Things I Like To See When Candidates Interview…

Know what the company actually does that you’re interviewing with

• Candidate: “I think your company is great and you have an amazing product!”
• Me: “What do you think we do?”
• Candidate: “Errrr… ekhm…. I don’t know.”
• The goal is to have a good conversation with the interviewer; do whatever it takes to make that happen.
• If there’s any job-specific terminology (e.g. department names, product names, etc.) write it down in advance.

Ask questions and come with questions prepared

• Don’t ask off the wall questions that aren’t relevant to the role. Everyone loves personality, but when I ask you if you have any questions and you ask me what kind of mythical creature I wish I could turn into, at best it will appear forced and at worst it will make me wonder if you can’t stay on topic and distract easily. If you don’t know something, don’t just stop the conversation. Try to continue the dialogue e.g. “I don’t know this but I have done something similar to this so let me tell you.”
• Too conversational and they never ask important questions for you to show your value. A conversation that goes nowhere is a waste of everyone’s time.

Bring some dang energy and enthusiasm during the conversation

• The interview shouldn’t seem so much like an interrogation but rather just a conversation. It’s hard to bring energy and enthusiasm when you’re nervous out of your mind because your experience with interviews is that they try to rake you over the coals.