Interview Advice

IronmanX

Its been years since I've done an interview.
Any advice? This posistion is heavy on IT security.

scaredoftests

Read up on security, get a notebook and put down any questions you may have about the position, research the company you have the interview with and try to relax.

NetworkingStudent

Be ready to answer the question tell me about yourself.

Here is a good worksheet on this:

https://careerservices.princeton.edu/sites/career/files/Tell-Me-About-Yourself.pdf

Keep answers the employer asks you short and to the point.

Try to tell stories instead of answers to a question.

Arrive ten minutes early to the interview, but not any sooner.

Dress to impress.

Bring copies of your resume.


Things NOT to do on interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGu1E7q3SCo


It Soft Skills Chat part one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1QrKCXwdY0

IT Soft Skills part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfiy2BQZ9iE

Prepare for the interview
http://mikenation.net/files/Preparing_for_the_Job_Interview.pdf

renacido

Long response, so I put the main ideas in bold.

First thing to know, the fact that you're being interviewed means the company needs someone to fill the role badly enough to invest serious time and money into the hiring process (not to mention paying the new hire wages and benefits). So good news, they need someone who is good at what you (hopefully) do.

Second thing to know, the job advertisement may ask for a PhD with 100 years of experience and every cert in the history of IT, but that doesn't mean the person who gets hired meets any/all of those. (Google the term "purple squirrel") Even those things that say "required" or "must have" rarely are deal-breakers unless there it's a regulatory/license-oriented/statutory thing (i.e., DoD-8570, security clearance, citizenship, etc) and even some of those just need to be obtained in a relatively short time after hire. The vast majority of these items are things the "ideal candidate" will have. Most organizations can't afford to leave positions vacant and spend time and money recruiting forever waiting on that "purple squirrel" (ideal candidate) to show up. You may be the best qualified candidate in the pool, which is good enough to hire.

Most hiring managers are busy being managers, the interview process is time-consuming, so just getting an interview is something to feel good about. Usually the hiring manager has at least skimmed your resume for 15-30 seconds (this is realistic) and decided they want to evaluate you for the role. If there is a screening interview with a rep from HR, that normally happens before your resume even lands on the manager's desk, so once the manager sees your resume you're moving to the next stage, the technical interview.

The tech interview is where usually a mid-senior level engineer or analyst will ask relevant technical questions related to the position you'd be filling. The purpose is two-fold: verify that your technical qualifications in your resume aren't bullshit (review your resume because you WILL be asked about things on it), and get a general sense of whether or not you can handle the technical depth required in that job (which may not be the same). Best advice for this: do not bluff if you don't know the topic. Give the best answers you can, describe situations where you applied that knowledge (the best interviewers ask you to do precisely that), but if you're stumped, just be honest while describing HOW you would FIND OUT the answer (or resolve the issue, including asking for help...example: "I'd call and ask the network team to check ...") if you needed to on the job.

Once you pass the tech interview, normally the manager will ask some behavioral interview questions to see of you'll be mature, reliable, and a good fit for the team/company, and team leads you'll be working with will want to ask some situational questions to see how you would be to work with. Best advice part 1: be you on a good day. Be yourself, be genuine, but be you "in a good mood" - helpful, positive, team player, committed to being a valuable part of the team. Best advice part 2: be prepared to ask good, informed questions about the role, team, company, what the deliverables are, etc (this shows you are truly interested enough to do your homework, and take their needs and expectations seriously, not expecting to collect a paycheck just for showing up.)

Finally, relax (a bit). Remember what I said earlier about the purple squirrel. Read the job description carefully, and think about what you've done in the past to apply and/or develop the skills and qualifications they desire. For the skills/experience/qualifications you don't have, think about how to address those gaps. Mastery of related areas and interest in the opportunity to learn those new skills are positives. People get hired for what they CAN do with excellence, not for lack of what they can't.