Interview skills/Content and readings/Fall 2017/Week 4

Week 4 - During the Interview: Questions and Answers
Every step in the job search journey you have taken so far has brought you to this stage: the interview process. You have probably sent out gazillions of resumes that reflect your education, experience, and career goals to potential employers of interest to you. You now have been invited to visit a company and convince the interviewers that you are the perfect person for the job! This unit offers resources to help you optimize the brief time you will spend with interviewers to learn more about their expectations, to convince them that you are the best fit for the job, and to determine whether acceptance of an offer would help you accomplish your career goals. Click here for the video on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Rs704XbTFik

The Interview Process
This article discusses how candidates can maximize the brief 30- to 60-minute interview to convince a potential employer that they are the right person for the job. This is not a time to panic but to demonstrate that you are prepared, have presented your qualifications effectively, and that you are a good "fit" for the organization. The authors also list questions to ask yourself after the interview to evaluate your success and areas in which you can improve.

Readings

 * The Interview Process, Connecticut Department of Labor

Types of Interviews
This article lists types of interviews including phone screening, selection, work sample, peer group, group or panel, luncheon, stress, video conference. A brief description and tips are offered for each type of interview.

Readings

 * Ready for every kind of interview? Learn how to be., CareerOneStop

Phone / Internet (Skype) Interviews
The phone / Internet (Skype) interview is often the candidate's first step in the hiring process. In this reading, Newberger describes the advantages to the company for this initial screening tactic and offers tips to job seekers on how to "manage" the telephone interview. The goal of the telephone interview is to secure an in-person interview. Therefore, preparation once again is the key to success! To learn how to prepare for other types of interviews, click on a link on the left of the page under "Types of Interviews."

For example, to prepare for "Behavioral Interviews," you are advised to rehearse answers to potential open-ended questions relating to your knowledge and skills. Learn about "Case Interviews" by following the link on the left of the page. This type of interview will test your ability to answer hypothetical questions by creating assumptions and forming possible conclusions from those assumptions. Other interviews listed include "2nd Interview, Site Visit," and "Meal Interview."

Readings

 * Types of Interviews, Cohen Career Center
 * Ten Tough Interview Questions and Ten Great Answers, CollegGrad (repeat reading)
 * Fifty Standard Interview Questions (and Awesome Answers for Each), CollegeGrad (repeat reading)

Videos - How to Answer Interview Questions

 * Video: How to answer "Tell Me About Yourself?" (4:25), by Jobspeaker
 * Video: How to answer "Where do You See Yourself in 5 Years?" (3:13), by Jobspeaker
 * Video: How to answer: What is Your Greatest Strength?" (2:33), by Jobspeaker
 * Video: How to answer "What is Your Greatest Weakness?" (4:23), by Jobspeaker
 * Video: How to answer "How Did You Handle a Difficult Situation" (3:45), by Jobspeaker
 * Video: How to answer "Why Should We Hire You?" (3:43), by Jobspeaker

Tactic: Acknowledge Challenging Situation & Pivot

 * Challenging situations: Acknowledge Challenge, Pivot, Share CAR Story.

Readings

 * How to Prepare for (and Ace) the Technical Interview, Staffing Careers
 * Five Tips to Crack Any Technical Interview, LinkedIn
 * How to Ace Your Technical Interview, Forbes

Videos

 * Video: Cracking the Coding Interview with Author Gayle Laakmann McDowell (9:05)
 * Video: How to: Work at Google — Example Coding/Engineering Interview (24:01)
 * Video: HARD Google Interview Question - The 25 Horses Puzzle (1:01)

Challenging Situations & WorkArounds

 * When to Acknowledge Gaps, Pivot and Talk about CARs / Transferable Skills
 * Why Recruiters Rely on The Overqualified Word and What You Can Do About It, by Russ Finkelstein, LinkedIn Post, Aug 22, 2017

Questions to Ask Hiring Managers, Recruiters & Interviewers
Although you have researched the company and listened carefully to the interviewers, you will demonstrate your enthusiasm and gain important information by asking questions. This article offers lists of suggested questions to ask human resource personnel, hiring managers, headhunters, third parties, and peer-level interviewers, and it highlights the top 5 questions to ask in each type of interview.

Readings

 * Asking Questions, CollegeGrad
 * Video: How to answer "Do you Have Any Questions for Us (3:14), by Jobspeaker
 * Cultural Fit Interview Questions by Workable