Interviews look like the hardest hurdles to get through for every student. You spend years for a degree and the moment when you’ve to use all the knowledge you’ve gathered to prove your competence in front of a hiring panel might seem like a daunting task. When it feels like the stakes are very high, becoming nervous or anxious is an almost inevitable consequence. So, what will it take for you to do well at that job interview you’ve been meaning to ace?
There are many types of interviews and different rounds of interviews entail different things. While elimination rounds can be many, technical rounds are usually used as the main way to eliminate huge pools of candidates to pick the ones who can bring more to the table than just bookish knowledge. Technical Interviews are aimed at panels testing your abilities to think on your feet, under pressure and stress, assess how you solve problems and whether you’re adept at critical thinking. Technical interviews shape the impression on your candidature and the need to put your best foot forward here is of utmost importance.
Here are five interview tips to keep in mind when you are going for a Technical Interview
Mock Interviews:
To be able to prepare well you need to be able to put across your ideas clearly. A great way to start is to map out all the key topics in the subjects relevant to the role. The idea for most technical rounds is to understand the thinking process, logical reasoning and quantitative abilities. Technical interviews don’t target all the same way and there is no telling what will be asked once you’re in front of that panel, but mock interviews prepare you to think while questions are being thrown at you. Ask help from a friend or stand in front of the mirror and answer the questions you think are likely to be asked.
Confidence is the best armour for the D-Day:
Communication is one of the most important interview skills one should have. One of the first interview tips for freshers is that one should own up to their reality and present a confident story. For technical interviews what matters most is to be able to present all your knowledge with confidence even when you don’t know everything. The fact that you are comfortable with your flaws and are willing to grow through uncomfortable conversations confidently means a lot to employers who want to test your resilience.
It is okay to say NO:
The best way to tank technical interviews is to guess on facts or manipulate them. When the questions are straight off the book technical, you either know it or you do not. Most candidates are scared of admitting that they do not know the answer to certain things. Guessing facts is an unimpressive tactic that’s not appreciated by recruiters. Find a way to say that you don’t know the answer politely and instil the idea that you are willing to learn to get the job done. Curiosity is the best way to make anything happen and that is a skill wanted by every company in the world.
There’s no wrong answer:
One of the biggest mistakes candidates make when they’re asked out of the box questions that they’ve never been presented with before is to panic and shut down. Remember that technical interviews are aimed at understanding how you think, you simply have to walk the panel through the way you conclude or come to a solution. So while there may be a lot of flawed answers, there is no wrong way to come to such a solution. This is not a black and white game and the way to go is to swim in the greys. So you trying is all they care about and there is no perfect answer for such questions.
Use the interview as an opportunity:
Job interview tips focus so much on what the candidate should do and very little about what the company should do too. As a candidate you should always remember that the companies want you as much as you want a job. Take the interview as an opportunity to understand the panel and assess whether this is the sort of ideology and people you fit with. Ask your recruiters or panel questions about the job, their culture, the approach used at work. This creates an impression that you are keen about your role.