# Presentation: 079407

## The Unwritten Rules of Interviewing

- Juan C. Meza
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Presentation to AGEP, Rice University, Houston, TX
- July 21, 2000

## WARNING

- The stories you are about to hear are true;
- only the names have been changed to protect the innocent

## Getting your foot in the door

- The MYTH of job postings
- Most posted jobs are already taken
- Many jobs are never posted
- Good candidates make their own job postings
- Getting your resume looked at
- Use your network (No, it’s not cheating!)
- Use the phone
- Write letters - to the right people
- Use email – only if you really must

## The initial phone call

- Preparing for the interview
- Read up on the company
- Read up on the department
- Read up on your new boss
- Asking questions
- Be ready with questions
- Act excited !
- Do you really want the job?

## Researching the company

- Check the Web
- Follow up on papers and reports written by the staff
- Use your network

## I’d like you to give a presentation

- Who’s the audience?
- You have to know the audience
- Be flexible – you don’t know who will actually be in the audience until the day of the talk
- What’s the purpose of the talk?
- High level overview
- Technical project description
- How long should it be?
- Different length talks have different purposes

## What should you include in your talk ?

- Why is this problem important?
- Or - Why should I care?
- What was the outcome/product/....
- Did you actually finish something?
- What was your contribution?
- Avoid words like “we”, “the group”, “my advisor”, etc.
- Use words like
- “This is my main result”

## How long should your talk last?

- 1 hour
- 50 minutes
- As long as people keep asking questions
- As long as it takes

- The single most important point is that you MUST finish on time.

## Probably the most important aspect of the entire interview is your presentation

- The interview talk can make or break the interview
- You need to be able to convey:
- Technical competence
- Self-confidence
- Critical thinking skills
- Practice your talk ahead of time
- Prepare for questions

## Enthusiasm vs. experience?

- High technical competence
- Always valued, BUT not sufficient
- High level of enthusiasm
- More important than you might think
- High level of curiosity
- Much sought after, and very rare

## Bad Answers to Good Questions

- 10 Easy Ways to Not Get a Job Offer

## What do you want to work on?

- I’m very flexible
- I don’t know what I want to do
- Anything you want me to work on
- I don’t know what I want to do
- I don’t know
- I don’t know what I want to do

## Why did you work on this problem?

- Because my advisor told me to
- I need to be told exactly what to do
- It looked kind of interesting
- I can’t prioritize tasks
- I wanted to graduate
- I’m tired of school and I’m desperate for a job

## Do you have any questions?

- I can’t think of any right now
- It’s all I can do to stay awake
- No, you’ve covered everything so well already
- I wasn’t paying any attention
- What does your company do again?
- I know I should ask questions and I’m buying time until I can think of one

## Dinner conversation

- So now you can relax, right ?
- Think again, you’re still on an interview
- Follow your host/hostess lead
- Again, act excited
- Is there life after work?
- Now is a good time to ask those questions
- Try to find out how you’ll fit into the group
- Stay away from hot-button issues
- Politics, religion, is P=NP?

## After the interview

- Thank you !
- Thank you !!
- Thank you !!!
- Written note, email

## Summary

- Be assertive in all aspects of the job hunt
- Demonstrate follow-through and professionalism
- Show enthusiasm