My company has been considering hiring another developer. It got me thinking about some concrete things to do in preparation for an interview. This is not an exhasutive list, just some ideas I jotted down at lunch.
- Think about stories that demonstrate your experience and successes
- Ask questions in the interview to learn what it is really like to work in the company.
- Be ok with saying “I don’t know” instead of being vague or making things up. On the other hand, having an idea of where to start after “I don’t know” seems like a good thing.
- Rember that the interview team is listening to you talk and comparing that to your resume. Be consistent!
- Remember to look around at interview participants – not just one person
- Ask questions to learn about the viability of the organization
- Listen to what is said and not said during the interview conversation to better judge the organization culture
- Assess the interview pace – fast, medium, slow. What is that telling you?
- Know what you want – for example, intellectual challenge, opportunity to make a certain amount of money, risk aversion.
- Work style – collaborative, competitive, dysfunctional, individual
Like I said, this was the output of some lunchtime thinking. There are tons of good resources out there – a little bit of awareness during an interview can help out alot.