Cv for Interviews

Posts Tagged ‘Interviewers’

Although some might think becoming friendly with the interviewer is an easy way to
get hired for that perfect job, quite the opposite is true. You want to remain
professional and not attempt to sway the interviewers position by being friendly
instead of professional. You want to show your professional skills and training
rather than to identify with the interviewer by talking about personal things. The
discussion should focus on the job for which you are applying and why you are the
most qualified person. The interviewer is likely to be seeing a number of people, so
you do not want to take up his or her time talking about things that have nothing to
do with the job.

The purpose of the interview is to find out if you are a good fit for the job and the
company. In order for the interviewer to be able to do that you must remain
professional and make certain the conversation is business-related. In regards to
any personal questions the interviewer asks you want to answer only what he or
she asks. If the question is whether you are married, the answer should be yes or
no and not an autobiography of your married life. If the interviewer wanted to know
how long you have been married and what your husband or wife does for a living,
he would ask.

Make sure you do not provide any negative information on former employers. Even
if your last supervisor was a real nasty person, do not mention that. It is not even
necessary to mention that you left your last job because you were unhappyall you
need to say is you and the company were not a good fit. Many companies today are
not providing information on the reason an employee left for legal reasons, so in
most cases all they will know is your position and the dates you worked for the
company. Do not go into any more details than necessary about former employers
stay with how long you were with the company and the job functions you
performed. Certainly if you were the victim of downsizing you can state that but
again, keep it brief and to the point leaving out any details unless the interviewer
asks. Keep the interview professional and make sure your answers are right to the
point without any unnecessary and unrequested details provided.

In order to get the perfect job you have to first pass the interview process and get
to the hiring manager. That means you have to know how to conduct yourself at
the interview in order to even pass the first stage. There are some places that will
hire you directly without going through the hiring manager but you still have to
pass the interview process to be hired. Many people just go to an interview and
have no idea what they need to do or how to conduct oneself and end up losing the
job because of it.

One of the places many people go wrong at interviews is not having a clue about
the company or the position. Not all companies ask that question but you have to
be prepared. It makes you look foolish if you dont know anything about the
company. They assume if you want to work for them you will take the time to find
something out about the company. You do not have to know a great deal, but you
should at least know what the company does and the types of products or services
they provide.

Before the interview you should also prepare a list of questions you want to ask the
interviewer. Most of the time the interviewer will ask if you have any questions, and
if you dont have any, the consensus is that you are not concerned enough to ask
any questions rather than that the interviewer covered everything. However, if he
or she does not offer the information, you do not ask about the salary at the
interview. This is something that is against interview protocol and should never be
asked until a job offer is made. Most interviewers will discuss the salary as part of
the interview process but if that is not the case, do not ask.
If you are not sure where the company is located, leave extra early for the
interview or do a dry run the day before your interview. You want to avoid being
late by getting lost, and though this may not be possible if the company is out of
town or you are leaving from another job, make every effort to make sure you
know exactly where the company is. If you are not sure and cannot leave early
from another job, make sure you obtain explicit directions from the company where
you are going.

The job interview is the only chance you have to present yourself in a positive light
to a potential employer. If you fail to do that, you kill your chances for being hired.
Of course, most of us do not fail at interviews by choiceit is simply the employers
choice to hire someone else. However, some things a person may do that are
completely out of line and will kill all of their chances of being hired.
Being late to the interview
Although there may be some circumstances that are beyond your control, for the
most part if you schedule your time properly, there should be no reason for not
arriving at the interview on time. Things such as an unforeseen traffic delay or
being unable to find the employers place of business are acceptable if you have
allowed enough time initially. Do make sure to call and communicate with the
interviewer.

Inappropriate dress for the interview
In most cases it is inappropriate to go to an interview wearing jeans, shorts or
other casual attire. If this is acceptable the interviewer will tell you at the time they
schedule the interview. If you are leaving one job to go for the interview, make
sure to let the interviewer know that ahead of time in the event your current job
allows casual dress.

Taking calls on your cell phone during the interview
At no time is it acceptable to accept a phone call during an interview or to provide
the interviewers phone number to others. If you have children that may become ill,
make other arrangements for their care. The employer is going to see this as a sign
you will be unwilling to arrange care for your children and will expect to leave any
time they are ill.

Discussing personal business with the interviewer
Although the interviewer may ask you a series of personal questions during the
interview, do not offer any information that is not directly related to the job. For
instance, if you dont drive, he may ask how you will get back and forth to work if
there is no public transportation and you can say that your husband or boyfriend
will take you and pick you up, but there is no need to discuss other issues. The
interviewer doesnt care if you are buying a new house, getting married next week,
or having problems at home.

Top 10 Job Interview Questions with Tips on How to Answer

1. Can you tell me something about yourself?
This is the probably the most terrifying interview questions of all time and the most difficult to answer as well. As an applicant for a certain job, youd be wondering what the employer wants to know. Whats the point of asking this kind of question? I suggest that you should relax and think of this situation as a great opportunity to impress your employer. Well, the technique here is you should answer them with something that supports your career goals. Avoid telling those things about your name, your birth date, where you live, hobbies and other extra curricular activities. It would be better if you tell them something relevant about your qualifications and employment history.

2. What are your strengths?
Be sure that you tackle those points that would help you do the job youre applying for. Tell something about your technical skills and your qualifications and be sure to support them with specific examples.

3. What are your weaknesses?
With regards to your weaknesses, you should answer them with things that you are improving upon and make sure that it is work related. Do not just tell your weak points; you should back up your statement with things that you are doing to improve your weak points.

4. How do you handle stresspressure?
Some companies have a type of interviews where in a group of interviewers ask you a set of questions. Some interviewers purposely stir up emotional responses by asking questions in a challenging manner. Their purpose is to find out how you handle the stress.
If you were asked about this question, just relax and keep your self calm because they are already observing you. Just describe how you handle pressure by being honest and direct, but avoid being anxious.

5. What do you know about our company?
Before you can answer this question, you must have a research about the company you are applying to. Knowing their mission and vision can help you make the interview more interactive. It would be better if you tell them that you want to know more about the company. This shows that you are interested to the company and you really wanted to be part of the team.

6. Why do you want to work in our company?
If you were asked about this question, the first thing that would come into your mind would be Because you have a job opening. Well, those are clear answers but it wont give you additional points on your interview. Those kinds of answers might sound sarcastic and may possibly annoy the interviewer.
The point of asking this question is to determine whether you have an idea about where you want to work or youre just applying to any company that has a job opening.
Having a brief research on a company before your interview can help you to stand out as a competent applicant. It would be helpful if you can think of some reasons about what you can contribute to the company.

7. Why do you want to leave your current job?
Not all interviewee can deliver a straight forward answer to this question. Of course you have your own reasons why you want to leave your current job. You should be careful in answering this question. By all means you should keep your answers in a positive manner. As much as possible, do not give them a hint on how much you hate your current officemate or your boss. At this point, the interviewer is testing your attitude. The firm wants to hire someone who has the potential to become part of their team and not a negative one who can pull them down.

8. What can you contribute to our company?
Tell them your qualities that are related to the position you are applying for. Give them some ways in which you can help the company grow and be productive by sharing your thoughts and ideas. Show them your dedication and your willingness to be a part of the company.

9. Why should the company hire you?
Basically, this question is about selling yourself. Just like the first question, telling something about your self. Develop a sales statement and be more detailed as much as you can. Tell them something about what makes you unique and what you can contribute to the company. Think of your qualities you have to offer that match on what the employer is looking for.

10. Where do you see yourself five or ten years from now?
In answering this question, you should focus on your career-advancement goals that are related with the job you are applying for.

Interview questions are very tricky and you should be more careful in answering them. Your future career relies on how you deliver your answers. Respond appropriately, just relax and be yourself.

Ah, the technical interview. Nothing like it. Not only does it cause anxiety, but it causes anxiety for several different reasons.

How many people will be asking questions? From experience I can tell you theres nothing like walking into a room and seeing nine people on the other side of the table.

Second, what will you be asked? Youll sometimes hear people say the questions they were asked in a technical interview were easy, which translated means they asked me stuff I happened to know. Sometimes youll hear people say the questions were hard, which translated means they asked me stuff I didnt know, or they asked me about stuff Ive never even heard of.

Having been on both sides of the technical interview table, Id like to share some tips for those being interviewed. In doing so, Ill share some of the more memorable interviews Ive been involved in.

No good interviewer expects you to know everything. The problem is, youre not always going to be interviewed by someone whos good at it.

Sometimes, the person whos giving you a technical interview was asked to do it about ten minutes before you showed up. Maybe theyve never interviewed anyone before, or maybe theyre just in a bad mood. Ive heard of technical interviewers where the interviewer derided an answer, and thats totally unprofessional. Ive had many a job candidate give a bad answer to a question, and my only response was silence followed by moving on to the next question. If your interviewer mocks any of your answers, you didnt want to work there anyway.

None of us know everything. If youre asked a question you just dont know the answer to, dont try to BS your way past it. This is a good opportunity to tell the interviewer how you would research that particular question. Its not about knowing everything, its about being able to find out anything.

If your interviewer acts like heshe already dislikes you, thats because they do. I once worked with a technician who felt threatened by anyone who applied for a job there, but especially if the applicant had a professional certification and then had the nerve to know what they were doing.

This technician participated in a group technical interview where the applicant was an incredibly bright guy, and had a particular skill that the department really needed. Problem was, the technician considered himself the man when it came to that skill. Recipe for disaster, right?

The applicant fielded four questions from the rest of us flawlessly, then faced this particular tech for a question. The threatened tech had a list of questions for the interview, but decided to ad lib. Big mistake. He asked a convoluted question that Rube Goldberg would have been proud of. When he was done, the applicant answered:

You cant do what you just described.

The tech started defending his question, and it became obvious that he hadnt been able to follow his own question! The interview went into a bit of a meltdown from there.

Realize right now that there are some unprofessional people out there giving technical interviews. Be prepared for it, but remain professional yourself.

Be prepared for a practical technical interview. The best technical interviewers find a way to get you in front of the technology youll be working with. A great way to quickly find out whether you know what youre talking about is to ask you to actually perform common and perhaps some not-so-common tasks. We can talk about technology and take all the computer-based exams we want, but it all comes down to performance. Be prepared to prove you belong on your interview day.

Be professional. This covers a lot of ground, so let me make a quick list for you.

Show up 15 minutes early. Nothing makes a technical interviewer more surly than waiting for the applicant.

Dress for success. The way you look when you walk into a room leads to your interviewers first impression of you.

Dont chew gum during the interview.

Dont be arrogant. Look, theres nothing wrong with having an ego and acting confident. I do, and you should. But dont come into the interview room acting like youre too good to be there.

Finally, relax. Easy to say, hard to do? Not really. Realize that the majority of interviewers youll ever meet are going to be professional about the entire thing. The worlds not going to end if you miss a question. If you were not qualified on paper for the job, you wouldnt be in there.

Do not look upon the interview as something negative. Rather, look at it as an opportunity to prove you know what youre talking about. With the proper mental attitude, your technical interview will be a springboard to the next step in your career!

Chris Bryant

CCIE #12933

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There are many things that you can do that can take some of the pressure off during an interview. The way that you behave is one of the most important. Its not all in the words that come out of your mouth, but often has a lot to do with the mannerisms that you use.

Interviewers are not just wondering if you are skilled enough for the job, they are often wondering if you would fit in nicely with you co-workers. Your personality is a big part of your interview and can make all the difference. Here are some of the little things that you should pay particularly close attention to during an interview.

You do not want to be chewing gum or breath mints during your interview. You also dont want to speak in slang during your interview either. It is unprofessional and rude.

Show Confidence

You cannot enter into an interview with a defeatist attitude. You cannot mope or exude too much placidity in your manner. It is not inviting, and does not give the impression of a person that you want to face every day.
Be sure of your abilities without appearing cocky or narcissistic. You want to let you interviewer know that you are equipped to perform well at your job, without alienating other workers. You should point out your accomplishments in your field while remaining somewhat humble.

List your accomplishments in a matter of fact way without going into too much detail. I know this sounds repetitive, but you can never get this point too strongly. Understand that body language plays a large part in exuding confidence to others. Sit straight. Practice good posture, and keep your head up.

Keep a Positive Attitude

You should always try to smile and keep a positive outlook during your interview. If what you are hearing something that doesnt sound good to you, dont frown and look disgruntled, just keep a slight smile on your face until it is time for you to say something. Then approach your interviewer with your questions or concerns when the time is appropriate.

Maintain Eye Contact

Keeping eye contact with your interviewer is very important, especially when one of you is speaking to the other. If you are looking around the room or at the items on the interviewers desk, you will appear uninterested. Just imagine what you would be thinking if you were speaking to him and he was looking all over the room. You would probably think that you already lost the interview.

Body Language

Weve touched on this a little bit but you should mind some of the common errors that many people make when they are speaking to others. Ive listed some of the common things that you should avoid when sitting through an interview.

Avoid fidgeting while speaking to your interviewer. It shows a lack of self confidence.

Avoid speaking while using overly expressive hand gestures. It is distracting.

Avoid biting your lips in between sentences. It gives the impression that you are making things up.

Do not sit with your arms crossed because it makes you appear stand-offish.

Do not shrug your shoulders when asked a question that you are unsure of. Take a second to think of your response. Shrugging your shoulders gives the impression that you dont know the answer.

Dont answer with nods and head shakes. Use your words to answer questions.

Get plenty of sleep the night before the interview. You dont want to yawn in front of the interviewer. He will think that you are expressing boredom.