You Got This | Tips to ace a job interview

The job interview experience is not an easy one, but the good news is that with the proper approach it could become steady. In this talk, I will cover the tools and a process to thoroughly prepare you for the interviews so you will nail them with confidence, enthusiasm, and less anxiety. So join me at this session, and let’s discover together how to ace a job interview in three (and a half) steps that will bring your dream job.

Transcript

1. Tips to ace
   a job interview
   Magda Miu | @magdamiu
   Engineering Manager @Adobe
   Android Google Developer Expert
   

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2. My employment history
   Android Developer
   Nov 2010 - Aug 2015
   Mobile Technical Lead
   Sept 2015 - Dec 2019
   Squads Lead Developer
   Jan 2019 - Sep 2021
   Engineering Manager
   Oct 2021 - Present
   

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3. 3.5 STEPS
   How to prepare
   How to continue
   How to be chill
   Before the interview
   After the interview
   The day of interview
   2
   3
   1
   🧐
   The “secret” element
   3.5
   

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4. Behavioral
   How you have performed and
   behaved in the past in both
   positive and negative situations
   [past experiences &
   hypothetical questions]
   Assignment
   How do you approach,
   document and present solutions
   for a use case
   [context-problem-solution(s)]
   01 02
   Types of non-tech interviews
   
   

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5. Before the
   interview
   01
   

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6. How to prepare
   Learn about
   the process
   Learn about
   the company
   Learn about
   yourself
   

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7. Personal
   SWOT
   Analysis
   Strengths
   Advantages like: skills,
   achievements, certifications,
   education, connections
   Weaknesses
   Skills that should be improved
   (technical or work habits)
   Opportunities
   Events, conferences, new
   role/project, industry growing
   Threats
   Impediments at work, changes,
   weaknesses lead to threats
   S
   O
   W
   T
   

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9. ● Have a pitch ready
   ● Prepare yourself to give feedback
   ● What kind of questions to expect:
   ○ Behavioral questions
   ■ Tell me about a time when…
   ○ Hypothetical questions
   ■ What if you need to…
   ○ Small talk questions
   ■ Talk about hobbies, books, movies, trips
   ● Areas to consider
   ○ Difficult person, situation, project, task, decision
   ○ Creative solution or approach to solve a challenge/issue
   ○ Handle ambiguity
   ○ Failures and lessons learned
   ○ Success stories or achievements
   ○ Give & receive feedback
   ○ Prioritisation & rollout a process
   ○ Collaborate, delegate & empower
   ○ Mentoring & learning
   What to prepare in advance
   

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10. Identify the elements that are important for you at a job (like: work-life balance, move to
    the next level on your career, learning & development, mentoring, etc) and address
    questions related to those areas:
    ● People
    ○ Team structure
    ○ Stakeholders
    ○ Manager
    ● Processes
    ○ Project (legacy code, dependencies, architecture)
    ○ Tasks management
    ○ The lifecycle of a task
    ○ On-call procedure
    ○ Onboarding experience
    ○ Learning opportunities
    ○ Performance review
    ○ Career growth
    What to ask
    

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11. The day of
    interview
    02
    

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12. Focus on the interview experience
    During that day, work to take a very limited number of decisions
    ● Know in advance what to eat, drink, wear in that day
    ● Make sure you're feeling comfortable
    ● If online do not wear clothes with lines, patterns, or bright colors and avoid
    accessories that could be noisy
    Have a clear plan in place
    ● Online:
    ○ Decide if it’s the case to have a virtual background. If yes, consider not wearing
    white clothes
    ○ Setup your camera, microphone, lights, and run some tests before. Check the
    internet connection
    ● Offline:
    ○ Make sure you know the location and how to go there
    ○ Have at least 30 minutes buffer
    What to have next to you
    ● Prepare a notebook and a pen or have an opened blank document on your computer
    ● Your resume & the job description
    ● A big glass of water
    

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13. Setup
    ● Make sure you understood the question (clarification and confirmation)
    ● Be aware and define your assumptions
    ● Don’t be afraid to admit you do not know or to request some extra “thinking time”
    ● Be mindful about your body language
    STAR method
    ● Situation - describe the event or situation that you were in
    ● Task - explain the task you had to complete
    ● Action - describe the specific actions you took to complete the task
    ● Result - close with the result of your efforts
    CAR method
    ● Context - background of a specific situation
    ● Action taken - the action you took
    ● Result - the results you achieved
    Think on Your Feet® approach - emphasises structure when communicating
    ● Analyse - think what you want to share
    ● Separate - structure ideas using keywords or steps
    ● Dynamism - connect the ideas and build the story
    How to answer
    

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14. “Tell me about a time when you performed well under stress.”
    Situation
    One time, at my last job, my coworker had a family emergency and needed to miss work
    for some time, and her project was left unfinished and without a manager.
    Task
    My manager instructed me to take on the project, and I had days to complete a project
    that originally should have taken several weeks.
    Action
    I was able to delegate a part of my goals to some of my teammates.
    Result
    With the reduction in my daily goals, I was able to dedicate more time to the special
    project. This allowed me to finish it on time and with complete accuracy. My manager
    appreciated my attitude and drive, and I was given a promotion and pay raise.
    STAR template in action
    

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15. “Describe a situation when one of your team members complained about his job.”
    Context/ Challenge
    At the previous company, I had a team member who just joined the team and mentioned
    after 1 month that he would like to change the team because the current context is not ok
    for him.
    Action Taken
    I recommended him to prepare a list with SMART objectives and expectations and we
    addressed together each point to discover concrete actions to make.
    Results
    The result of that conversation was an actions plan on which we worked together and
    follow up to check the progress. The colleague started to achieve his expectations and
    improved his engagement.
    CAR template in action
    

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16. After the
    interview
    03
    

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17. ● Ask about when you could get the feedback for that interview
    ● Send a thank-you note
    ● Note the questions you received during the interview to reassess your answers
    ● Make a retrospective to evaluate your experience
    ○ Have you set realistic goals for preparing for this interview?
    ○ Do you need to do your pre-interview research more thoroughly?
    ○ Have you presented yourself in the best possible manner?
    ○ Identify some actions to start, stop, continue doing on the next interview
    What to cover at the end
    

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18. 3.5
    The “secret”
    element
    

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19. ● Remember to have courage and challenge yourself
    ● Enjoy the journey, not only the destination
    ● If it’s difficult, take a break, then start over
    Be confident and enthusiast
    You Got This ;)
    

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20. CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik
    Do you have any questions?
    Website: magdamiu.com
    Twitter: @magdamiu
    LinkedIn: /in/magdamiu/
    THANKS!
    Slides on LinkedIn & Twitter
    

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