They all have their uses. Cisco is really good, because it's really niche and nobody really wants to do it. Learning the ins and outs of networking phones and conference equipment is like the sole skill of one of the guys in my office. On the one hand, he's pretty lazy at everything else, but on the other hand he can afford to be because he knows shit that nobody else in the company does about widely used cisco products and how to fix them if they fuck up.
So I have an interview coming up on Monday. Normally I think proper interview behavior is serious and professional, but the last interview I had the interviewer encouraged me to loosen up and smile more. What is the proper balance between serious professional and personable dude?
You've lost. You're the Bomb Squad after the bomb's gone off. I'm the blast ongoing.You can be professional and respectful without being a hunk of granite. Smiling is always a plus. Don't pull a Joker, but confidence and posture is important. You can be serious and still be friendly and open.
The only time I would think there would be an exception would be if the interviewer was some hard-nosed, antique sorta person.
"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - Aszurgaaah
i could've gotten a Cisco certification coming out of high school but I fucked up the exam
You can't even write racist abuse in excrement on somebody's car without the politically correct brigade jumping down your throat!How my mom (who has experience as a manger) hires people can be dependent on whether or not a good conversation pops up in the middle of the interview. True, this was for public service/sales positions, but I can see that applying no matter what job you interview for. After all, would you hire a person you could not strike a conversation with?
Yu hav nat sein bod speeling unntil know. (cacke four undersandig tis)the cake is a lie!I'd hire the person who managed to meet the highest overall percentage of Intelligence, Qualifications, Attitude, and the Don't Be A Dick quotient.
If you're smart, qualified, have confidence, and don't look like a smarmy dickhole suckup, I'd hire that person.
More than anything though, I appreciate honesty. If I were an interviewer my premium would be not speaking in the fake manner that many people consider "professional" but to just be straight about it.
edited 11th Aug '12 3:48:31 PM by Barkey
If you have to remind yourself to smile, make eye contact, maintain a certain tone or style to your voice, not to fidget, then you're probably coming off as fake even if you don't mean to.
Ten years ago, there may have only been 10 people to one position. Now, there are easily twice to four times that depending where you are in America. Interviewers are getting shrewder in discerning how confident as well as genuine people are simply because they are seeing more of them.
Practice with a professional friend. Teachers are good ones to do this with so long as they are junior high or higher. They see a lot of bullshit.
"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - AszurHonestly, I wouldn't mind hearing an f-bomb in an interview. That would let me know that the person is being themselves, completely and utterly.
"What do you think of a situation where one person screws up really badly by trying to do something sneaky, and instead of reprimanding or punishing that person, everyone in the office took a pay cut?"
I expect a "That would be fucking stupid." not "Well sir, I feel that yadda yadda yadda."
It's not that swearing is some sort of prereq for me liking someone, but I appreciate genuine behavior, and there would be several ways to convince me your behavior is genuine. I don't want to know Robert, the guy who speaks without contractions, says sir and "I feel" a lot, and who can't think up any clear and common flaws in his character that you often see in other people. I want Bob, the laid back, common sense guy who is quick to point out the grandstanding and stupidity of others if it gets in the way of streamlining a job and getting it done efficiently and quickly.
Thankfully, with my boss being a former marine, he appreciated my candor in the same way that I would if the roles had been reversed.
Professional should not mean "Fake" or "Habitual liar". You should be yourself, so as not to waste everyones time. If you're being Mr. Polite and Professional, and then you get hired and it turns out you're a complete asshole, I would have rather known that up front so I could have just not hired you and went with someone who isn't a prick.
That was an extreme example, I didn't either. But I didn't act like some sort of meek or overconfident stereotype. People seem to think being professional means either being so polite that you look weak and withdrawn, or projecting confidence in a way that makes you look like a prick.
It's neither. It's called not being a dick to people in the workplace. It doesn't mean not having a personality.
So you are meek/nervous about interviews and accept it. Well, my best advice (and this advice applies to everyone) is to figure out the things that you know you have done well and try to steer any questions to those things. Just try not to use the same story/event more than once (or twice, if you can talk about it from a different angle).
Other than that, it is just a matter of practicing. I would not recommend studying those interview question books and trying to figure out how to answer each and every one of them, but they will give you an idea of what sorts of questions could be asked and give you practice fitting story to a question. Best option (as said in post 264) would be to get some practice interviews in.
Also make sure you know the interviewing company's Mission Statement and other details so that you can maybe work them into your answers.
Yu hav nat sein bod speeling unntil know. (cacke four undersandig tis)the cake is a lie!Same.
Anxiety issues are not fun.
My hands shake under stress, which means I have no idea how I can do a job with any sort of pressure.
I don't think thats grounds for disability either, although sometimes I wonder if my anxiety is that bad.
I mean its pretty much the reason I don't have a driver's license.
edited 12th Aug '12 12:07:12 AM by Thorn14
Which word? There were tons in that post.
Meek? Isn't that just a part of confidence or anxiety issues?
And I'm just too afraid to get on freeways, I can't even force myself to practice. I hate driving and I hate cars so much.
Death machines, all of them. I wish I never got in that accident. No one was even hurt in it.
edited 12th Aug '12 12:12:14 AM by Thorn14
Meek.
Dictionary.com says (correct me if I'm wrong) 1. humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others. 2. overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame.
It's not synonymous with having anxiety issues.
I don't drive either. Then again most of that is because I live in a city and can't afford a car, but I don't like driving. I would rather be driven around. As soon as I'm rich, I'm going to get a chauffeur.
edited 12th Aug '12 12:13:52 AM by ohsointocats

Well there are multiple IT degrees it seems so I was just wondering.