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[Osmosis Jones]

Howdy. I recently graduated from a science degree, and have applied for a graduate development program with these guys. This is a 2 year program at one of Australia's premier scientific establishments, that happens to pay 64k a year as well. Naturally, when I heard my application made it through the first round of vetting, I was bloody ecstatic.

The thing is though, I now have a job interview coming up. Considering my previous jobs consisted of supermarket storeboy (interview was walk up to manager, ask for a job, get hired on the spot), research assistant (walk up to head of research group, ask for a job, do a week training course, get hired on the spot) and Physics 101/201 tutor/lab demonstrator (get asked to teach, accept on the spot), my experience with interviews, particularly ones with large corporate/government entities, is somewhat lacking. Which is a problem, since I have an hour long phone interview on tuesday, and if I'm successful, they'll fly me across the country for a face-to-face.

So, I'm asking those who have said experience, particularly on the hiring side; any advice?

[Muz]

Common sense really. They just want to know who you really are.

Just be yourself, don't lie/bluff, don't be arrogant. Google offers much more helpful and reliable information than what B12 gives - lol, I've seen the worst advice being given out on B12.

Tougher interviewers will probably toss you a few tricky questions and curveballs, so just get enough sleep and make sure your brain's active. At this point, they don't really care about your qualifications, they just want to test your skills/knowledge relevant to the job. If you're qualified, it should be a breeze.. if not, just use your charisma or creativity. Like one question a friend got was to draw the block diagram of a superheterodyne reciever. Instead of saying "I forgot", he asked the interviewer to give a few hints, then used them to explain things in detail. He got the job.

And make sure you're ready with answers for the tough, common questions like "Tell me about yourself", "Where do you see yourself N years from now?", "What is your biggest weakness?" (be honest and don't suck up), and "How much do you expect to be paid?". Interestingly, that last question is not often asked by good companies.

The absolute worst thing you can do in an interview is bluff. That's one of the main reasons they have them. Many interviewers love to find some wrongly used jargon and ask you if you really understand what you're saying. There's some serious negative points for trying to act smarter than you are, so just talk in a region you're comfortable with.

Good luck with it

[Footkerchief]

Haha, interesting coincidence.  I have a phone interview in half an hour.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

I hate bullshit interview questions like "What is your greatest weakness". Your weakness is that you too readily tell your weaknesses to others, fools!

And such an uninspired question shows a troubling lack of creativity in the interviewer. "Put down the phone, go get someone qualified to do your job, and bring them back here so I can talk with them"

But of course you can't say these things.

My advice would be to go online and find lists of interview questions, and answer them yourself on paper. Just so you can identify places where you're having trouble. When you take the phone interview, don't look at your sheet of prepared answers. That's just for practice.

Then investigate the company. They will ask if you know what the company does, and if you have any questions about it. Don't try too hard to come up with questions of your own, and don't delve into "private" things like the company's finances or whatever.

And don't ask procedural things like "Do you have an employee handbook" because if they do, they'll be sure to give it to you. Things like that might be taken as advising the interviewer on how to do his job. People can be stupid sometimes.

Also don't get too involved right out of the gate asking about benefits and stuff. The company does not want an employee who knows about the employment laws or how things work with Human Resources. They want someone who does not know his administrative remedies, who has not had dealings with the law or the police. They want you to know your job, but they don't want you to be knowledgeable enough to prevent them from screwing you over.

Don't be a boring grey block. But don't tell them about your morality, politics, religion, sexuality, or really most opinions. Again, they want 100% dependability. Only some jobs require you to be anything more than a very functional robot. But if the job description talks about creativity, mention some creative things you do that aren't too controversial.

Bottom line: it is okay to lie about your personal stuff, but not about your education / work experience. They don't need to know who you really are. After all, they don't tell you who they really are.

[Hyndis]

The absolute worst thing you can do in an interview is bluff. That's one of the main reasons they have them. Many interviewers love to find some wrongly used jargon and ask you if you really understand what you're saying. There's some serious negative points for trying to act smarter than you are, so just talk in a region you're comfortable with.

This.

I've conducted interviews before. If you lie in an interview, you instantly fail. Same thing if you lie on a resume. Instant failure. If the person lies to me and tries to bluff their way to a job they will slip up and I will end the interview right then and there. If you don't know it, you don't know it. Don't try to pretend you know it, because the guy asking the questions probably does know it.

Be honest, friendly, and eager. That is really all there is to an interview. The idea is to get to know you. Qualifications are already on paper so thats already taken care of.

[Osmosis Jones]

Heh. The thing I'm worried about is the interview has two parts. The first half an hour is with a human resources goon, and the second half is with two reps from their research divisons (i.e. actual scientists). I'm confident enough for the second half, but the first part, with all its 'greatest weakness' schtick, eh, not so much. I mean, I know how scientists think, but HR?

Cheers for the advice guys. I haven't made any claims on knowledge I don't have in my application, so any quizzing questions should be doable, but yeah, it's mostly those weird HR questions that I'm unsure about. Then again, greatest weakness is fairly easily answerable, as is the where do I want to be on, and hey, they have already specified the salary :p


Foot, let us know how it went

[Footkerchief]

Went fine, I have a real interview tomorrow.  I don't get a plane ride though.

[Osmosis Jones]

...and just heard back from the people who interviewed me; I aced it, and they're flying me to Sydney. They even agreed to delay my return flight, so in effect, they're paying for my holiday as well

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Sweet! Good footing to start on.

I just thought of the best answer for the "greatest weakness" question:

Cocaine.

Oh wait ... you wanted to get the job? I ... I think we're operating on two differen

[Osmosis Jones]

Certainly a novel answer, I'll give you that.   

[sonerohi]

Greatest weakness: Kryptonite.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Greatest weakness: Kryptonite.

Oh man. How can you not use this one. That is perfect. It shows that you understand the question to be BS but that you have a sense of humor about the whole absurd process.

EDIT: Just be sure you don't specify "green kryptonite" because you do not want them knowing how much of a nerd you really are.

[Hyperturtle]

Good deal.

Incidentally, people certainly do lie on their interview and do get in the door.  I have worked with such people--they often do not last at the job very long, because it become clear quite quickly that they don't have the skills they claimed...

Sometimes one comes along that is a quick learner... or can talk a good game long enough... and pick up the skills required.  but its rare.