Interview advice that got me offers

source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25519718 Dec 24, 2020

For behavioral interview questions

prepare and tell stories. and someone even mentioned S.T.A.R format which is new to me.

This is something I have never done before my most recent job search but it has been a huge help. Previously all my interview prep was on tech and I pretty much winged it for the behavioral stuff since interview prep guides seem to always focus on the tech side. Plus it always feels worse and more obvious when you struggle with or fail to properly answer the tech questions.

What I did is I prepared 10 different stories about my career experience and then tagged them with a bunch of prompts. For example I have a story about one project that had dual PMs that experienced a lot of scope creep and eventually fizzled on release. I can now use that story to answer a broad range of questions from failure to various project management approaches. Overall I now have prepared stories to answer probably 50-75 different questions immediately.

Another benefit is that I have also told these stories multiple times in interviews now and I get better telling them each time. Even if the answer isn’t 100% relevant, I feel more confident and likely come off better launching immediately into a detailed story about my experience rather than trying to awkwardly come up with an answer on the fly. It is also easy to drop irrelevant parts or expand on specific details when the basic framework of the story is already something that feels natural.

I will even have the document with all the prompts and story bullet points open whenever I am doing phone or remote interviews. I could probably even create a cheat sheet to use for in person interviews since I usually would bring an executive style notepad with me anyway to interviews to jot down notes about the company.

Maybe this is obvious advice, but I think I am relatively smart and never done it previously or even seen this approach recommend so I am guessing there are other people who could use this tip.

STAR is an acronym that stands for:

  • Situation: Set the scene and give the necessary details of your example.
  • Task: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation.
  • Action: Specify what actions you took in the situation to complete the tasks
  • Result: Share what outcomes your actions achieved.

By using these four components to shape your anecdote, it’s much easier to share a focused answer, providing the interviewer with “a digestible but compelling narrative of what a candidate did,” says Dea.

about recruiters

One additional tip on recruiters: have a cheat sheet ready (web page or public Google doc) that answers the basic questions they’ll have for you and makes clear your expectations.

Here’s the info I ask them to provide:

  • Job Title and Salary

  • Job Description

  • Company Overview and Location

  • Steps in Hiring Process

Whenever I’m emailed by a recruiter, I politely thank them for reaching out, paste the link to the cheat sheet, and invite them to review it and write back if they still think I’m a good match. It quickly separates the professionals from the wannabes.

about reaching out

You can reach out to companies that interest you directly, using their career page, finding people who work there and contacting them (LinkedIn, or via Twitter but preferably through an introduction), or some combination of both. You’ll usually get a message back if your online presence shows some sort of proof of skills.

I got most of my jobs this way. It becomes easier later as your network grows and can vouch for you. If you don’t have an existing network to help introduce you, find some people working where you’re interested, contribute helpful stuff to their GH projects and ask them a referral. Takes more upfront work but it creates an internal ally who will be interested in helping you get in.

It’s fairly easy to get someone to push your resume forward internally, if that person has some sort of (even benign) reason to think you’d be a good hire. Everyone wants to hire good people and often we’re compensated for referrals who pan out.

  • I know my manager has had people reach out cold on LinkedIn. His profile makes it pretty clear he’s hiring so he doesn’t mind at all. If he gets a good vibe he’ll setup a call between me and the potential candidate. If that all goes well we’ll kick off the formal recruitment process.

Never give the first number?

I agree. The company should tell your first what they are willing to pay you for and never share your current or previous salary.

And it never hurt to know your value and do your own research.

Honestly I tried this every time I was interviewed. Never could get them to give the first number. I probably should have been firmer but usually the pressure of the situation led to me giving a number I would be happy with.

  • I’ve actually done a few of these calls at this point and i know what the best practice / right move / way to play this is, so instead of me telling you what i’m looking for i’d like you to tell me the range on your hiring document:"" and just be totally silent.

    Worked twice for me now.

  • Being silent is incredibly effect during negotiations. It’s arguably the biggest “secret technique”.

    Most people want to fill the audio void and will talk. Extensively.

go in to interviews already holding a job offer

I think the most valuable thing to know about interviewing is: go in to interviews already holding a job offer.

So to be clear I’m saying: interview at companies you don’t like until you get an offer.

THEN rush the recruiters at companies you do like to get you scheduled quickly, because you are holding an offer and they don’t want to miss out.

This lights recruiters and hiring managers on fire. It makes sure you have practiced enough to succeed. It destresses the interview for you since you have a backup.

It is the ultimate and most powerful interviewing technique.

Adding to this, schedule your interviews from least desired role to most desired. You will get a ton of practice interviewing and white boarding, and have offers in hand before you interview at your goal role. This is doubly true if your goal role ends up having an exploding offer.

Besides FOMO(fear of missing out, added by me) this has the added benefit of boosting your own confidence. You already successfully interviewed once and you are more relaxed.

From my experience job hopping usually pays off (at least financially). Bumping your salary in the next job by 50% is not uncommon while may be much harder to achieve when staying at the same firm for years.

As others have pointed out before, interviewing is a skill that can and should be practiced. The best way to prep (except grinding through leetcode problems) is to go to a real interview and practice telling real stories from experience and solving problems in real time under stress. So yeah, I would definitely recommend going to at least a few interviews for jobs that might not be your first choice before going for that “dream job” interview.

humility and openness

Your mad technical skills no longer matter to them. If anything, humility and an openness to learning will show you in the best light.

I’ve been interviewing for the last couple of weeks and I agree with this. Being a “good” human being, i.e. candid, humble, kind, friendly, seems to be valued a lot more than what I thought before.

At the end of the day is people working with people, and the more humans that interactions can be, as opposed to a rigid, dry act, the better.

At least, that gives an idea of the company and if it’s a fit for me.

handle hard questions

Tip 3 is huge. I ask hard questions during interviews, and I don’t expect a perfect answer. What I do want is the interviewee to handle failure without being defensive, and to ask probing questions.

  • Same here. Some of my goto questions are questions I don’t expect a solution to. I’ll tell people that - I know some people use similar questions without telling candidates that, but I don’t think the extra pressure is necessary. I also explicitly explain to people that what I want to see is how they think, more so than the final solution.

    It tells me a lot about how a candidate will work within a team if they’re capable to actually bounce ideas back and forth and explain their thinking, and I’ve often preferred someone who doesn’t get as far but who can show me better communications skills and who seems eager to learn.

Misc

As an applicant or hiring manager, I view the interview as a meeting between two equal sides looking for a mutually beneficial fit. If there isn’t a fit, it’s ok. Onto the next interview. It makes interviews a lot less stressful and more engaging to me. But to go down that route as an applicant, it helps a lot to think about what’s needed to have those options.

its easier to train someone up in technical skills than to untrain them from being a dick