[andymurd]

I was nervous in interviews until I had a job that involved interviewing candidates. Sitting on the other side of the desk really helped me to understand that my nerves were not necessary and were not helping anyone.

Here is an exercise that you might try:

1. Ask a friend to help

2. Your friend will play HR. He should find 16-20 resumes online and email them to you one at a time over the next couple of days. Each one should be accompanied with a one-line note, "I like this one", "Wow, cool font", "Will she be a good fit for the team?" etc

3. Your friend will choose a random time over the next few days to email you one of the CVs with a note "You are interviewing this guy in 20 minutes, don't be late". You have 20 minutes to finish whatever you are doing, read through the CV and formulate some questions.

4. Your friend now pretends to be the candidate. You are the interviewer. Try to put the candidate at ease, ask pertinent questions, avoid questions about remuneration, etc. This interview has to last about 40 minutes. Shake hands, your friend leaves.

The four steps above are chaotic and a dumb way of hiring anyone, yet this is exactly how many businesses conduct interviews. Having been through the process on the other side of the desk, how could the candidate make life easy for the interviewer and ensure that he leaves a memorable and favourable impression?

[temp-reply]

Yep. And given how chaotic and dumb it all typically is: You will succeed if you can fix somebody's problem. This process, having to hire somebody, is the company's problem. They want it to be over. You can fix their problem by...

- having a cover letter that correctly identifies (1) the company, (2) what it does, and (3) why you specifically are a good fit for the specific position you are applying to

- showing up in person or over the phone and executing on those 3 points once again

- following up after the interview with a short thank you note that reiterates on those 3 points one last time

Companies (typically) want just these 3 simple things. They WANT them from you. They WANT you to succeed. Show up and BE the solution to their problem. You will blow most of the competition out of the water with the force of your application's coherence alone, and the company will greet you like a long lost child.

Now there are other situations that are designed specifically to intimidate and upset the applicant... undergraduate management consulting and finance recruiting processes can turn into this, notably. I don't have any advice on those situations, other than: Sure you want to work there?

[andymurd]

Heh, that's exactly how I got my last job.

As you note, there are interviewers that want to gauge how a candidate will react under pressure (as if a job interview wasn't enough pressure already). It's a strong signal that the company has some problems, if "ability to work under pressure" is a job requirement.

Another trick is that management/finance/accounting/legal consultancies will often arrange a "social" evening for candidates, including alcohol. If you find yourself in such a situation, you know how you should behave but you can guarantee that someone will mess up.

One last point, when I conduct a technical interview, I often will attempt to gauge a candidate's depth of knowledge in a particular subject. That means I will ask harder and harder questions until there is one that the candidate cannot answer. Please note that "I don't know but..." is the perfect answer and often leads to a great conversation about related tech or work experience that might just land you the job. Trying to make up some BS answer will not.