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Well I had my first interview in 5 years on Friday at the community college, and I have mixed feelings. It was a group interview, and everyone took turns asking me questions. I felt confident, even joked a little that it must be blue jean Friday there. I talked a lot about my work experience and even some IT war stories where I solved issues.
Then they tripped me up with some DBA technical questions. I fumbled through one, and had to admit that I didn't know the answer to the other one. There was an awkward silence. Oddly, I went completely blank when they asked me what my ideal work environment would be. The moderator gave me the opportunity to ask my own questions. He kept saying, well do you have any more questions making me kinda feel like they were done with me.
At the end, he offered to give me a brief tour of the IT dept which I took as a good sign. Then he walked me to the door and thanked me for coming. Nothing about when I would hear back from them. I just felt like I had blown it and would never hear from them again.
I did the best I could, but it is so annoying to have 15 years experience in IT, and yet it's never enough.
Last edited by jeffbase40; 03-19-2014 at 07:49 AM..
One thing I've discovered, at least for me- in the past I have done interviews where I have walked out and said to myself, "Well....so much for that...", and other ones I've walked out thinking, "Wow, this is in the bag!".......the "so much for that" interviews would be the job offers I would actually get, and the "In the bag" ones were the ones that I wasn't offered, lol. I never could figure it out- but I guess what it really comes down to, is "wait and see". Because you just never know!
If you think the interview is going pretty well and you are on "friendly" terms with them at this point, a question to ask at the end is "when do I start?" It's worked twice for me!
Well I had my first interview in 5 years on Friday at the community college, and I have mixed feelings. It was a group interview, and everyone took turns asking me questions. I felt confident, even joked a little that it must be blue jean Friday there. I talked a lot about my work experience and even some IT war stories where I solved issues.
Then they tripped me up with some DBA technical questions. I fumbled through one, and had to admit that I didn't know the answer to the other one. There was an awkward silence. Oddly, I went completely blank when they asked me what my ideal work environment would be. The moderator gave me the opportunity to ask my own questions. He kept saying, well do you have any more questions making me kinda feel like they were done with me.
At the end, he offered to give me a brief tour of the IT dept which I took as a good sign. Then he walked me to the door and thanked me for coming. Nothing about when I would hear back from them. I just felt like I had blown it and would never hear from them again.
I did the best I could, but it is so annoying to have 15 years experience in IT, and yet it's never enough.
It is okay to fumble a few questions and getting a tour of the IT department is a good sign, but more-so because it shows they didn't automatically throw your interview into the trash when it was over. It could have also just been etiquette.
Where you went wrong was to not ask more questions yourself. You always ask more questions. It shows that you are interested in that particular position at that particular community college. The questions can be anything, really. What did the person do before that I am replacing?; What is a typical day-to-day work week like?; I noticed when I was coming in for my interview that employees are friendly and seem happy. I would imagine that Community College has a low turnover rate. Would you say that employees are generally satisfied with working here? And so on.
As you were leaving you should have asked when you can reasonably expect to hear from them then have mentioned that you look forward to hearing from them. Then thank "them" for the interview even if you had already thanked them at the conclusion of the interview.
Here is what you can do right now. If you did not already do so you should send them a thank you email. You really should send them a thank you email by the end of the interview day but if you did not it is not too late. If you really want to score brownie points and impress the pants off them send them an actual hand-written thank you card. No one does this anymore. I have heard of a guy who has a thank-you-for-the-interview note framed and sitting on his desk for all to see because he was so impressed that someone actually did that. My understanding is that the person was hired, too.
If you think the interview is going pretty well and you are on "friendly" terms with them at this point, a question to ask at the end is "when do I start?" It's worked twice for me!
This is totally corny and most will think it is brash or shows arrogance, but I will second that it actually works
This is totally corny and most will think it is brash or shows arrogance, but I will second that it actually works
Better though is when you have an interview like I did for my current position...
I get a call requesting a same day interview... Meet the boss... Get a 10 minute tour of the facility while answering "yes" to his questions... and at the end of the tour he says "so when can you start?"
Well, awkward silence are never a good sign during an interview. And although he gave you a mini tour, he might have just done it because he does that to everyone and also wanted to lengthen the time with you. You didn't ask questions, which is another bad thing because hiring managers LOVE questions, whether about the role, the company, their experience working there, etc. Asking won't get you the job but it does show them that you are very interested and engaging. And the reason why they asked what environment you work best in, is to see if you would be a cultural fit to the company. The best answer to this would be researching the company and incorporate their culture into your answer. "I work best in a small company because..." or "I love a very interactive, team-oriented environment because.." etc. You drawing a blank shows them that you are either indecisive and doesn't know what you want or you didn't do enough research.
Lol, I do interviews daily so I apologize for the upfront honesty. And maybe you were just nervous since you haven't interviewed for the longest time-- it took me 6-7 interviews before I really semi-mastered it. Just practice practice practice
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Not well
