Acing your next Interview
Preparing for your next remote interview? Here are my thoughts and tips from my personal interview experiences.
Before you apply
#1 Read job description twice 👀🤓
Find out keywords and phrases that the job poster is trying to find in the ideal candidate
Filter them based on your strengths & weaknesses
#2 Craft your resume ✨
Find the overlap between your strengths & JD keywords
Make sure these skills, technologies are reflected in your resume
- Place those items such that they are easily scannable by the hiring manager
- If you have relevant experience, you can elaborate a description a bit more
- Since resume space is luxury, you might have to share/omit some irrelevant details
Use resume worded to get free instant feedback on your resume
Ask your friend to review resume once
Have consistent formatting in your resume
- if you are using bullets in the description at one place, use it at every place
- if your description font-size is 14px, use the same everywhere
- if the date is in the format of Aug ’20, use it consistently
Once you are selected for an interview
#3 Think: what’s your story? 👨🎓👩💻🤹♀️
Interviewers are human themselves, and you can potentially connect with them by sharing YOUR story
Jot down the points which might be good to share with the interviewer
For example -
- When & why did you started programming/development
- What was your first project
- What has been your biggest achievement
- How are you giving back to society in general
- How did you as an intern helped your previous company grow
- What are the interesting developments that you are actively tracking
#4 Think: questions for your interviewer 🤩
What do you want to know about the organization and the position you are interviewing for?
Prepare some questions for interviewer if you get an opportunity to ask at the end
This will show your genuine interest in the company
For example -
- What’s the hierarchy structure in the organization
- What’s the product development life cycle
- How is the company holding up in these hard times
#5 Preparations 📚💻🔋
Test mic, camera, internet speed, battery level before meeting starts
Keep webcam perpendicular to your face. Put laptop above a stack of books to adjust webcam height
During the interview
#6 Drive the interview 🧘♂️🧘♀️
Don’t bluff to the interviewer. It will ultimately lead to a bad image, even if they don’t express
Ask for hints, if you are stuck while answering
Share bits and pieces from your story, whenever you get the chance to. Share only relevant, and genuine events
After the interview
#7 Send thank you note Interviewer after the call 📧
- Sending a brief thank you note to the interview will help interviewer build a positive image of yours, up to some extent
- Thank you notes are always received with positive feelings
- You can send this via email, Skype or LinkedIn
May the force be with you 👋
Prepare for the best, and eventually the best will happen 🚀
Image credits: cover photo by Sydney Rae / footer photo by Harli Marten
