job interview; what to expect?

good afternoon gentlemen and ladies,

i am a recent graduate and i have a job interview on tues for a IT Specialist position. I have been working as a head technician and with light network monitoring and setup for the last couple years while i was finishing up school. The offer is from a rather large company though, and im a little nervous. I wanted to ask you seasoned vets if there is anything I should read up on over the weekend.. I mean what sort of questions should I expect? What sort of questions should I ask? I told them that I had light networking.. but they didnt seem to mind since there is an IT team..rather than the one position.. Did you guys and gals get OJT? Im jsut a little nervous.. any comments or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.. oh yea, all the systems are win based.. good think since my linux goes about as far as ubuntu

relax- if u get nervous then you'll end screwing up ur answers

obviously being nervous is natural before a interview- make sure ur prepared is a big key. they will most likely ask questions like why you want the job, what do you think we should choose you, what can you bring to the existing team etc, what benefits do u see over ur existing job.

questions u should ask are more like: what a career growth aspects for me in a few years dwon the line. work hours, pay rates etc- duties to handle etc..

good luck though.

egraphix said:

what a career growth aspects for me in a few years dwon the line.

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This is a great question to ask since I shows you are interesting in growing your skill set.

OJT, assuming that is On the Job Training will depend completely on the company. With that in mind, don't wait for the company to hold your hand, ask about different systems. Different processes, the guy in the next cube programming in LISP... ask him about it.

If you haven't already - find out everything you can about the company. What they make, who their customers are, every and anything. It shows you did you homework and shoed up prepared.

Be extremely clear and honest about what you do and don't know. If you have no experience with something, say that (but add that you are interested in it and quite willing to learn). No one expects you to know everything, especially in an entry level position. But trying to BS your way through the interview will not work, and it will flag you as a dangerous liability. Posers are quickly identified in IT. Be honest and eager and you'll do great. Good luck.

Baredor said:

Be extremely clear and honest about what you do and don't know. If you have no experience with something, say that (but add that you are interested in it and quite willing to learn). No one expects you to know everything, especially in an entry level position. But trying to BS your way through the interview will not work, and it will flag you as a dangerous liability. Posers are quickly identified in IT. Be honest and eager and you'll do great. Good luck.

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what he said.. one more thing though, don't put shit down on your resume if you can't honestly answer 95% of the possible questions about it. If you put something down on it, you better have the manual memorized front to back and be able to answer any question on it.

you're applying for entry-level, they don't expect you to know everything, just have the ability to learn and adapt.

good luck

if they are decent interviewers you will face as many "problem solving" questions as anything else. you might be asked to discuss a time when you faced a certain type of problem (personaility conflict with coworker, time management, etc) and how did you deal with it. or you may be asked how you would troubleshoot a problem. not what is the solution, but what steps would you take in troubleshooting.

the interviewers goes is to see how you would handle yourself in situations that arise, and also to see if you are able to think on the go. if you are asked how to troubleshoot something you don't know much about you might feel like saying i don't really know. that's the wrong answer. saying, i'd google that- or something to that effect- even though it seems like a cop-out or cheating shows you don't just hit a brick wall and die every time you come across an issue you don't understand.

99% of the time how you look and carry yourself will determine if they want to take a chance in hiring you. Most of the time they are just filling out your personality to see if you are a fit with the team. They may toss out a few "test" questions her or there but just stay cool and calm and everything will be ok.

I remembered my interview with Sony Online back in 1999 and I was so nervous that I couldn't sleep the night before. Once I passed the "can this guy fit in" test and actually started working, I found out that I really had nothing to worry about.

Once you are hired most companies don't immediately through everything you put on your resume at you, they will focus on one or two key areas then gradually start adding on the resonsibility.

Remember the interview works both ways, you are interviewing them as well to decide if you want to work with them as well. I've been on interviews where I decided that I wasn't interested after my "gut filter" caught some vibes that let me know that these guy's weren't being upfront with me.

cismajor97 said:

I've been on interviews where I decided that I wasn't interested after my "gut filter" caught some vibes that let me know that these guy's weren't being upfront with me.

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My favorite recently was listening (during my interview) to the techs trashing management, and when it was time to meet with management having them trash on the techs. Some of that is expected, but ont in the interview, and definately not giving names and listing the problems.


... I thanked them for their time, shook hands, and sent a polite email explaining that I wouldn't be able to accept the position with them at this time.

I just got done interviewing with Google since March of this year...6 months when all was said and done. I can't give specifics because I am still under an NDA..and Im sort of "studying" for a future position with them as well.

But I can tell you that I was told that my enthusiasm and interest in the topic matter really got me far. As everyone knows they're big into Linux and Ive only had casual linux use before then, I was told that with my attitude and experience in networking/windows/mac all that I need is a solid 6 months to a year of linux and Id definitely be ready for the position.

So that's what Im doing...but the enthusiasm and interest in the work got my portfolio all the way to the end of the interview process with them.

That is my dream job, and I wont let something like not being a power linux user get in my way...in my house currently (at least my systems) there is nothing but linux running now..gentoo..ubuntu..LFS. I wanted to learn the little ins and outs of the various systems and that's my goal for the next 6-7 months or so.

Baredor said:

Be extremely clear and honest about what you do and don't know. If you have no experience with something, say that (but add that you are interested in it and quite willing to learn). No one expects you to know everything, especially in an entry level position. But trying to BS your way through the interview will not work, and it will flag you as a dangerous liability. )

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Yup. My technical interview team is made up of people who can and have ran into and fixed almost every possible issue that can happen in enterprise networking. People who exaggerate too much on their resumes are flogged mercilessly yet briefly, and then cut loose. Really, though, being able to display an ability to think rationally and quickly is something that will make you look very good.

I work at a MSP as a lead DBA managing 3 guys in NYC and 25 in bangalore india. I conduct 10-20 interviews per week, primarily over the telephone to india. I only meet someone in person if we're about to hire them for our NY, CA, or UK offices. So you know where I come from.

Most certs are basically worthless. The only ones we care about are OCM (oracle certified master) and CCNA (cisco certification). MSCE, OCP (oracle cert professional), all that brainbench stuff, that's all worthless garbage. They only guarantee a minimum level of competence and are nothing compared to experience. CCNA is actually really tough to complete and almost nobody gets the OCM cert due to its length, so they have some value to us. We do look for a bachelor's degree, but experience counts much, much more.

Things that impress me are:

1) Arrogance. True jedi master professionals are extremely confident in their abilities. Of course if you're arrogant and don't know what you're talking about, that's not good, so be humble if you're a low level guy.
2) Skillset. Obviously you need to have the skills required. But I can tell that in 5 minutes.
3) Drive. This covers all kinds of stuff. If you've written magazine articles, given talks about your speciality, have your own IT-specific website, wrote a bunch of shell scripts to do various stuff, setup monitoring like nagios or grid at your previous job on your own initiative, stuff like that.
4) Self-reliance. I *love* it when I ask some esoteric question and the guy tells me "I would never remember that, I'd just look it up on metalink and get an answer in 2 seconds". The ability to read manuals and figure shit out on your own is absolutely critical.

Just my 2 cents.

I got it!
thanks so much for the replies...its for a hospital that has multiple locations. I will be ghosting the IT team and server admins for awhile. they really liked that when they were asking me about unix servers and firewalls that i have never even heard of, that i replied with "i dont want to be the guy on the other end of the table nodding away at anything you say, i dont have that much experience with large company networking hardware, or that much time with server 03 for that matter. But, what i lack in system abilities i hope to make up with by an eagerness to learn and willingness to devote time. I understand how critical the information is, so i would never want to jeopardize it by pretending to understand a system that i dont." they said that they appreciated the honesty. one of you guys said to say that in the post above, thanks for it. anyway, hopefully i can be a part of the forum now that i have a "real job" i guess its real.. 7.70 an hour to 39k a year is a nice jump..not to mention that the benefit package is way cheap.
thanks again.

Woot!

Now that you have the job dont slack off.

Keep studying, and keep putting money into your retirement!

Well done.

warmace said:

Keep studying, and keep putting money into your retirement!

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What he said, and stay out of debt!

Baredor said:

Well done.



What he said, and stay out of debt!

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Congrats!

Like Baredor said, keep spending like you still make 7.70hr. Do that for at least the first 3 months of work. You'll be surpised how well you can still live on that budget even though you can afford to spend more. I did that during my first 6 months doing contract work and almost saved up $10K easily. Of course now it's all gone since I've gotten married, have a new daughter, and a 06 Accord.