Interviewing Tips From Your Future Boss
photo: nbc
‘PaleoSprockets’ is a guest contributor and has been an electrical engineer for over 40 years.
Last year, my team and I interviewed a candidate for a technician position. He didn’t do so well on the technical interviews administered by some Spock-like engineers of mine. This surprised me since I really liked him; he had great experience, and he came with glowing recommendations. But in the end, we ended up not hiring him because of the technical interviews.
A few days after the interview, he did something that impressed the hell out of me and ultimately landed him the job — he thanked me for the interview and asked me if I would tell him how he could do better next time. He said he was not used to rejection and wanted to improve his interviewing technique.
After some deep thought, I pointed out to him something that is important: if you put something on your resume, you should be ready to talk at length about it. His resume included some very specific technical projects that he was unable to explain and that bothered the interviewers.
Technical Interview Questions
So you’re nearing the end of what is probably the most stressful pop-quiz of your life: the technical interview. But you’re doing great though! You knew what a quaternion was and you totally nailed that pinned-beam question — pun intended!
And then suddenly, a lob. The interviewer leans forward and takes a short sip from his Dilbert mug. “Tell me, if the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hands on the clock?”
Is this a joke, you think. This is an engineering position, isn’t it? Is he checking to see if I’m awake? You quickly visualize the clock.
“Zero”, you respond confidently. The interviewer grins. “Hmmm… good.” An awkward silence fills the room. Somewhere off in the distance, a dog barks.
The Front: a Job-Hunting Perspective
Blaine is a guest contributor who graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a BS in Aerospace Engineering.
I have been searching for a job now for about a year. I would not let this scare you as I graduated from college at the worst possible time ever — at the beginning of a recession.
But regardless of the fact, I have had much experience in job hunting, so I have compiled a list of things that I think might help an undergrad student in finding a job.
The First Job: Referrals
photo: bizzia.com
Quick tip today.
Still not hired? Getting your foot in the door at your favorite company can be difficult. The dirty secret is that companies like to hire reliable, smart, competent individuals. But before you copy/paste those keywords into your cover letter, consider an alternative route. The best way for a company to check if you meet these obvious standards is to ask someone who they already know. And there’s your ticket.
Referral programs may be the holy grail of the job market. Now all that partying networking in college pays off.
Hop on Facebook or MySpace or whatever you kids use these days, and hit up that successful old roommate of yours. If you can score a job, your buddy gets a nice paycheck bump while you get the opportunity to squander your youth in a job you’ll eventually resent. Win-win.
The First Job: Shotgun Approach
That diploma suuuure looks good, doesn’t it? All that hard work and sacrifice, spelled out in curvy letters and signed by the Governor. But now, after your post-graduation trip to Europe, you can’t even afford a damn frame for that beauty. Time to get some money.
With the economy sitting in a negative first derivative and US companies digging in for the long-haul, getting an entry college-level job is as difficult as it’s ever been in our lifetime.
Now that you’ve got your resume nice and pretty, send it out in bulk. In this job market, I highly advocate the shotgun strategy. Most tech companies these days have a decent career page with a bulk-apply option. Just make sure to attach a somewhat personal cover-letter to mask your job-sluttiness.
Tell Your Friends
