December 17, 2007 at 7:55 pm
When a company posts a job and a lot of resumes come in. How does the company evaluate which candidate to interview? If the job requires .Net, VB, Strong SQL Skills, SQL Server 2000 skills and experiences in using some kind of reporting tool, does the company only interview the candidate with all these skills?
If the candidate has all those skills but some skills are not up-to-date, for example the candidate had .Net and VB but he/she used it three years ago. If you are the candidate, how do you tell the company that you need to refresh your .Net skill? What if the company requires you to do a technical interview?
December 17, 2007 at 8:22 pm
If you honestly think you have the skills and you're rusty in some areas, then hit the books, hard. Get back into the game as much as you can. However - don't try to gloss over the fact that it's older, less current experience (if they're not dumb, they will be to figure that out before you walk in since you haven't done it in years).
Do NOT walk into an interview less prepared than you should be for something you KNOW. Take the weekend, lock yourself away - get some quiet time, and get prepped.
On the other hand - if you don't know, then don't try to pass it off. Show them you can get those skills quickly if need be, etc... I've always been candid about my skills, and in the past it's served me well. There have been several interviews I've walked into saying - I'm a bit rusty/not great at this, and I'm apparently the best person by far that they saw. It's better that way than to rate yourself highly and get hammered on the technical interview.
It's a dance with each posting. Given that so many of them are vanilla, it's hard to know WHAT will make them ask you to come in.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?
December 19, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Loner,
I don't know about SQL Server only positions but positions that includes .NET you need to study the questions at interview questions sites and look up either in books or in MSDN docs because even none technical people have these questions to help create a short list for the main interview. These days some interviews can all be phone interviews. I have used the resources in the thread below and they are very good.
http://forums.asp.net/t/967937.aspx
Kind regards,
Gift Peddie
December 28, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Having both looked for lots of jobs and gotten a dozen, and hired people before, I'll say that the ad usually asks for more than we'd accept. Often every possibility is put into the ad, maybe asking for .NET, but not really expecting that the person needs it. You're hoping to get a great candidate for SQL that also knows .NET when you do that, not requiring it.
I think if you know 60-70% of what's being asked for, then apply and see. Be honest about where you're weak. I've seen many ads that asked for lots of skills, most of which were peripheral to the job and didn't come into play.
December 28, 2007 at 8:01 pm
That's pretty good advice, right there...
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
January 15, 2008 at 9:19 am
I've never been burned in a job interview for being honest about my skills (or lack thereof). In fact, in my last interview for the job I currently hold, I believe my honesty actually impressed the managers who were hiring.
I found out later they were getting a lot of smoke blown at them by people who said they could do stuff and then weren't able to "deliver" either during the interview or after a couple of weeks on the job.
I agree with the other postings on this thread. Review the stuff you do know before you go in, be honest about what you don't know or are rusty on, and let them know what resources you have access to which can help you get up to speed.
Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply