<p>I don’t know if this belongs to here or not. Feel free to move or delete this thread if this is a wrong place to post.</p>
<p>Anyway I have been researching some interview tips because I will be interviewing for summer internship. </p>
<p>To be honest, I’d say most of the behavioral question sound stupid for me. For example:
“Why do you want to work in here?” </p>
<p>If I were brutally honest I’d say “well because I need a job, and your company offers me an interview”
or
“I don’t care where I’d work as long as I got a job for summer”</p>
<p>but they expect something like
“because your company has great culture, the people is amazing and blah2” to me it sounds like dishonest flattery. </p>
<p>The companies that I will be interviewing are somewhat small and not really famous. If I were given a better choice I’d probably won’t want to work there but hey they’re my only choices. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I have done research on the companies. I saw their financial reports, their products and such but honestly I don’t think they’re doing really well or whether their product really attracts me. So I’d say my interest for working here is really mediocre.</p>
<p>In this case, should I better mooch up the interviewer by making up some random flattery or should I be somewhat honest? what do you think?</p>
<p>Your choices aren’t just brutal honesty or flattery. What do you think you could bring to the company that would be of interest to them? They are trying to decide if it’s worth it to them to hire you. Is it? Why?</p>
<p>You should attempt to answer every question in a positive manner. A good rule of thumb in an interview - if you can’t say something nice, don’t say it at all. This is a sales pitch - and what sales pitch have you ever heard that tells the whole truth?</p>
<p>Your first interview you should be trying to sell yourself. Save all job-detail negotiating for the call back interview.</p>
<p>I’d recommend a little interviewing coaching. Sometimes that can be offered by a college career center or your local state employment office. Here we have a place called Rochester Works, and they offer the greatest resume and interviewing classes.</p>
<p>Don’t expect the interview to be specific direct questions followed by your direct answers. Very often a question such as, “Why do you want to work here?” is just presented as an opening for you to talk about yourself and present your case for being hired. What if you got the most dreaded question, “So, tell me about yourself” (which is not a question at all) ? This is not the SAT where you are given a question with 5 choices, only one of which is the correct answer.</p>
<p>Oh, and to answer your question, no, don’t be brutally honest. Don’t lie either. If you can’t generate a bit of enthusiasm for the hiring company don’t waste your time and theirs on an interview.</p>
<p>Try rephrasing the question in your mind as “why would someone want to work here?” and go from there.<br>
You can state objective reasons as to what the advantages are to working almost anywhere.
Don’t take the question so personally. Just answer, “your company offers this, that, and the other…if offers me the opportunity to do blah, blah, blah…” and so on.</p>
<p>Since it is for a summer internship, I am sure you could give an answer as to why you want to work there in terms of the real-world job experience you would have while working there. Even if the company isn’t doing that well, you will still get valuable experience through doing the job there.</p>
<p>This is exactly right. One negative comment can get you tagged as a complainer and malcontent who won’t fit in. Interviews are very artificial. A few random tips:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The interviewer is not your friend. Remember that you are there to sell yourself. Even if you think the place stinks, give it your best. You can’t turn them down if they don’t make you an offer.</p></li>
<li><p>Not telling everything you know is not lying. Tell the truths that make you look good. Avoid negative stories. This is a common engineer disease:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Sales guy: See all these great features! What do you think!
Prospective customer: I think it meets our needs.
Engineer: Yeah, but our interface to your accounting system is really lame. Here, let me show you.</p>
<p>Lest you think I’m kidding, this is a paraphrase of a real sales call. The engineer was not invited to talk to customers ever again.</p>
<ol>
<li> Remember that the interviewer wants to give candidates a good impression of their company (or other organization), too. Don’t expect them to be forthcoming with unpleasant details about the job. You have to learn to read between the lines.</li>
</ol>
<h2>“Don’t get me wrong, I have done research on the companies. I saw their financial reports, their products and such but honestly I don’t think they’re doing really well or whether their product really attracts me. So I’d say my interest for working here is really mediocre.”</h2>
<p>If you’ve done the research, there must be something positive about the company to focus on. I would use the interview as an opportunity to demonstrate you did take time to research their company…just don’t talk about what you perceive to be negative.</p>
<p>Think about it from the perspective of the person doing the hiring. Who are you going to hire? The candidate who seems really energetic and enthusiastic about the job, and eager to learn? or one who seems blase about it.</p>
<p>Try to work up some enthusiasm before you get to the interview, and then focus on the positive when you get there.</p>