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Ask HN: How do you tune your personality to get better at interviews?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you tune your personality to get better at interviews?

#121

Post by scarface_74 »

ivape wrote: post #95
blindriver wrote: post #12

This isn't 2021 anymore. You need to recalibrate your world view. There are probably 300 people interviewing for the job you interviewed for. So they need to not just pick someone who checks the boxes, but the BEST of all the people who checked the boxes. Assuming you checked all the boxes, you weren't the best and someone else was chosen. That's all it is. What makes them the best? Who knows. There's likely 50 of th…

There are probably 300 This isn't really true. There are 300 people that might apply but only a few that ever get interviewed. If they are interviewing 300 people then the company doesn't even know what it wants.

The problem is that it doesn’t matter if you are one of the 300 that are most qualified, your resume may not even viewed or your application may not be seen. LinkedIn shows you both for Easy Apply.

In my niche, I was objectively one of the most qualified in the industry. But I heard crickets last year and the year before when randomly submitting my application to ATS’s.

Don’t cry for me. That was my “Plan C”. Plan A of using my network landed me two full time offers and one contract and my plan B of personal outreach to companies looking for my specific skillset led to two interviews and one offer all in less than a month.

Last year, I just answered one recruiter’s outreach and had an interview and offer that was a perfect fit within two weeks.

Re: Ask HN: How do you tune your personality to get better at interviews?

#122

Post by austin-cheney »

_swfb wrote: post #111
austin-cheney wrote: post #110

This sounds incredibly autistic. You assume the failure is something about your personality for absolutely no reason. Second, you assume lying about your personality during an interview will get you a job or keep you employed. I have an autistic child who goes through this. They have absolutely no idea why they could be annoying and just assume they are otherwise awesome. I am not sure that abysmally low social intel…

I didn’t say I wanted to lie about my personality. I said I wanted to tune my personality so that I do better in interviews. It’s subtly different; I wanted advice on putting my best foot forward, and I was wondering if people had ideas for doing so. It’s not just about this one job, obviously it’s impossible to know what a single employer’s reasoning is for this stuff; I have just noticed a pattern of me being prett…

Employment is all about being a good fit for the employer, not about being a good developer. I am often not selected because I preference things that scares the shit out of most developers even if such things are hugely beneficial.

Interviews are just talking to people. Its not the same as a casual conversation, but its also not a hostile police interrogation. Nonetheless, its still just a conversation. If you imagine it to be something different then something different it becomes.

Re: Ask HN: How do you tune your personality to get better at interviews?

#123

Post by scarface_74 »

alexpotato wrote: post #68

So I like to use this metaphor (it was originally for dating but applies here too). Think of your body. Specifically how tall you are. You can't easily change your height. However, you can do the following: - workout - wear clothes that fit you and flatter your particular body type - etc The same applies to interviews. e.g. if you are a quiet, introverted person then there probably isn't much you can do if you are in…

> e.g. if you are a quiet, introverted person then there probably isn't much you can do if you are interviewing for a job that requires an outgoing personality like sales or event planning

Learning how to talk to people, read a room, small talk, etc can be learned. I’m definitely an introvert by nature. But people in a professional setting are really not that much different than computer systems. Once you understand different type of personalities, you learn what input gets you what output.

The Career Tools/Manager Tools podcasts has dozens of podcasts about dealing with people with different DISC profiles.

One secret I use when starting a conversation with someone new is “what keeps you busy?” and act interested and ask open ended follow up questions.

Re: Ask HN: How do you tune your personality to get better at interviews?

#124

Post by kmoser »

_swfb wrote: post #58
kmoser wrote: post #26

Have you tried asking them whey they didn't select you? If you express genuine disappointment and ask what it was about you that didn't fit what they were looking for, there's a reasonable chance they'll give you feedback on the interview.

In this particular case I actually have a phone call with the recruiter scheduled today to ask why they passed on me. In general they don't tell me when I do ask though. I understand that; they don't want to risk me suing them if they divulge anything that could be even construed as illegal, I probably wouldn't give feedback either honestly.

What did they say?

Re: Ask HN: How do you tune your personality to get better at interviews?

#125

Post by [deleted] »

scarface_74 wrote: post #121
ivape wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are probably 300 This isn't really true. There are 300 people that might apply but only a few that ever get interviewed. If they are interviewing 300 people then the company doesn't even know what it wants.

The problem is that it doesn’t matter if you are one of the 300 that are most qualified, your resume may not even viewed or your application may not be seen. LinkedIn shows you both for Easy Apply. In my niche, I was objectively one of the most qualified in the industry. But I heard crickets last year and the year before when randomly submitting my application to ATS’s. Don’t cry for me. That was my “Plan C”. Plan A…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How do you tune your personality to get better at interviews?

#126

Post by pir8life4me »

_swfb wrote: post #91
pir8life4me wrote: post #77

Using a 3 pt impromptu speaking style of responding can help a lot. Many people ramble and aren't concise which can appear evasive. Practicing public speaking can make you aware of your verbal tics - uhms ahs or saying "stuff" you use which can make you sound like you don't know what you're talking about. Aggressively apply to jobs you don't want just for the interview practice. And study "good answers" to common que…

I do a fair amount of public speaking (I've spoken at Lambda Days six times, the Clojure Conj once), and I was a university lecturer, so that stuff isn't too hard for me. I'm definitely guilty of rambling though; it's pretty hard for me to do say concisely. I'm not 100% sure of the best way to get better at that.

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: How do you tune your personality to get better at interviews?

#127

Post by _swfb »

austin-cheney wrote: post #122
_swfb wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t say I wanted to lie about my personality. I said I wanted to tune my personality so that I do better in interviews. It’s subtly different; I wanted advice on putting my best foot forward, and I was wondering if people had ideas for doing so. It’s not just about this one job, obviously it’s impossible to know what a single employer’s reasoning is for this stuff; I have just noticed a pattern of me being prett…

Employment is all about being a good fit for the employer, not about being a good developer. I am often not selected because I preference things that scares the shit out of most developers even if such things are hugely beneficial. Interviews are just talking to people. Its not the same as a casual conversation, but its also not a hostile police interrogation. Nonetheless, its still just a conversation. If you imagin…

Yeah, I don't think I disagree with anything you said.

I was a little upset when I created the Ask HN, because I was pretty convinced that I was going to get this job and accidentally started getting preemptively excited. I try not to count my eggs before they hatch, but sometimes that's easier said than done. Easy to get into your own head and hate yourself a little when you feel rejected and frustrated.

My wife (who is awesome and supportive and cool) gave me a bit of a pep talk and it actually did make me feel better and I'm more or less alright now.

Re: Ask HN: How do you tune your personality to get better at interviews?

#128

Post by firefax »

What specifically about your personality even came out during the interview? Like, did they ask where you like to walk your dog and you said you have a cat? Give us some details.

I've had the opposite problem -- folks would like me as a person, but point to things to beef up on my CV so they could hire me. (Eg: I used to really have an aversion to programming, which is more common than you'd think in pentesting, and now I can point to several languages and small projects/tools I've done.)

Re: Ask HN: How do you tune your personality to get better at interviews?

#129

Post by firefax »

merth wrote: post #37
stuartjohnson12 wrote: post #23

Will be blunt since I imagine you're fed up and don't want affirmations. In the most common case where I see engineers who say they struggle with the soft skills parts of interviewing, the underlying issue is a lack of skill in communication - working out what's important, stating it clearly and concisely, and in a way appropriate to the audience. I read some of your blog and found it pleasantly chatty, well structur…

Because of these "digital footprint checks" now nobody can truly say what they want online. Either you have to put on a fake persona or just go completely silent. It’s self-censorship in disguise. Dead Internet Theory confirmed.

You could use a psudonym. That's what I'm doing.

Occasionally I shed a username and start a new one.

The admins here seem not to mind as long as I'm not voting more than once or ban evading, and the same goes for most sites.

I used to be really into comedy -- it's perfectly possible to have a persona that doesn't tie back to you, but you need to be diligent -- separate email, phone number etc.

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