Interview Tips

Articles for Interview Tips

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  'Tech Connects' Podcast: Mastering AWS and the Cloud

  “Tech Connects,” Dice’s podcast, digs into the tech hiring, recruiting, and career topics that matter to you. Subscribe on ACast, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and more! The next episode of the Tech Connects podcast is here! Every month, we’ll have great guests who will share their expertise about the current state of the tech careers world, from the hottest tech skills to the state of the tech hiring market to what companies are doing to retain and attract top talent. Our next podcast guest is Kevin Kelly, Director of Cloud Career Training Programs at Amazon Web Services. Those programs include AWS Academy and AWS re/Start, which collaborate with higher education institutions, non-profits, and government organizations to assist students launching cloud careers. AWS re/Start is a part of Amazon’s commitment to provide 29 million people around the world with access to free cloud computing skills training by 2025. Let’s listen in as he walks through what you need to effectively l
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  6 Ways to Blow a Job Interview Without Realizing It

  Hiring managers are constantly on the lookout for technology job candidates who have not only the right technical skills, but also a professional presence. If you’re applying for a new position, you might not know what a hiring manager actually expects, which could leave you unable to meet their expectations during the job interview. But there are lots of other ways to blow a job interview. Here are six things to avoid unless you want a swift rejection. Skipping the Execution Part One of the main things hiring managers want to know: can this job candidate get things done on their own, or do they need constant oversight and direction? The latter is exhausting for companies and teams, said Lewis Lin, CEO of Impact Interview. To identify self-sufficient, high-performers capable of turning a vision into reality, tech managers are placing a premium on execution. During the interviewing process, it’s not enough to describe the results you achieved and the skills you used to achieve them—you
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  Tips from Technologists Who Turned Job Rejection into an Offer

  When you’re hunting for a new job, you’re told to simply move on if you’re rejected by your dream company. But is that the best advice? How do you account for all the people who finally land at a company after being rejected (sometimes multiple times)? How did those success stories come about? We asked several “non-quitters” to share their secrets to success. What worked for them might work for you, too. Find Out Why Don’t bother re-applying for a position until you find out why you were rejected, advised George Santino, who overcame four rejections before landing an entry-level job at Microsoft and ultimately advancing to partner engineering manager. “Pick up the phone and talk to the person who rejected you,” Santino suggested. “You need to understand what their objections are so you can address them.” His theory: “The one who gets the job is the one who breaks the rules.” Getting another chance could be as simple as correcting a glaring error on your resume or explaining how you use
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  How to Gather Feedback at Key Stages of the Hiring Process

  Although it may seem awkward at first, making a habit of asking for feedback after every round of the hiring process can significantly improve your chances of landing an offer. Asking for feedback changes the conversation from one-way to two-way and establishes the mutual goal of finding the right match for an open position. Perhaps most importantly, receiving feedback allows you to know where you stand with a prospective employer, and make adjustments in time for the next round of interviews and testing. Here’s how to ask for feedback fluidly and confidently at key stages of the hiring process. After an Initial Phone or Video Screen The opportunity to ask for feedback is one you don't want to waste, so keep an eye on the time and leave at least five minutes to ask for feedback at the end of an initial screen, advised Marlo Lyons, certified career coach and strategist and author of “Wanted – A New Career: The Definitive Playbook for Transitioning to a New Career or Finding Your Dream J
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  Sponsored

  Innovation at Delta Air Lines: The New PARALLEL REALITY Experience

  Delta Air Lines recently launched a first-of-its-kind airport travel experience called PARALLEL REALITY at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. This groundbreaking technology allows up to 100 passengers to see personalized flight and airport wayfinding content tailored to their unique travel journey on a single digital screen—at the same time. Each person who opts into the experience will only see content tailored their individual journey. Priya Saste, General Manager of Airport Experience at Delta, played a key role in bringing this experience to life: “The vision for PARALLEL REALITY at Delta started in The Hangar, our global innovation hub, where we harness research, design and technology to explore ideas that enable effortless travel. The Hangar team saw the technology developed by Misapplied Sciences and immediately identified its potential to personalize the airport journey, ultimately showcasing the experience for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2020. I led the cross
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  How to Share Tech Ideas in a Job Interview Without Giving Too Much Away

  During the job interview process, tech hiring managers often ask candidates to share ideas for improving products or solving challenges with architecture, scalability or security. Ostensibly, these questions are designed to ensure the candidate is a good match for the position—but your answers could also have unintended consequences. How far should you go when responding to questions that ask for detailed technical solutions or opinions? It is possible to show that you’re technically qualified and capable… without having a prospective employer or unscrupulous tech lead steal your ideas? Here’s how you can discuss your ideas with a hiring manager without giving too much away. Watch for These Warning Signs Although most interviewers aren’t looking for free advice, be on the lookout for red flags or signs that something isn’t right. For instance, it’s not appropriate to ask questions about your own product or some specific problem your current employer is having, explained Gayle Laakmann
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  Two Interview Questions Every Product Manager Must Prepare For

  They say the hardest part about Harvard is getting in. The same thing is true of Google, McKinsey, and other storied employers: If you can outlast the gauntlet of gotcha questions and “why-are-manhole-covers-round” brainteasers, you’ll almost certainly get an offer. Yet in lionizing these interviews, we do ourselves a disservice. The best interviewers don’t try to embarrass you; they ask questions whose answers actually matter to the position at hand. Here are two such questions that every product manager (PM) should have a ready answer to — and that every PM interviewer should be posing. Question #1: Will You Fall on Someone Else’s Sword? Picture this: You’re working with the engineering team on a high-profile project. At a critical juncture, you urge option A; they prefer option B. In the end, your recommendation is rejected, and the product ships with option B. Immediately, it’s clear to everyone that this was a mistake — and a big one. What do you do? On one hand, you may feel comp
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  How to Research a Manager Before a Job Interview

  Studies show that a competent boss is linked to higher employee job satisfaction, success, promotions and work-life balance. Yet many job seekers don’t see the job interview process as a prime opportunity to evaluate whether a prospective manager is right for them. Unless you scope out the manager beforehand, you may miss important clues about their management style, expectations and capabilities. These elements can have a significant impact on your career, well-being and ability to work together. Here’s how to research a manager before an interview and what you can learn. Management Style When evaluating your ability to work effectively with a future manager, you need to consider their personality, management philosophy and whether their management style will allow you to flourish and grow. A prospective manager’s profile on LinkedIn may offer some initial clues. For instance, if they have received or given recommendations to direct reports, this could be a sign they have a people-ori
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  How to Challenge a Job Rejection and Come Out on Top

  You thought your skill set was a perfect match for the job requirements. You thought you effectively conveyed your qualifications during the job interview. And yet you open your inbox to find a rejection letter from a job you really, really wanted. On the surface, that rejection seems like a mistake. Should you ask the hiring manager to reconsider their decision? And if so, what’s the best way to go about it? How you respond to rejection may lead an employer to reconsider you for the same position or another role. Here are some appropriate (and professional) ways to ask an employer to reconsider a rejection. Get Out in Front The best strategy for dealing with rejection is to keep it from happening in the first place, explained David Perry, managing partner of executive search and recruiting firm Perry-Martel International and author of “Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters.” If you think the interview went badly or that you didn’t get the chance to emphasize your most valuable experienc
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  Graphic Designer Interview Questions: What to Know to Land the Job

  Graphic designers are key players in the creation of many a product or service. Without them, the final result could look terrible—so terrible that no end-user wants it. In order to do their best work, graphic designers must combine strong technical skills (and mastery of popular design applications) with great communication, storytelling, and teamwork skills. A typical graphic designer interview for a job will focus on all these things. During a graphic designer interview, candidates should expect questions that focus on their portfolio. The recruiter or hiring manager will also ask about their career, the type of work they’ve produced in the past, and how they’ve handled client needs. Sriram Ramakrishnan, senior vice president of Experis Practices for Manpower Group, said some of the opening questions a graphic designer may face include: Their years of experience. Their specialty skills (if any). Open-ended questions about design trends. Those could be followed up by questions about
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  Hunting for a Tech Job? Leverage Your Personal Projects and Stories

  If you're new to the tech industry, it's easy to find everything overwhelming. How do you apply for a job? What if you have no previous workplace experience? What's the best way to show off your skills? Dice's new Optimizing Your Tech Career ebook offers some tips for anyone just starting out in tech. If you're wondering what you can leverage as you apply for your first jobs (and prep for those first interviews), here's a sampling of its advice: Leverage everything Don’t worry if you’ve never had a technology job (everyone starts somewhere)! When it comes to candidates for entry-level positions, recruiters and hiring managers are looking for a grasp of key skills, along with humility (Can you take feedback well?), hunger (Are you always up for new challenges?) and people smarts (Are you empathetic, collaborative and enjoyable to work with?). When you’re putting together your first resume and application materials, you can pretty much use any experience relevant to tech: internships, pe
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  Sponsored

  Inside Amazon: How Liu Engineered Her Own Path

  Amazon's Xiaoxu Liu shares what it's like to work inside one of the most influential companies of all time Imagine a job where you felt invigorated on a daily basis. A manager who empowered you to take risks, own projects, and navigate your own career. A company with the resources for you to make a real impact in the lives of billions of people. An environment where your authentic self is celebrated, valued, and respected. Dice recently had the opportunity to sit down with one of Amazon's many leading engineers Xiaoxu Liu – and that’s exactly what her experience there has been like. Liu has been with Amazon for six years. While she started her journey as a Software Development Engineer (SDE) on Amazon’s Alexa team and worked on early versions of Echo devices, her career has grown and she is now a Software Development Manager (SDM) on Amazon’s Consumer Robotics team - the team behind Astro, Amazon’s first household robot, where she is helping shape the future of in-home robotics. Being