Instructor: Interview workshop.
An interview is a conversation where questions are asked
and answers are given.
It's that simple.
The word interview refers to a one-on-one conversation
with one person acting in the role of interviewer
and the other in the role of interviewee.
Now, this is the definition straight out of Wikipedia
and everybody, I'm sure, knows how the interview
is conducted between two people.
The interview tips are the tips
that I have put together for you guys
and those are, I personally think are very important
for you to keep in mind.
Number one is research the company
and understand the job description
before you actually pick up the phone and have an interview
or actually go onsite and have an interview.
Then, make sure you are focused on the question
that they will ask you about.
Tell me about yourself.
This is a favorite question of every hiring manager,
so make sure you know how
that you are going to answer this question.
Regardless of what type of job you go to,
they will always ask you this question.
This is their favorite question.
Now, you also must have proper attire.
Of course for guys you should have suit and tie,
for ladies a nice attire, business-looking attire.
Back up your resume by giving real life examples.
No, we are not talking about backing up
like a system backup or file backup.
We are talking about whatever you have written
in your resume,
make sure you back those up by giving real life examples.
So if you have mentioned
that you have done system management of 1000 servers,
put it in an example like where those 1000 servers were.
Where are they located?
What are the different type of those servers were?
Look in the eye of hiring manager.
When you are sitting in front of the hiring manager,
if you're not on the phone,
make sure when you are talking to him or her,
when you answer, you should look that persons in the eye
but not stare at them, but you know back and forth
you should have an eye contact.
Then of course the last but not the least,
is sell, sell, sell.
You are there to sell yourself.
Think that in your head.
You are selling, just like as if you are selling
some aluminum siding or selling a car,
you are there to sell yourself.
So whichever way that you have to put it in,
you have to consider yourself as a product.
Now, I'm gonna go into more details
about interview workshop after this slide.
Usually the interview lasts for an hour.
You'll get a call from the hiring manager
or you will be on site meeting with him.
Well, let's call the hiring manager in our scenario,
let's call him Russell.
Introduce yourself to everyone
if there are more than one people of course.
Tell them my name is Imran Afzal
and thank you so much for your time today
for this interview.
The hiring manager, Russell, will introduce himself
or others if there are more people on the interview panel.
Well, the first five to 10 minutes
will be utilized to give you the company overview,
like what does the company do,
how long they've been in the market,
what they have done or what they have achieved.
Make sure to research the company
before you go for the interview.
This will tell that you are entrusted
and have done your homework.
Now, the next thing Russell will tell you
about the job itself.
He will go over a quick description of the job,
what they're looking for,
why they are looking for the number of people in their team
and things like what they will expect
from the new person or you.
Make sure you write this part,
because this information will help you answer
according to the requirement.
For example, let's say if Russell mentioned
that we are looking for someone who's like a team player
or someone who could improve
over their documentation, et cetera.
Then later, you could say that you have worked as a team
or have done a lot of system documentation
and stuff like that.
So you could add that to your conversation.
If you are in person, doing the in-person interview,
then make like a mental note about this.
Before Russell start talking or start asking you question,
he will mention about the interview process.
He will lay out how the interview will be conducted,
how much time will be spent on the technical questions,
how much time will be spent on the behavior question
and then in the end,
there will be some time for you to ask questions.
So explaining this interview structure
is what I would say a great hiring manager do
to stay on track.
Okay, so all said, all done.
Now, one of the most favorite question
every hiring manager asks,
and that is, "Tell me about yourself."
You should take anywhere from let's say five to 10 minutes
to answer this question.
Now, this is the opportunity to sell yourself.
You should break down your answer in five categories.
Category one, start by introducing yourself again
by saying again, "My name is Imran Afzal
and I'm a systems engineer by profession."
Or whatever the your profession is.
My expertise are Linux, VMware, Windows,
technical training, project management, so on.
So basically list a quick summary of your skills.
In category two of tell me about yourself,
you'll say, I have been working with the company
let's call it Arc Wendell Industries,
for the last so and so years as a system administrator
or whichever your title was or have been the title.
Okay, so if you are not in IT,
then again, really quickly go over your day-to-day task,
but don't spend more than like 20 to 30 seconds on it,
because they don't want to know a lot
about what they're not looking for.
Focus more on the technical side.
For example, if you are in sales
and you're probably working on POS systems,
so say POS system
or sometimes you troubleshoot technical issue related to it.
If you don't do any technical work, then don't lie about it.
Don't make up things.
Move on to mention about your lab,
how you started and how many hours you have spent to learn,
how many hours you have spent each week to manage it.
You break it, you troubleshoot it at different issues.
Next, mention your previous job if you had one.
Once again, go over a quick summary of your daily tasks.
In category three of your tell me about yourself,
I would say after the experience,
tell Russell about your education background.
You should be proud of what you have achieved in academics.
Which college you went to and what was your major.
If you majored in accounting
or any other concentration aside from computers,
then now is the time to tell why you decided to move to IT.
Now, in category four of tell me about yourself,
bring up your interests,
like on your spare time you like to play soccer,
watch movies, help around the house.
Tell him what you really enjoy doing in your spare time.
Next, and of course the last category
that I have defined in tell me about yourself is,
tell Russell why you want to leave your current job
to apply for this job.
Perhaps your contract with the existing company
is coming to an end
or you are looking for a career advancement
where you can apply for your technical skills
or simply want to start your career in IT.
Mention about your documentation skills,
because remember, he brought this point
during the initial conversation, right?
Ask yourself, what is that one quality you have
that your competitor does not have and tell that to Russell.
Next one we have, is why do you want to leave
or what are you looking for in your next job?
Now, we have covered this question
in one of our last category,
but many times hiring manager
would include this question again.
So you could rephrase what you have said.
Then the part start of behavioral questions.
These type of questions are one of the way
for Russell to find out your personality,
whether you are the right fit for this environment or not.
It can take anywhere from like 15
to 20 minutes to answer them.
He will ask you questions
like how do you handle a difficult situation?
How do you meet your goal if you face an obstacle?
How do you handle differences of opinion?
These are the type of questions that shows your behavior.
Now remember, you don't have to be
in a corporate environment or to have an IT job
to answer these questions.
We face these type of challenges almost every day,
with our family, with our friends
or even during a situation
which is like unrelated to any relationship.
For example, let's take an example,
yeah, you are at the airport, right?
And you are given two options,
either wait for, actually you missed a flight
and so you have an option to either wait
for a second flight,
which will leave in eight hours from now
and will get you from point A to point B
and of course in two hours, let's say,
or you could rent a car and drive for six hours.
So which one option is better for you
and why pick one on the other?
So think of a situation like these
and answer these questions accordingly.
I'm sure in your life,
you have faced these three questions in your entire life.
I'm sure about it.
Okay, now becomes the technical part.
Now let the fun begin.
You'll be asked technical question back and forth
from 20 to 25 minutes.
Sometime technical questions are made up of a situation,
for example, what if you have to run a script at night
but you are not available at night?
How would you manage that?
So see, it's a situational question,
but if you answer by saying,
"Of course, you'll schedule the job."
Okay, so now once Russell
and the team done asking all the technical question,
now it's your turn to return the favor.
Ask them questions like what a typical day looks like
for this position?
Or if it is a contract position,
ask if there's a possibility to become permanent?
This will show that you are committed,
and how will you measure the success of a person
that they will hire?
Right, these are the type of questions that you should ask.
Now, of course, you don't have to ask exactly what I said.
You could come up with your own questions of course,
depending on your situation.
Now, before you say your goodbyes and shake hands,
you should say a closing statement.
So this is all about the interview that I wanted to cover,
but at the end, before you leave, remember this.
Anything you should say that will stay with Russell
and will keep him reminding of you
when he's actually going through interviews
with other candidates.
Now, you must be thinking,
what could I say or what could that be?
Well, of course it all depends on you
and what you are good at.
As an example, I'll give you a few examples
so you will relate to them.
A few of the example like, "Before I leave,
I want to say one thing, Russell,
if you ask me something and I don't know the answer,
then I'll tell you, 'I don't know,'
but I promise you that I will work on it
and I'll get you the answer."
So this is like example of what you could say
or another example that I have is,
"Before I leave, I want to say one thing.
I might not be the smartest or most technical person,
but one day I will make you proud
of your decision for hiring me."
Right, so this is the thing that'll stay with them, right?
Okay, and I could give you another example.
Before I leave, I want to say one thing, Russell.
I might not meet all the requirements for this job,
but I definitely being loyal to you
and will be there whenever you need me.
So even if you wanna pick out of these three,
that's okay, pick, but make sure
whatever you say stays with him.
Let me tell you a little secret about my career.
Long time ago, when I went for my first job interview,
the hiring manager met me and he actually hired me
without asking any technical questions.
Now, keep in mind, I did not have any experience.
So anyway, I was hired.
So a few weeks later I started my job.
I asked my manager, a few days later,
said, "Why didn't you ask me any technical questions?"
He's like, "When?"
I was like, "When I came for the interview."
Okay, so he stepped back and he looked at me and he said,
"Because of your attitude.
I knew you were hungry to learn
and willing to do whatever it takes."
So what I learned that day, guys,
that it's not what you say, it's how you say it.
So good luck.