I’ve followed Amsys for awhile, with their training materials and the such. Now, they’ve published an interview with me. If you want to know what I think of skinny jeans, griffins and most importantly where you should (or should not) keep your weed, check out the interview here: http://www.amsys.co.uk/2013/blog/charles-edge-interview-part-1
Back at the University of Georgia, we had the 101 classes, which were introductions to a topic. We also had the 99 classes, which usually meant you weren’t supposed to get into school, but squeaked by, but that you actually needed to do this to stay there. I have no business telling others how to conduct themselves during a job interview, given that it’s been a long time since I interviewed anywhere myself. But I’m going to anyway, since I interview plenty of people as a part of my job. I’m just going to teach the 99 class though, since I have no business teaching anything higher… My post from…
Living in Los Angeles for over a decade, I’ve seen a lot of head shots. And driving around in practically every city in the country I’ve seen the ugly mug of more real estate agents than I can count on many a bench, bus and billboard. I’ve seen artists put samples of their work on business cards, black and white pictures of animals on books and even the picture of technical authors on the inside jacket of books (for the record my picture has never been in one of my books, although Apress has tried to get me to give them one a few times now). If you’re applying for…
Following up. Following up after an interview is a great idea. It keeps you freshly in the mind of the interviewer, shows you are interested and indicates that you are proactive. One follow up is great. More is questionable to me, but might be OK to do others according to the industry. For example, in sales, tenacity can be of great value. But for most other positions, more than two is going to possibly draw the ire of the interviewer.
The economy has seen better days in the United States. It’s only going to get worse. This makes the job market a bit skewed towards employers. But don’t let this keep you from making sure that you are a good match for a job. Don’t let the job market make poor decisions insofar as what job you are going to accept. Remember that the creme always rises to the top. If you’re good at what you do then the economy will not likely effect your job search much in the least.
Politics. Just don’t talk about politics, religion or other things that simply don’t matter during an interview. It can’t help, but it can hurt to discuss things that are hot topics!
Time Management. Whether they ask during the interview or not, all employers will look kindly on the interviewer who has good time management skills. Feel free to point out instances where you were able to manage your time effectively to bring success to a given situation. You can even work this into the answer for various other unrelated questions, although make sure to still answer the questions you were asking about.
Be mindful of your appearance. Clip those nails, comb that hair and don’t wear the jeans with the rips that you cut off at the bottom. Look clean; sure, there are a variety of jobs where appearance doesn’t matter, but you know what? It can’t hurt to look your best, but it could hurt not to.
When an interviewer asks you technical questions then you can assume that you are going to be in a fairly technical role. Remember when you’re looking for jobs that if you are at a point in your career where you want to be management that if the line of questioning is very technical that the role might not be a good fit. Feel free to ask questions about the role and what percentage of your time should be spent doing what if this is a concern. Average costs to hire a new employee are estimated to be anywhere from $7,600 to $25,400. There is no reason to waste the hiring…
Business vs. technology. Most employers these days are looking for candidates who can provide value. This may be value to customers, value to the organization, value to end users, etc. Most interviewers will give you the opportunity to add comments about items they haven’t asked about. If they don’t ask you about how you have provided a business value to your organization then this is a great opportunity to do so. Remember, reducing total cost of ownership is only one way to create value. The ability to increase an organizations return on investment, which may cost the organization more on a technology level, can often end up increasing revenue or…