The job interview. Exciting, but stressful. Actually, nerve-wracking would be a better descriptor. Interviewing for an IT position is pretty much the same as any other office-type job you’d apply for with the following exception:
Human Resources knows nothing about computers.
The people in HR have never understood computers, nor will they ever. They are your biggest roadblock and not the actual interview. If you can get past HR by having the right things mentioned in your résumé, then you move forward. And the only way to do that is by having a short, quick, to-the-point résumé so the HR people can check off things like, "Okay… he has a degree.. he has working experience per the job description.. um.. he spelled everything correctly.. yeah, this one’s good."
Seriously, if your résumé is full of wordy crapola, HR will toss that quickly because they don’t care. All they do is match up what the job description says to your résumé, and if more than 75% of it matches, you cross the hurdle. HR is really good at checking things off concerning résumé submittals and pretty much nothing else.
If you’re wondering why résumés go to HR in the first place, well, it’s because they are the human resources department, meaning they allocate humans to work for the company.
Assuming you get past the ridiculousness that is HR and get to the interview process, here’s a few answers to some common interview questions. Some of these will be obvious and others not-so much.
Q: What’s the most important thing in IT?
A: Communication. Managers should know what their subordinates are doing so they can stay in the loop and the ship can keep sailing.
Q: What’s the most important thing an IT employee should know?
A: The ability to say "I don’t know" and call for help in the instances when they run into an issue they cannot fix.
(Follow-up question by interviewer) Q: Why would that be important?
(Follow-up answer by you) A: To allow you or someone you trust to show me the right way to fix something the first time to keep things running smoothly.
Q: Why should I hire you?
A: So you can attend to the important things you were hired to do, and leave me to do the stuff meant for a subordinate.
The above sounds cold, but it’s not. Practice this line in the bathroom mirror many times to get the inflection right.
Q: Do you work well with others?
A: I make it a point not to be the weakest link.
This is saying "yes" and "I am a team player" at the same time without having to say either, and it sounds a whole lot better. It also shows confidence in your abilities.
Q: Got a Facebook account?
A: I do, but I haven’t used it in months.
This is saying "Okay, I confess, I have a Facebook account, but I promise not to fart around on Facebook on company time."
Additional note: The fact the interviewer asked this question is highly unethical, but many ask it anyway.
Q: Do you have any questions for me?
For this question, send a volley at the interviewer.
A1: Yes. What’s the turnover rate for your department?
This sounds like a ballsy question to ask, but it’s very legitimate. By asking this, you’re inquiring how often people quit. If the interviewer laughs and fudges his or her answer.. not a good sign. If on the other hand the interviewer answers with "We run a tight ship here" or something similar, that’s good.
A2: How many people do you manage?
By asking this, you’re inquiring if the manager has too many people under his or her wing.
If the answer is over 10 people, follow up with "Are there supervisors and/or team leads?" and if the answer is yes, now you know there’s middle management crapola to deal with on top of reporting to the manager. In corporate terms we call that inviting political bullsh*t.
If the interviewer during this volley fires back with, "Why do you want to know that?", answer with, "So I know I won’t get lost in the stack."
A3: How long have you been here?
Again, sounds like a very ballsy question, but again, it’s legitimate. If the interviewer has been there less than 90 days, that’s not good because for all you know, you’re only being hired to "test the waters" to see if you really need to be there or not. A manager who has some tenure (a minimum 6 months) will let you know the interviewer actually knows what he or she is doing.
IT is 10% computers, 90% politics
Working in corporate IT is no different than any other department, with the exception you’re working with or programming on computers. You will have to ‘play the game’, as they say. It’s all part of the ‘fun’ of corporate IT.
A general rule of thumb that’s absolutely true is the bigger the company, the bigger the politics, so the best advice I could give so you get hired faster is to go for smaller companies, as in ones with less than 100 employees. They’re much more "real" and have far less politics involved.
Like what you read?
If so, please join over 28,000 people who receive our exclusive weekly newsletter and computer tips, and get FREE COPIES of 5 eBooks we created, as our gift to you for subscribing. Just enter your name and email below:
Regarding the Facebook question, I think my response would have been “How is that relevant to the position?” and then wait for a squirmy reply. Plus if they don’t want staff using any form of social media at work then wouldn’t they be blocked anyway. So why they would ask that question is beyond me.
That would be inadvisable. Asking that question comes off as argumentative and you can lose the job from “being a complainer”.
Agree with Rich. You might get a squirmy reply, but you won’t get the job either. Interviewers hate when you don’t try to answer a question, ethical or not.
Excellent Advice and strategy
Interesting question and answer on how to nail a job interview on an IT work.
Great Short How-To!
I’m Digging you up!
You have splendid answers on these typical questions but in reality, most cannot answer these questions because they are so nervous and all. With confidence and right interpretation and diction of answers, this could nail an IT job.
Wait,you forgot the timeless specific question of all, how would you answer this? “How would describe yourself that is not written in you resume?”
You have splendid answers on these typical questions but in reality, most cannot answer these questions because they are so nervous and all. With confidence and right interpretation and diction of answers, this could nail an IT job.
Wait,you forgot the timeless specific question of all, how would you answer this? “How would describe yourself that is not written in you resume?”