Interview Help!

[Canoe]

Many jobs receive dozens or even hundreds of applicants, many of whom are fully qualified for the job they're applying for.

It is often impossible to pick out one best candidate based on things like experience, qualifications and personality. Often there are several indistinguishable candidates, one of whom will get the job and several of whom will not.

Dressing up for an interview signals eagerness and a desire to impress. This is a definite positive when you're dealing with a whole mess of qualified candidates with similar social skills.

Not all jobs are like this. But employees in many positions are quite fungible. If I'm hiring an investment banker and am picking through the thousands of applications of recently laid off folks, damn right I'm going to pick the one who's eager to impress.

I hate using fight club quotes, but most of us, in most contexts, are not beautiful and unique snowflakes.

BINGO!

[sarlen]

Another question for those that hire people.

One of the jobs I applied to wants my list of references, I pulled out my list and realized for all the work I did on my resume I forgot to go through my references. So now I'm tasked with building a completely new list. In all of your expert opinions what carries more weight, current or former managers/supervisors/VPs or general co workers or both? Is there anything I should avoid putting on there?

[Canoe]

Current and Former supervisor's is always a must assuming you are positive you will get a good reference (duh).

If you actually had personal exposure to VP's / Directors / Senior Management etc, then they are a great addition, if they can't speak intelligently about direct experience with you - I wouldn't bother.

Co-workers are worth slightly less, but still good to have. While they might have been your "buddy" and therefore will give you a good reference no matter what, I might be able to get a little bit of knowledge about your personality / team working skills from them.

So basically if possible (assuming there is no risk to your current job by doing so) a mix of all of them is best. But I would rate former and current supervisors at the top of the list.

[Winnow]

Another question for those that hire people.

One of the jobs I applied to wants my list of references, I pulled out my list and realized for all the work I did on my resume I forgot to go through my references. So now I'm tasked with building a completely new list. In all of your expert opinions what carries more weight, current or former managers/supervisors/VPs or general co workers or both? Is there anything I should avoid putting on there?

I recommend listing female references that have sexy voices...preferably with exotic accents.

[masteen]

So why not wear a suit?

Because I don't own one?

[Boogahz]

So why not wear a suit?

Because I don't own one?

I think that the people arguing that you have to wear a suit must think those that don't are going into interviews with torn jeans and t-shirts.

[Canoe]

So why not wear a suit?

Because I don't own one?

I think that the people arguing that you have to wear a suit must think those that don't are going into interviews with torn jeans and t-shirts.

See Sueven's post above.

This has nothing to do with being stuffy, or traditional, or not understanding "younger people" (I'm only 30) or some stupid shit like that. It has everything do with you have basically 1 hour to impress someone you most likely have never met before, so why wouldn't you want to put yourself in the absolute best position possible to get that job?

I don't understand why this is such a hard concept.

[Boogahz]

In 100 degree weather, the only difference between what I wear to an interview and a suit is the jacket. Sorry if you cannot grasp the concept that some people live in a non-arctic climate. I would wear the jacket in our Winter (50-60 degrees).

*edit* I brought this up to a manager on our hiring team, and I asked about how the person's dress affected their decision when they met to discuss candidates. They said that, generally, the people that are showing up in suits are not a good match for the company. The only time that they have actively discussed dress is when people show up in entirely inappropriate clothing since this is not a night club. Now, this could be a reason for me having the views that I do, since I chose to apply here based on the information I was able to get from friends in the area. Also, employers in the Austin area are generally a LOT more laid back (just like most everyone else in this area) than what you are probably used to. Here, we focus more on what type of person the candidate is rather than their wardrobe choice (unless totally inappropriate as mentioned above.

[miir]

I brought this up to a manager on our hiring team, and I asked about how the person's dress affected their decision when they met to discuss candidates. They said that, generally, the people that are showing up in suits are not a good match for the company. The only time that they have actively discussed dress is when people show up in entirely inappropriate clothing since this is not a night club. Now, this could be a reason for me having the views that I do, since I chose to apply here based on the information I was able to get from friends in the area. Also, employers in the Austin area are generally a LOT more laid back (just like most everyone else in this area) than what you are probably used to. Here, we focus more on what type of person the candidate is rather than their wardrobe choice (unless totally inappropriate as mentioned above.

[Canoe]

Well maybe it truly is that much a difference in cultures and companies.

It is unfathomable to me that wearing a suit could EVER have negative connotations.... so that was the basis of my entire argument.

[sarlen]

I got a call from them today to change the time of my interview and I asked if a suit was appropriate and she said "of course it is, dress to impress".

[lmnt9]

I don't understand why this is such a hard concept.

Because not everyone thinks the way you do. That's why.

[Zaelath]

Many jobs receive dozens or even hundreds of applicants, many of whom are fully qualified for the job they're applying for.

It is often impossible to pick out one best candidate based on things like experience, qualifications and personality. Often there are several indistinguishable candidates, one of whom will get the job and several of whom will not.

Dressing up for an interview signals eagerness and a desire to impress. This is a definite positive when you're dealing with a whole mess of qualified candidates with similar social skills.

Not all jobs are like this. But employees in many positions are quite fungible. If I'm hiring an investment banker and am picking through the thousands of applications of recently laid off folks, damn right I'm going to pick the one who's eager to impress.

I hate using fight club quotes, but most of us, in most contexts, are not beautiful and unique snowflakes.

BINGO!

Perhaps it's different in IT? I find the guy that arrives for an interview as a tech in a suit is usually all sizzle and no steak.

[Winnow]

Perhaps it's different in IT? I find the guy that arrives for an interview as a tech in a suit is usually all sizzle and no steak.

IT hiring is different. You look for someone with rotting teeth, a bird's nest beard, a black concert T-Shirt with a healthy layer of dandruff covering the shoulders, a lurched neck position from staring at computer screens too much with bad posture, caffeine jitters, any hi tech phone besides an iPhone, and makes absolutely no sense while answering any non IT question during the interview. If they meet all of those requirements and don't smell too bad, you hire them.

[Zaelath]

Perhaps it's different in IT? I find the guy that arrives for an interview as a tech in a suit is usually all sizzle and no steak.

IT hiring is different. You look for someone with rotting teeth, a bird's nest beard, a black concert T-Shirt with a healthy layer of dandruff covering the shoulders, a lurched neck position from staring at computer screens too much with bad posture, caffeine jitters, any hi tech phone besides an iPhone, and makes absolutely no sense while answering any non IT question during the interview. If they meet all of those requirements and don't smell too bad, you hire them.

that's internal only IT, ours have to deal w/ real people ><

[lmnt9]

Perhaps it's different in IT? I find the guy that arrives for an interview as a tech in a suit is usually all sizzle and no steak.

IT hiring is different. You look for someone with rotting teeth, a bird's nest beard, a black concert T-Shirt with a healthy layer of dandruff covering the shoulders, a lurched neck position from staring at computer screens too much with bad posture, caffeine jitters, any hi tech phone besides an iPhone, and makes absolutely no sense while answering any non IT question during the interview. If they meet all of those requirements and don't smell too bad, you hire them.

And don't forget to find out which servers they are on for the various MMORPGs you play so you can get teh purple.

[Syenye]

What about for women? I've been told (by a male hiring manager) that they really prefer to see women in skirts rather than pants on interviews. I'm not sure I buy into that one, but I'm curious as to what the other women on the board wear to interviews.

[laneela]

I think for a woman, it really depends on the job she's applying for. If you're looking for something in advertising, marketing, something that requires some sort of creativity, you're probably better off wearing something more trendy with pops of color while if you're applying for something in accounting or the financial industry, you would probably be better off wearing a more traditional skirt suit. I can't imagine skirt v slacks is the issue so much. It hasn't been for me.

[sarlen]

I forgot all about this post..

I went to the interview and wore a suit and tie. It turned out to be the coldest day of the year so I'm pretty thankful I decided to wear the jacket.

I get escorted through several security check points and finally arrive at the conference room where the interview will take place. There were 3 people in the room sitting on opposite sides of a U shaped table, they seat me at the bottom of the U so I have 2 people on one side of me and 1 person on my other side. Two of the people interviewing me are wearing blue jeans and work shirts and the 3rd person is wearing a business suit. They begin to explain to me that while I was set up for a group interview they no longer use that method in their department and I'm pretty sure you could see the relief on my face.

The interview it self goes well. They started out with situational questions like if you had a disagreement with co-workers how would you handle it blah blah blah and that part lasted about 20min. Next was all of the technical type of questions, after 45min of that I had only failed to answer one correctly and as soon as they asked it I knew I was hosed. I don't remember all of the question but basically it was a malformed packet problem in a Cisco router, what do you do kind of thing. I considered trying to bluff my way through it but figured if they were asking such a specific question someone at the table already knew the answer. Instead of actually answering the question I went on about my leet google skills and how easily I can find a solution if I didn't already know how to solve it. Not in those words of course, but thats the gist of it. After all the questions we made small talk for about 15min.

Next up is the tour of the facilities and this is were I think I aced the entire thing. We walk into the server room and as we walk in there entire setup could pass as a clone for my current server room right down to the brand name of CAT5 cables. Before the guy giving me the tour says anything I comment on his rack of servers, noticing they are all Proliant DL380's. Being so familiar with this specific model made it easy to talk about for 10min as it was obvious he was like a proud papa talking about the equipment. Next up in the room was the phone switch and as my luck on the day holds out its a Nortel Option 11e the exact type and model I have, made that 5min conversation all to easy.


As I was getting ready to leave I asked when they had planned to make a decision. They informed me that a decision was to be made with-in 5 business days. Five days later the HR guy calls and says, they haven't decided yet its going to be another week. Ok no biggie..I call them back a week later and the HR guy explains it came down to me and one other guy and they liked us both so much they were going to hire both of us under the same title but they had to resubmit to HR to get the second job approved and it would take another week for the paper work and to call them back. At this point my anxiety is in hyper drive, the wait so far had seemed unbearable. Fast forward 3 more weeks of getting stone walled and the HR guy calls on Dec 17th and says were ready to make an offer can you come in on the 19th to talk about it. On the morning of the 19th he calls back and tells me they are under a hiring freeze that was issued that morning and nothing he can do for me until at least the third week of January. This morning they called and extended an offer....finally. A significant raise along with a decent package and hopefully some security in this down market and all is right with the world again.

[Winnow]

Grats!

All that waiting would have driven me made, especially the hiring freeze part.

Instead of actually answering the question I went on about my leet google skills and how easily I can find a solution if I didn't already know how to solve it. Not in those words of course, but thats the gist of it.

The google!

[Soreali]

Grats!

All that waiting would have driven me made, especially the hiring freeze part.

Instead of actually answering the question I went on about my leet google skills and how easily I can find a solution if I didn't already know how to solve it. Not in those words of course, but thats the gist of it.

The google!

The google ftw!... im still searching to get out of this shithole.. maybe one of these days something will go right for me!

[sarlen]

Grats!

All that waiting would have driven me made, especially the hiring freeze part.

Instead of actually answering the question I went on about my leet google skills and how easily I can find a solution if I didn't already know how to solve it. Not in those words of course, but thats the gist of it.

The google!

The google ftw!... im still searching to get out of this shithole.. maybe one of these days something will go right for me!

Thanks Winnow!

I don't know if your in I.T. Soreali but when I was job searching I couldn't find much at all on the major boards like Monster until just by chance I accidentally added Engineering to my search. It turns out much of the industrial sector is going through a change right now to move away from systems like PLC to Windows based systems. Because of the area involved many of these jobs are listed as engineering and not I.T. Had I not made the mistake of adding engineering to my search I would not have this incredible job.

[Soreali]

Grats!

All that waiting would have driven me made, especially the hiring freeze part.

Instead of actually answering the question I went on about my leet google skills and how easily I can find a solution if I didn't already know how to solve it. Not in those words of course, but thats the gist of it.

The google!

The google ftw!... im still searching to get out of this shithole.. maybe one of these days something will go right for me!

Thanks Winnow!

I don't know if your in I.T. Soreali but when I was job searching I couldn't find much at all on the major boards like Monster until just by chance I accidentally added Engineering to my search. It turns out much of the industrial sector is going through a change right now to move away from systems like PLC to Windows based systems. Because of the area involved many of these jobs are listed as engineering and not I.T. Had I not made the mistake of adding engineering to my search I would not have this incredible job.

I'm actually trying to find a Help desk job right now. The company I work for is basically outsourced helpdesk and its a joke. Can't wait for this place to go under. I've been searching Dice.com and have found plenty of jobs that i've sent my resume to, just no luck getting a call back..

[Bubba Grizz]

We'll be hiring a helpdesk person in our Minneaplois/St. Paul area probably this June. We're not your basic read a script type helpdesk. We do a lot of stuff beyond what most helpdesks do I believe.

[Soreali]

Sadly I'm in New York . Yeah I dont really do the whole read a script like dell tech support kinda thing.. Like to think outside the box a bit

[Lalanae]

What about for women? I've been told (by a male hiring manager) that they really prefer to see women in skirts rather than pants on interviews. I'm not sure I buy into that one, but I'm curious as to what the other women on the board wear to interviews.

I always wear pants. I refuse to wear pantyhose (yuck!) and bare legs don't look professional enough for an interview. Anyone who says a woman is better off wearing a skirt is pretty fucked up and no one I would ever want to work for.

Of course the only time I've ever encountered any kind of gender discrimination was at a shithole company that didn't pay enough to attract decent managers and didn't have formal discrimination policy. That was back in the early-mid 1990's. These days you won't find many men like that in a hiring position at a decent company.

[Sirensa]

What about for women? I've been told (by a male hiring manager) that they really prefer to see women in skirts rather than pants on interviews. I'm not sure I buy into that one, but I'm curious as to what the other women on the board wear to interviews.

I always wear pants. I refuse to wear pantyhose (yuck!) and bare legs don't look professional enough for an interview. Anyone who says a woman is better off wearing a skirt is pretty fucked up and no one I would ever want to work for.

Ditto! I have some skirt suits, but 99% of the time I wear pant suits to interviews (and wore pant suits when working).

[Spang]

I always wear pants to an interview.