Rhymes With Geek

Wow. Lot of visitors to the article on interview tips in just a few days.

It's probably worth making a couple of further notes here if anyone is interested.

Couple of my own first of all

1) A lot of 'get that job' articles seem to talk about getting that job at any cost.

My approach is more about finding the right job for you, which is why I don't focus too much on what to say or do in the interview - if being yourself isn't the right thing, or so near it doesn't matter, then are you really going to be happy there?

Of course, there is something to be said for getting a job at any cost, if you're out of work and really need a job then what you consider to be an acceptable job or an acceptable offer is going to be very different to what is acceptable to someone who is essentially happy but just wants to see if they could do better elsewhere.

2) The article only really covered the basics.

And let me tell you right now that I make no apology for that

The reason I focus on the basics is because that is where I see people going wrong time and time again.

I mentioned turning up on time because it's something I see candidates fail to do all the time, not just because it is a nice safe place to start.

I mention behaving properly because - and I still can't believe this - I took part in interviews with a 'Paper MCSE' for an entry level position we had a few years ago. This would have been their first IT job, after working in another industry sector and deciding to change career paths. That wasn't the problem.

The problem was that he was shouting and screaming at me because I had dared to design our AD setup in a different manner from what his "Learn MCSE AD Design in 24 hours"(*) book suggested. He didn't want to hear that we might have valid reasons for our design. He didn't want to hear that my knowledge and experience were probably on a par with that of the author (who I actually know!), and certainly was far in excess of his. He just wanted to shout and scream because we dared to be different to his book.

So, do you think we made him an offer?

3) You've got to be comfortable speaking about yourself to sell yourself to the interviewer.

This is, or at least was, something I found very difficult. All I can say is practice, practice practice. Get used to speaking on any subject you know about. The more you practice speaking in general the better at it you get. And you're always going to be a subject matter expert for your own career.

I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of other important points. Anyone want to add any?

(*) Name changed to protect the innocent!

Hey all Does anybody know how to switch off the data execution prevention feature in Windows XP?