Let’s say you’ve figured out the resume, at least enough to make it to a real interview. In some ways, interview prep is more difficult than resume prep because you have less time to do it. Let’s get into some of the most important pieces of advice for interview prep.
Do your recon
An interview is a business meeting, where you need to gather important information and sell something to the other side. So the research you do on your target audience is critical to your success. You need to understand the mission of the company, and you should be familiar with their products and history. Here are some resources that I used to gain this type of understanding and more:
- Books about the founding of the company
- Conversations with veterans at the company
- News articles about the company
- Journal articles & blogs
- Company website, reviews on Glassdoor, and TED talks about the industry
- Even some entertainment products can kinda help. I know some people who don’t watch that show “Silicon Valley” because some things are too accurate. haha
The amount of prep you do is up to you. In some early-stage or specialized interviews, you might find that the interviewer doesn’t give you time to show off any special historical knowledge. On the other hand, if you are headed into an interview that will be really focused on reviewing your experience, the company-specific stuff might have a nice tie-in to your experience. For example, if you are familiar with a business related issue in the news that has impact on your profession, you can show awareness by mentioning it. The larger the company, the more important it is that you don’t come off as unaware.
If you are told the name of your interviewer, it would be a good idea to research them in case you can find common ground or something interesting to bring up. Don’t be creepy, though.
Prep complete interview responses
Just like your resume bullets, your interview responses need to be robust but also to the point. Most tech interviewers need some data to understand the impact of your previous experience, so you must give complete answers related to your experience to move forward. One time, I wasted a phone screen opportunity because I did not properly prepare my answers for experience. Build your stories up so that you aren’t “that person.”
If you are looking in the non-engineer areas of a tech company, chances are your selected jobs will be often related to process (continuous) improvement. Tech companies aren’t hiring full-time employees to handle basic support cases; that is what vendor companies do. In a full-time operations candidate, the company is looking for someone who can build efficiency into those support processes. The decisions you make as an operations manager should be based in reliable data or research. Your results must be measurable. Let’s get into specifics:
I’m going to type some interview responses, but answers during conversations are a lot more fluid. Also, these examples don’t quite adhere to the STAR format (which you should). However, this should give you a little help in knowing what right looks like. Here is an answer regarding process improvement that I am likely to hear from a very new transitioning vet:
“My platoon was responsible for loading trucks in a cargo terminal. We brought in a new software system that made our orders easier to track, and that led to loading many more trucks per shift.”
You may have enough practice to put a better answer than that forward. Here are some problems:
- It doesn’t describe any specific behavior of the candidate, just going with “us” and “we” statements
- It tells of “many more trucks” which is too vague of a metric to be taken seriously
Here’s an improvement that still isn’t quite there:
“My platoon was responsible for loading trucks in a cargo terminal. I selected a new software system by consulting with the platoon, and it made our orders much easier to track. We were able to load 90% more trucks per shift for the rest of the deployment.”
This is better and more of what I hear. It is still not all the way there, though, because:
- We still have no idea of the scale or impact (context) of this particular facility/mission
- It doesn’t help me understand how the decision was made for the new software
Another version:
“My platoon was responsible for loading trucks at the 2nd largest cargo terminal in Kandahar province. I identified a need to add a new software solution to help with coordinating the orders. I did user testing and sensing sessions with my platoon, which helped me select the best new software to implement. With the new software, our orders were easier to track, and we saw a 90% increase in loading productivity. We went from loading ## pounds a day, to ## pounds a day.”
This is decent. The language could be more direct, though. This answer could go to the real level needed by adding additional details that clearly add to the listener’s understanding:
“My platoon loaded cargo trucks Kandahar province. We were the second largest cargo terminal, loading ## trucks a day, 7 days a week. I observed the platoon struggling to coordinate the orders, and decided a software solution could work. I did user testing and sensing sessions with my platoon, and learned that they needed a type of software that could schedule with Microsoft Office. I selected a software based on what I learned in the user research, and it immediately simplified our order tracking. This increased our daily production by ## trucks, which was a 90% increase from the previous year. As a result of the increase, the outposts near our terminal had a shorter wait for supplies.”
You can see all the important information in this answer above… and it can actually be better. I’d be interested in knowing how much the waiting time for those supplies decreased. But I hope this gives you a good idea of the detail and relation to data/research that you want.
Practice
If you are anything like me, you have some trouble bragging about yourself. I like to excel from the shadows. However, giving answers that address your personal impact is not bragging. The interviewer really needs this information, and they need it to be specific to you. So if you really did those things in the resume, you need to be ready to toot your own horn about them. There are no medals to display out here.
You can never escape the human element of working, or interviews, so you owe it to yourself to thoroughly practice. If you practice sufficiently, you will interview with confidence. You will not forget your important stories or questions, and you will be less nervous. Here are some ways to get practice:
- Use your mentors & friends for mock interviews, especially if they are in the ideal type of job and industry. Don’t have a mentor? Use the internet like you are doing right now!
- Interview for other jobs, even if they aren’t awesome. If you can participate in hiring conferences, you really should. They are useful for industry insight, networking, and general learning.
- Look in a mirror and say your answers to yourself. Your goal is to get comfortable with the way you are telling your favorite stories, so you can focus more on engaging your interviewer, and less on whether you are getting in all the details.
While you practice responding to questions, you will get a feel for which experiences come back to you naturally, and allow you to comfortably discuss your background. You need to be comfortable in the interview so the interviewer can get to know you. So practice!
Final thoughts
Getting to a serious interview is usually a good sign for your resume, at the very least. It shows you that there is something in your profile of interest, but it is only a headline. The interview is where someone decides whether they would want you on their team. If you treat it with respect like any business meeting, you will do these things:
- Do recon & come to the meeting understanding specifics (the role) and context (the company)
- Prepare your data & justifications (answers) to the fullest extent you can, and anticipate the type of questions your audience will bring. Also, bring your own mature & useful questions
- Practice your technique until you are really comfortable. If this was a business situation and you needed to influence someone without authority over them… you need to seem like you are ready to do so.
There are many resources out there to give you advice on the interview, but the last thought I want to leave you with, is to remember what I said about tooting your own horn. You must step out of the shadows of a “servant leader” and make it clear that you were the difference-maker. You can go back to your normal quiet awesomeness after you’ve picked up your employee badge, if you so choose.
