This is a good point and something that I wasn’t really aware of when I was fresh out of school. I thought a meeting with meal was a chance to eat and socialize. It’s not. It’s a meeting and there just happens to be some food there.
I take customers out to lunch and dinner pretty regularly and I always come home hungry. It’s kind of a joke with my W that I’ll come home from a customer lunch and need to eat lunch. You’re there for the meeting and conversation - you’re definitely still on stage. Eat sparingly and cleanly when you have the chance, but eating is secondary to the conversation. Oh and don’t order the lobster (if you follow my advice you probably wouldn’t eat much of it anyway).
Yes, after “business events,” I tend to need to go somewhere and have some decent food in a relaxed atmosphere. Often, I think a coffee shop or similar is chosen because it’s convenient and no one has to pay rent on the meeting space. I’ve had meetings at them, as has S. He received a job offer from a coffee shop interview.
I agree that it helps to have practice interviews at the career center in your HS or college, where you can get honest feedback on how you can improve. Some people are more comfortable and do better in interviews, but everyone who wants to can improve with some judicious advice and mentoring.
Some places will even videotape you, so you can see his you appear and whether that is how you want to appear or what you’d like to tweak.
I had very many job interviews in my life, I am on my job #9. The only thing that I know is to never lie, always stay true. One time I was interviewed for the position that I did not even know what the title of the position means, it was acronym that contained 3 letters. So, I asked right at interview what that means. I could not look up prior to interview as details were not stated in the ad. I told them that I have no idea what this mean and I have no experience anyhow related to the responsibilities on this position. They asked me how much I wanted. I asked for much more than my previous job. I was hired to do something that they did not have a single person know how as the one who was in this position prior to me was fired. I had to figure out everything by myself. This experience later allowed me to find the best job in my life!
Stay true, it will pay off, this is the only thing that I know.
If the interviews are on skype, offer to do a practice skype with the student. Sometimes you don’t realize that the laptop angle prevents good eye contact or background is distracting etc etc.
I’d try not to be on either end of the personality spectrum. Don’t come across as too shy and introverted, answering questions with one word or short responses, try to make it conversational, come prepared with intelligent questions to ask. But don’t be overly friendly, too outgoing, too extroverted, stay on topic and remember you are there to get a job not make a new friend. People are looking to hire someone they want to work with 8-10 hours a day. They might spend more time with you in a job than they spend with their family so fit is important. Don’t come across as someone who is going to be that awkward coworker.
“H’s firm sometimes has dinners for interviewing purposes which includes wives. It’s always interesting because while the wives haven’t been part of the actual interview about job skills, resumes etc but you certainly form opinions which can kill job chances” Wow! This sounds so 1050s. Does this company not hire women? Seems a little old-fashioned to base a hire on one’s spouse. What if someone has a gay marriage/partner? Is that going to fly with this company?
Interviewing is hard for introverts, if that is what he is. I have a college friend(engineer) who was having a hard time interviewing, and he got his job after college through a connection my dad had (I told my dad how smart my friend was, and my dad told his friend who helped my buddy get hired). He was a very good employee at that company for years (I know he is smart, responsible, diligent, thorough, thoughtful – but super, super quiet). Well… the company is going through hard times, and he got laid off several months ago. He is struggling dreadfully because the interview process is so, so hard for him. I feel awful for him – wish i could help. But all the advice in the world can’t really help put him at ease. He is over 50, too.
But I think there is a grain of help in that story for the kid the OP is helping – make sure he is doing everything he can to network. A referral from someone he knows is really the inside track, and can even help smooth over a slightly rocky interview (but not a truly terrible interview, so he should follow the rest of the advice given here). Heck, I am job hunting in a new city, and have been meeting as many people as I can – it paid off, I joined a local club, and met a guy who gave me an employee referral for one of my top target companies this week; HR there contacted me and said they will make sure my resume is fully reviewed and considered for any jobs I apply for there. My D1 got her job through an older student from her college that she knew. He should not feel bad about checking in with any older students he knows from his college, or even any of his buddies if they start working before he does. Employees get paid at many companies if they make referrals that get hired (my D made thousands one year on referrals!). He needs to make sure everyone he knows is aware that he is looking. If he doesn’t have a LinkedIn account yet, he should start one and connect with all his friends, anyone he has an informational interview with, professors, older students he knows, anyone he interned with, etc.
doschicos–They don’t hire based on wives opinions but it is a social group outside the office. Yes, women are hired all the time (the best candidate for the job and how they fit in is the deciding factor not gender nor sexual orientation).
I didn’t mean to say wives make the decision; I meant that when the interview extends into dinner and social time the interview is still in action.
@gouf78 I misread your post and apologize. I thought you were saying the interview candidates had to bring their wives. Now I see you meant that the wives of those hiring are included in the dinner.
Only men and lesbians were on the hiring committee, I suppose.
Actually, I’m sure that when the managing partner told the hiring committee to “bring the wives to dinner,” he expected everyone to understand that he meant to “bring the spouses” and the fact that the straight women and gay men on the hiring committee pretended not to understand that is just another sign of how touchy everyone is these days … Sheesh!
Yep, been there, done that.
PS Gouf78, I don’t mean to make fun of your posts, so please forgive my fun. It is just that the phrase “wives are invited” just reminds me of so many incidents as a female (now-former) partner in a large, male dominated law firm.
If you answer it wrong, it shows you are out of touch with mainstream culture and identifies you as a potential liability to the company so it is actually a very useful question. Hint: if you disagree with the concept of diversity, you should lie in the interview.
Part of the point of interviews is to see if you can generate a socially acceptable response to a question. It is not a forum for creative expression or an op-ed page.
Never say anything negative about the organization (i.e. school, employer) you are leaving. It makes the interviewing company wonder about how you might bad-mouth them in the future.
Be prepared to vocalize what interests you about the interviewing company.
You’d be surprised. Some people can’t be PC even when it’s prudent to do so. They don’t know how to filter even when they are talking to people they barely know. And if they are that clueless and undiplomatic, its an easy cut.
Some interviewers ask “why are you leaving your current employer?” They should not be surprised if they get meaningless answers, since often the real reasons are those which reflect badly on the applicant (who obviously will not reveal them) and/or the current employer (which the applicant will not say based on the general rule above).
There usually is some sort of nontech as part of the interview process - even as tech role. I would think OPs friends son is getting cut due to the nontech part of the process - more of an art rather than science. Another tip - never bad mouth any past employer or manager.
Diversity can mean many things, especially in an engineering environment - or in my case, finance where I work with engineers all day. It isn’t a PC thing, which I view as mere politeness, but how a person can work with others of a different culture or even a different function. It is a requirement in corporate America to work well with others. the answers have ranged from working in a group with racial/ethnic/married/divorced/gay/straight to engineering/finance/supplier management/planning/executives and how taking the different views present, consolidating them, and making a difficult situation work. (It’s always fun when hardware and software engineers have to work together.)
Anyhow, the applicant should be able to show how his/her studies will add value. Worked as a team on this project with these technical issues, resulting in x, y, z. Built this, tried that. If the company is doing large scale systems integration, talking up circuits might not be the right approach. Have a couple of resumes that target different industries and prepare interview scenarios that work for that industry.
Someone upthread mentioned follow-up on rejections. I concur.
DD2 got her current position on such a follow-up. After submitting an application, she received a notice that she did not meet qualifications for the position. There was a name and contact info from the sender. She sent a reply asking for clarification on what she was lacking.
She got a call back and after a short phone conversation, met her now boss for coffee.
It seems they sent the ‘not qualified’ letter instead of ‘we are further along in the interview process with another candidate’ letter. She and the boss clicked over coffee and they fast tracked her interviews.