Interview Questions Decoded, Part 2
What are some of your hobbies?
What they're really asking: How well-rounded are you? What do you do outside of work that might transfer positively into the workplace?
Tips: Emphasize any hobbies or activities that may relate to the job. Help the interviewer learn more about you and perceive you as a person, rather than a job candidate. Therefore, don't just answer questions, respond to them.
Would you be willing to pursue an extra certificate or credential?
What they're really asking: How is your attitude? How flexible are you?
Tips: Tell the interviewer how important professional growth is to you. Understand that the person who will impress the interviewer the most is the one willing to do the extra work.
What were you hoping we'd ask today, but didn't?
What they're really asking: Is there anything special about yourself that you want us to know?
Tips: Consider this a "show and tell" opportunity. Use materials from your portfolio to convince them how valuable you'll be to their organization.
Do you have any questions for us?
What they're really asking: Are you prepared to ask questions? How interested are you in this position?
Tips: List five or six questions on an index card. Ask at least one question, even if all of your prepared questions have been answered. Never say, "No, you've answered all of my questions."
Things That Seal the Deal
Here's what hiring managers had to say:
"One of the big things for me is [following] up. If I'm on the fence about a candidate but they take the time to e-mail me and thank me for having them come in, it shows me that they are motivated, tactful and professional. On the other side of the coin, if I interview someone and they are using lots of banal business speak and don't give me any impression of what their personality is like, I will usually pass. I hate when I ask a candidate what their favorite thing to work on is and they say 'everything' -- it leaves me with the impression that they either have no personality or won't speak their mind." -- Keith Baumwald, interactive marketing analyst, Shoplet.com
"I know I have a good candidate for hire when they come in prepared with as many questions about the job and company as I have for the candidate -- especially when their questions go beyond just the pay rate and benefits. By showing interest in learning more about what the job opportunity actually involves, it shows that the candidate is just as concerned about this job being the right fit for them as I am." -- Angie Nelson, marketing coordinator, Les Bois Federal Credit Union
"A quick deal-killer for me is people who are trying to answer questions the way they think I want them answered. Honesty in the interview is refreshing. I appreciate applicants who tell the truth without trying to sugarcoat things. I am not as concerned with bad things that have happened in their past as much as how they dealt with those issues. That shows their true character." -- Phil Wrzesinski, owner, Toy House and Baby Too
"Confidence is important, but there is a fine line between that and arrogance. I once had a candidate state numerous times he was the one and that no way anyone else could be better. This is not only arrogant, but demonstrates ignorance on the part of the candidate. One does not always know who they are competing with or all of their qualifications." -- Thomasina Tafur, president, Thomasina Tafur Consulting
"When interviewing candidates to join our firm, two things can be deal breakers: attitude and core values. You can't teach attitude, but you can teach skill. A positive attitude, strong work ethic and strong values should trump more experience and skill. I also make sure the candidate demonstrates our company's core values. I ask them to tell me their 'story' of their professional journey. Through their story, I get a better understanding of the decisions they made and the values they have (or don't have)." -- Michelle Roccia, senior vice president of corporate organizational development, Winter, Wyman
"When a candidate is displaying a true desire to come work for your company, they are often the one you want to hire once you are looking at the finalist pool. The fastest way to end up with a short interview and ruling yourself out from being considered is to arrive to an interview to only lack energy, give short answers and show no excitement to be there." -- James Thompson, vice president of business development, JMJ Phillip
"When I hire, I hire for 'right fit,' which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with experience or training. A 'right fit' candidate is someone who is aligned philosophically with the company, has a passion for the products or industry, and believes that the kind of work that they do is their mission, not just their livelihood. For example, when I was staffing a green business in Orange County, Calif., I didn't hire the people with the longest résumés and the most degrees, I hired the people who were passionate about the 'green' cause and had demonstrated that in some way in their personal life. What we ended up with were employees who were willing to do whatever it took to make the enterprise successful because they were driven by an inner belief, not by a paycheck. They were engaged at an extremely high level from the first day they walked in the door. I hire for passion, and then train for skills, if necessary." --Barbara Farfan, management and retail consultant, Authentic Communications
How does multi-threading work in .NET?
There are two main ways of multi-threading which .NET encourages:
To start your own threads with ThreadStart delegates, you should create a new thread "manually" for long-running tasks.
Using the ThreadPool class either directly (using ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem) or indirectly using asynchronous methods (such as Stream.BeginRead, or calling BeginInvoke on any delegate).
Use the thread pool only for brief jobs.
Benefits of using the Thread Pool.
Benefits of using the Thread Pool.
The benefits of using a Thread Pool are:
Thread creation and destruction overhead is negated,
Better performance and better system stability.
It is better to use a thread pool in cases where the number of threads is very large.
Why Should I Hire You? Thought it as an interviewer
In today's job market, where many seasoned workers have found themselves out of a job and plenty of young but inexperienced graduates are entering the work force, do you have the right answer to beat out the competition?
Here are three common scenarios job seekers find themselves in and how they might handle each one:
The employer thinks ... you don't have relevant experience.
So you ... explain how all experience is relevant.
Simpson's tips for workers whose experience is seemingly irrelevant are similar to her advice for seeming unqualified workers: Make your past an asset, not a drawback.
"Give specific examples of how your experience is relevant to the job," Simpson explains. "Customer service experience gained while waiting tables is often negated. Waiters deal with all kinds of people and situations while multitasking, working under pressure of short-term deadlines while keeping customers happy."
Don't expect employers to connect the dots -- they're busy and have a wealth of candidates from which to choose. Do the work for them. In this economy, plenty of laid-off workers are looking for jobs in new industries, which means you're not the only one experiencing this dilemma. Get an edge over other job seekers by turning your varied experience into proof that you're the right candidate.
To be continued……
Project Management Interview Questions
How do you decide what gets top priority when scheduling your time?
Paid work first! If there is a client waiting for a report or a letter, this takes priority over any other task I have waiting for me.
What are the 4 stages of team development?
1.Forming
2.Storming
3.Norming
4.Performing
Which process is applied to break down the project into smaller, more manageable elements?
Scope Definition is incorrect answer according to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) published by PMI. At least the 3rd edition of it which I have. But if I recall it right, it has not been changed in the last draft of the 4th edition I saw.
The process is called Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and it is performed to subdivide the major project deliverables and project work into smaller and more manageable components. The output of this processs is the WBS which represents all work that the team has to perform. See Section 5.3 in the 3rd edition.
10 ASP.NET Interview Questions
- How does ViewState work and why is it either useful or evil?
- What is the OO relationship between an ASPX page and its CS/VB code behind file in ASP.NET 1.1? in 2.0?
- What is an assembly binding redirect? Where are the places an administrator or developer can affect how assembly binding policy is applied?
- Compare and contrast LoadLibrary(), CoCreateInstance(), CreateObject() and Assembly.Load().
- What happens from the point an HTTP request is received on a TCP/IP port up until the Page fires the On_Load event?
- What are ASHX files? What are HttpHandlers? Where can they be configured?
- What is needed to configure a new extension for use in ASP.NET? For example, what if I wanted my system to serve ASPX files with a *.jsp extension?
- What events fire when binding data to a data grid? What are they good for?
- How does IIS communicate at runtime with ASP.NET? Where is ASP.NET at runtime in IIS5? IIS6?
- Explain how PostBacks work, on both the client-side and server-side. How do I chain my own JavaScript into the client side without losing PostBack functionality?
Top 5 Reasons Employers Want to Hire You
1. Ability to work well with others
Why it's important: "We spend a lot of time at work; there is nothing worse than someone who cannot get along with others," Santana says. "[It's] so important and involves being helpful, understanding the unwritten rules, being respectful, reliable and competent."
Tip: "Tell a story," Santana suggests. For example, "I was interviewing someone for a job and asked about a situation where he had experienced a challenging situation at work. He told me about a situation where the company had a major deadline and needed all hands on deck. He was able to pause what he was working on and pitch in, working late hours to help the team meet the deadline."
2. Ability to make money
Why it's important: Hiring managers want people who can prove that they will increase the organization's revenues or decrease its costs, Rothberg says. "During a recession, revenues are difficult for organizations to generate and employers have typically already cut their costs about as much as they can. Their emphasis is on increasing their revenues."
Tip: "Employers love metrics. The more you can quantify your work, the better," Rothberg says. Some positions are easier to quantify than others, but it can be done. "If you're a filing clerk, estimate how many minutes a day your work has saved your previous employers by looking at how much faster it is for people to access the information they need," he says.
3. Strong online presence
Why it's important: "Social networking has become the primary way that people communicate. But it is a double-edged sword. Employers have access to your personal life, likes and dislikes, political views, good and bad behavior. Because of that exposure and the speed at which information is distributed, it is important that you be digitally dirt-free, especially when job hunting," says Chris Laggini, vice president of human resources for DLT Solutions.
Tip: "Social networking doesn't have to be negative in your job hunt; you can use it to your advantage. Old-fashioned reference checks through past employers are passé; use your [social networking] pages to accumulate references and positive praise from professional peers and college professors. Find people within the company whom you know that could put a good word in for you," Laggini says.
4. Multitaskers who thrive on variety of projects
Why it's important: "Business today moves at supersonic speed, and effectively managing a variety of different projects simultaneously is essential," says Susan Stern, founder and president of Stern + Associates, a public relations and marketing communications agency. "If an individual demonstrates a passion for learning new things and enjoys a variety of work, chances are she is also ambitious and inquisitive -- two qualities that are critical to success and advancement."
Tip: "Don't be shy about asking for additional assignments and offering to handle other aspects of a project than you might usually handle. Make it clear to your manager that you have a passion for learning new things and volunteer to take on extra work, even if it means putting in additional hours," Stern says.
5. Long-term potential
Why it's important: Employees want to see their future within a company so they are motivated and excited about their career path, the company's future and their role in it, says Celia Santana, president of Personal Risk Management Solutions. From the employer perspective, you want people in your organization to work their way up. It is best to have someone who is multidimensional and can grow with the company.
Tip: "Give a real-life example or ask questions that demonstrate that you have thought about this," Santana says. "For example, you can ask a question like, 'What type of career movement do you envision for the most successful candidate in this role? Are there any current examples within your company?'"
Tough interview question: "What are your weaknesses?"
The key to answering this age-old question is not to respond literally. Your future employer most likely won't care if your weak spot is that you can't cook, nor do they want to hear the generic responses, like you're "too detail oriented" or "work too hard." Respond to this query by identifying areas in your work where you can improve and figure out how they can be assets to a future employer. If you didn't have the opportunity to develop certain skills at your previous job, explain how eager you are to gain that skill in a new position.
Suggested answer: "In my last position, I wasn't able to develop my public-speaking skills. I'd really like to be able to work in a place that will help me get better at giving presentations and talking in front of others."
