The dreaded interview

The interview is probably the most daunting part of the job search. The prospect of meeting new people, coupled with the pressures of trying to impress them makes it a bit like a blind date. The thing to keep in mind is it is nothing like a blind date. Companies need your skills as much as you need the company.  It’s a level playing field; both you and the interviewer are there to find out if you can work together.

In the course of my career at Entelect, I’ve interviewed hundreds of applicants, especially developers. The most successful has been when the candidate sees the opportunity to work with us and presents themselves as such. They ask pertinent questions about who we are and how we can work with them. They are professional, engaging and direct.

Here are a few tips:

• Prepare beforehand. Use LinkedIn and Google to find out about the company and the interviewer. Find out the format of the interview. If there are tests, prepare beforehand.
• Be professional – in appearance and presentation.
• Sell yourself - what you offer them.
• Be sold: what do they offer you.
• Engage with the interviewer – there’s nothing worse than someone who just answers questions. People like to talk about the company and themselves, give them the opportunity to.
• Interview the company – you’re going to be working there, make sure that it’s what you also want from a cultural fit.
• Find out what a typical day will involve.
• Make sure everyone is clear on expectations form a career, salary & benefits point of view.
• Just relax and be yourself.

I've included a few links, some are from the perspective of interviewers (good to know both sides) and others just general tips and guidelines:

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/3-interview-questions-that-reveal-everything.html

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/best-interview-technique-you-never-use.html

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/5-questions-great-job-candidates-ask-interviewers.html

http://mashable.com/2012/09/22/developer-interview-tips/

http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview/careers.aspx

Some benefits of working for a smaller company…

In general, large organisations will tend to have bigger budgets meaning they can offer bigger salaries and more benefits to potential recruits. However, smaller companies are often able to offer a number of other advantages that may balance things out.

First off, there is often greater opportunity at a smaller company to take on more responsibility. In a software scenario, a developer at a smaller company is more likely to be involved in analysis, testing, client liaison work and all kinds of other areas of the business. If this is the case, it is really an opportunity to obtain a broader skillset and give you more of those crucial transferrable skills.

The spin off to this, is that if you are someone who excels given extra responsibility, at a smaller company the big-shots are more likely to notice. Getting rewarded for your extra initiative is another matter altogether, but it can’t hurt that the senior management have visibility to your willingness.

Another consequence is that there is a good chance you will be able to make a difference. This is a size thing – it would be impossible for a large corporate to be able to consider all their employee’s individual ideas.

These are just some of the potential advantages of working for a smaller company. It’s important to remember there will be pros and cons to working for any organisation of any size, and that just because a position doesn't come with a huge salary or a big-brand logo it doesn’t mean that there aren’t any other benefits.

Writing CV’s – don’t put yourself out of the running

Most of the time, a potential employer’s first encounter with you will be via your CV so it’s imperative that you spend some time on getting it right. CV’s are usually used to filter out candidates since an organisation will only actually interview a small percentage of the CV’s they receive. This topic has been covered by a million websites and books so we’ll just quickly recap some points:

• Make sure punctuation and spelling are PERFECT. Proofread. Have someone else proofread – preferably someone with strong English language skills.
• Likewise, be a perfectionist when it comes to formatting – check line spacing, use of bullets, table alignments etc. Stick to standard font types and be consistent with font sizing. It should be logically ordered, easy to read and not cramped.
• Keep it informative but concise. Using bullet points can be effective in minimising word usage.
• Start with basic personal details. Exclude superfluous information like religious affiliation, children’s names etc.
• Move on to education and qualifications. List the names of institutions and dates attended in reverse order (e.g. university before school). If you received any awards or distinctions for subjects related to the job you’re applying for then find a way to include this information.
• After that, list all certifications. There are arguments for both listing these in reverse chronological order or by relevance.
• Order your job history chronologically, with your latest/current job first. Make sure you succinctly mention what you did at each position (achievements, responsibilities, experience). Again, tailor your CV to the position you’re applying for by including details that are relevant to that position.
• In the world of development, a skills matrix can also be added. Tell the truth though, because listing technologies you haven’t actually been exposed to will be found out quickly in an interview situation.
• Some people have a short section on personal interests in their CV’s – this is fine, but keep this section short.
• If you list references, make sure you have asked the referee’s permission first!

As mentioned earlier, a quick Google search on how to write a CV will bring up a number of useful links. From personal experience of hiring, the first two points of our list give us the quickest excuse to hit the delete button when receiving a CV though – there’s just no reason to get these wrong.

Are there alternatives to recruitment agents?

I came across this article recently - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/sep/23/problem-recruitment-software-jobs. It is written from a UK perspective but is definitely applicable to the situation we find ourselves in in South Africa.

Basically the author looks at “reframing the needs of candidates, employers and the agencies”. First he looks at things from an employer’s perspective and notes that recruiting by receiving CV’s from a recruitment agency can be an arduous process. He then explains that with software companies paying recruitment fees up to 20% of a candidate’s annual salary, the software companies are losing money that they should be investing in themselves, and that this fee may be a factor in an employer’s decision when choosing between candidates. Also, the fact that recruiters generally won’t understand the software industry in enough detail to effectively screen candidates is inevitably mentioned. Up until this point, the article mentions nothing that we haven’t heard before.

However, he then turns the argument on its head and suggests that the problem actually lies with the candidates and employers themselves. He suggests doing research on companies that you’d like to get a job with (look for them on the internet, hear about them via mates, see them out and about in the tech community etc.), and then contacting the company directly with a cover letter, some examples of your work, a CV etc. This obviously depends on the companies reciprocating by having job specs, contact details and some useful information for potential employees posted on their website. Using LinkedIn nowadays is also another easy way to get in touch with relevant people within an organisation. The author says “To be honest, if someone wrote to me with a nice covering letter and spoke about open source projects that he or she liked, pointed me at a Twitter feed where they were intelligently engaged in the problem domain, and sent me some code that they'd written, they'd be more or less hired at this point” and I would imagine that a number of other employers in our industry would feel the same.

Graduating soon? What to look for in your first development job

Every year at Entelect we have a couple of Grad Days where we give graduates a short presentation on the state of the Software Industry in Johannesburg, some basic career advice and some information on what to do once entering the workplace. We also give a few tips on how to identify what types of job will suit you best.

We believe that the first two years of your career can really accelerate your career, so in many ways that first job is an important decision.

Firstly, do some research on the company you are applying to work with. You need to find the atmosphere that is right for you. It’s hard to determine this before the fact, so if you are granted an interview then ask for a tour and ask questions about the work environment. you know anyone else at the company, ask their opinion. Even check the company’s website. Which will also give you an idea of the company’s core values. It’s important to work for a company that has values similar to yours. This is all fairly generic stuff, relevant to all industries.

In the software industry, there are a few other things to look for. Number one on our list is to make sure your first job gives you transferrable skills. Without opening the debate on generalisation versus specialisation because there is definitely a place for both, your first job should give you some generalist skills. For example, initially working in a position where you will learn the basics of the Java EE technology set should be preferential to working in a position where you will only learn a very small technology set (for example Tibco). This isn’t a hard and fast rule since specialist positions can be lucrative and fulfilling, but what this allows you is greater options to move between jobs. And you can always specialise down the line.

Tied to this, there are all sorts of other decisions – do you want to go down a pure technical route or move more towards consultancy? Do you see yourself fitting better into a small development house or a large corporate? Do you want to work in a particular technology set or industry? No matter what the answers are to these questions, look for something that will give the widest exposure to gain the maximum amount of experience in the shortest amount of time.