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Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

tanayagrawal.substack.com

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Re: Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

#51

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

darth_avocado wrote: post #36

Great ideas, they don’t work. 1. Mornings only is impossible because a lot of interviewer availability is in the afternoon since for a lot of them, it’s an unproductive task 2. Batching sounds good, but doesn’t work because different companies move at different paces and you almost always can’t batch them. You’d be lucky if you could batch 2 onsites back to back. 3. You may not be able to batch subsequent rounds toge…

It's much more important to learn how to sell yourself with honesty and integrity than to follow these tips. Nobody else can do it for you.

Re: Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

#52

Post by jbluepolarbear »

zebnyc wrote: post #19

I have a few as well: - You will face rejection (likely a lot). Don't take this personally and don't let it affect your confidence. - Unless you are an outstanding interviewee, this is like a skill/muscle which you need to develop and practice. Hence ensure that you don't schedule your "dream job/company" early in the process. Keep practicing. - Always have a beginner / practice mindset. Otherwise, you will accept th…

I’ve interviewed many candidates and I’ve interviewed many times myself. Having good conversation skills is the single biggest influence on whether a candidate proceeds or not.

Talking is a skill and that really stands out against other candidates.

When I’m interviewing, I’ll usually choose a stronger communicator over a stronger engineer.

Re: Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

#53

Post by nemo44x »

zebnyc wrote: post #19

I have a few as well: - You will face rejection (likely a lot). Don't take this personally and don't let it affect your confidence. - Unless you are an outstanding interviewee, this is like a skill/muscle which you need to develop and practice. Hence ensure that you don't schedule your "dream job/company" early in the process. Keep practicing. - Always have a beginner / practice mindset. Otherwise, you will accept th…

> You will face rejection (likely a lot).

It's very important to realize this. Maybe you feel you nailed it and everyone really liked you but you still didn't get the job. Well, there's other candidates in the pool too and there's a chance one of them was amazing too and you lost the proverbial "coin toss".

There's also a chance you were always the backup option - it happens.

Lastly, don't give up on the role. I've seen numerous instances where an offer went out and was accepted and then a week later the person backed out because their existing employer gave them a huge package to stay on. It happens. You might get the call then after being rejected.

Re: Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

#54

Post by roland35 »

I am pretty heavily involved with interviewing and here is my take for what it's worth:

- Yes try to schedule ASAP, although it gets so complicated lining up availability I don't think it is possible to aim for mornings vs afternoons.

- Try to read between the lines in the job listing. How does it align with the company's goals/growth? What aspects seem important? Try to focus on that. Example: I noticed company ABC is hiring a few hardware engineers for the first time. I would highlight how I can work independantly and my skills in building a new hardware team

- Be enthusiastic about things besides the tech stack. I am surprised how many people I interview who don't seem to care much about the job beyond if we use Java vs Python.

- Just be yourself...

Re: Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

#55

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

lijogdfljk wrote: post #9
elevanation wrote: post #2

While this is an interesting optimization strategy, getting and applying professional feedback for one's interview skills has a better ROI in my opinion. If you're amazing at interviews, the interviewer will remember you and want to hire you. They will even rave about you to their colleagues... "Hey, this person was awesome, we need to hire them." Accomplish that special human ability, and you don't have to worry abo…

Can you recommend how to go about this? It's the first i've heard of this strategy, and interviews are a big fear of mine. I would have assumed most of these "pay for feedback" things to be scams in one way or another. Thoughts?

I have a side-business providing mock tech interviews with unlimited time for feedback. Contact me if you are interested (including "why is this random guy on HN qualified to provide this kind of service")

Re: Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

#56

Post by adamredwoods »

mitchdoogle wrote: post #34
UncleOxidant wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're amazing at interviews... Accomplish that special human ability "It's easy, you just..." Most of us are not amazing at interviews so telling people to be amazing at interviews isn't too helpful. Interview feedback tends to be pretty sparse. Often you don't hear anything back unless you got the job. Even if you do get a "no" response it will be light on details (and it's usually this way due to legal concer…

If you wanted to learn to play the piano, how would you do it? You'd get lessons, or watch videos, or read a book. You'd definitely practice. Treat interviewing the same way.

I agree, practice is key. Interviewing is a skill, sure some people are good at it, and that's great for them.

I am not good at interviewing. I have very little confidence when interviewing, and I get super nervous. I get better when I warm up, towards the end of the interview. The only way I do better is when I practice a lot, keep a schedule, exercise before the interview, and usually I need a job-support group to help. It's an effort.

Re: Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

#57

Post by lazyasciiart »

mitchdoogle wrote: post #34
UncleOxidant wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're amazing at interviews... Accomplish that special human ability "It's easy, you just..." Most of us are not amazing at interviews so telling people to be amazing at interviews isn't too helpful. Interview feedback tends to be pretty sparse. Often you don't hear anything back unless you got the job. Even if you do get a "no" response it will be light on details (and it's usually this way due to legal concer…

If you wanted to learn to play the piano, how would you do it? You'd get lessons, or watch videos, or read a book. You'd definitely practice. Treat interviewing the same way.

Millions of people do exactly that and are not 'amazing' at playing the piano.

Re: Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

#58

Post by [deleted] »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #51
darth_avocado wrote: post #36

Great ideas, they don’t work. 1. Mornings only is impossible because a lot of interviewer availability is in the afternoon since for a lot of them, it’s an unproductive task 2. Batching sounds good, but doesn’t work because different companies move at different paces and you almost always can’t batch them. You’d be lucky if you could batch 2 onsites back to back. 3. You may not be able to batch subsequent rounds toge…

It's much more important to learn how to sell yourself with honesty and integrity than to follow these tips. Nobody else can do it for you.

[deleted]

Re: Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

#59

Post by ysavir »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #51
darth_avocado wrote: post #36

Great ideas, they don’t work. 1. Mornings only is impossible because a lot of interviewer availability is in the afternoon since for a lot of them, it’s an unproductive task 2. Batching sounds good, but doesn’t work because different companies move at different paces and you almost always can’t batch them. You’d be lucky if you could batch 2 onsites back to back. 3. You may not be able to batch subsequent rounds toge…

It's much more important to learn how to sell yourself with honesty and integrity than to follow these tips. Nobody else can do it for you.

What about these tips lack honesty or integrity?

Re: Interview success can depend on how you schedule interviews

#60

Post by wppick »

nemo44x wrote: post #50
wppick wrote: post #42

An interview is decided in the first several seconds. First impressions are a real thing. Most interviewers will decide based on how you look, act, and talk whether you are going to pass the interview, and they will confirmation bias you into their predetermined decision. Of course with an amazing interview performance you can switch a predetermined no into a yes, and with a very poor interview you can turn a predete…

> An interview is decided in the first several seconds. I've hired hundreds of people and this is just not true. A first impression matters a bit, sure - but it has hardly any effect on the decision. > There is also the reality that when companies need to fill a role, and when first start interviewing they will set the bar way too high and reject some perfectly qualified candidates This is a very poor hiring practice…

> I've hired hundreds of people and this is just not true. A first impression matters a bit, sure - but it has hardly any effect on the decision.

The thing about confirmation biases are that they are at the subconscious level and you likely wouldn't be able to detect them. It's possible that you have an impartial and immune to confirmation bias interview process, but it's also possible that you are indeed deciding (skewing) most of your interviews in the first several seconds.

> Hiring is literally the most important job a manager has in any fast growing company. It should be taken very seriously and systematically

I agree. Which is why, if it is found that hiring committees are more effective, and your company isn't using them, then are you taking them seriously? The same with bonuses and promotions. These should not be decided by a single person (manager).

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