<p>I always try to come with questions, but now I am beginning to wonder if my questions are somehow inadequate. I seem to have bad luck with interviews and I have no idea why. These interviews absolutely NEED to go well – I can’t afford to have these opportunities slip.</p>
<p>I always try to ask some combination of:
What do you consider the most challenging aspect to this type of position?
How do you define success in this company?
What are the key traits you’re looking for in someone applying to this job?
How the firm has weathered the economic crisis storm (for more financial-oriented positions especially)
What type of models/languages/concepts etc do they use?
Can you walk me through an average day at this firm?</p>
<p>After that I start to run out of steam a bit because anything else about the position I’ve either learned through the website or previous discussions with the hiring managers. Each firm unfortunately knows about the other (since they basically wanted to occupy the same timeframe for flying out), and so I’m honestly not sure how I’d reply if they asked me why their firm and not the other (BOTH positions are a lot of fun and are amazing for different reasons) – I can point out the positives in both cases, but I wouldn’t want to harp on the other.</p>
<p>That being said, I’m not sure what to expect. Both firms decided to fly me out after the second interview stages . Without revealing too much, each firm basically had “assignments” for me to help assess my abilities, and they were pleased with what I had delivered to them. I plan on further optimizing both of my assignments to bring to the interview… to one firm, I had told the manager that I was very much interested in the position and really wanted the opportunity to show that I was well-equipped for the job (asking him to send me harder stuff or anything they may actually need help with).</p>
<p>Other than that, I am quite nervous and don’t know how to really ensure I nail these interviews. I have a fair bit of financial and technical knowledge and can quickly find the answers to things I don’t know, but this type of approach seems to backfire on me. I feel like sometimes they want someone who oozes confidence and may oversell themselves, even if it’s about things they don’t know well. I am extremely passionate and excited for these kinds of opportunities, and I feel like I am simply too shy of a person to adequate portray this in my personality. </p>
<p>Seriously though, I absolutely need to hammer these interviews. ANY advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>When people are doing hiring they are always thinking about if they could have a beer or lunch with the person. It is important to be personable. It is also not necessary to always talk about yourself to try to impress them. People love to talk about themselves, so let them. You could ask them when/why they started to work at the company. What have they done since they came to the company. Especially if the interviewer is a senior person. Ask him/her what advice they would give you as someone who is just starting out to possibly reach his/her position someday. It is goo to make your interviewer “feel” like it was a good interview.</p>
<p>Often they will ask you to walk them through your resume. Think about what you want to highlight, think about how you want to explain you weakness and turn it into strength. If your GPA is low, don’t blame it on your professors or difficulty of courses, but give a plausible reason if they should ask.</p>
<p>It is good those companies know about each other - a little bit of competition is always good. If they should ask you why company A vs company B. Don’t do it, instead talk about what’s important to you in a company. Do not say anything negative about the other company.</p>
<p>I kept reading that you are a horrible interviewer. You need to act confident and also don’t act too desperate even when you desperately want a job.</p>
<p>How can you not answer the question though? If they ask “Which of us would you pick?” or “Why us and not them,” I feel like those would be Catch-22 deathtraps. If I say “I’d choose your company for X and Y reasons,” they’d just assume I’d say the same thing to the other guys. On the other hand, I don’t want them thinking I am just applying on a whim and wouldn’t take their offer seriously.</p>
<p>Practice and learn to lie through your teeth.
You don’t have to tell them that in advance but say whatever you need to say that is positive. You don’t have to tell them everything because they don’t tell you everything either.</p>
<p>It doesn’t always happen, and you don’t want it to sound fake, but if you see something in the person’s office (artwork, or an item on their desk) that seems like something you share an interest in, comment on it. I hit a grand slam homerun in an interview once by telling the interviewer as I sat down that the same picture (ducks!) he had behind his desk also hangs in my dad’s office. He immediately wanted to talk about the picture, and hunting (and I am a woman who does not hunt - lol), and we ended up having a 2 hour conversation that wasn’t really much about the job at all. I got hired, and to this day (20 years later, and even though we haven’t worked for the same company for years now), this guy is been one of my biggest cheerleaders and mentors. And I credit it all to the ducks :)</p>
<p>Seriously, no one wants to work with an a**. They wouldn’t bring you in if they weren’t already impressed with your smarts. Now they want to figure out if they want to sit next to you/meet with you/eat with you/travel with you for the next several years. And they want to make sure you will not rub their clients the wrong way. At this point it is probably not about being the smartest guy in the room. It is about being smart enough AND easy to work with.</p>
<p>Well, if I get the chance to employ the duck strategy, I shall. XD Not with ducks specifically, of course…</p>
<p>But really, I’m not an ass and I’m very easygoing/pleasurable to work with. I’m articulate, very hardworking, resourceful, extremely passionate, etc – the problem is that I just get so damned nervous during interviews! I’m a naturally shy person around people I haven’t really met before because I’m not sure what they would consider appropriate/inappropriate/funny/not funny, as that takes me a while to better assess.</p>
<p>legendofmax, I posted on the other thread, but now I’m speaking on behalf of my husband who’s a tippy top human resources guy. You CAN answer the tough questions w/o alienating either company. (Although the answer to who you would pick is “you” [company you are interviewing with] because with an ideal job offer that is true.) If there’s a significant strength of one over the other, it’s okay to say it (but counter with a strength of the company at hand). They already know it. The deal is to say why you fit at the company you’re courting. You can use warm fuzzies such as that you like the corporate culture, some innovation, locale or whatever would make this job work for you.</p>
<p>Sell yourself now and post again when you need help negotiating the multiple offers!</p>
<p>when they ask you which one would you pick, you should re-iterate what’s important to you when it comes to a job - challenging, interesting work, good working environment (team work, good boss, mentor), growth. Then say, that’s what I am seeing at your company after meeting few people, I get the sense your firm may have many things I am looking for …Just think about whenever they interview someone on TV - did you have an affair? Answer: I love my family, I have been married for 30 years, we have absolute trust with each, family value, blah, blah.</p>
<p>A way to handle the question if they ask about the other company you are talking to is to say that one reason you were excited to have interviews with both companies is because you wanted to get a better feeling for what the companies are each like on a day to day basis and gather information you could use to compare them. You don’t have to tell them that you have made up your mind… Tell them you are still in the analysis phase, but that you are very impressed so far with their company so far!</p>
<p>If I were asked how I would decide between them, I’d tell them I didn’t want to count my chickens before they were hatched and hadn’t laid out a comparison process yet, since there is no guarantee I would end up with multiple offers But then I reassure them again that I would really like to work for THEIR company.</p>
<p>Whenever I am asked what package I am looking for or where I am in my interview process, I just tell them what I want them to know. I wouldn’t tell them that you are not close to an offer from another company (or even have one already). By keep on telling them what’s important to you (your criteria), you are saying “as long as you are the strongest fit then I will work for you, it has nothing to do with another company.” (so cough up with your best offer to get me) </p>
<p>You should always appear to have a comparison process even if you didn’t have an offer yet.</p>
<p>If these jobs are finance related,brush up on a few major concepts from your finance textbooks. Don’t be surprised if you are given more “tests”, or assignments.Good luck.</p>
<p>Sending good vibes your way, max! There are alot of people here cheering for you.</p>
<p>At one time I worked as a staffer to a state legislature. We learned early on to “steer” the conversation to the areas that you want to talk about or focus on. So if they ask a tough question that makes you uncomfortable, do as oldfort suggests and talk about what you’re looking for in a position and the win-wins that you see in a match up between you and their company. </p>
<p>Remember, an interview is still a conversation so just because they ask you a direct question doesn’t mean you have to answer it with an either-or answer and if the conversation flows to what you want to talk about, they’ll never even realize that you didn’t answer in the way they asked (or if they do realize it, they’ll admire you for avoiding it masterfully).</p>
<p>By nature, I’m a shy person also until I get to know someone. But you have to step out of your comfort zone for interviews. I was terrified when I accepted the staffer position at the legislature as a young person because it was so far outside my comfort zone, I was afraid. But I grew so much from the one position. </p>
<p>You’ll do fine in these interviews; just push yourself to be a little more outgoing than you would normally and remember to be a good listener as well. Try to maintain a good balance of you offering information but allowing them to talk <em>with</em> you as well. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Good luck to you, Max! I’m a fellow shy person. What helped me when I got into situations where I had to talk to people I don’t know was to tell myself that while 2blue the person would feel shy doing that, 2blue the (title) was confident, comfortable and successful in doing so. In your case it would be Max the Interviewee. For me it was like an actor slipping into a role so I could distance myself emotionally from the fear. That mindset got me successfully through situations I couldn’t have handled otherwise.</p>
<p>One firm just called to let me know that another HR person is going to be in town and wondered if I could come earlier in the day to fit him in – if not, no big deal. I said yes because honestly, it’s a chance to meet more people and sell myself more, but I also worry that it’ll give me more opportunity to screw up, haha. Of course, decreased variance, at least. :P</p>
<p>When a firm asks this, is it helpful to say yes to such things anyway? Even though I genuinely had no problem with it and would like to meet more people in the firm, I am wondering if it would have “looked bad” to say no? Is the contrary a good sign?</p>
<p>It is good. It is one more person in the firm for you to quiz about their experiences, what they like/don’t like about the company, what they think it takes to be successful, and to help you get a flavor for the culture of the firm. Don’t forget, you want to not just get a job, but you want to be happy there, too.</p>
But then I reassure them again that I would really like to work for THEIR company.</p>