acing that interview!

I work in a technical type job and went through a string of interviewing about 20-30 college age kids. I am completely not the best interviewer but here is some stuff I didnt dig during interviews.

1. I dont care if YOU just want to work here part time. I dont care if I just want you for part time position, but you need to pretend like you’re enthused or excited about the job. Not crack happy, but just interested.

2. On the flip side, I dont want someone who needs the job TOO much. Please dont bring up your grandmother’s sob story or how you might lose your house. It comes off as desperate. Take that story to the McDs or BK. They might go for it.

3. If I am asking you different questions, bring up a sports story ONCE. Jeez. I dont need to hear about the time you showed leadership out on the soccer field. And then this other time you solved a problem by kicking to the right winger versus the forward. (This one kid answered questions like that, and he had a freakin 4.27 GPA and never once brought up any sort of academic achievements!).

4. Be confident in your answers, but dont be cocky. Im not going to hire an a*shole.

5. Dress to impress. Even though I dress in jeans - for the interview, I want to see you looking professional.

6. If you are going to work at a location temporarily, dont mention that in the interview. No one wants to invest time (ie, MONEY) into training an employee who is going to leave 6 months down the road. So if I ask you about 6 month plans - dont say you might want to move to Virginia or Brazil.

7. Bring up an odd hobby or something if a question pops up. To differentiate.

8. When we ask you about your bad qualities, dont bring up any type of bad qualities that might insinuate you arent cooperative or a team player. No one wants to hire an a*shole.

9. I ask questions specifically about how the potential hiree handles repetitive boring tasks. I want an answer how they can find joy in that. I dont want them to say, "oh yeah, that is not really fun." A good answer might be, "Tasks like that help me learn what I’m doing really well" and/or "I like to work on the same thing because I can see the ways I continually improve. I dont mind repetitive tasks."

10. Speak in complete sentences. No gangsta hick shiat.

11. Answer the specific question, try not to babble on and on or go off on tangents.

12. Overqualified people I tend not to hire because A. I dont want them trying to tell me what to do or "we did so and so at the other job" and B. I dont want them taking over my position. So if you were managment and you are going for a lower position, (depending on who youre talking to), I would adjust your resume. If you are talking to a potential DIRECT superior - I would dumb the resume down. If you are talking to THEIR boss, I might keep it as is in case they are looking to replace that position eventually. Office politics, y’know.

13. If I make a statement on how it is extremely important to NOT fake data and how that is a fireable offense - LISTEN. If you want, mention a sentence or two how you have acted in the past to agree with the statement I just made so I know you heard and understood me, but do NOT start babbling.