Patrick

Hey everyone,

this is the first thread I've started in about two months!

Hooray I have got my first interview on Monday (I have only been here since 25th February and applied for 103 and half jobs (the half was distributing yellow pages but they paid 11 cent a book and the depot was 25 miles away so it wasn't worth taking up).

Has anyone got any tips for the interview, its been 4 years since my last interview and this is the first I have done outside my home country. Any tips would be gratefully accepted as this job would keep me in Engineering - seeing as most of the jobs I have applied for lately have been in IT and the stuff I was doing while at Uni to keep the wolf from the door.

When you go for an interview in the UK they always tell you not to be too confident or you come over cockey and as a result will be marked down, but in a country where confidence is a birthrite I suppose I should swagger in and put my feet on the desk and answer "hell yeah" to every question! (or not).

Any one know what are the standard questions over here?

Patrick

Bruce100

I've now had 2 jobs in the US. The first was a phone interview lasting a little over 20mins. Not very standard I presume!!

Anyway I moved over here, was there for two and a half years and have just recently switched to another company. Went for a couple of interviews and both were pretty simple. Like you (I don't count the situation above) I hadn't been on an interview in about 3-4 years (and those were in London for a completely different industry) so I was a bit nervous. But both were completely fine.

The job I ended up taking consisted of me coming in and chatting to 3 guys in different departments that may or may not have had jobs going. The guy who ended up offering me the job just asked me a lot of "skillset" questions as opposed to "personal" questions. Whereas I'm used to getting asked things like "name a traumatic time in your life where you had to use ingenuity to adapt" (no really - an American investment bank saw fit to ask that one a few years ago) this guy went straight for the technical stuff. Now whether that's the norm or he was the exception I don't know. The other interview I went on followed similar format.

I tried not to play it too confident. I didn't want to look like the foreigner coming in and looking down on the locals, so to speak. Seemed to work.

Good luck.

brisray

Here's what happened at an interview I went to just over a year ago. I expected the interview I went to to last around an hour at most. I was there for 5. The first part was a one person interviewing me, previous experience, education etc. etc. A tour of the place when like Bruce's experience, I chatted (definately not interview style) to a few different people. Then came a couple of aptitude, intelligence and genral education tests. I actually saw the department I applied to work in for about quarter of an hour.

Americans seem more relaxed about about dress codes (shorts at weddings and funerals?) but they, and I, think it the "proper" British thing to do to wear a suit to such occasions. They have a thing called business casual which seems to be anything not jeans, t-shirt and trainers - a bit like the dress down days at the company I worked for in the UK.

I didn't get the job (I was still living in the UK at the time) and as it happened came over on a K1 visa. We decided for me to try the employment route first as the company would take the strain and some of the finances off of us.

I've been very lucky, my wife is a department head at a state college so I'm back at school for free, something I never expected. Partly due to my commercial experience I'll have four more Associate Degrees by next spring, something that hopefully the Americans can relate to when they ask about my education.

Ray

Pulaski

Deleted, in the name of good taste.

Patrick

I personally thought it was funny, if your going to say something like that at least have the cajones to leave it and let people read it.

Patrick

For those who didn't see he wrote (and I am paraphrasing)..

"
No wonder you are highly strung, your a loser without a job

Engineering is dead in the US, you will never get a job
"

See, thats funny!

brisray

Funny but mean. or should that be mean but funny?

Just before i left the UK, I was sat on the dockside in Bristol getting drunk with some friends, there were a group of students next to us discussing what they were going to do after university. Some of them had their whole life planned out. What I heard I thought it was hilarious. It's a rare person indeed whose life runs like that.

I went from being head of an IT department there to being a student here and I don't think I'll find as good a job as I did in the UK. It seems you have to be on either of the coasts in my field. Perhaps I can write a corn tracking database or something?

We went to see Sean Morey at a club here recently and he sang the "Indiana Song". I know the words by heart, it goes

Corn, corn, corn, corn, corn, corn ...... (deep breath)
Corn, corn, corn, corn, corn, corn ......

I'm rambling.

Some skills are very much sought after here, I even had someone from Birmingham, Alabama emailing me to come for a job interview within a fortnight of getting here because of something he'd read on my website.

There are lots of us "non-traditional students" (ie middle-aged people) at college and some of their experiences aren't too pleasant. Large companies have simply uprooted and moved to where cheaper labour is, mostly the southern states. Others have laid-off everyone and taken them back but with much worse contracts. Other people have turned up to work to be told "we don't need you anymore, sorry, bye."

Damn, now I'm turning into wet blanket.

Anyway, good luck with your interview Patrick.

steppke

Hi Patrick,

I would certainly echo everyone else's comments about being confident, in my experience you have to sell yourself a little harder than we are used to in the UK, maybe it's because US HR directors want reassurance that experience gained in Europe is still valid here.

What has really staggered me is the sheer numbers of people you have to interview with - at one big Silicon Valley company I had no less than 15 individual interviews, I have never had less than 6 individual and two panel. The jobs were at Director or VP level and in every case I not only interviewed with HR and the prospective boss but also with all the staff who would be reporting to the position. Be prepared for quite a round of talks.

Apart from that do the usual homework on the company, market and business environment and be prepared to "show-off" a little of your skillbase - I have also had to do personality tests, presentations and case studies. Certainly different from the last time I interviewed in London - one meeting at a fancy restaurant and the job was mine, those were the days.............

Good luck

rft_1992

tips:
1.anticipate some questions that may arise during interview like;
a. about your previous jobs and your responsibilities
b. why do you want to work in their company
c. what do you expect from the company you are applying for
d. what are your strenght(explain)and weaknesses,and how do you overcome these.
e. how do you see yourself 5 years from now
f. how much do you expect for your salary
g. what are your advantages over the other applicants
h. what are your achievements
these are only few standard questions given and you must have a ready answer for these questions.write it down and practice,ask someone to help you in role playing. remember ,ypu should not answer it as if you memorized all the lines.be comfortable but not too lax.Give naswers that you know how to defend.

2. mantain eye contact,be aware of you body langauge espc. your hands,sit properly but not too stiff.

3. you should know how to defend whatever you wrote in your resume,you should know it by heart.

4.remember you are selling yourself,so be sure to smile always

5.wear a business coat if possible,but be sure you wont look like your the interviewer and he/she is the applicant if you know what i mean.You should look clean,so dont forget to stop by in a restroom before the interview.

6.you should come 30 mins. before your appointment ,never come late,this is a very big minus factor on your part.

7.build a positive first impression.

GOODLUCK!!!
rft_1992

5.be confident but not boastful

hhmaker

Hi Patrick

I came over here in 95 on a two year posting. I have sinced changed jobs twice and gone through many interviews. (I did get a green card very quickly)I have to agree with most of the comments , in that you will generally need to sit in front of many people before you will get the job. In my experience it is because no one person wants to take any crap if you turn out to be a poor hire. The trick is to be on top of your game. Sell yourself by being bold about your plus points and mask any bad points. I have found that being British helps (big time) I guess that some people still love the accent. I work in Financial services and went from being a Telephone engineer in London to become a managing Director and CIO at a large international bank. And that is without any college at all.

Good luck

HHmaker.

Pulaski

Congratulations, it really is possible to make it big in America.

..... You've got to love American banks though - with all their corporate titles for the different tiers of management. Most businesses around the world somehow manage with just one managing director, whereas American banks routinely have scores, hundreds even!

hhmaker

You are quite correct. however, I work for a European bank, and we have 5 MDs