Should i Not be looking up people i am interview w/ on Linkedin?

I googled someone I will be interviewing w/ on Monday director of IT operations and he was the engineering Director at Apple from 1993-1999, should i be even more nervous now?

The position is for a semi entry level Noc position that I'm really hoping to land

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networker050184

Just relax and you will be fine. If looking people up makes you more nervous then don't do it.

the_Grinch

I actually always look up the people before I go to an interview (if I know their names). Nothing wrong with knowing who they are, where they came from, and where they went to school. Though I might suggest not letting them know you did it. I did a search on the head of forensics at a company and found a lot of stuff. He noticed I was an EMT and commented that he was as well. I replied "at RIT right?" He was a bit shocked and said yeah then spoke about it for a bit. When I made a comment about the town he lived in and operating a HAM radio he seemed a somewhat off put. Didn't get that job haha

gbdavidx

All I can think about is the interview and its not until Monday and how badly i want to get out of my current position

Zartanasaurus

Look them up so you can find their weaknesses and exploit them during the interview. That's what Batman would do.

But seriously, looking them up so you can find something interesting in their background to talk about could work in your favor. And it fits into the "do your research into the company you're interviewing with" mantra.

networker050184

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

Look them up so you can find their weaknesses and exploit them during the interview. That's what Batman would do.

You always want to go into an interview ready to strike fear into the hearts of the interviewers.

QHalo

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

Look them up so you can find their weaknesses and exploit them during the interview. That's what Batman would do.

I can't rep you any more. But thanks for the Friday laugh. As to the OP, I always look people up. Chances are, they're probably doing the same to you. Private browsing is not just for surfin pr0n, wait what?

gbdavidx

Would it be too much if i had my Lead at my current position send over a letter of recommendation to the recruiter??

networker050184

Well, for one I wouldn't tell your lead until you accept an offer but if you already have I wouldn't do it anyway. I think letters of recommendation are pretty useless. Maybe if it were from a VP or above, but still pretty useless IMO.

gbdavidx

my lead and i are pretty good friends after work so I tell him when I may have something come up, he's not going to say anything to my boss

Disgruntled3lf

I would be impressed if someone came in with research done on not only the company but on the key players as well. It shows initiative and a desire to be prepared. It also shows that this person is capable of doing research and operating somewhat independently. All to the good.

stiltner

This is the exact thing I did. When I went for interview, (the company is private, so not a lot of public information on them) I Googled and learned as much as I could.
When they asked me " What do you know about our company?" I smashed it out of the park with knowledge.

My total compensation differential due to doing my homework...I went up about 80-100%.

gbdavidx

stiltner wrote: »

This is the exact thing I did. When I went for interview, (the company is private, so not a lot of public information on them) I Googled and learned as much as I could.
When they asked me " What do you know about our company?" I smashed it out of the park with knowledge.

My total compensation differential due to doing my homework...I went up about 80-100%.

So should i not be worred about technical questions any more w/ management? from my expierence in past interviews supervisor's asked the technical questions and management asked more of the other questions like what is your greatest weakness/ strength type questions

would this be a fair judgement?

AwesomeGarrett

Proper preparation prevents poor performance. You brush up on your technical trivia and experience. The rest, in my opinion, really is your personality.

RouteMyPacket

I've looked people up before interviewing or before I interview. It's normal

Akaricloud

I've made it a point to always ask who I will be interviewing with, remember their names and look all of them up. Because of this I've been able to bring up being the graduate of the same university, sharing similar hobbies and having similar factors of motivation.

In my opinion it shows you're detail oriented and helps you connect with your interviewers.

instant000

Go ahead and look the people up. It is no big deal. You're expected to do that.

Most companies have a public website.
If it's a public company, some financial information about the company can be looked up easily.
If employees are posting up information about themselves in public forums (LinkedIn, for example) then go for it.

If you're nervous about the job interview, then you want to rehearse it. Make some mock questions for yourself, and practice answering them while facing a mirror. Record yourself if possible, and play yourself back. Would you hire someone who sounded like yourself? If you have someone to give you the interview, even better. They can give you feedback on your tone, posture, etc.

If you're not familiar with the location, drive by the day before, to make sure you can find parking and the entrance.

Once you rehearse, you should be a lot less nervous.

Hope this helps.

P.S.: I'm still laughing about the Batman joke over here.

gbdavidx

I'm getting a list of questions and answers ready, good thing its a phone interview! Gonna have it up on my tablet!!

MentholMoose

Disgruntled3lf wrote: »

I would be impressed if someone came in with research done on not only the company but on the key players as well. It shows initiative and a desire to be prepared. It also shows that this person is capable of doing research and operating somewhat independently. All to the good.

I research companies before interviewing but it's hard to make use of the info during the interview. It is not like interviewers will be quizzing you about their organization. With some effort, though, it's sometimes possible to score some points by mentioning something learned from the research.

goldenlight

The main thing is to take your time when answering questions . Your not expected to spit an answer in less then 3 seconds.

Know a little bit about the company.

Try to focus on the skill set you have that will benefits that employer..and back it up with an examples from your previous employer or real life and you will be fine.

this has actually calmed my nerves before walking into an interview

The Technomancer

MentholMoose wrote: »

I research companies before interviewing but it's hard to make use of the info during the interview. It is not like interviewers will be quizzing you about their organization. With some effort, though, it's sometimes possible to score some points by mentioning something learned from the research.

I've had the opposite experience -- nearly every phone screen I've done has been opened with "So, do you know what we do?" or some variation of that. It's a great way to show off the research that you did, and then you close by being self-deprecating (Well, that's what it looks like to me anyway), then turn the question back on them to get them talking ("How close am I?" or "What would you describe the company's core mission as?").

Remember, you're interviewing them as much as they're interviewing you.

ande0255

gbdavidx wrote: »

So should i not be worred about technical questions any more w/ management? from my expierence in past interviews supervisor's asked the technical questions and management asked more of the other questions like what is your greatest weakness/ strength type questions

would this be a fair judgement?

I'd be prepared for more technical questions, definitely bring something with to write down technical questions, I think that shows that you're at least being mindful of trying to solve them even if you're not sure of the answer.

For my last interview for a VoIP position, we established immediately that I didn't have any experience and couldn't answer VoIP related questions, so they threw a couple light technical questions at me to establish I knew some basic CCNA topics and proceeded to interview my soft skills.

So most of the interview it was questions about me personally, and I used every question as an opportunity to sell myself, and talked about how rewarding it was to move forward with certifications and break/fixing my home lab. I spoke with the hiring manager during the offer process to follow up some questions I had before accepting the offer, and one thing he told me was that talking about how I learn new technology in my free time, as that means I bring more skills to the job every day and can move into any field within the company (cloud services, architecture, video,etc). So DEFINITELY prepare examples of how you expand your knowledge outside of work, and give real examples, as they probably will ask you for details. Don't say I read WIRED magazine unless you actually do, as they may also have a subscription

Here are some questions that are very common between all the interviews for me in the last year:

- How do you manage your stress while at work? I answered by talking through issues with coworkers to vent it out, and get an objective view of the problem

- What do you do in your free time? I answerd first with some outdoors stuff and the manager gave me a "wrong answer" posture, so I talked about setting up / breaking / fixing my home lab and he immediately said great answer out loud.

- Where do you see yourself in 5 years? I always begin with current skills, how I've come to obtain them over the last X years, and where I'd like to see them in 5 years. This is a very open question that is a great opportunity again to promote yourself and your work.

- Why are you the best person for this position? This one is critical to nail as I've found it's usually the closing question on their side before you interview them with some questions. I told them hiring in me would be an investment in a future network engineer or architect, and then proceed to grab the bull by the horns and asking questions back, firstly what type of positions are the next steps up from the one I'll be hired for and ask them questions regarding those positions and start into my questions for them. Always ask if they have any more questions before you start with yours though.

That's about all I got for you, good luck!

Rob1208

To answer your original question I wouldn't mind if someone looked me up on LinkedIn prior to an interview. After all, isn't that what LinkedIn is for? If I didn't want anyone to know about me I wouldn't have a LinkedIn profile.

I was interviewing a candidate once and he brought up photography which happens to be a hobby of mine. We instantly connected. What he didn't do though was say something to the affect of "So I understand you like photography?". If he had worded it that way it would just come off as awkward even though anyone could easily find the fact that I like photography on a social networking site.

The fact that the individual you're interviewing with is a Director and was an Engineering Director at Apple should not make you uncomfortable. He's a person just like any of us.

You should also do your research on the company. When I interview candidates and they know nothing about the company it shows they haven't prepared which comes across as unmotivated and not detail oriented. If a person cannot put in the effort to prepare for an interview, how much effort would they be willing to put in on the job?

One more tip... you mentioned how much you cannot wait to get out of your current position. When I ask people "Why did you leave company XYZ?" or "Why are you looking for a new position?" and they start complaining about the company, their manager, or their job they may as well leave the interview. Even though they may be legitimate gripes, they have no place in an interview, as it gives the impression of a potential attitude or personality issue and the impression that they may be unable to cope with difficult situations.

Hope this helps... good luck!

zrockstar

Looking them up is fine, especially if you can use the information to frame a question about them, people in positions like that generally love talking about themselves. I would probably ask something like, " I see you worked at Apple who is very big on company culture. Coming to XYZ Corp, what were your impressions of the culture here, and how did you adapt to the change?" That gets him talking about himself and shows you have a deeper interest in the company. As far as being intimidated by the actual position -- don't be. You would be surprised at how deep the director level is at Apple. He was not THE engineering director he was AN engineering director. There are probably hundreds of them. THE engineering director at a place like Apple is an SVP. So don't worry, relax, he is just a guy like you and me, and at the end of the day if you don't get the job, be thankful having had the opportunity and learn all you can from the experience.

RouteMyPacket

I did this a few years ago..look the guy up..he had 15yrs experience or something, mostly Sys Admin...I get on the call to talk about a network engineer position. It took me all of 5-10 minutes to know I wouldn't take the job..he came across as a micro manager that had no clue what he was talking about..

I mean, he wanted to buy a 4500 series switch so he could use it for his new voice vlan. lol Nah, that's all you man.

Cleverclogs

I sort of did this when I was interviewed by my present boss last year. A guy working in my office had worked with him, and told me that he had a very dry sense of humour. Was quite helpful