Made a Key Code at the End of a Technical Questionnaire:

johnIT

I recently had a pretty intense third interview with a top saas software company for a junior position I really want/need.

I spoke to the director for about an hour an a half even tho it was only supposed to go for an hour. Then he hands me a stack of paper and it's the technical interview. A 50 question test!!

They don't say I can't use my phone so I looked up and referenced a lot of the answers just to get the terminology right and to confirm that I was on the right track.

Then once I was finished I went back over the test to the ones I checked off that I knew or didn't know and the ones I referenced or Googled.

So on the last page I created a little key like on a map that tells them how I got to the answer I put down and marked each of the 50 questions with symbols from said key.

I feel like this tells them that I'm not some security expert know-it-all. That I want them to train me in some of this stuff despite the fact that I found the right answers on Google.

If you were a hiring manager or sales director and a junior employee or intern did this in an interview what would you think? And would it matter if I got some questions wrong still?

johndoee

LOL

This reminds me of an interview I had with Verizon years ago in Northern Virginia. 

I had no idea I was going to be given a paper test and wasn't prepared. Needless to say, I never heard from them again.

Long story short, everyone left the room and of course I had my cell phone but my. pride and integrity wouldn't let me use it. 

It was just funny you said they didn't say you couldn't use your phone so you used it hahahahaha That literally made me laugh. If they don't explicitly say no it's yes...

It's like, how can you ch -ea-t and still get answers wrong? 

johnIT

johndoee said:

LOL

This reminds me of an interview I had with Verizon years ago in Northern Virginia. 

I had no idea I was going to be given a paper test and wasn't prepared. Needless to say, I never heard from them again.

Long story short, everyone left the room and of course I had my cell phone but my. pride and integrity wouldn't let me use it. 

It was just funny you said they didn't say you couldn't use your phone so you used it hahahahaha That literally made me laugh. If they don't explicitly say no it's yes...

It's like, how can you ch -ea-t and still get answers wrong? 

Some of them were worded weirdly or was a concept I didn't exactly know how to Google. Like, why would a customer do such and such. It usually ended up being, I didn't know customers did such and such or didn't even know what to google so I just guessed and marked it as such on my key. 

Without my phone I would have bombed that test b/c they didn't tell me the test would be that day, and I hadn't heard of 80% of the things on it. This is for a very junior position and they are gauging how I interact with the director as well come up with solutions, so I think/hope I will hear back from them. 

paul78

johnIT said:

If you were a hiring manager or sales director and a junior employee or intern did this in an interview what would you think? And would it matter if I got some questions wrong still?

I think it would be just fine. And I would actually appreciate the candor and the extra detail and effort to create the key. It's a nice touch, imo.

Good luck with the next steps and let us know when you hear back.