Happy Friday!

I've been working with a lot of folks wanting a new job lately. I've always had a soft spot for helping out folks with what I term a "soul-crushing" experience, and I happen to have an odd talent for navigating the whole interview and negotiation process. So much so that I wrote a book, made an online class, and all that.

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Anyway, I want to share some interview advice that I've found to be effective, as well as some that hasn't worked for me.

Dressing Up

This is common advice given by recruiters, and it's stupid. Does that means how up in shorts and sandals? Not exactly. Dressing up is advice that backfires for a lot of technical roles as it makes you stand out and not look the part.

Far better advice is to dress for the job you want. Even that needs some extra description. Having a clean and presentable appearance that is appropriate to the role is ideal. So, for technical folks, think of the nicest version of what you might wear to work. That probably isn't sandals and shorts, and it also isn't a suit.

Eliminate Distractions for Remote Interviews

More bad advice! You'll find advice to eliminate all distractions in the frame of your video for interviews. Wrong! One key element of interviews that people never seem to get is that interviews are people talking, so having neat things in frame can spark a great conversation.

That conversation about a book, guitar, figurine, award, or anything builds a relationship without putting you in the hot seat to answer gross interview questions.

Use ChatGPT for Answers

I get this one, but I've had a series of clients who struggled because they used ChatGPT the wrong way.

ChatGPT is great at a lot of things, but it will not give you answers that you can readily use in interviews. If you're going to use ChatGPT to help you with answers, you need to look at its responses critically. Look for the ingredients that it includes more than the complete answer. Even then, its answers tend to look good but are actually pretty thin in terms of material and are more like "vamping" than a serious answer.

Giving a ChatGPT answer makes you look like you're stalling because you don't know the answer, while also looking like you're reading a script. This is not going to go well for you.

Minimally, take the ingredients for the answer and rephrase everything in your own words. This is still far from optimal, but it will eliminate the phoniness that comes from a ChatGPT answer.

Asking Questions

Do this! Always ask questions! Not only do a lot of hiring managers view candidates more favorably because they ask questions, but it's also the only way for you to understand better what kind of situation you're walking into.

You might be thinking that you never have time because the interviews run long, and then in the last five minutes they say, "Any questions for me?" Well, you don't have to wait until the end. After you answer a question, just tack on a question of your own.

This not only gets your questions in front of the interviewer, but it also helps shift the interview into a conversation and not an interrogation.

Leet Code

This is a little more specific, but you will never do enough leet code questions to be ready.

You can get the job without being able to elegantly solve their coding challenges.

You will not code your way into the job. Your energy is better spent learning to interview so that the interviewer beleives you could solve the problem and that they want to work with you. Neither of those things requires a highly developed skill in solving programming challenges.

Well, I put more of these down than I planned to, but what do you think? Have you heard this advice, stumbled with it, or disagree with my position?

Sincerely,

Ryan