Take a cue from your interviewer
Want to know a secret? When you’re in my office during an interview, I’m *rooting* for you to succeed. That’s right, I want you to do well, and I’m hoping you’ll impress me. It’s also why I, like many other interviewers, will provide hints that can really enhance your interview performance - if you catch them. Of course, I’m not going to give away the farm. I want you to do well, but I also want you to get there on your own power as much as possible. As such, most interviewers will provide subtle cues (and eventually not-so subtle ones) to help steer a candidate on track.
Example: If you notice an interviewer breaks into the conversation or mentions another topic – this likely means that they’re satisfied with your answer and trying to move on to the next question. The opposite cue can also help: If you’re noticing long pauses after each of your responses, followed by another question similar in nature, you probably aren’t giving enough detail and need to expand.
Back when I was in college, I used to participate in mock interviews for a research program I volunteered for. While it was fun, at the time it seemed pretty silly to me. Looking back, I now think this was good preparation for real-world interviewing and may be something to try it out. Or perhaps try watching interviews on TV or examining your own behavior the next time you interview a candidate. With practice it’s possible to become more accustomed to picking up these cues and utilizing them during your big interview day.
- Kenji
6 Comments
bigkissy said:
sorry Kenji, I don't mean to be mean but I have a lot of issue with this post. why not just say it or don't say it instead of dropping cues? what aspect of the interviewee are you testing, his or her ability to read minds? like we don't have enough to worry about already. ive been in interviews where people seemingly expect something from you, but won't say exactly what, and the classic thing they do is sit there staring at you when you wrap up your answer instead of asking a follow up, or trying to draw certain information out of you. it's pretty damn uncomfortable especially when you feel like you've answered the question. bottom line is, cues, games or whatever aren't really that much help. it's not always easy to interpret what someone means in this manner, or if they mean anything at all.
said:
To be honest, after I submitted this post I was a little worried it was open to mis-interpretation. The point I'm trying to make isn't about ego or mind-games or trying to put candidates through convoluted hoops. It's about self-awareness and the realities of everyday human communication.
Lets face it - No one wants to be rude, and no one is perfect. If I ask a candidate XYZ question, and they begin off in some tangent or begin giving me a brief history of the universe, I'm going to - politely at first - try to break into the conversation and steer it back on course. If they continue down this path, I will eventually cut them off completely. If I'm unsuccessful, or the candidate ignores me - we both lose out on what should have been a positive interview experience. Often, this isn't even a conscious decision - its something that just happens naturally through the course of interaction.
There's always extremes, and no one is exactly the same; Again, the point I'm trying to make is that these social cues are a norm in human communication, and learning to spot and react to them can enhance the overall experience. The possibility for mis-interpretation will always exist - and when that happens, I think it's the responsibility of all parties to try and clarify and set things right. My goal was to increase awareness. To ignore that these cues exist, or reamain oblivious to them - is to miss out on opportunities for growth and open communication.
said:
Let me add something. Minor major.
Being enthusiastic is great as an interviewee (The interviewed? Potential Gopher) But watch it.
My worst mistake was in thinking "All Microsoft interviewers want to see a geek and nothing but geek" until I had a Lab Engineer interview. Worst mistake I ever made and I am kicking myself for it every day.
I would have loved the positiion. And I personally felt I insulted the interviewer for not showing my professionallism. Wasting his time.
Learn from my mistake. Enthusiasm is you. Let is show. But have the professional temper the enthusiasm in a targeted level.
And to the interviewer from Microsoft Texas who dealt with me a year and a half ago... My apologies.
Cheers all and learn from your own mistakes and others.
Sean
Nick Thompson said:
@bigkissy - kenjiy's answer is great. You should study the intent behind what is being said.
Remember this is an interview. It's a given that for a dev job or SDEIT you have to have great technical chops, but there's more to it than just being a great programmer. There are actually a lot of highly competent programmers out there, with deep expertise. But is that enough?
Ask yourself what is the most important attribute for a software engineer? Tech chops? Deep Knowledge? Excellent problem solving?
None of the above.
If as a professional engineer you are not able to communicate, then you won't be able to function as a team player. Big software needs big teams. Even smaller projects need functioning teams. It's a given that you need the tech background to function, but if you can't listen, understand and communicate, you will not be successful as an engineer in a medium to large scale team.
If there's an uncomfortable pause, why not ask "does that answer your question?", or "is there anything I missed?". This is your opportunity to get some constructive feedback, even if you messed up the question. I don't want someone who shells up when they make an error, I want someone who can learn and grow.
There's another issue. I've conducted literally thousands of technical interviews for a large personal computer company. From college hires to senior architects. As a hiring manager I generally have 45 minutes to assess someone's character, technical ability, and social ability. Others on the team would do a deep dive into each area, but I'd want to get an overview to see how someone behaves. So I would put people on the spot - I want to see how they'll react in unfamiliar circumstances. This is not a meet and greet, a bad decision can take down a project and be really expensive to fix.
So if you get a silence, ascertain what is being asked with silence. Or other cues. I've heard of people dumping resumes in a trash can in front of a candidate. What's the purpose?(because there is one). If in doubt ask. You are being put on the spot, the interviewer seems to be being rude. From a interviewers perspective they are likely looking at how you will react in a high stress situation.
The other thing is I see countless people asking what questions will be asked. This is not a college test. The interviewers are looking at *how* you think. As a pro programmer you are really unlikely write a linked list, a balanced tree, sorting algorithms, etc *from scratch*. You'll likely use a tested one from a library. But you need to know how to implement it and what it's performance characteristics are to use a library version correctly. Trying to learn answers from rote will be a fail in an interview. They are looking for understanding not memorization.
The best technique in an interview is to relax and be yourself. You're going to get asked really hard questions, and you won't know the answer to all of them. That's fine, the purpose is to see what you do know and to see how you think about problems.
Hope this helps(tm)
said:
Wow, Nick. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!!
-gretchen
Microsoft's JobsBlog said:
I can't stress enough that interviewing is a two way street. Team interaction and collaboration are a