Prepare properly for interviews!

Going for an interview can be a daunting experience, especially if you are a recent graduate and this will be the first interview you are going to. If you prepare yourself properly an interview does not need to be a stressful experience at all.

Over the years that I have been interviewing candidates for Entelect, I have seen both well prepared candidates and candidates that were not, by far the individuals that were well prepared were more relaxed and confident. I have collated a few pointers from my personal experiences, those of friends and colleagues and from the vast number of links that a quick search on Google will return!

Know the people that will be interviewing you – this is a simple way of transforming the people at the other end of an interview table from faceless individuals that will be grilling you and testing your knowledge to people with a personality that you could easily hold a conversation with. It is very easy to ask the recruitment agent or the HR personal that set up the interview, who will be interviewing you. Alternatively you can have a look at the meeting request, if one was sent to you via email. Once you know the names, have a look on Linkedin or the company’s website and try at very least find a photo of the people that will be interviewing you.

Know the company – Have a look at the company’s website, chat to friends that may work for the company or have dealt with the company. Try find out as much as you can! Before the interview decide whether this is in fact a company that you are interested in working for. Formulate questions that you can ask the interviewer about the company and what role you will fulfil. Try ascertain what the appropriate dress code will be for the interview, if in doubt always dress-up.

Know yourself and your own experience – At some point during an interview you will be asked about your past experience. Make sure you are able to talk through your experience and are able to give detail when asked. Generally you will be asked the following:

• Description of the project you worked on
• The team environment for the project and what role you fulfilled in that team
• The technologies that were used during the course of the project
• The successes of the project and the failures, what you would have done differently that would have prevented these failures

Do some reading before the interview – Brush up on your textbook knowledge and ensure that you have covered the fundamentals that are required for the particular role that you will interview for. For example, if you are going to an interview for a C# developer role, do a quick search on Google for Top 10 C# developer interview questions and make sure you are comfortable with those questions.

If appropriate have a portfolio of work that you completed – It is always nice to be able to show an interviewer something that you have done in the past, this not only can creates a conversation point but it also provides something concrete that you can use to reinforce your experience. Make sure it is something that you can run through in 5 minutes or less as this should only complement the interview.