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> What do you all think this interview will consist of for an hour? The
> initial one covered some technical questions....and then situational
> experiences.
Welllllll...it could consist of just about anything. I once had an
interview that consisted primarily of a discussion of road trips the
interviewer had taken. (I got the job, and the interviewer is now my
SO, so tread lightly, please.)
Nothing can really prepare you for that. Maybe practice saying,
"Cool." or something.
Other than that, most interviewers seem to try to come up with unique
questions--ones that you haven't rehearsed for. What's come in the
most handy for me is to think seriously about what I do and how I do
it, from a philosophical perspective. Articulate to yourself why you
got into the field, what your on the job priorities are, and how you
manage a project (realistically, not theoretically--part of the
reason I got this job is that I explained how I intend to approach my
projects and how something always gets in the way of that and I end
up writing outlines retroactively, resorting to intimidation and/or
bribery with SMEs, and all sorts of other unprofessional, unbecoming,
and borderline deceptive stuff.)
I talk to myself a lot, and do it more when I'm stressed out or
worried, so I do this anyway; but it wasn't until recently that I
realized that I was using entire spiels I'd unconsciously rehearsed
in my car; and these spiels were keeping me from losing my composure
or saying something stupid and off-the-cuff in difficult situations.
There will be random junk in practically any interview you go to.
I don't know how to avoid being dumbfounded if someone asks you
what kind of tree you'd be or who your favorite serial killer is; but
the really important themes all involve why you do what you do, how
you feel about it, how you go about starting a project, managing a
project, dealing with problems, and so forth.
Lisa.
lhiggins -at- lucent -dot- com
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