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Ask HN: I seem to suck at interviews. I don't want to. Please advise.

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Re: Ask HN: I seem to suck at interviews. I don't want to. Please advise.

#11

Post by kls »

brk wrote: post #6

Well, part of life and work is being able to deal with stressful situations gracefully and with a clear head. So, I don't fully agree for example that you would have done well at Google if you could not run the gauntlet of their interview process. A big part of the issue is most likely that you are making the interview and job opportunity to be a more significant thing than it really is in the grand scheme of things.…

Social skills and work skills are neither inclusive or mutually exclusive.

I have a friend with high functioning autism that could not get a job to save his life, but can look at the symptoms of any production bug and tell you the problem in less than 10 seconds. Seriously we gave him 7 records from a database once that had date problem, by looking at the pattern he deduced that 1 of the systems was un-patched for a daylight savings bug. not only that but by the timestamp intervals he pinpointed which of the 50 servers it was.

In a production support environment this guy is indispensable and his social skills are of no consequence, but if it where not for me vouching for him over and over until the company hired him, he would have never gotten the position.

So much so, that I have gotten him every one of his jobs and at every job they love him after they get over the shock of his complete lack of social skills.

So just because the author experience stress and anxiety in social situations, it does not 1 for 1 translate into poor performance in work related tasks even if they are stressful.

Re: Ask HN: I seem to suck at interviews. I don't want to. Please advise.

#12

Post by kls »

nezumi wrote: post #7
tocomment wrote: post #4

Two interview strategies I've always wanted to know how to hanlde. How do you handle not knowing something in a trivia centered interview? For example; what datastructure does a database index use? Is there a good way to say you don't know without looking unqualified? Also what if you used a certain technology A LOT say 5 years ago and now you remember nothing about it off the top of your head. How do you say "Yeah,…

There are really only a couple of uses for trivia questions in technical interviews: verifying someone's resume (i.e. if you claim to be skilled in some area, trivia questions should be, well, trivial) and as a jumping-off point for a discussion to see how you think. So handle it the same way as you would in your day-to-day work: ask questions, try to figure it out. If they really are just interested in your rote mem…

There are really only a couple of uses for trivia questions in technical interviews: verifying someone's resume (i.e. if you claim to be skilled in some area, trivia questions should be, well, trivial) and as a jumping-off point for a discussion to see how you think.

I have always found hiring managers who use this, tend to me developer come manager and tend to have a superiority complex. I have never liked trivia questions because the interviewer generally tries to find some obscure item, that is unknown to 90% of people just getting work done and the only reason they know it is that they goggled "really hard tech trivia that will make me feel superior when all the applicants don't know it"

Re: Ask HN: I seem to suck at interviews. I don't want to. Please advise.

#13

Post by JLukeas »

I've dealt with this during every job search. The simple solution that's helped me is to simply go to as many interviews as I can. You'll always be nervous on the first interview. I don't know any way around that. But I've found it hard to not be nervous after having been to 3-5 interviews in 2 weeks.

Apply to jobs above and below your current qualifications simply for the practice of interviewing. That way when you interview for a job you're excited about you'll have been in the same situation several times and can focus on the questions asked instead of being nervous.

Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: I seem to suck at interviews. I don't want to. Please advise.

#14

Post by nailer »

As long as you're capable technically, the best thing I can ask you to do is smile. When you smile, even on phone interviews, you come off as sounding confident. A smile changes 'I'm not sure, but I imagine it works like this...' from a 'nervous candidate' to 'honest but thoughtful' even though the words are the same.

Re: Ask HN: I seem to suck at interviews. I don't want to. Please advise.

#17

Post by sharkey »

"I never feel that I'm prepared and in fact, out of my fear I don't even attempt to prepare much."

Well, try preparing then. Try doing a "mock interview" with a couple of friends. Practice answers to the typical dumb interview questions ("What is your greatest strength?"). Bring along a nice looking "portfolio" folder with your resume, samples of work, that kind of thing, that way you have something to talk about and visually distract yourself from being nervous.

Re: Ask HN: I seem to suck at interviews. I don't want to. Please advise.

#18

Post by bs0101 »

nezumi wrote: post #5

It might seem like a big scary test, but it's not. Sure, that's how things were in academia where you've been most of your life, but interviews are only superficially like tests. So the first thing is, stop worrying about the outcome and focus on the problem you are trying to solve. Not, 'how do I pass this interview?', but 'is this the right job for me?'. As soon as you start thinking like that, you'll see that you…

Very well put, completely agree. A cursory interpretation could equate this to mere confidence, a trait that some people are able to exude more than others. But keep in mind that an interviewer interprets confidence on a scale as well, from 'lack there of' to 'hubris.' Acknowledging the importance of a successful hire from the interviewer's standpoint frames the dialogue on a more even playing field. I place a very strong importance on the two aspects nezumi mentions above, "Will this guy fit in my team? Is he going to stay interested in the job?" I want to make sure I do right by my current employees and hire an individual with an attitude/outlook that is complimentary; and I want to make sure I'm not wasting anyone's time by hiring below their payscale for a position they will abandon shortly thereafter. Empower yourself by thinking of the process primarily as a dialogue, one where you are also gaining perspective on the company. Nothing says 'pass' like a interviewee who has no questions of their own.

Note: I am not a hiring mngr on the programming side, I do work and hire for fairly technical marketing positions at large web company you know well.

Re: Ask HN: I seem to suck at interviews. I don't want to. Please advise.

#19

Post by lotusleaf1987 »

all_elements wrote: post #16

Your problem sounds mostly psychological. You may have a case of anxiety disorder ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety_disorder ). See a professional counselor if this is bothering you to the point that it is robbing you of your happiness.

As someone with anxiety disorder, I can say agreed and I suspect this to be the case. This is also my problem, but medicating before an interview doesn't help a whole lot more either.

Re: Ask HN: I seem to suck at interviews. I don't want to. Please advise.

#20

Post by seven »

Perhaps it helps you to look at those interviews from a different perspective. Since you would have to spend some time with the company, you have the right to ask questions too. Turn the interview into a discussion. At least for me this is much more easy to handle.

For example, instead of waiting for a question to test your knowledge about their language of choice, you could ask them whether they use it this or that way and mention your level of experience. If they still ask the question and you do not know the answer, you can at least say 'nope, no clue what you are talking about', without the feeling that they only know what you don't know.

If possible make some educated guesses about their infrastructure and ask questions that reflect that you did your homework.

Already said, but important enough to repeat: Be honest. If you are nervous, tell them. If you do not know an answer, admit it. If you are not sure if you understood something, ask again.

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