How to prepare for interviews?

The good news for me is I am starting to get interview appointments for tech support.

I practice before hand, but I find interviewers always throw a curve ball at me that I can't answer.

For technical questions I find myself underselling my skills because I get too nervous to answer them correctly.

How do you guys get prepare for interviews?

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Comments

djhss68

Basically, the night before, I come up with bullshit answers to bullshit questions I think they're going to ask.

I hate interviews.

EDIT: I don't mean for technical stuff. More along the lines of "What would you do in so-and-so situation", "What are your weaknesses", "Why do you want to work for us". etc

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

djhss68 wrote: »

Basically, the night before, I come up with bullshit answers to bullshit questions I think they're going to ask.

I hate interviews.

EDIT: I don't mean for technical stuff. More along the lines of "What would you do in so-and-so situation", "What are your weaknesses", "Why do you want to work for us". etc

Amen. I do the same thing. I usually try to come up with three weaknesses. I've had that thrown at me before. It kind of caught me off guard because I expected them to only ask for one. From that point on I've prepared myself.

Gundamtdk

djhss68 wrote: »

Basically, the night before, I come up with bullshit answers to bullshit questions I think they're going to ask.

I hate interviews.

You're not the only one.

The only thing interview proves is that only people can B.S. can get the jobs.

Gundamtdk

Do anybody carry any notes with you to the interview?

phantasm

Gundamtdk wrote: »

Do anybody carry any notes with you to the interview?

All I bring is a leather portfolio with copies of my resume and a pen and paper for taking notes. That's it.

networker050184

phantasm wrote: »

All I bring is a leather portfolio with copies of my resume and a pen and paper for taking notes. That's it.

I bring this and copies of my certifications also but I've never been asked to see them.

laidbackfreak

i take all the above... (certs, resume )

plus I take printouts of the company web site, key areas that kind of thing.
I do also take notes with me, usually just an a4 page with questions I want to cover\ask
and a few prompts for me to make sure I cover the areas I believe are core to the role and how I will fit in.

Sometimes I need them most of the time I dont, it just helps keep me calm n focused

msteinhilber

Gundamtdk wrote: »

You're not the only one.

The only thing interview proves is that only people can B.S. can get the jobs.

I disagree, a good interviewer can see beyond the B.S.

In addition, I've asked questions at all of the interviews I have been on that help me determine if the company is a good match for me as well as me being a good match for them. I typically carry a leather portfolio as well and I have questions written down for people I am going to be interviewing with. I always try to structure the questions that show genuine interest and thought, not simple questions like "what would the duties of the job be" but things such as a recent consulting interview I was at I mentioned what I thought were the firms biggest selling points in my opinion, and then asked "if I were a customer, what would you say your best selling points would be". I always like it if the questions I ask can both give me some insight as to how things are run, as well as make me look like a really strong inquisitive candidate.

kate88

Thank you this is a very good information.I hope that this will help me to get a good job.Excellent hints for interview.I did not have a good idea what to do for the interview before!!!

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WillTech105

Gundamtdk wrote: »

You're not the only one.

The only thing interview proves is that only people can B.S. can get the jobs.

True to a certain point. Kind of what msteinhilber mentioned earlier -- if the company (or at least the person doing the interview) is a person who can easily be persuaded -- then BSing can work. But I've been on interviews where basically a robot walks in -- doesnt even ask me a "how are you, my name is ABC" -- just sits down and starts throwing technical scenarios at me and what would I do.

And just a fun tibet -- that employer had me interview with FIVE people in a three hour timefame. At the end they really low-balled my offered salary and I declined their offer.

rwwest7

Gundamtdk wrote: »

You're not the only one.

The only thing interview proves is that only people can B.S. can get the jobs.

This is what people with poor people skills always say.

Paul Boz

It comes down to how good the interviewer is at interviewing people. For example, at my company to hire an engineer you usually have to speak to several people. The two directors over engineering sit you down and explain the job in detail, then ask you relevant experience-based questions. At that point they leave the room and one or two engineers enter. On the engineering side we're usually very friendly and try to make it as little like an interview process as possible. I start by asking about a summary of experience and why he or she would want to work in offensive security.

I then ask them technical questions that their experience and certifications dictate they should know. For example I did a technical interview yesterday and the guy had several firewall certs and security job experiences so I asked him a point blank question about whether he understood the format and contents of IP, TCP, and UDP headers, and to give me an example of when knowing that information was helpful. If you're a firewall admin you should know these things. If all he had were Microsoft certs I would have not asked him that question and would have gone in a different direction. I try to ask only questions that their experience says they should know.

My best advice is to look at your resume and decide what knowledge it represents. I can't answer questions about active directory on an in-depth level but I should damn well know about routing and switching. If any employer sees that you're capable of X, Y, and Z you should be able to talk about it.

GT-Rob

I used to get nervous about interviews and really prepare for them, now all I do to prepare is iron a shirt.

Interviews are soooo much easier if you just go in a be yourself. Don't try to put on a show of something you are not, just go in and have a conversation. Think about it, an interview is a chance to talk about yourself, and as men, that is generally the thing we like to do most! So try to actually enjoy the time spent in there, and make it a positive experience.