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Hello all. I'm a fresh graduate so I am new to the whole interviewing process. I just had a phone interview with a company and they want a face to face interview next week. I am pretty excited as I really want to work for this company and industry but really nervous at the same time. I was told the interview was going to be around 3 hours. That seems like quite a bit of time. I am prepping up at the moment. Can any veterans throw some tips this way? I found some people that work there on Facebook. Would it be weird if I were to contact said people about what to expect? Thanks Alex.
Well normally the protocol is you meet with HR first and they may have to fill out an application. Then you may be meeting a couple of people, one after the other or possibly a panel interview.
Do you have an interview time yet? I would think they would let you know who you are meeting with.
What field are you in? I've never had a 3-hour interview, but know in certain fields (i.e. lawyers and corporate managers) that is customary... usually not until the final round, though, so I imagine this is a good sign!
Thanks for the replies. I am in the software engineering field. As far as the interview time, I had an interview with the lead manager of the position I am applying for. He then had the HR dept set up the interview. I received an email from the HR rep and they told me next Thursday, in the afternoon. I told them I would be available then but haven't got a time yet. I don't know if the interview is with one person or multiple. The whole panel interview seems a little frightening. I tend to get anxious around those I don't know but it's all or nothing.
Well the first and the most important thing is that you must have to be confident enough. Never let the interviewer feel that you are getting nervous. Prepare a response so you are ready for the question "What do you know about our company. Be On Time. Show What You Know.Have good eye contact.Maybe you don't have any idea where you want to be in a few years professionally but figure out something to say. These are the most important key factors to be considered while giving an interview.
Engineering, both software and hardware, and I've had several day long (as in 6 hour) interviews. Usually the long interviews were with big companies (based on what I recall, ATX, Analog Devices, Raytheon, and BAE off the top of my head).
Be ready for technical questions, if it's software engineering prep up on stuff from your Algorithms and Data Structures courses. If you have any Open Source or personal work be ready to talk about that because those are worth extra points
It would be really ****ed up to contact anyone on Facebook. Like... stalker ****ed up, so don't do that.
Our interviews (pharma) are typically all day events. So, 3 hours or half day interviews aren't too bad. I doubt your three hours will be spent with one person (that would be painful!).
The way time is spent here is private interviews with lab heads and associates (this can be two associates at once for an hour or 30 minutes private). Questions can range from how would you handle this or that situation, to asking you to explain a project you worked on previously. So, be sure to know your resume well.
The lunch portion of the interview, which I doubt you'll have in the limited time, can last for awhile. Somebody will typically give the candidate a tour of the space, in our case labs, but you might be shown around if there's time. Our candidates usually have to give a 30 minute presentation to the department and it's followed up with questions from the group. This can drag on depending on who is there and how clear the presentation is given. You probably won't have to deal with this, but it's something to keep in mind for the future.
I'll echo others here in that you should not contact anybody via facebook. Good luck!
As a soon to be graduate in a similar field I have had several interviews and I will share some of the popular questions employers like to ask:
Have you done work in teams? Explain a time you had a conflict in a team.
Why do you want to work for us?
Why should we hire YOU/why would you be an asset?
If it's a technical interview:
Be prepared to write code on the spot, this can be hard! Like was already mentioned, brush up on data structures, ESPECIALLY hash tables. A professor once told me that if you don't know the answer to a question, say hash table! I had a technical phone interview and hash tables came up several times, so look them up and know some of their uses.
I would also be prepared to talk about projects you have worked on. If you have done any work outside of school, try to mention that, interviewers seem to like that. Good luck!
As a soon to be graduate in a similar field I have had several interviews and I will share some of the popular questions employers like to ask:
Have you done work in teams? Explain a time you had a conflict in a team.
Why do you want to work for us?
Why should we hire YOU/why would you be an asset?
If it's a technical interview:
Be prepared to write code on the spot, this can be hard! Like was already mentioned, brush up on data structures, ESPECIALLY hash tables. A professor once told me that if you don't know the answer to a question, say hash table! I had a technical phone interview and hash tables came up several times, so look them up and know some of their uses.
I would also be prepared to talk about projects you have worked on. If you have done any work outside of school, try to mention that, interviewers seem to like that. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it and will do what you said.
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