Ace Your Interview Information Technology

insider guide
ACE YOUR INTERVIEW

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
DEMYSTIFYING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS GOOD ANSWERS TO TOUGH QUESTIONS
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INSiDER
GUiDE
Ace Your Interview: Information Technology
WETFEET
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Phone: (215) 546-4900 Fax: (215) 546-9921 Website: www.wetfeet.com
ACE YOUR INTERViEw: INfORMaTiON TECHNOLOGy
ISBN:978-1-58207-999-8
PHOTOCOpyiNG IS PROHiBiTED
Copyright 2012 WetFeet. All rights reserved. This publication is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. No copying in any form is permitted. It may not be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, in part or in whole, without the express written permission of WetFeet, Inc. The publisher, author, and any other party involved in creation, production, delivery, or sale of this WetFeet Insider Guide make no warranty, express or implied, about the accuracy or reliability of the information found herein. To the degree you use this guide or other materials referenced herein, you do so at your own risk. The materials contained herein are general in nature and may not apply to particular factual or legal circumstances. Under no circumstances shall the publisher, author, or any other party involved in creation, production or delivery of this guide be liable to you or any other person for damages of any kind arising from access to, or use of, its content. All illustrations by mckibillo
CHAPTER
1
1 DEMYSTIFYING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS 2 Overview 2 What Employers
Want
2
9 GETTING READY 10 Know the Field 11 Know Yourself
3
17 THE BIG DAY 18 Look the Part 18 Tips from
Head to Toe
3 Know the Job 4 Deciphering

the Ad
21 Bring the
Right Stuff
5 Interview
Essentials
4
23 THE BIG MOMENT 30 dddd 24 Showing Up 24 Building Rapport 26 Showing Your
Strengths
5
41 FOR YOUR REFERENCE 42 Additional
Interviewing Resources
42 General
Interviewing Advice
27 Say it with Body

Language
42 Job Search
Resources
28 Master the Art

of Q&A
43 Background
Research Tools
36 Special Cases 44 IT Industry Resources 36 Reach an

Effective Conclusion
44 Salary
Negotiation Tools
37 Your Exit Strategy 38 Follow-Up
contents
Demystifying the Interview Process

Overview........................................ 2 What Employers Want................... 2 Know the Job................................. 3 Deciphering the Ad........................ 4 Interview Essentials........................ 5

CHAPTER 1 DemYstifYing the InterView Process
OVERVIEW
DATING, dANCING, WALKING on reinterviewing has been compared to all of these, with a great degree of accuracy. If the interview is going well, you feel as good as you look. You radiate charm and intelligence. You can parry the toughest questions and present yourself as a real pro. If its going badly, though, its like youre being raked over hot coalswith the sweat to prove it. But just for a moment, put aside the drama. One essential fact to recognize: An interview is simply a conversation about a job. Youve had conversations before, right? Then youve already explored ideas with another person, posed questions, given considered answers, and kept the exchange rolling until it reached a natural conclusion. And thats really all you need to do to succeed in an interview.
WHAT EMPLoYERS WANT
ITS ALL TOO easy to look at an interview as an

adversarial situation. The interviewer is interrogating you. The brainteasers and gotcha questions common in other areas are rarely heard in IT, but the interviewer will still pose tough questions to gauge your technical skills, your potential for developing new ones, and your abilities to respond to change and pressure. But as tense as the situation might seem, just realize she has one goal in mind: identifying a plausible candidate and hiring that person. Shes seeking someone with a demonstrable capacity for delivering results. So, give employers what they want and be the candidate theyre looking for. Prepare to shine. Know your strengths and highlight them. Make sure the personal strengths you plan to emphasize in your interview match the demands of the position. On the big day, present yourself as a candidate with the right skills and temperament for the job. Your condence, enthusiasm, knowledge, and understanding should conrm what your interviewer is already predisposed to believe: that bringing you in for an interview is a wise move and that hiring you is even wiser. When interviewing, hiring managers are hoping to explore some basic areas:
CHAPTER 2 Getting ReAdY
CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT
If you put aside the drama for a moment, youll recognize that an interview is simply a conversation about a job. Youve had conversations before, right?
But of course you arent simply chewing over a movie youve just seen or making plans to watch Sundays game. Youre talking about the future of your career. Its a conversation that has high stakes for both participants. Ace Your Interview: Information Technology will guide you through the preparations necessary to keep that conversation about your skills and the IT position you seek focused and productive, and help you keep your wits together even when the stakes seem alarmingly high. The steps we outline might seem like a lot of eort for a half-hour conversation, but that conversation could be the most important one of your life.
CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY
DO WE WANT TO WORK wITH YOU?

You might enter an interview prepared to recite a litany of skills and work experience, but interviewers arent looking for a walking, talking resume. Theyre already intrigued by your skillsthats why theyre interviewing you. The reason they need to meet with you in person is to gauge your personal qualities, to see if youll be an asset to the workplace. Intangible attributesresourcefulness, initiative, creativity, adaptability, drive, and integritywill set you apart from other qualied candidates.
CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE
W E T F E E T I N S I D ER GUID E
WILL YOU MESH wITH THE TEAm?

The IT workplace is increasingly a team-driven environment. You might see yourself as a lone crusader, plodding through the night to create a code masterpiece. But thats not the way it works. Youll probably be working elbow-to-elbow with another programmer. And, youll have to coordinate with departments throughout the organization that will need your services. In IT organizations of all shapes and forms, across all industries, teamwork is essential.
KNoW THE JoB
BEFORE yOU HEAd into any job interview, you

need to know what youre applying for. The interview will reveal more about the jobs specics. But the following elements will help you understand its general contours:
POSITION TITLE
Dont be too quick to discount a job based on the title aloneit can be misleading. Not every job for engineers will to have the word engineer in the title. The salary might be better than you expect and the day-to-day responsibilities might be far more varied, interesting, and important than a jobs title might indicate. Focus on the description of day-to-day responsibilities because it will give you much better sense of the jobs outlines.
WHATS yOUR EQ?

Interviewers are probably less interested in your IQ than your EQyour emotional intelligence. You can have a high IQ and still lack common sense and empathy. Employers are learning that intelligence isnt always the most desired attribute for prospective employees, especially when it comes at the expense of good sense after all, perfectly smart people were responsible for the downfall of Lehman Brothers. Although youll want to impress your prospective employer with your smarts, you also must convey you are a thoughtful, collegial coworker with a sense of personal responsibility.
QUALIFICATIONS
Job postings will almost always include required qualications: years of experience, core competencies or areas of specialization, required skill sets (such as software prociency and programming languages), and degrees or certications. Many will then list additional skills that might be useful. If you can demonstrate you have these extra qualications, your application is likely to rise to the top of the heap.
Give employers what they want and be the candidate theyre looking for. Know your strengths and highlight them, and make sure the personal strengths you plan to emphasize in your interview match the demands of the position.
RESpONSIBILITIES
You want a job, and thats why you focus on qualications: You need to know whether you have what theyre looking for. But you should pay every bit as close attention to the listed responsibilities. After all, these are going to determine the shape of your daily life. Understanding these responsibilities will not only help you gauge whether the job corresponds to your career goals, it will make you better prepared for the interview.
WET F EET IN S IDER GUIDE

CHAPTER 1 DEMYSTIFYING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS
BECAUSE MANY JOB boards and career sites charge for classied ads by the word or limit the space available for employment listings, the job posting might be short on specicsespecially pertaining to day-to-day responsibilities. If the ad doesnt give a real sense of the jobs responsibilities, contact the employer and ask for a more detailed job description. This can be a competitive advantage in the interview process because youll have more information than other candidates and a better sense of what to ask and say.
Heres an ad that leaves questions unanswered:
DECIPHERING THE AD
CHAPTER 2 GETTING READY
IT Architect
Candidates for this position should have experience in one or more application and integration middleware (AIM)-based software products, such as those from IBM, Microsoft, and Tibco. Position includes business and technical understanding of solutions, technical solution design, development and testing, and client presentations. Candidate must excel at working independently and in a group/team setting. The abilities to analyze and solve problems are essential, as are communication and presentation skills. The rst 12 months of this dynamic position will consist of sales and technical training to enable you to match the technical capabilities of our oerings with client requirements. A considerable amount of travel is required during this training period. The primary training location is Dallas, TX. Additional training cities could include Raleigh, New York, Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, and Boston. After the training period, you will consult with clients of all kinds, using your technical expertise to assist your sales counterparts in fostering client satisfaction and attaining revenue. Knowledge or aptitude in one of more of the following is a plus: Portal/user-experience design Analytics Business process management Services-oriented architecture Industry experience (for example: retail, banking, media/entertainment, health care, electronics)
This posting starts out with very specic technical details, then oers enticing enough details about the position to encourage an application. But what does this posting really tell you about the job? You might deduce that in addition to pure technical tasks, the job involves a fair amount of interpersonal interaction, presentation of ndings, and project management.
But some questions go unanswered: What tasks will consume most of your time? Whom will you interact with most on a day-to-day basis? Who else will be on your team? How many people will you be expected to manage? Whom will you report to?
W E T F E E T I N S ID ER GUID E
CHAPTER 1 DEMYSTIFYING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS
How much travel will be required beyond the initial training period? How many dierent tasks will you be expected to juggle at any one time? What hours will you work each week? Will you ever have to work weekends or evenings? Is the work site-specic, or is telecommuting okay? Your questions might yield more complete responses, ones that answer your initial questions and give a much clearer sense of what exactly the job entails day in and day out. Armed with this new knowledge, youll be signicantly better prepared for your interview.
glad to have this opportunity. If youre unenthusiastic at the start of the process, it bodes ill for your future demeanor on the job.
INTERVIEW ESSENTIALS
THIS BOOK OFFERS a step-by-step guide through CONFIDENCE
the interview process, describing the preparation youll need and the tactics you can use to make the interview a success. But its useful to bear in mind the overall image you want to project when the big moment arrives. You have to demonstrate condence in yourself to inspire an employers condence in you. During the nerve-wracking course of a job interview, this might be easier said than done. But bear in mind the basics of condent body language: Make frequent eye contact with your interviewer. Speak up, but not too fast. Dont dget. Sit upright, but not rigidly. Most important of all, come prepared to state your strengths and give concrete examples of how youve put them to use. Dont overstate your accomplishments but dont downplay them either. Keep self-deprecating humor to a minimum: It might be ne when youre with your friends, but this is neither the time nor place for it. If remaining condent is a struggle for you, give yourself a pep talk before the interview. Better yet, enlist an enthusiastic friend to give you one. Or, practice techniques for managing your nerves, such as deep breathing and visualizing success. If youre at ease, the interviewer will be too.
ENTHUSIASM
This is basic. Enthusiasm alone wont land you the job. But if you dont seem avid about the prospect, the employer will quickly pass you overits that simple. And lip service isnt enough. You may say youre enthusiastic about the chance to work for the company, but if you act apathetic or bored, youre cooked. Engineers and computer scientists are famously an introverted, socially awkward lot, but thats no excuse for blank stares and lukewarm responses. Signs of enthusiasm attentive posture, an alert tone of your voice, and a smile that says youre glad to be therewill get you far. Greet the interviewer warmly. Make eye contact, smile, and oer a rm handshake. You should say something like, Im delighted youre taking the time to meet me, and Im really excited about this position and eager to learn more about it. Let him know up front youre
CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE
FOCUS
No doubt you have a wide range of abilities that might impress other people, whether its prowess on the soccer

eld or a Broadway-ready singing voice. But these are not necessarily abilities you want to highlight, unless they relate to the qualities youll bring to the job. Youll make a more eective impression if you talk about the talents you know match the job description. Present yourself as a specialized professional who has an appeal to a general audience: Your interviewer wants to know you have the specic skills and strengths needed to excel at your job, but also that you are approachable, exible, and willing to learn.
YOU CaNT KNOw EVERyTHiNG

Some people spend the night before an interview boning up on company facts and figures as though cramming for the test of their lives. But interviews arent oral exams; they are an exchange between two people, who might soon be coworkers, about shared professional interests. You do need to know something about the industry and the organization but youre not expected to know it alljust enough to ask your interviewer informed questions, to understand the questions your interviewer asks, and to give reasonable answers. Your common sense should prepare you to give sound answers to any questions that might arise about how you would handle a specific problem on the job. The details will emerge later, when you become part of the team. Like any other conversation, an interview requires give and take, so dont expect to dominate it. Give your interviewer a chance to contribute to the conversation.
QUESTIONS
The interviewer shouldnt be the only party asking questions. Youre bound to want to know aspects of the job your research hasnt revealed. Furthermore, you should be paying close attention to clues the interviewer oers and following up with questions when appropriate. If he makes an ohanded remark about work styles or company culture, get him to elucidate: Im intrigued to hear thatcan you tell me more? Nonverbal cues are key too. If you notice the interviewer makes a face or hesitates before speaking, ask him if theres a reason for the gesture. These details will give you valuable insight into the job and the culture, and help you adapt your responses to t.
CHAPTER 1 DemYstifYing the InterView Process CHAPTER 2 Getting ReAdY CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT
Getting Ready
Know the Field............................. 10 Know Yourself...............................11

YOUVE JUST HAd your morning coee when you get the call youve been waiting for: Could you come in for an interview next week? You schedule a time, hang up the phone, do your victory danceand then what? Hold your breath for the next seven days? Not if you want your interview to live up to its promise. You might think you can wing it. Maybe that tactic worked back in school, but theres no grading curve in an interview. If you arent prepared to shine, someone else will beand only one of you is going to get the job. Now is the time for preparation. If you do your due diligence, youll be sleeping like a baby the night before the interview. You should think of the preparation for the interview as a puzzle that needs solving. The employer has needs and you have strengths, experience, goals, and interests. How do they match up? Your answers will come as you prepare. After you receive the call inviting you in for an interview, the rst thing you should do is consult the original job posting. (You should make a le of every job posting you answer.) Youll want to comb it for clues, as detailed in Deciphering the Ad in Chapter 1. If you havent done so, this is an ideal time to request additional details; the company will see it as evidence of your sincere interest in the job. Thats just the rst step. Now you need to dig deeper. By the time you get to the interview, you should have a good idea of what the company does, how it operates, and how it ts into its industry.
Industry
Every industry reacts to trends and recent developments; you should know these before you sit down to the interview. In IT, new product launches, along with the subsequent bugs and xes for them, constantly change the landscape. For IT jobs within a larger non-IT organization, youll want to consider
KNoW THE FIELD
the role technology plays in nontechnical elds and have a clear idea of where technology ts in company operations. If youre interviewing for an IT position with an investment bank, for instance, youll want to know the role technology, such as nancial reporting systems, might have played in recent economic upturns or downturns. Do an online search to identify the biggest tech-centered industry stories during the past year. Was there unlawful access to customers personal information? Were there major service outages? Youll also need to understand relevant industry terms. They might come up in the interview. If youre new to the industry, the interviewer wont expect you to know every bit of jargon, but your mastery of basic terms will show youre a quick study who is ready and eager to learn the ropes. (A good glossary of these terms appears in Careers in Information Technology, a WetFeet Insider Guide.)
INSIDER SCOOP
For any interview, you need to be prepared to show competence and intelligent interest, says licensed career counselor Rosanne Lurie. Confidence will only get you so far: No interviewer wants to waste time on people who just waltz in with no idea of the organization or industry trends. Their response is, If you havent bothered to take this position seriously, why should I bother to take you seriously?
Organization
Researching the organization will help you determine whether this is the right work environment for you, which of your skills and strengths might especially benet the organization, and what specic organizational challenges you might be able to help solve. This information should give you insight into the organizations culture, needs, and expectations so youll be better prepared for the interview. And, this will give you a key advantage over any candidate who hasnt prepared as thoroughly as you have.
10
Its easy to get information from a Google search, but youll impress recruiters if you go a step or two further. Email friends and former colleagues and ask them if they know anyone who works at the rm. Once you unearth these contacts, explain your interest in the company and ask if theyd be willing to answer some questions. These people can probably give you a better sense of the companys priorities than any news article can hope to.
YOUR RESUME SAyS a lot about your career, but it doesnt tell your whole story. The totality of what you can oer to a potential employer isnt just a sum of places worked, tasks performed, and education received. Its an interesting tale of strengths discovered, lessons learned, interests pursued, and plans hatched. This is the kind of narrative that can truly engage an interviewer, so its time to start putting it together. STRENGTHS
Many job applicants confuse strengths with skills. Skills are abilities that can be cultivated with a certain amount of training, such as facility with a software application or knowledge of a certain programming language. In most cases, these can be acquired. A training course will get you up to speed on the software program; if the company is suciently impressed with you, it will invest the time to get you up to speed. Strengths, on the other hand, are your best personal attributessome you were born with and others you have cultivated during the course of your life experience. Theyll speak as strongly to your interviewer as any specic skills you bring to the table. These traits cant be acquired through training. Thats why interviewers tend to be more interested in candidates who have all the strengths needed to do the job well than those who bring mere skillsno matter how impressiveto the table. A skill might be something youll deploy on an as-needed basis. But your strengths will shine every day you report for work. You might not be aware of your own strengths. Here are some exercises that will help you bring them to the fore: While looking over the job description, make a list of the personal strengths that will probably be required for this job. Is this a position that requires making presentations of technical ndings to a nontechnical audience? Then the right candidate will be
KNoW YoURSELf
> TIP
You can find a host of invaluable career- and industry-specific information on www.wetfeet.com. WetFeet also publishes Careers in Information Technology and Getting Your Ideal Internship: Information Technology.
The Team
In all but the smallest organizations, you wont be interviewing simply to work at the company, but to join a specic team. Find out all you can about the teams recent projects and successes. When you reach a contact inside the organization, be sure to ask what she knows about the team and the person who will be interviewing you. If you can nd any personal information about the interviewerLinkedIn is an excellent sourceuse it. Perhaps theres a point of connection, such as a conference you both attended, a city where you both lived, a colleague you have in common. Convey your excitement about the teams accomplishments to your interviewer and youll be remembered as an enthusiastic, enterprising candidate who is likely to be a great asset.
CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT
INSIDER SCOOP
Im not expecting them to know everything, says one IT recruiter. But I want someone who knows what we do.
11

someone who has top language and communications skills. If its a user-interface position, theyll be looking for someone who works quickly, responds well to feedback, and pays attention to details. If it looks like youll be working with customers overseas, your comfort with other cultures is a denite bonus. For each of the necessary personal strengths for this position, think of an anecdote that illustrates your strength in this regard. Lets say you can recall a time when you caught a critical coding error in a group project, and from then on were entrusted with performing the nal quality check for each leg of the project. That anecdote will help show youre thorough and responsible enough to handle project management duties.
the interviewer about your misstepthen tell how you retraced your path and recovered. Im looking to see some introspective thought where they pick apart and dissect why things didnt work, says a recruiter. What was the root cause? What would you do dierently in the next situation to remedy that failure? Rather than being an indication of weakness, the lesson learned will demonstrate your maturity and your ability to address adversity.
INSIDER SCOOP
Employers look for people who go beyond their defined job description.
INTERESTS
Ive always found back-end data processing so fascinating. Hold it right there! Before you make such a statement, clearly calculated to please the interviewer, be aware it might have exactly the opposite eect by making you seem disingenuous and sowing the seeds of doubt in her mind. Statements like these are not only too broad, they are easily refutable, especially if experience in this specic area doesnt appear anywhere on your resume. The interviewer is looking for a candidate who can envision the challenges ahead, not someone who might quit in disgust when he nds out that back-end data processingthe nuts and bolts behind large-scale IT operationsis not, after all, endlessly fascinating. Rather than risk sounding insincere, think long and hard about the job and the elements that do address your longtime interests. Do you like to solve problems? Do you pride yourself on attention to detail? These could indicate a propensity for dealing with the complexities of modern IT infrastructureall the way down to the level of server maintenance and other backend work. Your interviewer is looking to hire someone who is going to be passionate enough about the work to stick with it even when it gets challenging or, worse yet, tedious. Find a way to tell her youre that person, while staying true to yourself.
LESSONS LEARNEd
Nothing is more suspiciousor less impressivethan a awless candidate. If you seem to exhibit no human failings, it could mean youre hiding some terrible aw that will come to the fore after youve been hired. Or, it could mean your abilities have come so easily to you that you have no idea what its like to really work at developing a skill. My pet peeve is candidates who come up with nothing when I ask them where theyve failed, says one recruiter. Rather than working at projecting an image of perfection, its better to show youve already learned a few important life lessons. Youll come across as more experienced, wise, hard-working, and human. Hiring managers want candidates who have demonstrated abilities to learn and recover from mistakes. After all, mistakes are inevitable, but the abilities to bounce back and not repeat them are crucial. Because its an interviewers job to probe for possible shortcomings, hes bound to ask you some question about your blunders. You should come prepared with a story to tell. But how can you talk about one of your own mistakes without impugning your credibility as a candidate? By presenting it as a lesson learned. Tell
CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT
12
CHECkLiST: BaCkGROUND RESEaRCH

Industry
I am aware of three key competitive pressures facing the industry today. I can think of three opportunities that make this a promising business to be in. I can name the top ten news items and product launches in the industry for the past year. When I read through Information Week or Slashdot, I do not come across any terms with which I am unfamiliar.
Make a copy of this checklist for each position you interview for. I am able to name the companys three main competitive advantages. I can name three of the companys main accomplishments in its history and three major accomplishments in the past year. I can name the top three news items about this company in the past year. I can recount the basics of the companys history, including how the company was founded. I know the names of the top executives in the company. When I read through the organizations website, I do not stumble over any terms.
Organization
I know the companys website very well. I am familiar with this organizations business model and know how it makes its money. I am aware of the key competitive pressures facing the organization today. I have visited the websites of the organizations three main competitors.
Team
I know the names of the team leaders, including those who would be my direct supervisors. I have read all available team member bios on the website, and know where they are from and what their qualifications are.
Making the Leap

A persuasive explanation of your interests can help you make a convincing case for switching careers. Lets say youre trying to make the leap from a tax advisor to a position with an IT services contractor that specializes in small businesses. You might begin to build a case based on your interests by answering the following questions: Why does the position interest you? Ive long been concerned that small businesses are losing out to larger rms with greater resources and competing too much against each other. This position is just the opportunity Ive been looking for to have an impact on the competitiveness of small businesses within the local and national economies.
What evidence do you have of your interests? Ive advised business owners on IT expenditures and outsourcing, served on a neighborhood associations small business task force, and testied at city council meetings about the impact of cuts on IT infrastructure throughout the city. How are your interests relevant to the position? Small businesses need to know how much to invest in their IT operations and when to invest during the scal year. Because of my long-standing commitment to the issue, Id be thorough and passionate in bringing in and advising clients to share resources rather than compete against one another.
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GOALS
To make a successful case for yourself as a candidate, you have to convince the interviewer you do not look at the job as, well, a job, but as an important step on your career path. You might have all the qualications the job demands, but the interviewer needs to know youre pursuing this job over all other options rather than just falling into it by default. You need to be clear on how the job would t into your life plansfor your own sake and to present a compelling case in the interview. Where do you see yourself in ve (or ten) years? is a standard interview question. Even if the interviewer doesnt ask it, she will try to gauge your level of interest in the eld, your potential commitment to the company, and your long-range planning skills. If youre aiming for an entry-level position, consider the skills you might develop in the job. One recruiter says he always asks candidates, How do you see this role tting in to your career goals? In the interview, underline your interest in honing them. Figure out what the next two positions might be in the corporate hierarchy and mention these represent goals for you.
If youre a midcareer candidate, focus your answer on potential career-development areas, such as management skills, or on areas in IT youd like to explore. As youre putting together the career-goals component of the story, ask yourself questions about the following areas. Impact: Will this job oer an opportunity for me to change my community, industry, or the world for the better? Pride: Will the job give me opportunities to shine? Will I be producing work that will add to my own sense of self-worth? Learning: What worthwhile areas of knowledge will the job help me explore? The full rewards of a job might not be clear to you until youve started it. But if you cant think of any career goals this position will help you attain, its a sign of trouble ahead. Ideally, your interviewer should be convinced youre taking this job as a sound career move, not out of expediency. And that will only happen if youve convinced yourself.
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CHAPTER 1 DemYstifYing the InterView Process CHAPTER 2 GETTING READY CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT
15
The Big Day

Look the Part............................... 18 Tips from Head to Toe................ 18 Bring the Right Stu.................... 21

YOUVE SpENT THE past week preparing for your interview; you wake up one morning and its right upon you. From the time you get up until the moment you walk through the interviewers door, the choices you make will be crucial to your chances of landing a job oer. Youve worked hard to put your best foot forward. Youve assembled a great resume and written an attention-grabbing cover letter. Ever since you got the appointment for an interview, youve assiduously researched the industry, the company, and the team. You should pay the same close attention to your outt and grooming. Remember, when you walk through that door, its you the employer is going to seenot your resume. The way you look should reect the professionalism you intend to bring to the job. Think of a job interview as a formal social event, like a wedding, where certain conventions of dress need to be obeyed. These might vary from industry to industry and company to company. Show you care about the position by taking the time to look sharp, and make sure your attire is consistent with the professional expectations of the position. One great tactic to guide you in your self-presentation is to take a look at your resume. Whos the person described there? Consider your interview attire an outward reection of your inner strengths. What do you look like? PLAN AHEAd
Put the same kind of preparation into planning your self-presentation that youve put into your job research. If you assemble your outt in a 15-minute mad dash as you rush out to the interview, you risk showing up looking disheveled and unprofessional. Pick out your clothing at least three days before your interview. This will leave you enough time to make any necessary wardrobe xes if you discover your suit needs dry cleaning or your stockings have a run. Lay out your clothes, jew-
Look THE PART
elry, socks, and shoes the night before the interview and make sure theyre all clean and free of rips, wrinkles, lint, loose buttons, and hanging threads.
> TIP
Model your entire interview outfit for someone whose taste in clothingand honesty you trust. Ask whether your look seems appropriate for the job, company, and industry for which youll be interviewing.
HOw CONSERVATIVE?
Dress codes in IT range widely according by company and by specic role; you might nd analysts in dress shirts and ties and engineers in jeans at the same company. Your interaction with recruiters from the company at career fairs also will provide a clue about the dress code, but youll still want to dress more formally than the oce normyoull embarrass yourself far less doing this than by showing up more casually dressed than the interviewer sitting across from you. Established employees might have earned the right to wear sneakers on the job, but you havent yet. The accepted rule of thumb is to make your outt one or two notches more conservative than what youd wear in the position if you were to land it.
> TIP
When it comes to fashion, conservative is not a necessarily a synonym for dowdy or square. You can dress conservatively, but elegantly and stylishly as well.
TIPS fRoM HEAD To ToE
THE pEOpLE yOULL meet at your interview will

be assessing everything about you, from the hair on your head to the shoes on your feet. Heres how you can make sure your look is appropriate.
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FOR WOmEN
Hair
You dont need to look as carefully coied as a TV-news anchorwoman, but you denitely want to make sure your hair reects the orderliness you intend to bring to the job. If you have long hair, you can wear it down (as long as it doesnt look shaggy), pulled back with a barrette, or in a neat updo. If you have dreadlocks, gather them in a tiny bundle at the nape of your neck. Avoid ribbons and glittery hairclipsthose are more appropriate to a high school cheerleading squad than an oce. If your hair makes a statement, consider toning it down: That wacky 1940s snood has to go. Think about how you would t in with the organization; this is an especially important consideration in conservative corporate settings such as banks.
youre giving him an opportunity to look at your nails. They should be clean and well shaped. You should keep them short or midlengthoce work and long nails dont mix. Nail polish should be a neutral shade.
Your Outfit
You can wear a business suit or a well-coordinated outt of a jacket with a skirt or pants. If you wear a skirt, it should not fall more than an inch or two above the knee; this isnt an opportunity to ash your gams. Your blouse should be monochrome or in a very discreet pattern and in nonassertive shades, such as whites or pastels. Of course, it should be crisply ironed and stainfree. You may keep the top button unbuttoned to convey an air of relaxation and condence, but under no circumstances should you expose skin below the clavicle. If you dont shave your legs, be sure to wear pants or opaque stockings.
Makeup
Of course, youll want to make yourself up to look your best. But, your makeup should be subtleno brightly colored eye shadow or lipstick and no heavy mascara or eyeliner. You arent aiming for a career on the stage!
Shoes and Stockings

Sensible, low-heeled shoes are a must. Be sure to wear them a few times before the day of the interview if your toes or heel are blistered, youll literally have started the day o on the wrong foot. The shade can be brightbut not loudand it should match some other aspect of your outt; that attention to detail will be noticed. In conservative industries, nude pantyhose make the best choice for stockings; in more creative elds, opaque stockings in subdued tones of black, brown, or charcoal are widely acceptable. But patterned stockings are a bad idea, and shnets are out of the question.
Jewelry
Keep it understated. You dont want interviewers to be so blinded by your ashy accessories that they overlook you as a person. Remember the old saw about jewelry: Put on all you plan to wear, then take one item o. Avoid any jewelry that makes noise. The only facial jewelry you should wear is earrings, and those should be just a pair of demure studs rather than attentiongrabbing hoops. Get rid of eyebrow hoops, nose rings, and lip and tongue studs. Even if youre interviewing for a relatively freewheeling company, there could be a generational gap between you and the interviewer, who might have come of age before facial piercings became acceptable.
INSIDER SCOOP
Nails
Whenever you shake hands with your interviewer, pass him material, or emphasize a point with a hand gesture,
A woman arrived for her interview in a faded, flowered, ruffled shirt; clashing plaid kilt; and knee-high red rubber wading boots, carrying a battered manila folder with papers spilling out. We ended up hiring a guy whose shoes I cant rememberand perhaps thats as it should be.
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FOR MEN
Hair
Neat, clean and carefully groomed is the way to go. Say goodbye to your foot-high Mohawk or your rainbow weave. If you have short hair, its a plus if you had a haircut less than two weeks before the interview. Long hair is becoming more acceptable in the workplaceat least in more creative environmentsbut should be pulled back in a ponytail. Use grooming products to keep hair out of your face during the interview. If you have facial hair, it should be short and well trimmed. Trim your eyebrows and get rid of any nose or ear hair.
assets, not your physical ones. Before you put your shirt on, inspect it to make sure its clean and shows no obvious signs of wear, such as holes, a yellowed collar, frayed cus, or pulled threads.
Neckwear
With business casual becoming the norm in many industries, its possible youll be interviewing at a company that doesnt require men to wear a tie every day. At IT-only companies or in more laid-back elds such as social services, media, or the arts, it might even seem strange to wear a tie to work. But the interview is a special case, so its usually best to sport a tie, even if you end up as the only person in the oce wearing one. You can have fun with bold patterns and bright colors, but for positions in more conservative elds such as insurance or banking, stick with the classic regimental stripe or the subtly patterned red power tie.
Jewelry and Accessories

An ear stud might be acceptable but it should be as understated as possible. In more conservative industries, consider leaving it at home; youll have a chance to revisit the issue if you get the job. Get rid of any other facial jewelry. If your shirt requires cuinks, make sure they look traditional and dont attract a lot of attention.
Shoes and Socks

Your shoes should be dark and polished. You should wear them at least of few times before the day of the interview to make sure that theyre a comfortable t. Socks should be dark and long enough to come up past your pant cus when sitting. Whatever you do, dont make the mistake of deciding to wear a shirt that isnt quite right and covering it up with a sweater or jacket for the duration of the interview. You cant predict what the climate control in the interview room will be like, and this solution will only make you hot and uncomfortable when the pressure is on.
Your Outfit
Even if a business suit isnt the industry norm, youll want to wear it or a nicely matched outt of pants and jacket. The classic gray business suit will usually prevail in conservative settings such as a bank, law rm, or consulting company. If you choose to wear a jacket, tweeds and corduroys might work for academic or scientic jobs, but not in more corporate settings. Neither jacket nor pants should be made of denim or khakithose fabrics are too casual for an interview no matter what the setting. Pants should be at-front instead of pleated, not too baggy and not too tight. Your shirt should be in a neutral monochrome or, at most, discreetly patterned. It shouldnt cling around the neck, shoulder or arms, but it also shouldnt be baggy. (Baggy shirts will show more wrinkles than well-tting ones.) Wear an undershirt to keep chest hair and pectoral muscles out of sight and out of the interviewers mind; you want to impress him with your professional
> TIP
If the weather is cold, youll be wearing a coat and maybe gloves, a scarf, and a hat. When you walk into the office, this is the first ensemble people will see. Give as much care to your outerwear as to your business attire.
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YOU ARE THE main asset youre bringing to the interview. But youll want to come with the right accessories in hand. RESUmE, COVER LETTERS, ANd REFERENCES
Your interviewer will probably have a copy of your resume and cover letter in front of her, but its good to have some extras to give to her and to anyone on the team she might introduce you to. Following a better-safe-than-sorry philosophy, you should bring ve to ten copies of each document. This will show preparedness and it will encourage the interested parties to continue thinking about your potential as a job candidate. Before the interview, you should have lined up former employers and colleagues as job references. When you enlist someone as a reference, explain the present job opportunity, and mention aspects of your collaboration that might be pertinent. Dont put anyone on the spota grudging reference is worse than none at all. Ideally, your entreaties will yield written references you can oer to your interviewer and other stakeholders you meet on interview day. One more thing you might bring along: a cheat sheet of questions you hope to ask or of points you want to make. You obviously do not want to have your head buried in this sheet during the interview, but if you pull it out to consult it, you will show the interviewer youve prepared for this opportunity.
BRING THE RIGHT STUff
But, if visual elements play an important role in your work, you should denitely have a portfolio in online or digital form. If youve worked on Web pages, user interfaces, or instructional materials, a digital portfolio will help give the interviewer a clear, visual sense of your work. The portfolio should include examples of your best work arranged on a personal website. A URL might work, but remember that Web pages come and gothe interviewer might pull up a page far dierent from the one you worked on. Its better to have control over what youre oering. You can use a remote hosting server to preserve the feel and functionality of any sites you might have created. Introduce each sample with a page that explains your contribution to the project. If you designed an interface, display it along with captions that explain your work and the thinking behind the design. By giving your interviewer a chance to see your accomplishments as well as hear about them, you double your chances that your strengths will be remembered. One exception to the digital-only rule is if youve done technical writing. Even if your work is available online, you should bring hard copies of several samples.
CHAPTER 2 Getting ReAdY CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY
ARTICLES
If you have received favorable coverage for your work in magazines, newspapers, trade journals, or websites, by all means photocopy the articles. Bring the clippings as handouts for your interviewers. Even the most skeptical, hard-to-please interviewer will be impressed by independent, third-party validation for your professional eorts.
PORTFOLIO
In certain industries you might arrive at an interview with a portfolio: a case or binder containing samples of your work. Youre unlikely to use one of these in an IT interview, and in certain roles, such as a quality assurance engineer, a portfolio would be irrelevant.
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The Big Moment
Showing Up.................................24 Building Rapport.........................24 Showing Your Strengths...............26 Say it with Body Language........... 27 Master the Art of Q&A................28 Special Cases................................36 Reach an Eective Conclusion.....36 Your Exit Strategy........................ 37 Follow-Up....................................38

SHoWING UP
THE PATH TO THE INTERVIEw ROOm

Your interview begins long before you meet your interviewer. Every person you meet from the moment you step through the door to the building might have the power to inuence the decision to hire you. The security guys at the front desk might be on a rst-name basis with your prospective colleagues. The people next to you on the elevator might work on the team youre targeting. The receptionist might (probably does) chat up everybody in the company. If you want to make a good impression, its important to be polite and friendly with everyone you meet. Being tense about the upcoming interview is no excuse for not saying hello or forgetting to thank the person who has just given you directions to the oce youre looking for. Treating everybody you meet with respect is common courtesy and good business sense.
strictly above the neck. If a wayward glance seems like a sexual advance, it might render the interview a asco. Smile, and mean it. This person was intrigued enough by you to pick your resume out of a stack and is dedicating 30 minutes of a busy day just to talk with you. That in itself should give you plenty to smile about. If youre in the room before the interviewer gets there, get to your feet the moment he enters. Traditional etiquette requires this of men in any social setting. But in an interview setting, women, too, can gain from standing up. Its a way of showing your eagerness to meet the interviewer.
MAKING AN ENTRANCE
The rst moments of the interview will establish the tone for everything that follows. Here are some tips for starting on a positive note: Shake hands with a rm grip. Limp, wet-noodle ngers are an immediate turno conveying the perception of apathy and indecisiveness. If the pressure of the interview has given you sweaty palms, discreetly wipe them on your skirt or pants before you extend your hand. Know your own strengthyou want to show your eagerness to meet the interviewer, not crush his ngers. You might even consider rehearsing your handshake with a friend beforehand. Dont quickly glance away the moment youve metmaintain eye contact for a few seconds. When you meet people, you might be accustomed to lowering your eyes out of reticence, but that will come across as rudeness in an interview. (The interviewer might spend the rest of the session wondering if theres something caught in her teeth!) Also, be careful throughout the interview to keep your gaze
BUILDING RAPPoRT
PUT yOURSELF IN the interviewers shoes: Would

you rather hire an engaging candidate whose conversation is lively and interesting, or an equally qualied job seeker who is stony-faced and tense? You want the interviewer to understand you have the skills for the job and that youll be an asset to the team. You have to present yourself as someone your colleagues will want to see every day, a person who will make their lives more enjoyable, not harder. For this reason, its key to establish rapport with your interviewer.
SEEK COmmON GROUNd

From your background research, you might already know of one or two things you have in common with your interviewer: a favorite team, a city where you both lived. Find a way to work these into the conversation if your interviewer doesnt. Nothing establishes rapport like shared experiences. Remember, even if you have a lot in common, you arent going to agree on everything. But this is not the forum for a vigorous debate, so be cautious in oering your opinions. Its possible that a project management
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book you found pointless is your interviewers bible. If it comes up, nd something positive to say; if it then turns out he shares your opinion, you can modify your earlier stance. If the situation is reversedyoure an avid fan of the book and he hates itdont get defensive. Draw him out on his opinion and show you value it. Work experiences are another area where you can nd commonality with your interviewer. Perhaps youre interviewing with a hiring manager in a newly reorganized department. You can tell her about how, at a previous job, your division was acquired by a new company, and share the saga of being shunted back and forth as managers tried to gure out your new role. The story might bring a sympathetic groan from the interviewer. It also might be an opportunity for a lessons-learned follow-up in which you describe how you handled the uncertainty of the situation and how youve learned to adjust to institutional change.
about how your sensitivity to others feelings proved an asset at work.
> TIP
Dont forget to laughor at least chuckleat your interviewers jokes!
LIGHTEN THE MOOd

Theres no question an interview is a tense, awkwardly formal situation. Thats why a bit of humor can be a welcome relief. An amusing anecdote or a wry comment can break the ice. But be careful when youre attempting to be humorous. You dont want to be selfdeprecating. Youre there to tout your strengths, not your weaknesses. Also, an erudite comment that ies over the interviewers head might make him resent you. Risqu jokes are out of the question, and ethnic humor is o-the-charts inappropriate. Dont be afraid to be funnybut use discretion.
CHAPTER 2 Getting ReAdY CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY
> TIP
If a point of commonality arises, follow it up with cheerful questions.
BEwARE OF TMI
Your prospective employer does not need to know about your romantic history or your drinking habits. These fall under the category of TMItoo much information. Intimate details will not help you build rapport with your interviewer; theyll only cause her to question your judgment. Save those stories for your friends.
TELL A GOOd STORy

Youll want to tout your strengths but you should do it in a way that will engage the interviewer. If you want her to know youre attentive to detail, dont just state the fact point-blank. Tell a story that might pique her professional interest, such as the time you found a software bug that had gone undetected in previous testing and how that vigilance prevented your company from releasing a faulty software program. That kind of information will be of interest to any industry professional and it will vividly illustrate the strength youre hoping to accentuate. Keep your stories work-related. Your grandmothers recent death might have taught you something about the value of family and you might think this illustrates your sensitive nature. But do you really want your interviewer to remember you as the guy whose grandmother just died? Better to tell a story
INSIDER SCOOP
As a senior manager, Ive spent time on both sides of the interview table. When Im the job seeker, I talk to an interviewer like someone at a party that I wanted to get to know. I follow their lead in the conversation. You have to pay attention to detailsthe words they use, their inflections, the questions they ask. If I see them react to an idea Ive brought up, I explore it; if not, I drop it. Im not going to spend ten minutes going on about something they have no interest in. Its not at all about giving the right answerits all about building rapport.
WET F EET IN S IDER GUIDE 25

SHoWING YoUR STRENGTHS

BE A TEAm PLAyER
To show prospective employers youre prepared for the teamwork the job will entail, be sure to highlight your experiences as part of a successful team as well as your solo achievements. If youve been a manager, youll have experience assembling teams, so highlight that fact. Talk about the teams accomplishments. If youve never managed a team, you can still talk about your experience in forming partnerships and collaborating within your own department and with those outside. If youre part of a team responsible for a successful product launch, talk about it. Even if youre new to the job market, your school experiences are bound to show numerous examples of teamwork, such as a collaborative science project or a school play. And if you played on a sports team, the connection is a no-brainer. Wherever possible, replace the rst-person singular I with the rst-person plural we. If your interviewer asks you to describe what you would do in a work scenario, be sure your answer involves teamwork, such as consulting colleagues, group brainstorming, or making use of expertise in other departments. In other words, your response should not only include an explanation of what I would do, but also a statement of what we could accomplish with a collaborative approach. When you role-play your interview with a friend, note how many times you use the word webecause your interviewers certainly will.
KNOw YOUR WORTH

False modesty is not a quality that will engage the interviewer. She will expect you to describe your strengths and give examples of how you put them into action. You need to be able to describe your strong points and give examples of how they helped you succeed in work.
Example Scenario
Interviewer: Your reference couldnt say enough about your programming abilities. Bad response: Oh, Jims such a good friendI guess Ill have to pay him o later! >> A remark like this only undermines the reference and does nothing for you. Good response: Thank you. We worked together on a redesign job with a really quick turnaround, and we were happy to learn that after the site launch the clients click-through rate went up more than 100 percent. > > This response conrms the interviewers high opinion of you, and supports that opinion with a concrete example. Acknowledging your strengths does not mean indulging in hyperbolic self-promotion. Dont say, Im the best in the business. Stick to assertions you can support with evidence from your work history: I was the top salesperson at the company for four consecutive quarters.
KEEpING IT WITHIN LImITS

Nobody is good at everything. As the contours of the position emerge during the interview, it might become clear the company is looking for someone with a different set of skills and strengths than yours. No matter how much you want job, dont misrepresent yourself. If you interviewer realizes youre stretching the truth, it will count as a black mark. And if you do get the job, youll be sweating bullets when you show up to work. A much better tactic is to acknowledge your limitations while emphasizing your very real personal
INSIDER SCOOP
Writing a program is often a team effort, so its hard to know which part of it a candidate actually produced. I am much more interested in making sure that they can coherently speak about the various technologies used on a project and they meshed. By having them explain the process, front to back, you can very quickly tell if they know what theyre talking about.
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strengths. You might not get the job but youll make your way onto the list of people to contact when an appropriate position does become available. Heres the testimony of one job seeker: The interviewer told me: If we could use your set of skills, Id hire you in a minute, but we currently dont have a need for them. However, I happen to know a guy over at this company who is looking for someone with your skills, and I will recommend you to him, and give you his number to call. That led to a job for me.
your interviewers commentary. Take notes periodically if that will help you stay engaged while your interviewer embarks on a particularly long monologue, but dont stare down at your notes the entire time. You might miss out on some nonverbal cue your interviewer is giving you: rolled eyes, a smile, a grimace.
INSIDER SCOOP
SAY IT WITH BoDY LANGUAGE
NONVERbAL CUES CAN be every bit as important

to your interviewer as what you have to say. Even a brilliant remark can be undermined by a tentative delivery. If you avert your eyes while talking about your accomplishments, your interviewer might think youre making them up. Throughout the interview, make sure your body language conveys condence and openness. If your body language doesnt transmit genuine enthusiasm and engagement, your interviewer might conclude youre just wasting his time.
Recently I was interviewing someone for a position on our team who was an inside referral, very well-connected to executives in our company. She was plenty smart and enthusiastic. But the entire time we talked, she was looking out the window; it was as if she had someplace better to be. With no eye contact, there was no way to establish trust or tell whether she really cared about the job.
POSTURE
Remember what your mother always told you: Sit up straight in your chair. This makes you appear condent, alert, and interested in what your interviewer has to say. But dont sit rigidly. Crossed arms indicate wariness or defensiveness, and thats not how you want to approach your interviewer. Instead, keep your hands in your lap or hold a pen in one hand and your notepad on your lap with the other. Tightly crossed legs can make you appear inaccessible, and loosely crossed legs (with one calf resting on the opposite knee) might seem overly relaxed. When your interviewer is speaking, subtly lean forward to demonstrate your interest in her words. Do not rest your head in one hand because this can make you appear bored or sleepy. Nod when appropriate and respond to your interviewers comments with appropriate interjections or exclamations; crack a smile when your interviewer injects some humor into the proceedings. Ask questions for clarication when needed. If you dget more than once or twice in your interview, your interviewer might think youre too nervous to withstand the pressures of the job. Worse, he might think youre impatient and cant wait for the interview to be over.
EyE CONTACT
Be sure you begin and end your responses by looking your interviewer steadily in the eye. When you do look away, try to make sure your eyes arent rolling upwards to the left or right because this indicates youre grasping for ideas. You dont need to stare intently at your interviewer the entire time, but when your interviewer is trying to make a point or close a question, you shouldnt be gazing out the window or idly inspecting the ceiling. Always look directly at your interviewer when you begin to respond to a question so its clear to whom youre addressing your remarks. Dont let your expression become wooden or xed, and dont stare blankly or zone out in the middle of
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THE INTERVIEW WILL start with introductions. After that, there might be some moments of preliminary chitchat. But soon youll reach the heart of the session: questions and answers. This is the part job seekers usually dread most. But you can keep it from being an ordeal if you change your outlook. The questions your interviewer asks wont demand magic right answersonly answers that are thoughtful, reasoned, and memorable. Instead of seeing yourself as a lowly supplicant to an all-powerful lord, think of the interview as a pleasant peer-to-peer interaction, an exchange of ideas and insights. Your interviewer is a possible colleague, maybe even a future friend. You share common interests in the eld or industry. Now youre meeting to explore those interests through a mutual process of question and answer. The most important and dicult thing to remember in an interview is that its a conversation. When an interviewer asks you a question, you should keep the same considerations in mind as you would in a social situation. Answering with a long analysis will indicate an o-putting degree of self-involvementand no doubt bore the interviewer silly. A curt yes or no will have an equally objectionable eect, making it seem youre uninterested in the topic at hand. Keep the conversation owing and let your personality shine. > TIP
While asking questions, an interviewer will often provide clues about the kind of response shes looking for. For instance, the question How exactly might you involve the rest of the technology team in your projects? indicates she considers involving the technology team important. Address this concern in your response and come back to it, when appropriate, as the conversation progresses.
MASTER THE ART of Q&A
BEHAVIOR-BASEd QUESTIONING
Following the philosophy that the best indication of future behavior is past behavior, many interviewers follow a behavior-based strategy. By asking you to describe your past professional behavior, they hope to gauge your potential as a member of the organization.
What to Expect
Most behavior-based questions will begin with: Can you tell me about a time when you or Please describe an instance where you or Could you give me an example of a situation when you. When you hear these cues, know you are being asked to relate a specic anecdote that shows how you applied your talents to help an organization tackle a problem or make the most of an opportunity. Your answer will be judged according to set criteriathink of them as the straight As of behavioral interviewing: Analyzing the opportunity or problem eectively Approaching the opportunity or problem creatively Accessing appropriate team resources to implement solutions Achieving concrete results (with gures when possible) Also, be mindful that recruiters might ask the same question in dierent ways; theyre looking for consistency in your answers. When youve told them how youd handle a particular situation, theyll want to make sure you own the responsethat you arent just saying what comes o the top of your head. If you make it to later-stage interviews, youll probably nd yourself covering some of the same ground as in your rst session. Youll be talking with the people youll be working alongside every day, and theyll want to make sure the person they meet corresponds to the person theyve been told about.
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Sample Behavioral Questions

1. Describe a situation you encountered that seemed overwhelming at the time. What did you do to get through it? 2. Tell me about a time when you introduced change into an organization. What steps did you follow, and how did you deal with the opposition you might have encountered? 3. Tell me about a time when you were working with someone who failed to meet your expectations. How did you handle the situation?
that didnt work out, as a learning opportunity. Present each one as a forward step on your career path.
What project are you most proud of, and why?

What this really means: What can you do for me and my organization? How you should answer: Have a success story ready to tell. But dont just pu yourself up; Talk about how the attributes that led to your previous success can help you in the position under discussion.
TEN COmmONLy ASKEd QUESTIONS

Many interviewers dont have enough time to spare to dream up new, hard-hitting interview questions. They often resort to the tried-and-true questions that have been asked at millions of interviews. Dont disregard these questions just because theyre hackneyed; they oer you opportunities to shine. You should be ready with the sharp, memorable responses that will distinguish you as a prime candidate.
What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

What this really means: Prove to me youd bring value to this organization, and show me youre aware of and can learn from your mistakes.
Tell me about yourself.

What this really means: Im looking for personal insights about you that would make you seem less like a list of credentials and more like a person Id like to work with every day. How you should answer: Talk about strengths that might not be clear from your resume, such as your commitment to hard work and your abilities as a team player. Back these up with compelling stories.
How you should answer: Your strengths should be deployable in the job youre discussing. Your weaknesses should fall under the category of lessons learned and should have originated from inexperience rather than an inherent personality aw.
Could you describe for me a time when you had to perform under pressure?
What this really means: Youre going to be asked to perform under pressure here and I want to make sure you can handle it. How you should answer: Think of a high-pressure scenario your interviewer will relate to and then describe how you handled it and the positive outcome you achieved. Just be sure the situation you describe was not made more dicult by factors under your own control because you dont want interviewers to think you create needless drama in the workplace.
What are the best and worst jobs youve ever had, and why?
What this really means: Does this job match your ideal, or are you going to leave this job in six months for something better? How you should answer: Dont emphasize the negatives of past jobs. Talk about each one, even the ones

What kind of people do you enjoy working with most and least, and why?
What this really means:: How are you going to get along with me and/or the others on the team? Are you going to t in with our corporate culture? How you should answer: You should answer truthfully, but tailor your response to what you know about the organization. Words such as solidly grounded might sound right in a buttoned-down setting; in a more creative environment, you could get away with wildcard thinkers. Dont use the question as an opportunity to slam former colleagues.
Where do you see yourself in three to five years?

What this really means: Are you going to stick around so that we can reap the benet of the training wed invest in you? How you should answer: Start o your response by saying, Right here. Dont mention advancement right away because you dont want your interviewer to think youll be restless in the position under discussion and gunning after someone elses job. Mention ways you hope you and the organization will grow in tandem.
Tell me about some of your passions. What are you most passionate about?
What this really means: Are you a well-balanced person with the enthusiasm and passion were looking for?
Why should I hire you over other qualified candidates?

What this really means: Lets cut to the chasewhat can you oer me that others cant? How you should answer: This is your opening to reiterate your three major strengths. Then close with a statement of your enthusiasm for the job: I cant imagine another candidate having my passion and commitment to this work. That will be clear once weve had a chance to work together.
How you should answer: Talk about a hobby or pastime you truly care about and link it to a personal strength that will help you on the job.
Tell me about a failure youve had in your career.

What this really means: How do you handle setbacks? How you should answer: Mention a success story that relates to the position, with numbers and anecdotal evidence of success to back you up. Then describe a failure that dates from early on in your career and came about because of inexperience. Describe what youve learned from it. The mistake should be understandable, forgivable, unrelated to the job at hand, and should have had no lasting consequences.
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GOOD aNSwERS TO TwO STaNDaRD QUESTiONS

1. Describe a time when you performed under pressure: Two weeks before a clients annual conference in Kansas City, a tornado took the roof off of the hotel where the attendees were supposed to stay. But as any event planner knows, this is why you always have to have a plan B. I had a block of rooms in another hotel we regularly use for other events set aside in case of overflow, and by pulling a few strings I was able to expand the block to accommodate all the registered attendees. 2. Tell me about a failure youve had in your career. One summer in college I was an intern at a lobbying firm, and I was given a call sheet of 20 elected officials a day to call, along with talking points for each one. One day there was a glitch in the database and all the talking points were mismatched. I was lobbying legislative aides about measures that werent even in their district. The first two calls were just bizarre; by the third call, when the aide said, I think youve got the wrong district, I realized my mistake. I felt about an inch tallbut now Ive learned my lesson not to think of technology as infallible, and to always double-check your facts before taking action.
new knowledge. In my entire career to date, Ive used maybe just 10 percent of my computer-science knowledge, says one experienced IT engineer. But that doesnt mean my education was in vain: It taught me to learn and understand new concepts. When I encounter something new, Im able to map it onto the things I already understand. I use that every single day.
What to Expect
In answering a technical question, your best bet is to cite specic examples of technology youve used and show how youve learned to understand and adapt to new concepts. You might have strong ideas on the role of technology or its impact on society, but the interview is not a place to hold forth with your overarching theories. Being succinct and being specic with your answers is extremely important, says one recruiter. Here are some examples of what you might hear from an interviewer: Tell me about the most challenging technical problem youve faced and how you solved it. Tell me what areas of technical knowledge you were hoping to develop when you chose your school and degree program. Tell me about a case in which you started not knowing a particular technology, but were eventually able to use it in order to develop a solution.
CHAPTER 2 Getting ReAdY CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT
HypOTHETICAL QUESTIONS TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

Every IT employer will want to know you have a capacity for understanding technical concepts and the ability to get up to speed on new technology. These are weighted dierently according to the company youre applying to and the role youre interviewing for. If youre aiming for a programming or coding-centric position, you might be asked to explain the function of a segment of code. But most IT employers are less interested in testing what you know than in learning about your thinking process and the ways you acquire Hypothetical questions are the curve balls of the interviewing game. Interviewers throw them at you to test your ability to think on your feet. Your reactions can show your best professional instincts.
What to Expect
Hypothetical questions begin with How would you or Imagine if you were to or What would you do if. Hypothetical questions are by their very nature hard to anticipate but dont allow yourself to be blindsided by them. If you need to, use these tricks to buy yourself some thinking time:
31

Restate the question: Let me get this straight. What would I do if Praise the question: Thats a good question. Let me think about that. Ask for specics: What resources would be available to the team to solve this problem?
ANTICIpATE SOmE TOUGH QUESTIONS

Even the best-crafted resume probably raises a few awkward questions about detours along your career path. What about that job you left after only six months? Why do you want to be a computer programmer now after working in nance? What were you doing in that year o between your last position and now? Dont get caught unprepared. Have answers to questions about the following:
Sample Hypothetical Questions

1. When you rst approach a new problem, what are your steps for resolution? 2. If you were to plan a new-hire event, how would you approach this as a project manager? 3. How would you deal with an employee whom you suspected of inating his travel expense report?
Gaps in Employment
An unexplained gap of six months or more might raise questions in your interviewers mind about your commitment to your career or even your work ethic. Be prepared to address the issue head-on. Dont approach it defensivelyI was raising my kids, okay? Present your decision as a considered choice consistent with your long-term goals. Maybe you wanted to have kids sooner rather than later so that you could concentrate on your career. A good explanation goes a long way: That year spent traveling in India might be perfectly consistent with your interest in the rise of global IT services companies, many of which are based in India, and that industrys impact on the global economy.
How to React
The best answer to a hypothetical question is one that ties it to a similar experience in your past. This tactic grounds your answer in reality and allows you to give an example of how well youve handled a dicult situation. Heres a good response to the expense report question above: I always nd that the easiest way to deal with a suspected breach of workplace ethics is to rst explain the company policy in a casual, impersonal way, so there are no misunderstandings about what is expected and no feelings hurt. I once felt that I was being overcharged by a vendor. His invoices were vague on services rendered. I explained to him that while he didnt need to punch a time card, he did need to provide a detailed accounting of the way he spent his time on the project. Lo and behold, the invoices that came in were signicantly lower than they had been, and our working relationship was stronger than ever. I think I might go with a similar approach in this case: Id ask everyone on the team to provide annotated receipts with their travel expense reports, then check over that employees receipts and spot check the rest of the teams too. Id also be sure to do the same myself, to set a good example. This would make my scrutiny seem less like a personal attack.
Layoffs and Firings

If you were laid o, you can simply explain your position was eliminated as part of a broader institutional business decision such as a restructuring, merger, or shift in the business plan, and leave it at that. It should be enough of an explanation to satisfy your interviewer. If you were red, briey explain that the position wasnt a good t for reasons specic to that job. Dont blame it on personality conicts, because you dont want to lead interviewers to speculate you cant work well with others. Mention any lessons learned or valued relationships you gleaned from your time in the position and youll sound the wiser for it. Everyone knows someone who has been laid o or red, and your interviewers might have been laid o or red at some point. Interviewers are predisposed to
32
understand termination of employment and sympathize with the people it happens to, provided you can discuss it without sounding bitter or accusatory.
Any Stated Qualifications Not Evident on Your Resume

If youve mentioned youre an experienced team leader but you have no list of professional or student organizations on your resume, explain why. Did you organize a tournament for an intramural or community soccer league? Have you encouraged participation in fundraising or blood donation drives within your oce? Bring up these accomplishments before your interviewer asks to resolve any doubts about your qualications.
seems like too perfect a match for my skills in improving eciency and long-term interest in IT to pass up, by all means say so. Nothing wins over an interviewer like a shared passion: I enjoyed the work in management consulting, but I knew after working with so many rms on the technology use behind their underlying business issues that Id found my true callingeven though it means starting over at the bottom of a new eld. With an anecdote like that, who wouldnt want to give you a job?
Inconsistent Array of Jobs

If your career path is unclear from your resume, you need to show your interviewer theres a common thread in your interests. If you can explain your career goal has always been to improve eciency and help businesses make smart decisions, suddenly it will make a lot more sense that youve worked in multiple roles in human resources and as a project manager before applying for a position as a senior IT analyst. Instead of seeming scattered, youll come across as committed and well-rounded.
Evidence of Job Hopping

If youve had ve positions in the past three years, your interviewer might have reason to suspect youd leave the organization as soon as you get a better oer elsewhere. Explain the circumstances that precipitated so many moves and how those circumstances are dierent now. Maybe the frequent changes were the result of a combination of a downsizing or your spouse getting reassigned to another state. Or, perhaps you took some short-term contract positions while you were looking for the right jobthis one, naturallyto come along.
Money Matters
Perhaps the trickiest question you might be expected to answer in an interview is What salary are you looking for? Most interviewing experts agree that if at all possible, you want to avoid naming a number before the interviewer does. Here are some good ways to parry the question: Im willing to entertain any fair oer. Ive learned a lot about the position today. Id need to take some time to think about the roles and responsibilities described before I can arrive at an answer. Considering all the elements of a compensation package, I prefer not to discuss salary in isolation. Can you describe a typical compensation package? The initial interview is seldom a good time to talk salary. You dont want to discuss the issue until after
Career Changes
Why should an IT services company that provides troubleshooting and tech support hire someone who has spent most of his or her career in management consulting? If this will be your rst position in a new eld, you need to explain how your skills and strengths are relevant to the position. You might explain that creative problem solving and client interaction were always your favorite parts of your work in consulting. Career changers who are making a shift to pursue my true calling should be prepared to show evidence of long-term interest in the eld theyre entering so employers dont think of them as career hoppers. If you are considering leaving your current career because this
33

youve convinced your potential employer youre the only choice. The best leverage you have in a salary discussion is that they want to hire you. However, you can dodge the salary question once twice at most. If your interviewer pushes you for a straight answer, its time to tip your hand. See the Play It Smart sidebar on this page for advice on disclosing your salary requirements. And for a more in-depth discussion of salary negotiations, turn to WetFeet Insider Guide: Negotiating Your Salary and Perks.
When did you graduate from college (or high school)? Are you available to work on Easter Sunday? Are you planning on starting a family? What type of military discharge did you receive?
Lay iT SMaRT: HOw TO DiSCLOSE P yOUR SaLaRy REQUiREMENTS

1. BENCHMARK Websites like Salary. com and Glassdoor can show you what you can expect to earn based on your industry, location, skill set, and experience. If you have industry contacts, inquire what entrylevel employees typically make. Or go straight to the source, says Ellen Gordon Reeves, author of Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview? You can call the HR department of a company and simply say, I saw a job advertised at your company and Im wondering what the entry-level salary is for this department. 2. SET A RANGE Your benchmarking should help you determine a bottom linethe absolute minimum youll accept. But rather than a single figure, present your requirements in a ten-thousand-dollar range. This increases the chances that your expectations and the employers budget will overlap and gives you some room to negotiate later on. Reeves suggests writing, My salary requirements are in the $30,000 to $40,000 range, depending on the type and scope of responsibilities. 3. WIGGLE IT Unless the employer is feeling generous, youll probably be offered a salary on the low end of your range. But you still have some wiggle room. Salary is only one part of an employers offer; benefits also carry a lot of weight, and can be used as leverage. If you feel the salary is on the low side given the responsibilities of the position, it cant hurt to bluff a bit and say that you expected more comprehensive benefits and will need a higher salary to offset this.
Questions You Shouldnt Have To Answer

Some questions are utterly inappropriateeven illegalin an interview. If any of these come up, dont react with indignation. Give the interviewer a way out by saying, Im sorry, Im not sure I understand the question. If he repeats the question instead of dropping it, you can attempt to return the conversation to less personal topics by saying, Why do you ask? Do you expect this will come up in the course of the job? That puts the onus on him to explain the point of the question. If he persists, smile and say: To be honest, I feel put a on the spot talking about this since weve only just met. You know how that is. No matter what, you are not obliged to answer illegal questions. (For more resources on this subject, see the For Your Reference chapter at the end of this book.) According to HR Tools, any of the following questions about an applicants protected characteristics could provide grounds for a legal discrimination claim: Are you a U.S. citizen? What is your nationality? Have you ever been arrested? Have you ever led for bankruptcy? Do you have a physical or medical condition? Are you married? What are your child-care arrangements? Are you a member of a union or labor organization? Have you ever sued a former employer? Have you ever led a workers compensation claim? What were some of the problems in your last job?
34
W E T F E E T I N S ID ER GUID E
INTERViEw DOS aND DONTS DONT

Monopolize the conversation with a laundry list of your abilities. The interviewers eyes are sure to glaze over.
DO DO
Choose three talents to emphasize, and come prepared with three stories about using those talents to help make your point. When it comes to talking up your abilities, remember the adage less is more.
DONT
Focus your comments on a specialty that will only account for a small percentage of your job. If you are applying for a position where your only writing task is emailing, dont spend ten minutes of your interview talking about what a great writer you are.
DONT
DO
Draw a clear connection between your talents and the responsibilities listed in the job description. For example: I notice the position entails a lot of presentations. Pitching software proposals to the higher-ups was my favorite part of my last position.
DONT
DO
Get sidetracked into explaining the technical details of your area of specialization. The interviewer will either already know the territory or not be interested.
Explain your expertise in terms your interviewer (who might be an HR rep rather than a technical specialist) is likely to understand. Focus on the problems you identified and the outcomes you achieved rather than on processes you used.
DONT
DO
Give unsolicited advice on how to solve a particular problem youve heard the company is facing. For all you know, the company might have already tried that route or might not be able to afford that solution.
Wait to be asked how youd solve the problem, then present a couple of pragmatic options that demonstrate your understanding of the issues involved.
DONT
DO
Come across as a jack-of-all-trades. If youre equally good at everything, that means youre especially good at nothing.
If youve done your homework, you should know which of your strengths are going to interest your interviewer, so dont hesitate to play these up.

SPECIAL CASES
PANEL INTERVIEwS
One-on-one interviews are stressful enough; the prospect a panel interview is likely to make even the most assured candidate break into a cold sweat. In this scenario, youll meet two or more interviewers at once. After you leave, theyll compare notes and oer their assessments. A panel interview can come at the beginning of the hiring process or it might come after the candidate has been through one or more preliminary one-on-one interviews. But despite your worst fears, a panel interview will probably not make you feel like a defendant in a trial. Its more likely to be a pleasant exchange of ideas; it might even occur over lunch. Even if one interviewer does start to re tough questions at you, chances are another panel member will empathize with your plight and help you to respond. The tricky part of a panel interview is making the conversation comfortable among multiple participants. Make sure you share your attention with all the panelists. Make eye contact with each one. When one of the panelists asks you a question, direct your attention at her but dont make it just a two-person conversation look around and engage the others. If you miss one of your interviewers names when the introductions are being made, dont be afraid to interject and ask for it to be repeated so that you can call each person by name.
REACH AN EffECTIVE CoNCLUSIoN

ASK GOOd QUESTIONS
The nal minutes of the interview can seal the good impression youve made up to that point. This is also the time to explore aspects of the job that might not have been covered. Perhaps youve had a chance to ask questions during the course of the interview. But if you havent, you should denitely take the opportunity now. Incisive, well-thought-out questions will give you insight into the job and enhance the impression that youre a desirable candidate. If you end the session without having asked questions, the interviewer might conclude you arent that interested in the job.
What Good Questions Can Do For You

They can reveal your knowledge of the company and the industry. If the company has just merged with another company, for example, you can ask a question such as, What do you see as the greatest burden on the information technology department as a result of the merger, and how do you think I could be of help? They can show youve been paying attention. You can refer to comments your interviewer made to personalize your questions: You mentioned that excelling in this position takes perseverance and grace under pressure. What other personal attributes do you think would be especially useful in this job? They can establish a personal connection. People like to talk about themselves. Provide an opening for your interviewer by asking, How did you start working with this organization? What do you nd most stimulating about the job?
INSIDER SCOOP
As a career counselor, I cant tell you how often Ive seen interviewees make the mistake of addressing their remarks exclusively to the male interviewers on a panel. They subconsciously believe that thats where the decision-making power lies, which is certainly not always the case. Sharing your attention among multiple panelists can be a hard habit to learn, but its essential in an evermore diverse workforce.
36
Ten Very Good Questions to Ask

1. What three words would you use to describe the work environment here? 2. What would you say are the organizations greatest opportunities and challenges in the next three years? 3. How has [major business trend or current event] aected your organization? 4. What are the greatest learning opportunities youve had here? 5. What do you like most about working here? 6. What is most challenging about working here? 7. Can you describe three specic opportunities for growth this position oers? 8. What do you see as the potential drawbacks of this position? 9. What personal qualities do the teammates you value most possess? And the most important question of all: 10. What are the next steps I should take to be hired for this position?
The Benefits Discussion

One potentially touchy subject is the companys benet package. You might not want to bring this up until late in the interview process, but be sure you ask about it before you take the job because its hard to negotiate better benets after the fact. Check out benets and company policies on workers compensation, disability, and maternity leave, paternity leave, and elder-care leave even if you dont expect to need them. You never know how your life circumstances might change.
YoUR EXIT STRATEGY
THE INTERVIEW IS coming to a close. Dont wait

until your interviewer is out of steam to start wrapping things up. Instead, obey the old show-business adage: Always leave them wanting more. When you sense its time to wrap things up, put your exit strategy into action by following these steps:
TOUCHy SUBjECTS
Questions about turnover, expected working hours, and stress levels can be dicult to broach, but if you can ask them sensitively youll nd out whether this is a place you really want to work. Also, youll show you know your worth and want to be part of an organization that values its employees. Perhaps you suspect you might be walking into an impossible situation and want to know why the previous employee left the position. There should be no make-or-break tone in your voice; you should be diplomatic and nonconfrontational. Gauge the interviewers openness to your concerns. If the time doesnt seem right, you can wait for a later interview to bring them up. But if youve developed a good rapport, it might be appropriate to ask a question such as, Is this a good place to work? The question doesnt always come up, says an IT hiring manager for a defense contractor. But Ive been working here for 15 years, so I can tell them what to expect.
Make Amends
If you think the interview hit a wrong turn at one point or another, now is the time to modify your answers or clarify your reasoning: I dont want to take too much more of your time, but I did want to get back to that question you asked me about how Id handle a tough customer. Just to be clear, I wouldnt recommend referring the customer to a supervisor until Id made every oer within my authority to put things right.
Invite Further Questioning

Ask the interviewer if he has any further questions for you. This gives him a chance to address any unresolved issues and it shows youre attuned to his concerns. If he says, No, that about covers it, you should take the hint and thank him for his time.
Reiterate Your Interest

Dont leave any doubt in your interviewers mind about your interest in the position. Interviewers dread rejec-
37

tion, too, and they might fear youre uninterested or that you might be settling for a job you dont really want. Look the interviewer right in the eye and say, I was excited about this position even before I came in today, but after talking to you Im more certain than ever that I really want this job. But be sure you mean it!
FoLLoW-UP
ONCE THE INTERVIEW is over, you should

review your notes from the interview and start planning your follow-up. Take a minute to review your performance and identify areas where you excelled and areas you might improve upon if you get the opportunity to interview further for the position. Notes from your interview can help you identify experiences you neglected to mention or questions youd like to ask in follow-up interviews. If your interviewer told you to follow up in a week, mark that date in your calendar. Be sure to call then for your status check. Reiterate your willingness to meet with other members of the team. Just remember, theres a ne line between talking and stalkingif youve called two or three times during the course of a couple of weeks and theres still no denitive response, you might want to downshift your follow-up contacts to occasional emails.
Make Your Final Pitch

Remind your interviewer in a minute or less of the three main reasons why you are a good match for this position. Dont be shy about repeating your strengths one last time. Make your nal sales message clear, quick, and memorable, and you just might cinch the deal.
Ask About Next Steps

You probably wont get your answer on the spot. The interviewer might want to check with her colleagues, or she might have other candidates she wants to assess. Ask how soon you should follow up and mention youd be delighted to have the chance to meet the rest of the team.
Give Your Interviewer Something to Remember You by

Hand over a business card or an article by or about you. Everything you can do to keep your candidacy top of mindand top of inboxhelps.
THE THANK-YOU NOTE

The thank-you note is a tactic virtually all career advisers recommend and many candidates overlook. While the interview is still fresh in your mind, sit down and craft a warm, personal thank-you message. Put other candidates oversight to your advantage and send thankyou notes no later than the day after your interview. A typed note on business stationary or a legible handwritten note on an elegant card is ideal. However, a quick, sincere email is preferable to a stunning card that arrives ten days late, when the interviewer has already forgotten your name and oered the job to someone else. In addition to showing your appreciation for your interviewers time, a thank-you note is a prime opportunity to: Mention something you neglected in your resume. Alleviate any concerns raised in the interview. Convey your enthusiasm. Reiterate key strengths you possess that relate to the job.
Make a Smooth Move for the Door

Look your interviewer in the eye and oer a few words of appreciation for how much you got out of your conversation. Then, be sure you have all your belongings and oer your interviewer a warm handshake and smile. This is a powerful last impression to leave with your interviewerpersonal, meaningful, and consummately professional. This handshake should mark the end of your interview and, ideally, the beginning of a rewarding professional relationship.
38
For Your Reference

Additional Interviewing Resources.....................................42 General Interviewing Advice..........................................42 Job Search Resources....................42 Background Research Tools.............................43 IT Industry Resources..................44 Salary Negotiation Tools............................................44

ADDITIoNAL INTERVIEWING RESoURCES
WITH A LITTLE extra research, you can prepare

for some of the less obvious questions interviewers will ask. Rather than inventing these questions themselves, interviewers often pull them from professional resources you can access, such as the Internet, human resource and development services, interview books, and workplace advice columnists. Heres how to nd them:
FOR A LEG up on the competition, peruse these general interviewing advice sources: WETFEET.COm
www.wetfeet.com WetFeets website covers every interviewing scenario from brainteasing case quizzes to lunch meetings, and oers tips for dealing with tricky situations.
GENERAL INTERVIEWING ADVICE
INTERNET SEARCHES
Google interview questions or job interview questions and check out the search results to nd the top 20 or so websites that list interview questions employers should ask. Chances are, interviewers who are pressed for time will look at the same sources. Also, sites such as www. job-interview.net oer lists of some of the toughest interview questions and appropriate responses.
JOB-INTERVIEw.NET
www.job-interview.net This site includes insights from top career counselors, a database of 1,000 common interview questions and samples of excellent answers, tips to perfect your skills with mock interviews, and much more.
HR ANd RECRUITmENT SERVICES

Spend a while thinking like a recruiter or HR professional and youll be better prepared for their questions. Look up HR professional associations and HR and recruiter professional websites and run a keyword search on interviewing to see if you can nd recommended questions or practices. Sites such as the HR-Guide (www.hr-guide.com) oer valuable lists of interview questions and outline other ways HR professionals test candidate competencies.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES ANd EmpLOyERS CAREER LIBRARy

www.jobweb.com This site features in-depth information on job fairs, thank-you notes, and other interview concerns, plus salary and job outlook data, job fair listings, college career center resources, and features on employers.
JoB SEARCH RESoURCES

WETFEET INSIDER GUIDES
Networking Works!
Many job vacancies are lled before an opening is announced publiclybut follow these strategies for eective networking, and youll tap into this hidden job market.
42
Job Hunting A to Z: Landing the Job You Want
This information-packed guide covers networking, interviewing, and negotiation, with tips on drumming up contacts and referrals, handling dicult interview situations, and choosing from several oers.
WEBSITES
American Staffing Association

www.stangtoday.net The How to Select a Stang Company tips, found under the Job Seekers tab, can help you nd companies that will seek out jobs for you and advocate on your behalf in the job market.
ties in your eld and explore the most promising career options. The Occupational Employment Statistics will help you identify mean salaries, the current rate of layos, and wage comparisons for your industry and geographic location. Check out Occupational Outlook Quarterlys special report, Employment Interviewing: Seizing the Opportunity and the Job, at www.bls.gov/ opub/ooq/2000/summer/art02.htm.
U.S. Census Bureau

www.census.gov Find the latest economic census gures, including earnings for your industry; earnings cross-referenced by occupation, education level and gender for your geographic location; and hard numbers on e-commerce.
Employment Law Information Network

www.elinfonet.com Concerned that visa status, tness, or drug testing requirements might be barriers in your job search? Get the latest on legal hiring requirements on the Hot Topics section of this site.
Labor Market Information Center

www.careeronestop.org/lmi/LMIHome.asp See what occupations are hottest in your geographic area and across the nation.
BACkGRoUND RESEARCH TooLS

GENERAL BACKGROUNd RESOURCES
Fortune Career Resources
money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/rankings Fortunes annual reports on the best places to work, most admired companies, and the best places to work for women and minorities are key background reading. Also check out the columns to discover jobs you never knew existed, the latest on workplace practices such as telecommuting and casual dress, and career quizzes.
Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District

www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/BeigeBook/2011 If youre considering relocating to look for work, use this government index known as The Beige Book to identify where the economic prospects are brightest in the United States.
The Conference Board

www.conference-board.org Concerned about what those economic indicators mean for your industryand your job prospects? Get experts perspectives on business trends on this site.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook

www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm Search this site and the Career Guide to Industries (www.bls.gov/oco/cg/home.htm) to identify opportuni-

IT INDUSTRY RESoURCES
Boxes and Arrows
www.boxesandarrows.com A peer-written online journal and a great place to learn about best practices related to design, including information architecture, graphic design, and interaction design.
books with dierent levels of detail, from the Visual QuickStart guides to thick reference works.
Slashdot
www.slashdot.org Bulletin board featuring discussions of new software, hardware, work techniques, tools of the trade, and IT-related politics, along with tips on job availability. Slashdot also posts interviews with major IT pundits. In the view of many insiders, its the Internets most signicant IT community.
Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
Believed by many to be the best practical guide to writing commercial software, this is an industry classic. It provides examples in C, Pascal, Basic, Fortran, and Ada, but the focus is on successful programming techniques.
Steve C. McConnell (Microsoft Press, 2004)
SALARY NEGoTIATIoN TooLS

Negotiating Your Salary and Perks
Get your way without breaking the dealor even a sweatwith WetFeets comprehensive Insider Guide.
Dr. Dobbs Journal

http://drdobbs.com/digital In business since 1976, DDJ features the work of IT professionals who revise proposed standards, explore new technologies, argue about programming style, and share tricks of the trade.
Americas Career InfoNet

www.acinet.org Find the median wages for your chosen eld in your geographic location and which careers have the strongest outlook right now.
Information Week
www.informationweek.com A weekly newsletter focusing on emerging trends in computing.
Salary.com
www.salary.com Find appropriate salary and benets for your position. Pick up tips on how to raise your pay, get paid time o, and negotiate cost-of-living increases.
OReilly Media
www.oreilly.com OReilly produces a denitive line of books that teach, in detail, all the ins and outs of the software world from network tuning to Perl coding to open source issues.
World at Work
www.worldatwork.org Check out the latest research on performance-based pay, stock options, overtime pay, and paid leave though survey briefs and in-depth reports.
Peachpit Press
www.peachpit.com Focusing on multimedia design, Web design, the Mac, and servers, Peachpit puts out a range of useful
44
WetFeet was founded in 1994 by Stanford MBAs Gary Alpert and Steve Pollock. While exploring their next career moves, they needed products like the WetFeet Insider Guides to guide them through their research and interviews. But these resources didnt exist yetso they started writing! Since then, millions of job seekers have used the WetFeet Insider Guides and WetFeet.com to research their next career move. In 2007 WetFeet became part of Universum Communications, the global leader in employer branding. Thanks to the integration of WetFeet into the Universum group, WetFeet products are now used by job seekers all over the world. In addition to our Insider Guides and WetFeet.com, we produce WetFeet magazine, which features career advice tailored to undergraduate students.
>> The WetFeet Story
>> The WetFeet Name
The inspiration for our name comes from a popular business school case study about L.L. Bean, the successful mail-order company. Leon Leonwood Bean got his start because he literally got his feet wet: Every time he went hunting in the Maine woods, his shoes leaked. One day he set out to make a better hunting shoe, doing such a good job that his friends lined up to buy pairs of the boots. And so L.L. Bean was born. The lesson we took from the Bean case? Well, it shows that getting your feet wet is the first step toward achieving success. And thats what WetFeet is here for: To help you get your feet wet and take the right steps toward ever-greater career goals, whatever they may be.
skill and the one barrier that every job seeker must face before getting hired. But it doesnt have to be a harrowing experience. At its core, a job interview is really just a specific kind of conversation. For information technology professionals, that conversation is all about connecting your technical and problem-solving skills with the companys needs. This Insider Guide, complete with sample interview questions and scenarios, will help you make the preparations necessary to keep that conversation focused, productive, and pleasant, so that you can keep your wits about you even when the stakes are high.
>> Interviewing is the most important job-seeking
TURN TO THIS WETFEET INSIDER GUIDE TO EXPLORE

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF INTERVIEW SUCCESS, FROM HOW TO DRESS TO HOW TO ANSWER THE MOST COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOURSELF, THE POSITION, AND THE ORGANIZATION TO EXCEL IN AN INTERVIEW WHY INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INSIDER TIPS FOR ANSWERING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS, EMPHASIZING YOUR STRENGTHS, AND CONCLUDING THE INTERVIEW GRACEFULLY THE QUESTIONS RECRUITERS WILL ASK TO ASSESS YOUR TECHNICAL SKILLS STRATEGIES FOR FOLLOWING UP WITH HIRING MANAGERS AND BUILDING ON YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION
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ACE YOUR INTERVIEW

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Ace Your Interview: Information Technology

Phone: (215) 546-4900 Fax: (215) 546-9921 Website: www.wetfeet.com

ACE YOUR INTERViEw: INfORMaTiON TECHNOLOGy

Ace Your Interview: Information Technology

3 Know the Job 4 Deciphering

Ace Your Interview: Information Technology

27 Say it with Body

28 Master the Art

36 Special Cases 44 IT Industry Resources 36 Reach an

37 Your Exit Strategy 38 Follow-Up

Demystifying the Interview Process

Ace Your Interview: Information Technology

WHAT EMPLoYERS WANT

ITS ALL TOO easy to look at an interview as an

CHAPTER 2 Getting ReAdY

CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT

CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY

DO WE WANT TO WORK wITH YOU?

CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE

CHAPTER 1 DemYstifYing the InterView Process

WILL YOU MESH wITH THE TEAm?

KNoW THE JoB

BEFORE yOU HEAd into any job interview, you

CHAPTER 2 Getting ReAdY

WHATS yOUR EQ?

CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY

CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT

CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE

WET F EET IN S IDER GUIDE

Ace Your Interview: Information Technology

CHAPTER 2 GETTING READY

CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE

CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT

CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY

CHAPTER 1 DEMYSTIFYING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS

CHAPTER 2 GETTING READY

CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE

WET F EET IN S IDER GUIDE

Ace Your Interview: Information Technology

CHAPTER 2 Getting ReAdY

YOU CaNT KNOw EVERyTHiNG

CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE

CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT

CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY

CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE

WET F EET IN S IDER GUIDE

Know the Field............................. 10 Know Yourself...............................11

Ace Your Interview: Information Technology

KNoW THE FIELD

CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY

CHAPTER 2 GETTING READY

CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT

CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE

CHAPTER 1 DemYstifYing the InterView Process

CHAPTER 2 GETTING READY

CHAPTER 3 THE BIG DAY CHAPTER 4 THE BIG MOMENT

CHAPTER 5 FOR YOUR REFERENCE

WET F EET IN S IDER GUIDE

Ace Your Interview: Information Technology

YOU CaNT KNOw EVERyTHiNG