CSG's Top Five Interview Prep Tips

When getting yourself ready for an interview, whether it be a phone interview or an in-house interview, you need to make sure you are 100% prepared. Dot all the t's and cross all the i's. Er, wait, dot all the i's and cross all the t's. Anyway, preparation is key. You can't really be over prepared for an interview.

We have talked about interview preparation in previous blog posts so make sure you don't miss those, but anyway, here are Core Search Group's Top Five Interview tips. This information is directed at software engineers. However, it can be used by one and all:

1 - Be able to defend your resume like it is a Ph.D. thesis. Anything and everything on your resume is fair game. Many people crash and burn during the interview because they cant go into details about their projects. Make sure you can.

2 - Know how to say: "I don't know". You have to make some attempt at an answer. It is a number 1 pet peeve of hiring managers to hear a candidate say "I don't know" and be done with their answer. Make an assumption based on a similar tool you have used if they ask you about a tool you have never used. Then asked the interviewer if that was a safe assumption.

3 - This goes hand-in-hand with #2. Know how to get the interviewers help if necessary. Be able to ask the right return questions to get the interviewer to push you in the right direction. Part of the interview is knowing how to get help; collaborating with the interviewer to get to the right answer is key.

4 - Be able to start a dialogue with the interviewer. I have heard hiring managers say that they have a stock list of questions, but that if they ever get through that entire list, they know they don't want to hire that person. They want to be engaged and interested in conversation. They want to be taken out of the common question-answer, question-answer routine. That can be boring. Remember you are trying to make yourself come across as interesting to the person interviewing you. You are trying to make yourself standout from the pack. You have to make it so the interviewer leaves the interview setting remembering you more than other candidates.

5 - This goes hand-in-hand with #4. Have a list of solid questions to ask. If you are given the chance to ask questions and you don't, then you will sound disinterested. A great way to lose interest from the person interviewing you is to come across as disinterested in the position.

So next time you get that interview lined up. Get yourself PREPARED!!!

Look out for the next post about getting tons of interview advice online.

Peace out!

Gil