Recently I had to interview a few candidates, I work in a international company and the interviews are done in English, even if the candidate and I spoke the same language.
Being interviewed is stressful enough even more if it isn’t conducted in your native language.
You are nervous and still need to find the correct words it’s not for every one!
Typically the candidate is interviewed by two or three persons which can be pretty intimidating.
I know you are nervous and out of your comfort zone (that’s the idea!!). I’ve seen candidates stutter, trembling, sweat and taking a huge time to answer a question.
Fo me the hardest thing being forced to end the interview only because the candidate is not by far suitable. That’s probably due to bad phone screening, but the fact is that is a waste of my time and the candidates time to continue the process.
So here are a few tips to help you reach the end of an interview
Money as motivation is a No No
When you are asked why do you want to work there please don’t say you need more money, at the minimal, do your homework say that you like and identify with the company and are looking forward to a new challenge
Don’t ever say you you want to work there because of the salary, that will just make you look like a mercenary and I will not be confident enough that you will be working for a long time.
Do not lie
I understand you want to make your CV stand out, there is nothing wrong with it but don’t say you are experienced in a technology when you aren’t
Once I had a candidate that said he was experienced with OOP having worked with OOP for 3 years and in the actual interview the truth come out he only had 6 months experience
Show you are smart
Once I was interviewing a candidate that stated we build and used is own framework for coding, one of the first questions asked was Why.
I was expecting a standard answer like I researched frameworks X,Y and Z but they didn’t met the requirements, so I opted to build one.
Instead I was given a “I’m too dumb to understand itâ€
You are being interviewed for a role, you need to be smart, please don’t say you reinvented the wheel because you couldn’t figure it out
Show you are passionate
One of the most important things, specially in a tech role is to show you can adapt and learn
I always try to see the potential, the most important is not what you know now but what you will be able to know in the future
Be sure to show you are passionate about what you do and be ready to explain why you choose this path. Don’t say you end up in this profession by accident or because it pays well, it only show’s you are just another one
Show interest
And finally show interest about the company and the role you are applying. I once interview some one who didn’t knew the company name!
Ask questions about the company, it’s business model and ask questions to the interviewer, ask if he likes to work there, why did we choose that specific company
Show that you are interested and that you care enough to actually research the company!
This will not get you a job, but at least it will ensure that the interview won’t be killed by some stupid mistake!