Advice for your (first) job interview

Ah, the first job interview. It probably feels like a step into a new chapter of your life, at least it did for me. It also felt like I didn’t know what to expect and what to do: apply to many jobs, or one? How should I act during the interview? These and many more questions made it hard(er) to sleep. I googled, I tried and practiced, made mistakes, as will everyone, and finally, I got an offer for my first job. Since then, I’ve participated in many interviews, mainly on the interviewee side of the table, and it feels like I’ve gathered some thoughts and even advice to people like me. I hope you find the advice useful, or at least - entertaining.

Finding positions to apply to

1. Apply to as many interviews as possible. Do you like some company and see that they have open positions? Go for it. They don’t have any open positions? Maybe email the company with your CV and what kind of job you’d like to hear about, when they have an open position. Don’t have a company you fancy? Find a list of job openings and go through them. It might be your region specific job ad site or even Linkedin.
2. Do your research before applying and especially the interview. What kind of products or services does the company provide? What kind of press do they have, any negative news? Are there any official statistics provided on the amount of employees? Salaries?¹. Reading the product/service/support reviews might also be useful, but remember that people tend to leave more negative reviews, than positive ones. Read the job description - what kind of technologies are they using, which ones do you know? Read about the ones that you don’t know. What are the benefits? Where’s the office? Are there any mentions of remote work? Check Linkedin, maybe you know someone working there, they might have some more valuable insights.

You can do this in iterations or in a big bang fashion. Either way, you’ll have to wait a bit. Turn off your do-not-disturb mode on your phone and wait. Some companies might ignore you, but that’s their problem.

Post-application period and the first interview

Your phone rings, your adrenaline spikes and maybe some sweat breaks. You pick up the phone and arrange your first interview meeting with great self-confidence. You sigh after the call. Good, that’s how it begins! What do you do now?

1. It might sound funny, but looks do matter. Don’t attend the interview with your greased up T-shirt which you might wear at home. Wash you hair and put on a shirt, pants are good too. You probably don’t need to look formal, but it’s good to look professional, or at least tidy. This applies both to physical and remote job interviews.
2. Check your setup during online interviews. Does your camera have a good look over you and not some mess in your room? Is the microphone working as expected or does it sound like radio static? Do you sit in a shadow, or is the lighting set up correctly? If you’re not familiar with the meeting application, try to test it out with a friend, or even a second device that you own. Prepare a glass of water nearby in a safe position, so you can drink it during pauses, but not spill it by accident.
3. Be yourself. Get the feeling of the tone during the first minutes. Are the interviewers addressing you in an official manner or in a more informal one? Try following that tone. Don’t lie about your experiences, be sincere. Avoid swearing and don’t trashtalk any people you know². Even if the people you might talk about aren’t working in the company, it’s still a bad sign to hear this from an interviewee. Don’t forget, everyone gets nervous, even your interviewers, don’t beat yourself up for some little mistakes or stutters, you’re talking with real people, and they’ll understand. Everyone’s been there.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. What kind of questions? You can ask anything that you find interesting and that you didn’t already know from earlier steps. Ask about the tools, the benefits, the dress code, the vacation availability. Ask about the pros and cons of working there. Maybe they can tell you about what they find frustrating or what was recently improved? Are they working in a waterfall fashion, or do they apply the good practices of Agile? How does a typical day look like for a person whose position you’re applying for?
5. The expected salary question might even pop up during the first meeting. I’m not sure about the approach on this. Some people say it’s better to give a single number. Some say it’s better to give a range, or at least the minimal salary. My feeling is that it’s best to say your minimal expected salary, and you’ll be good. Also, align on the numbers, are you talking about salary before or after tax. Is the salary range attached to the job description? If not, it might be useful to ask for the approximate range of what similar employees get in the company. Also, it’s okay to say that you’re not sure, and you need to think about it. This might depend on the employment landscape, but it’s best not to stick to the lowest number in the given range. Even if you feel like you’re worth less than that, remember that you probably won’t get a raise for a year. Imagine the extra “topping” above the minimum as a motivational mean for you. Your future employer will be investing in your future capabilities, for when you’re up to speed. Oh, and you’re not asking, you’re negotiating!
6. Take notes! Write down the benefits, answers to your questions, the salary that you negotiated. You can even write down the names of the interviewers - anything that looks useful. If you get multiple offers, this might help you to decide, especially if you participated in tens of interviews and don’t remember the particulars.

Post-interview period

Your first interview is done. Take some time before the next ones. Rinse and repeat. But you still don’t have the job, there’s still work to be done before you can call someone to celebrate your employment.

1. If you get homework, try to do it on time. If you need more time, ask for it - as early as possible. Open communication is key. If you need some clarifications about the task, don’t worry too much about it and just send the list of questions to the person who sent you the task.
2. Don’t get down if you get rejected. Maybe they’re not ready for your greatness, it’s their loss. Maybe they expect a senior for a juniors pay, bullet dodged. You already seeded some contacts, which might become useful later in your career. If possible, and it’s not already provided, ask for feedback: why were you not chosen and what went good. Remember the interview and don’t forget that you probably learned a lot from it, especially from your first ones. How should you talk, did you stutter while telling your short life story? What kind of questions were interesting, but you forgot to ask? If you followed step #1, you probably have more job interviews coming up, you’ll get your job eventually.

Good luck and good hunting.

Footnotes:

1. For example, in Lithuania company information can be found in rekvizitai.lt. ↩

2. This should probably be common sense in all real life situations. ↩