Questions tagged [interviewing]
Questions relating to interviews and the interviewing process.
652
questions
96
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8
answers
152k
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How do I properly follow-up with a hiring manager, to check on the status of a position?
I had an interview on Monday, which I think went fairly well. I was told that I was the last to interview for the position, and that they were expecting to make their decision by that Friday.
I also ...
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169
votes
5
answers
24k
views
How do I coordinate the process of pursuing multiple job opportunities at the same time?
In the hot field of software engineering, a competent programmer wanting to switch jobs will be able to apply and interview easily for at least a half dozen jobs. However, coordinating the speed at ...
- 3,471
96
votes
11
answers
22k
views
How to respond to a direct ask of salary earned and expectations?
What is the best way to fill out an application form for a role with an unspecified salary expectation where the following questions are mandatory to complete in a pre-interview form:
What is your ...
- 4,469
129
votes
16
answers
38k
views
Why is it not a good idea to "badmouth" a previous employer?
My life is miserable at the company I work for. I'm in the tech industry in an organization with one of the best companies in the world, yet the workplace I'm in is completely toxic. People seriously ...
- 2,356
68
votes
4
answers
20k
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How do I resign without burning bridges when I'm a critical staff member?
I work as an engineer at a startup technology company in the United States, and for several reasons, such as:
A culture of working more than 8 hours a day.
A loud "open office" environment and a ...
- 593
48
votes
6
answers
7k
views
What are specific ways to learn meaningful information about company culture in interviews?
What are specific ways to learn about a company's culture during the interview and application process to ensure a match?
I understand the value in conversation via LinkedIn/networking, as well as ...
- 110k
32
votes
4
answers
14k
views
In a job interview, how do I explain why I was fired?
At my first job, the environment was very stressful, had short deadlines and too much workload and was understaffed. As a result, I could not perform sufficiently and was fired.
At my second job, I ...
javastudent
137
votes
17
answers
82k
views
How can I ask my interviewers for feedback following an interview?
Recently, I had an interview with Amazon. At first, things went smoothly and well. After two interviews, they decided not to move forward with the process. I'm the type of person who wants to ...
- 1,473
125
votes
16
answers
81k
views
Should I go to an interview I don't intend to accept the job (if offered)?
In a conversation with a friend, he slipped that he intended to go to an interview for a senior position in software development. I was surprised, since I was under the impression he liked his current ...
- 1,361
70
votes
6
answers
309k
views
How to respond to "Why are you looking for a new job?"
During job interviews it seems common for the interviewer to ask something along the lines of "Why are you looking for a new job"? The last time I was asked this was during an interview where the ...
- 21.3k
69
votes
5
answers
16k
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Why shouldn't I resign when I haven't secured another job?
Most conventional wisdom states that, when switching jobs, you should keep your current job until you have a new job offer. However, I find that I would really like to leave sooner rather than later, ...
- 1,021
86
votes
18
answers
112k
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Selecting interview attire for a technical job interview
According to the book "Programming Interviews Exposed":
In general, though, a suit is overkill for a technical job interview.
A standard technical interviewing outfit for men consists of nondenim
...
85
votes
14
answers
26k
views
Is it a good idea to ask for a significantly lower salary than the median to increase the chances of an offer?
I applied for a bunch of software positions and when they asked me for what I was looking for in a salary range, I went for basically undercutting their average salaries I saw online by about $30k. ...
- 921
61
votes
8
answers
213k
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Why do interviewers ask if I'm interviewing with other companies?
This seems to be a common question that is asked as a normal part of an interview. Can anyone speak to what the interviewer is really looking for when they ask this question?
And is it best to ...
- 9,238
32
votes
4
answers
11k
views
Should I be sincere - in an interview - about the reason for leaving my previous job?
I find myself in a situation similar to the man who wrote this post Lack of recognition in role and career development within role ,
that is to say I feel:
I'm doing much more work with respect to ...
- 463
69
votes
5
answers
15k
views
Interview question: Why did you leave your previous role? [duplicate]
I am currently in the job market for a leadership role, and could use some advice on how to answer this question objectively.
My previous position was in many ways a dream job. The company was having ...
- 1,056
42
votes
4
answers
14k
views
What do I say about my previous job, which was horrible, in a new job interview? [duplicate]
Last year I worked as contractor for company C for one of their projects. Long story short: It was pure hell.
(The HR company that hired me informed me incorrectly about the job being Java ...
- 423
30
votes
6
answers
40k
views
Should a thank you letter be sent after an interview?
I've never sent a thank you letter after an interview. I mean, I wouldn't send a thank you letter after a first date.
I've asked one senior dev about this and he says he's never got a thank you ...
- 4,359
46
votes
8
answers
14k
views
How should I approach answering behavioural interview questions?
My college career center has provided me a sheet with the most common interview questions. So far (in past interviews) I have never been asked a question that was not on the sheet. I have an interview ...
- 1,019
24
votes
3
answers
5k
views
How should I ask for time off to attend an interview?
I'm a computer science student and I work part-time at a local software company. Before even applying for this job, I was already in the process of applying for a summer internship at a major software ...
- 341
89
votes
9
answers
36k
views
How should I ask about work/life balance during an Interview?
I am interviewing for a company later today that has the following listed under Expectations on their career website:
Some flexibility in a 40-hour work week
In addition, their job descriptions ...
- 10.2k
42
votes
7
answers
53k
views
What can I do about a malicious previous employer giving bad references?
I worked for a small business for several years. Over time it became quite obvious that my manager (who was also the business owner) was unprofessional in his conduct towards employees, specifically ...
- 1,517
35
votes
8
answers
119k
views
How long is too long of an unemployment gap?
During one of my previous background investigations, the interviewer had noted on my file that I had no questionable gaps in my employment history that I needed to explain to them. At the time, I had ...
- 4,626
27
votes
6
answers
161k
views
How should I answer "why do you want to join our company"?
Recently I applied for a job in another company and they called me for an interview. Its one of the best companies in the country(might even be considered as the best in the world) and offers much ...
- 2,782
505
votes
21
answers
130k
views
Is it rude to leave an interview early if you have already made your decision?
A friend of mine went on an interview recently for a software developer position at a well known company. It was a senior position, and he had very relevant business experience in the industry. I ...
- 20.6k
84
votes
6
answers
31k
views
Should I ask a potential employer about their negative Glassdoor reviews?
I was recently approached by a company to interview for a software engineering position. The role sounds great and I'm very comfortable with the technology stack.
Aside from an "acquaintance of an ...
- 993
62
votes
7
answers
12k
views
How to tell a interviewer that he is wrong on a technical question
Yesterday I went for a job interview at a product based company. In one of the interviews the interviewer asked me a question that I answered correctly (I have cross checked it) but he kept on asking ...
- 833
17
votes
1
answer
12k
views
Doing an interview after having already signed a contract
After more than one month of interviews, I accepted a job offer and I signed a contract for a new job which is gonna start from the first of May.
After I signed the contract, a big company, which ...
- 599
110
votes
8
answers
20k
views
How should I respond to an inappropriate question in a job interview?
In the United States, it is considered discriminatory to consider certain things about a candidate when hiring, unless that thing is actually relevant to that job. Specific to this question, a person'...
- 21.3k
76
votes
12
answers
17k
views
Is there a professional way to refuse a time-consuming programming task given as a test for a job?
In the context of hiring for software development jobs, I have found that it has become common for companies to assign "programming tests" which tend to be increasingly time-consuming.
For example, I ...
- 7,637
54
votes
12
answers
15k
views
Attending interviews "to stay sharp", if you reject an offer, and then apply again later - wouldn't this harm your chances of being hired?
Background: I am a software engineer. As a part of my responsibilities I am doing technical interviewing in the company I currently work in. I am happy with my job and am not looking for a change of ...
- 771
53
votes
5
answers
35k
views
How should I respond to the classic "Introduce yourself" question in an interview?
Almost any interview begins with the classic question of "Introduce yourself".
Somehow I found mixed levels of detail as answers to this question. How should you ideally respond to this question ...
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18
votes
3
answers
6k
views
How do I explain getting fired for a very bad reason to potential employers?
I was recently fired from my janitor position because I drew the SS (Schutzstaffel) logo on a teacher's whiteboard. The teacher reported me because he assumed it was a hate crime (it wasn't, I didn't ...
- 189
18
votes
3
answers
10k
views
Should I follow up with an interviewer whose call I missed because it was at a different time than agreed?
I was supposed to have a phone interview yesterday with a high-level manager, and I had given my interviewer a list of times that were OK with me (he told me to do that, but looking back, I should ...
- 181
38
votes
4
answers
24k
views
How do I explain wrongful termination in an interview?
I worked at a retail store (big company, locations in multiple countries) for a couple of years as a low level employee. I was eventually promoted to supervisor. I remained in that position for ...
- 383
30
votes
10
answers
16k
views
Is a cover letter really necessary?
With so many posts about recruiters not really having enough time to look at the resume, I was wondering how ( or if ) cover letters really play a significant role in the decision process. How do ...
- 601
24
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Dealing With Pressure in Interviews
Lately because my contract with my current employer is coming to an end I've been doing a lot of interviewing and I've noticed one recurring problem. Lately I've noticed a tendency get nervous easily ...
- 2,750
21
votes
8
answers
82k
views
How to interview for a new job when working full time?
I am a relatively recent college graduate, and this will be my first time finding a new job while working full-time.
My past interviews usually followed this process: HR phone call -> engineer phone ...
- 487
13
votes
5
answers
6k
views
Should I refer to my skills in terms of years of knowledge, years of experience, or proficiency?
I'm in the midst of writing my CV and I have come to the part where I am listing my skills and technologies used.
One thing I am torn on is how to refer to my skills, from what I see there are four ...
user5305
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Should you address a specific person in your cover letter at all cost?
Recently I read this specific advice on writing a cover letter reiterated in different forms many times:
Address your cover letter directly to the hiring manager or recruiter.
Nothing says "I ...
- 265
8
votes
2
answers
24k
views
Asking if the company pays travel expenses when Interviewing for an out-of-town job
Today, a company called me for arranging interview. I wasn't able to give a date for interview because of my current workload. I said I have to check it and I will call them tomorrow.
I have to ...
- 1,567
8
votes
1
answer
1k
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How can I gauge a company's culture before I begin working there? [duplicate]
I took on an internship at a software company several months ago. When I interviewed and visited the office, everybody was very nice and I felt I would fit in.
As time has passed, I think people have ...
- 359
1
vote
2
answers
4k
views
Interviewing for jobs after a long (no work) period of absence? [duplicate]
Although the question is general: How do you go back interviewing when you have a long period of unemployment in your CV, I do need to share some context with you.
I have an inherited condition that ...
- 21
33
votes
5
answers
33k
views
Should I tell the company I'm interviewing with I've been laid off
I was working for company A when I submitted a resume to company B last week. Company B just spoke with me and decided to bring me in for an interview next week.
However, company A just laid off 75% ...
- 767
32
votes
5
answers
9k
views
Is it okay to withhold previous salary information during the interview process?
So here's the situation. I have a friend who is applying for a job as a Business Analyst. He has been working as a Business Analyst for another company for a year, but wants to move. However, his ...
- 2,247
18
votes
4
answers
12k
views
What is the best protocol for courteously declining a job offer?
According to this site, if you decide to decline a job offer:
do so courteously, in writing, after making a phone call
I'm curious, though. What if I signed up already for a 2nd round of ...
- 7,201
84
votes
12
answers
23k
views
Is it really that bad to leave my job as a software engineer before I have an offer? [duplicate]
I'm a software engineer deciding to leave my first job out of college after 3 years.
I've been taking phone calls and interviewing but I've reached 2 bottle necks.
One is that I don't have the time ...
- 819
79
votes
18
answers
32k
views
How do you handle an interview for a candidate who is performing poorly?
When you begin interviewing a candidate and realise early on that they really, really aren't suitable for the job (for example, for a developer role, perhaps you've discussed coding and discovered ...
30
votes
9
answers
32k
views
How to handle the "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" question
What is a good answer to this interview question:
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What information is the interviewer trying to ascertain and what information should the job seeker try (or ...
- 709
21
votes
4
answers
43k
views
If you provided an incorrect answer to a technical question on an interview, should you respond with a corrected answer?
Consider the situation where you've applied for a technical position (i.e. in Software Engineering) and on a phone interview you were asked a technical question. Regardless of the reason, you respond ...
- 1,935