questions restricted to the project and technology but also keep it in the correct context.