The interview process

The task of going on interviews has begun. Not very many, but I have them booked up for the rest of the week. Companies out in San Mateo, San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Walnut Creek. There seems to be a lot of sales openings available. It’s just a matter of choosing the right one. Some of the interviews have gone very well. The companies are in a strong position and the people I met with seemed to be good at what they do and eager to gain new talent. Some of the interviews were not so good. Most of these are the ones that had been set up by recruiters or just companies that “found” my resume on a job board. Like I mentioned in the other post, job boards are a necessary evil in this job search.

Having a healthy network of friends and people in the industry can usually give you the inside track to who is hiring and sometimes even get you in the door for an interview. No matter how good your network is, you are responsible to carry yourself during the interview. If you can’t sit down with the VP or Director and explain the value that you can bring to a company then you probably shouldn’t be in the room and should be figuring out the important stuff first.

I keep running into the same obstacles but I am getting much better at overcoming them. Questions about past experience, education and my military service are normal in the meetings.

Best practices for interviewees.

I’ll start with the few I’ve found to be beneficial to me looking for work.

• Always bring copies of your resume with you on the interview. I usually bring two or three, but recently I went on one and didn’t bring any and the hiring manager called me on it. Not detrimental, but embarrassing and this IS your first impression on a potential job.

• Be early. If the company is in an unfamiliar area or even in your city, give yourself extra time to get there. Murphy’s Law has a way of taking over at the least opportune moments and if you need the job, an extra 10-15 minutes of sitting in your car outside the building WILL NOT hurt. The last thing you want is to be 15 minutes late or worse, get lost and not show up at all. There will be no rescheduling, your first impression was horrible.

• Learn something about the company before the interview. If you know someone on the inside ask them questions. If not then they probably have a website. Go to the ‘About Us’ or ‘Corporate’ section and read more about them. You’re not expected to learn everything about the company or products, but enough to articulate what they do and how you can help them.
• Last but not least, know your limits. Don’t waist your time or the time of the people your meeting with if the company or product is of no interest or is too outside you realm of expertise. Stick with what you know. I’m not saying that looking at different types of jobs or products is wrong, just know your limits and don’t get in over your head.