Monday, June 30, 2008

Just How Negotiable Is the Salary?

As a candidate you may wonder just what flexibility the company has in meeting your salary requirements. If the job and the company look great, but the salary is not quite what you’re looking for, what options do you have?

Some people believe that companies are generally out lowball you. That is, since your goal is to get the highest offer possible, their goal is conversely to offer the least money possible. That’s not exactly true. Factors such as prevailing pay levels within and outside the company play into the calculation, but mostly it’s a matter of how much money has been budgeted for the position.

Hence in most cases the company has a certain figure in mind they want to pay, and they may be unwilling to go above that amount. However, this does not preclude the possibility of negotiating a higher salary. If they like you as a candidate, chances are they can find some way to meet your requirements.

For one thing, the company may have determined the salary based on what the previous person in that position was making. Or if there was no previous person, they may have based it on an estimation of the market pay for the position. And in both cases they will generally undershoot the market, because the market price tends to run ahead of most internal pay structures. Hence when the company starts interviewing candidates and seeing that most of them have salary requirements above what they are expecting, they may come to their senses and be more flexible (though then again, they might not).

Regardless of the company’s attitudes towards market adjustments, they may still be willing to stretch for a great candidate. Sometimes the salary cap might be a soft one, requiring only senior management approval to exceed. In other cases they’ll leave a little bit of room below the ‘actual’ cap when making an offer, in anticipation of forthcoming negotiation.

Even with a hard salary cap the company might be able to reclassify the job req as a higher level one (e.g., from “Software Engineer” to “Senior Software Engineer”), with a commensurately higher pay cap. Also, if they have several job reqs open at once, as is typical at a larger company, it’s relatively easy to swap one job req for another. They may even be able to combine two low level job reqs into a single higher level one.

The point here is that you should not view the company’s offer as a take it or leave it proposition. In most cases there is room for negotiation, and if the company really wants you they can get creative in finding you more money.

However, one thing you should never do is to accept a mediocre salary with the promise of an early salary review to bring the pay back up. I’ve been told this story at least twice in my career, and the early reviews never materialized. People forget, or else they make these promises without the ability to fulfill them. So you know what they say about the bird in the hand…

Friday, June 27, 2008

Negotiating the Salary

Some people dwell incessantly on the salary negotiation process. Some see it as an example of game theory applied in practice and posit a variety of strategies. I’ve seen a range of advice from various folks, much of it contradictory:
  • Never be the first to quote a number
  • Ask for a salary range for the position up front
  • Instead of a number, provide a range for your desired salary
  • Say you’re looking for a ‘Market’ salary
  • Look for an X% increase over your previous/current pay
  • Ask them to make their best offer
  • Let the recruiter negotiate for you

Some of this advice makes sense in some situations and not in others. Some people are happy to just take a reasonable salary and be done with the negotiating. These may be the same people who hate shopping for cars.

If on the other hand if you see salary negotiation as a game, let’s examine what is possible within the tight restrictions of salary negotiation. For instance, it generally makes sense to ask for a salary range for the position up front, just to make sure no one’s time is being wasted. Of course, it’s within the company’s rights to withhold that information, just as you are free to withhold your own salary history.

Assuming though that you are willing to quote a desired salary when asked, what should your strategy be? I’d say that depends on whether you consider yourself to be currently underpaid, fairly paid, or overpaid. If you are unemployed you should probably put yourself into the underpaid or fairly paid brackets depending on the length of your unemployment.

If you feel you are underpaid, you should shoot for what you think is a fair (i.e., prevailing) market salary and de-emphasize your current pay. As I’ve noted previously, you can say that you are leaving your job to look for a fair market rate; that would sound perfectly reasonable to the hiring manager.

If you feel that you are fairly paid, you should state that you’re looking for an increase over your current pay. Then you are free to wrangle over the increase amount.

If you feel that you are overpaid (uh, sure…), you could state that you are looking for at least as much as your current pay. That signals to the hiring manager that you’re open to receiving the same pay if necessary, but it’s an absolute floor on what you’ll accept. If however you’re willing to even consider slightly lower pay than what you’re making, say that you are ‘open’ or ‘flexible’.

If you have no idea whether you are underpaid or overpaid, you can rely on your recruiter to haggle on your behalf. If you are not working with a recruiter, I recommend that you simply ask the company to make its best offer.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Thoughts on Salary Negotiations

Let’s face it, most people are terrible negotiators. That’s why so many people dread shopping for a car; they don’t like the thought of haggling with a tough, experienced salesman. They are outmatched in that game; it’s like bringing a dull butter knife to a gunfight.

It doesn’t get much better when you are negotiating a job offer. At least when you’re shopping for cars you can consult fairly accurate pricing guides on the Internets; for the job market however the online salary guides are outdated at best and grossly misleading at worst. So candidates often have very little to go on when they consider whether an offer is a good one.

Regardless of all the inefficiencies however, the job (pricing) market is remarkably efficient in practice. Most of the candidates I see have salary expectations that are fairly close to what I would consider to be their fair market value. Perhaps it’s because they have interviewed at many places and have developed a feel for the market; it might also be that recruiters have given them some indication of their market value. And recruiters should have as good of a pulse on the market as anyone.

We do get outliers, of course, where weak candidates ask for outrageous salaries, but most likely they will get the message after they’ve interviewed with a few companies. Conversely we also get great candidates who are accustomed to a low salary and have no idea how much more they might get in a fair market – though that tends to be the rare exception.

It’s interesting that the job market in Southern California for .NET web engineers is large enough to provide sufficient liquidity for predictable pricing, yet small enough that each transaction can affect the overall market price, if only subtly. Each offer I make can influence what other candidates and their recruiters expect to see offered on the next job.

Anyway, the more interesting topic for you as the candidate is obviously how you can maximize the salary component of your offer. In a way that goal is a bit short sighted, as the salary is often not the most important component of the offer. The job’s responsibilities, career path, technologies used, company reputation & prospects, benefits, etc., may affect the attractiveness of the job much more than the salary.

Still, if you are interested in maximizing the salary component of the offer, that will be the subject of my next blog post.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Evaluating the Offer

I already noted that previous salary is just one data point I look at when formulating an offer. If possible we'll try to top it, but only if the result is still around the market rate for the job. And keep in mind this is not an exact science.

Some companies try to make the process more predictable by defining job grades such as “Engineer I” or “Engineer II”, but how do you determine which grade a candidate falls into? Or where they should fit within that grade? Years of work experience is not a reliable indicator of competence, nor is their education level.

In my company the hiring manager generally negotiates the salaries (subject to executive approval), rather than HR. I don't know whether that's how it works in other companies, but that's how it was done in all the companies where I was a manager.

Hence as the hiring manager I have to make a judgment call based on my evaluation of the candidate’s skills. That call may mean a significant swing in the offer by thousands or even tens of thousands of $ in either direction. I'm trying to arrive at a fair salary that both the candidate and the company can live with. I know that if I overpay for a candidate, it will upset our salary structure and potentially bust our budgets. Conversely, if I lowball somebody they'll just be unhappy and sulk, and probably bolt for another job the next chance they get. That will cost us tens of thousands of dollars in lost productivity and recruiter fees.

So what does this mean to you as a candidate? Well, when you’re first quoted an offer your reaction may be elation or disgust. Possibly “Holy, cow, I‘m rich!”, or “What the hell, are they kidding me? Is this a slave galley?” But more likely it will be somewhere in between, a ‘meh’ kind of reaction.

But before you dismiss the offer, keep in mind that most offers are negotiable. Not all of them, but many are. Unless you come in at the very top of a company’s desired salary range it’s usually possible for them to bump up the offer by a few thousand $. It won’t make a huge difference to them, but to you it may mean the difference between a mediocre offer and an attractive one.

So it doesn’t hurt to ask for more; the worst that can happen is they’ll say no. I’ve never heard of, and can’t imagine, a company simply retracting an offer because they were offended that a candidate tried to negotiate a higher salary.

Next time: More on the Negotiation process.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Should You Lie About Your Current Salary?

The answer to this question should be obvious, but I’ll discuss it anyway.

When you are asked by a recruiter or a hiring manager about your current salary, how should you answer, particularly if you are currently underpaid? Some people feel tempted to stretch the truth and state what they feel they should be making instead of what they’re actually making.

What are the possible ramifications of such a little white lie? Well, there are a couple of things. First of all, companies can in many cases verify your previous salary through means both legitimate and otherwise. Background checks may include a salary investigation, and of course they could ask you directly for your past W-2 form or pay stubs. And Murphy’s law being what it is, if you don’t want them to verify your salary, they will.

So if the company discovers your fib, they’ll think – if the candidate misrepresented his previous salary, what else might he be misrepresenting? Hence if you bluff about your pay, it's a gamble and you should expect to be called on it. It's no better than saying that you're still employed when you’re not. In both cases you're jockeying to make yourself look better and being dishonest in doing so.

Secondly, previous salary is just one data point when a company considers what salary to offer. For instance, in my case usually I'll just offer the candidate what I think they're worth. Although, if that amount is less than their previous salary, I usually won't bother unless there's reason to believe the candidate will take a pay cut.

Conversely, if it looks like the candidate was underpaid at their previous position, I will not exploit that fact by offering them less. We try to have a reasonable amount of pay parity around here, at least in terms of starting salaries for various positions. And after all, if we do underpay a candidate, chances are they will be disgruntled and are more likely to bolt for a new job shortly.

To further make the case for honesty, let me discuss a hypothetical situation. Say that you're currently making $60K, but feel you should be making closer to $80K. So you interview for a new position and claim that your current pay is $80K and you're looking for $80K+. But it turns out I think you're worth maybe $75K, so I pass on making you an offer that seems to be less than your current pay. But fact is, you might have been happy with a jump from your current $60K up to $75K! Too bad.

So what should you do if you feel you are underpaid, and that divulging your pay will adversely affect your negotiating ability? Well, for one you can point out your benefits package if it’s particularly generous. You can also point to any stock options or profit sharing. And if you have a relatively predictable bonus, you can include that as part of your “total pay” – unless the recruiter asks you to break down your pay between base and bonus.

Monday, June 23, 2008

The Salary Question

Companies often ask you for a salary history or your salary requirements up front. If you are working through a recruiter they will ask you early on what you’re currently making and what you’d like to make. You may also be asked this question again at the end of an in-person interview.

Some people think it’s a mistake to reveal your desired salary, but I think they’re wrong. Fact is, virtually all companies have a salary range in mind when they open a job req. Even if the salary is listed as ‘open’, there are limits that the company won’t exceed. So before you waste your time and the company’s time (and the recruiter’s time), the parties involved need to know whether you fall within the company’s expected pay range.

If you really do not want to commit yourself, just let the company know of your current or most recent salary and say that you’re looking for a competitive offer. Presumably your old salary will be something of a floor and the company will be challenged to work off of that. If you are willing to go even below your current pay, you can note that you’re ‘flexible’.

Some of you might feel that you are currently underpaid, and that revealing that information might put you at a disadvantage and hamper your efforts to get a market rate. You could try not revealing your current pay, but chances are the company will find out one way or another. So the best strategy in this case is to say that you are looking to leave your current job because you feel underpaid and are looking to obtain a fair market salary. That will implicitly discourage the company form trying to lowball you.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Why Should I Work Here?

This is a perfectly valid question, though I probably wouldn’t phrase it this way. Remember, the interview is as much about you learning about the company as it is about the company learning about you. When you leave the interview you should have the information you need to decide whether you want to work there.

Many people make the mistake of not asking enough questions about the company and the fit. For instance, they are afraid they might get answers they don’t really want to hear, and that it will result in a negative vibe. For instance, the candidate may ask, “Do you use Microsoft tools?”, and the interviewer may reply, “No, we hate Microsoft; we only use open source tools around here.” That should not necessarily make a candidate look worse for asking the question, but the candidate might see this answer opening a gulf between them and the company.

In fact, if there are any obstacles that might prevent you from working at the company, you need to expose them up front and as early as possible. If you do indeed want to work only with MS products, or only with open source, or whatever, it’s better to know the company’s position on the matter before you accept the offer. Likewise, if you prefer to work on new products rather than on maintaining existing ones, you should find out about the nature of your intended responsibilities if at all possible.

All too many people focus on getting the offer first to the exclusion of all else, then wonder later whether the job is the right one for them (in fact, many recruiters preach exactly this strategy). However, taking a job without sufficient information up front and then gauging the quality of the fit after you start is a bad idea.

Assuming that you are a good candidate (and of course we all are, right?), you have choices as to where you will work. You have a right and a responsibility to yourself to find out what a company has to offer before you commit yourself.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Do You Have Any Questions?

Usually at the end of the interview the interviewer will ask the candidate whether they have any questions. Some candidates just say no, they don’t have any questions. That is the wrong approach.

You won’t look good as a candidate if you say you don’t have any questions. It might look like you’re not really interested in the company and the position, or that you’ve just given up on getting the job. You need to probe further about the things you’re curious about that weren’t fully covered in the interview.

Sometimes the interviewer will ask whether you are familiar with the company. If you show that you are knowledgeable about the company and its their products, the interviewer can skip talking at length about the organization. However, that does not mean you can skip the Q&A portion entirely; rather, it should lead to your asking more intelligent questions.

Also if you get the sense that the interviewer is uncertain about you as a candidate, you should use this time to reiterate your skills and qualifications. If you feel that you’re strong in a skill that may be important in the job but which the interviewer has not covered, feel free to point out your strength in that area. And don’t’ be afraid to ask the interviewer if they have any other questions for you.

If you truly have no questions you can think of to ask the interviewer, try asking about the work environment, tools used, size of the company, etc. These are all relatively straightforward (if dull) questions.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

How Many Candidates Do We Interview?

We interview lots of candidates. During hiring season I may do up to 8 interviews per week, split between phone and in-person interviews. My record is four in-person interviews in one day, which unfortunately has happened more than once. I was pretty pooped at the end of those days. But then again, as a manager I don't do any other real work anyways, right? Seriously, I feel that finding good talent is the most important part of my job, so I don't mind spending so much time on it.

In doing so many interviews you may wonder how we exactly we winnow the candidates to the ones we hire. Some companies may interview 10 candidates for a position, then trim the list down to 2 or 3 and bring them back for another round of interviews. Or heaven forbid, they might decide they don’t like any of the finalists and start over with a fresh set of candidates.

Fortunately that’s not how we do things at my current company. We are growing at the moment, and we typically always have a number of positions open. So if we bring in 10 candidates and see 5 good ones we’ll make 5 offers.

Alas, we rarely see that kind of success rate; our typical ratio is perhaps 1 offer for 4-5 in-person interviews. And each of those in-person interviews is the result of 4-5 phone interviews, and each phone interview is in turn culled from any number of resumes. And there is no way for me to know how many resumes were filtered out by the recruiter or culled by our own HR department, though we try to limit the filtering at the early stages.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Flipping the Bozo Bit

The expression “Flipping the Bozo Bit” means you are dismissing someone as an idiot and refusing to take them seriously. It’s a major step and is usually not reversible. It’s not constructive either, because the ‘Bozos’ are often your colleagues whom you’ll have to work with again in the future.

In rare cases in my interviews I will cut the discussion short. Sometimes it becomes clear early on that the candidate has no clue, making me wonder how they ever passed the phone interview. Still, ending an interview early is a major decision and not something I do lightly.

It’s probably all too easy to flip the bozo bit on a clueless candidate. After all, it’s been said that we usually make a judgment about people we meet within the first 15 seconds of the encounter. That process may take longer in a job interview, but I suspect that within the first few minutes many interviewers will have formed an opinion about the candidate. This practice of course is not ideal, but it’s only natural and perhaps unavoidable.

Hence what we need to do as interviewers is to try and suppress this natural tendency to jump to conclusions about a candidate. Perhaps the candidate is inarticulate or a poor English speaker, but we cannot let those factors alone drive our impression of them. We need to talk with them in detail before we start to form any conclusions.

So let’s say we’ve gotten past the greetings and chitchat. As the interviewer I’ve asked the candidate some technical questions and they have missed every single one, even in areas they claimed to be strong in. Then what?

Usually I’ll try to cover all the bases and ask them questions in each of the technologies we use. It’s possible they performed poorly in the early skill questions but may redeem themselves later on. This has happened in the past where I’ve found candidates who were clueless about OOP and C# but displayed strong HTML/CSS/JavaScript skills, just because of the nature of their previous experience. And I’ve ended up hiring several of them.

But what happens if someone is clearly lacking in all the important knowledge they claim on their resume? Is it safe to flip that Bozo bit and thank them for coming (even though they’ve just wasted your time)? Usually the more people there are involved in the interview the earlier I try to wrap things up. But if by some scheduling oddity I’m the only person they’re interviewing, I’ll grit my teeth and try to give them every opportunity to redeem themselves.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Behavioral Interviews

Personally I’m ambivalent about Behavioral Interviews (henceforth referred to as BI’s). I took a two-day class on BI once, so I’d like to think I know something about the subject. I have tried out BI’s myself in person, and I still try to throw in some type of BI question here and there in my interviews.

Still, I have doubts about an interview format that’s focused primarily or entirely on behavioral questions. It might be useful in jobs like sales or general management where the focus is on human interaction, negotiation, and building relationships. However I think it’s less effective when the key traits being sought are technical knowledge and analytical skills.

At the risk of gross simplification, a behavioral interview involves asking a candidate about situations from their past where they had:

1) a Goal,
2) an Impediment, then
3) took an Action, achieving
4) a Result.

The exact mechanics of the questions and answers may vary. Still, the idea is that if used properly, BI can be used to unearth the candidate’s competencies and interpersonal skills in ways that more traditional approaches cannot accomplish.

In reality though, BI answers can be meaningless. Either the candidate may not have good situations to recount, or they can simply make them up. During my BI training class we conducted mock interviews, and I made up most of my anecdotes on the spot by tweaking the details of real life experiences. It wasn’t difficult to do, and the anecdotes sounded pretty impressive.

Additionally, applying a BI template to technical situations does not always work well. Describing a nontrivial technical problem and its solution may require discussing complex technical issues in significant depth, which is not what BI was intended for.

My point is that BI is sometimes presented as a silver bullet to successful interviewing when that is simply not so, at least in the tech world. Conducting successful tech interviews requires a number of different tools, and BI is just one of them. The others include technical quizzing and whiteboard exercises, both of which are likely more effective at determining a candidate’s technical aptitude.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Handling ‘Soft’ Questions in the Interview

Sometimes the interviewer will ask a “Tell me about yourself” type of question. It might also be phrased as something like “Why should I hire you?”, but the idea is the same. Some candidates freeze at this point, but you should really look at such questions as freebies, opportunities to discuss your strengths in an open format. You should have your talking points prepared for just such a case. This is commonly called an “Elevator Pitch”, a convincing story you can deliver in 30 seconds.

Another question is one that’s becoming less common as it’s practically been rendered a cliché, but you might still be asked about your biggest weakness. I always roll my eyes when I hear the question, but you should have an answer prepared just in case it comes up. Remember, the interviewer is not trying to probe you for weaknesses here; they just want to know that you are aware of your own limitations and are able to deal with them.

A variation of the ‘weakness’ question is “What do you like / dislike about your work?” There is no right or wrong answer here; the interviewer is just looking for an intelligent sounding answer. Just don’t say something stupid like “I like getting paid” and “I hate debugging”.

You might also be asked “What motivates you (i.e., as a professional)?” This is a fair question, and one you should not have to think deeply about. If you can’t answer this right away, you need to take a vacation and ponder the question in depth.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Illegal Questions in an Interview

Let me preface this post by stating that INAL – I’m Not A Lawyer. Even so, I know as a result of countless management training classes that certain questions are off limits in interviews. Topics like age, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, etc., are simply lawsuit bait. But not everyone knows this.

For instance, we sometimes pull in random engineers to help conduct technical interviews, and they typically have not had anything resembling interview training. So they might ask questions that they think are perfectly okay, but which come close to the line:

“Do you like Indian food? I find it too spicy.”

“Can you repeat that? I have difficulty understanding foreign accents.”

“You sound Russian – are you? So is my girlfriend”.

“’Beltran’ – Is that a Spanish Name?”

“I don’t see your college graduation date listed on your resume. When did you go to school?”

“Do you have any requirements related to child day care?”

“Would you have any concerns with working on Saturdays or Sundays?”

(*) “If you relocate here, will your spouse need to find a new job?”

(*) “Do you own or rent your home?”

These questions may seem harmless to some people, but others might raise an eyebrow. As an interviewer it’s best to avoid such questions altogether; conversely as a candidate it’s best to deal with the matter diplomatically since the interviewer may not know any better.

(*) As a candidate I have myself been asked these questions by recruiters, who should really know better. But perhaps they can get away with as they are independent agencies rather than a hiring company. INAL.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

What Not to Do In an Interview

There are some common sense things about interviews that you’d think candidates would remember, but that’s not always the case. Hence a reminder is warranted.

First, remember to turn off your cell phone before the interview. I’ve had several candidates’ phones go off in the middle of a conversation, and it’s distracting. And whatever happens, do NOT pick up and answer your cell during the interview! (Although, I must admit I’ve answered my cell phone once or twice while interviewing candidates; I admit it was rude, but it’s the interviewer’s privilege).

Avoid talking about personal matters. Interviewers are not allowed to ask about things like your age, marital status, religion, ethnic background, etc., so just don’t go there. However, if any of these matters might affect your work (e.g., you have to leave early every day to pick up your kids from day care), you might want to bring it up yourself in a discreet fashion.

Likewise, do not probe the interviewers for personal information. You can ask them about their work, what they like about their jobs, etc., but don’t dig much deeper. Assume that the questions that are off limits to the interviewers are also off limits to the candidates. If either you or the interviewers accidentally drift off topic onto questionable terrain, tactfully steer the conversation back on course.

If you find yourself struggling in an interview, don’t just give up. Typically you will be quizzed about a number of topics, and you might just be weak in the first few things the interviewer asks you about. You might just redeem yourself later; it’s happened several times in my experience.

Finally, avoid saying anything negative about your former jobs or bosses. Giving off a negative vibe is something you want to avoid in an interview. If the interviewer asks you what you didn’t like about your previous jobs, try to stay general and vague. Saying that it was a “difficult and challenging environment” is probably a safe bet.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

But, I Really Do Know This Stuff…

Whether it’s in verbal Q&A or in whiteboard exercises, people often bump up against the limits of their technical knowledge. It’s to be expected, after all; we can’t know everything, and it’s the interviewer’s’ job to probe the extent of our knowledge.

I’m reminded of a quote from a former Secretary of Defense. To paraphrase: we know what we know; we know what we don’t know; but we don’t know what we don’t know. And when people go into an interview, they often don’t know what it is they don’t know until it’s pointed out to them.

So how do people handle it when they realize they can’t answer a question? Some people deal with it better than others. Some simply say, “I don’t know”, which is usually the best answer. However, others may guess or try to be more creative.

However, saying that you can simply “Google” the answer to a question is not being clever. Neither is saying that you rely on IntelliSense. I roll my eyes and groan (silently) whenever I hear those responses from candidates.

Don’t ever say, “I can’t answer that, but I really do know this stuff.” You’re not fooling anyone, and you’re just making yourself look bad. The reality is that you may think you know the subject matter, but you may be rusty. Just because you knew something five years ago doesn’t mean you still know it now.

Perhaps the worst kind of response is where the candidate rattles out a bunch of different answers hoping that one of them will stick. It’s kind of like one of those games on “The Price is Right”, where contestants have a few seconds to guess the price of an item. Whenever they get close they’ll start blurting out prices in succession, hoping they’ll hit the right number before time is up. But an interview is not “The Price is Right”, and offering up a dozen different answers hoping that one of them is correct will not win you any prizes.

Finally, keep in mind that if at the start of the interview an interviewer asks you to gauge your skill level in a technology, don’t say you’re an expert; they’re just setting you up to shoot you down! That’s why when asked, I never rate myself as higher than 7/10 in any technology. It’s better to set expectations low and impress than to build up and then disappoint your audience.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Whiteboard Exercises

If you are interviewing for any kind of hands-on development position you may be asked to go up to the whiteboard and write some code or markup. I have seen many candidates who were remarkably polished and articulate during the verbal Q&A fail miserably when they went up to the board. As the saying goes, these candidates talked the talk but they couldn’t walk the walk.

Why did this happen? I suspect it’s because many people have only a superficial knowledge of the technologies they list on their resume. They know enough to talk about it competently in an interview, but not to apply it in practice, especially under pressure. Or they may call themselves ‘Architects’ and may not have written any code in the past year or two. Or perhaps having to perform in front of several strangers just puts them outside their comfort zone.

To prepare yourself for these exercises you should practice writing code and markup yourself on a whiteboard. You’ll find that it’s a bit different from writing code in a Visual Studio style IDE with IntelliSense helping you out. You’ll have to think on the fly, and you’ll have to remember the important keywords and syntax. Once you’ve got that routine down pat you’ll be ready for the in-person grilling.

Friday, June 6, 2008

What Kind of Work Are You Interested in Doing?

I often encounter candidates whose experience spans front end development, business logic or middleware, and databases. If you interview with a number of people in the organization, and especially if you do so in a group interview, you might be asked which of these areas you want to focus on.

Is this a trick question? A trap? Well, yes and no. Ideally your interviewers will first explain what their own responsibilities are, so that you can tailor your response appropriately if you wish. Or you will be told up front what specific position you are interviewing for. But if you do not have this information, you will have to take a guess.

For some companies the wrong answer is to say that you are interested in all the areas. Unfortunately, that might be the right answer for other companies. You see, some companies (typically larger ones) segment their teams in front end / biz logic / data access teams, and people only work in one of those areas. However, at smaller companies it’s not unusual for people’s responsibilities to span multiple architectural tiers.

So how do you present a response to this question that does not rule you out for a specific position? Well, you’re going to have to finesse it. Something like, “My most recent experience has been in front end development, but I would be equally comfortable in the business and data layers.”

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Modesty in Interviews

Candidates learn quickly that modesty doesn’t pay off in interviews. The “Aw shucks, my colleagues actually did all the work” approach doesn’t do much to sell your skills to the interviewer.

Still, vanity doesn’t look good either. One example is when candidates use “I” more than “we”. As in “I did x, y, and z” vs. “We completed this project.” It’s important to point out your accomplishments, but it’s also important to show that you are a team player.

So just how do you strike a balance between the two? Well, point out your contributions to each project you worked on. Explain what your efforts entailed in terms of technologies used, obstacles overcome, knowledge gained, and lessons learned. Give credit to others where credit is due, but also point out the value you added to the project.

As an example, contrast these two hypothetical paragraphs and see if your BS meter goes off.

“I led the team in requirements gathering, negotiating features with the product manager, and creating technical specifications. I created the architecture and high level design, identified risks and developed mitigation strategies, and performed the bulk of the implementation. I made sure the schedule was followed and resolved any team obstacles. The result was that I delivered the product on time with all key features and outstanding quality metrics.”

“As a part of the implementation team, I worked with the team lead, the product manager, and project manager on technical requirements and design. I advocated the refactoring of legacy components to improve quality and enable easier unit testing using NUnit. In this way I helped contribute to the overall quality and on time delivery of the product, while also learning more about Unit Testing and Test-Driven development.”

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Body Language in the Interview

Body language consists of non-verbal cues. Your posture, eye movements, facial expressions – they all contribute to the ‘vibe’ that you give off. Unfortunately, many people are painfully oblivious to what their body is saying, even when it’s sending entirely the wrong message. This is partly why some people do well on phone interviews and yet do poorly in person, or vice versa. It’s the presence (or absence) of body language.

Some people might complain that taking such subjective matters into account opens the door to loads of other subjective factors. I could deny that, but then I’d be lying. Fact it, for better or for worse it’s impossible not to consider subjective factors.

So just how do body language and other subjective factors affect an interview? Speaking strictly for myself, here are things I look for in a candidate.

  • Firm handshake – no “limp fish”.
  • Sharp, alert, and focused – basically “on your game”.
  • Enthusiastic about the job and the work.
  • Confident without being arrogant.
  • Smiles without faking it.

Conversely, here are things that turn me off:

  • Arrogance.
  • Slouching in the chair and behaving casually.
  • Gestures that indicate dishonesty. I won’t give these away, but you can do your own research.

Once again this is just my own viewpoint, and other hiring managers may brush off some of these things as trivial and inconsequential. Horses for courses, as they say. But if it’s your choice to engage in the positive behaviors, why not give yourself the advantage?

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

More on Communication Skills

“Communication Skills” is a bit of a nebulous term. What does it mean? Well, the good ones include:
  • Enunciation and clarity of speech

  • Vocabulary, diction, and grammar

  • Ability to listen

  • Lucid, clearly articulated thoughts

Some of the bad ones include:

  • Being argumentative (If the interviewer is blatantly wrong about something, don’t dwell on it).

  • Trying to BS or guess the answers to things they do not know.

  • Peppering the conversation with buzzwords to hide lack of in-depth knowledge.

  • Rambling on about unimportant things, not knowing when to stop.

Regarding enunciation, clarity of speech, vocabulary, diction, and grammar – although people for whom English is a second language might seem to be at a disadvantage, that’s not always the case. Sometimes immigrants know English better than native speakers, at least at a formal level, since they are more likely to have recently studied English grammar and syntax. Most English speakers by comparison haven’t studied grammar since grade school.

The disadvantage that immigrants often do have is in the area of accents. Eradicating an accent is a difficult endeavor, and perhaps not even one you should bother with. Still, you can mitigate the effects of a strong accent by speaking slowly and enunciating clearly. Nearly everyone gets nervous at interviews, and nervousness often makes people speak faster. Resist that urge and speak out every syllable deliberately and clearly.

Note that “vocabulary and diction” does not mean you need to talk like William F. Buckley. However, you should avoid the use of slang and other informal speech. Also, you should speak in complete sentences whenever possible.

The ability to listen should be obvious, but you’d be surprised how many candidates I meet who don’t actually answer the questions I ask. I might ask “How would you use XYZ to do this?”, and they’ll proceed to rattle off everything they know about XYZ, while not bothering to actually answer the question about applying XYZ to the problem. Perhaps they don’t know the answer, or perhaps they’re just trying to impress me with their wealth of knowledge about XYZ. Or perhaps they’re preparing for a career in politics.

Finally, lucidity and articulation of thought should be obvious, but I see too many candidates who stumble over their own words. Again, this happens because they get nervous or excited and try to talk too fast, and their brains have difficulty catching up. If you find yourself in this situation, remember – take a deep breath and sloooow down. There’s nothing wrong with pausing for a few moments before you deliver your answer. It might even make you seem more thoughtful.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Mad Skillz, or What Does the Hiring Manager Look for?

Speaking strictly for myself, I look for the following in an in-person interview:
  • Communication skills
  • Technical knowledge
  • Problem-Solving skills

I judge communication skills not just by how well you talk, but also by seeing how you handle ‘soft’ questions. Your vocabulary, inflection, enunciation, and tone of voice also factor in, as does your posture and body language. This is not to say that you should obsess over your every little movement, but you should remember that most and everything you say and do is being judged or at least noticed.

As for technical knowledge, that is evaluated by asking --well, technical questions. I try not to make it too much of a trivia contest, but I will of necessity ask both straightforward as well as obscure questions.

In terms of technologies I typically cover all the ones that a web developer at our company would use. This may also include databases, although admittedly a front end developer is unlikely to work heavily with the database except maybe for testing purposes. Certainly they will never touch a production database; team boundaries and Sarbanes-Oxley regulations will see to that.

Problem solving skills are difficult to evaluate in an interview, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. I ask the candidates some hypothetical design problems and also get them to write some code or markup on the whiteboard.

These exercises require a combination of technical knowledge as well as problem solving skills, and I find them more useful than purely abstract ‘Microsoft’ style questions. And as it turns out, some people who can answer the most obscure technical questions cannot write the simplest of code or solve the most straightforward of problems, and it becomes evident at this stage.

Finally, some people wonder whether the interviewer makes up their mind about the candidate within the first 10 minutes of the interview. I try not to let this happen; even people who sputter coming out of the gate they may redeem themselves in the latter part of the interview. Only rarely do I ever cut an interview short, and that only happens when it’s painfully obvious the person truly has no clue.