This is my first real interview for a decent company. It is an internship in the RTP area. They emailed me and told me they were going to get their interview team together and set up a time in the next week or so. Tell me about this "team" thing. I figure it will be a panel of people asking questions, any idea what kind of questions they may ask? It is just an internship, so this panel of interviewers surprised me a bit.

3/10/2008 7:28:48 PM

what type of company is it for

3/10/2008 7:32:17 PM

um yeah. they'll probably ask questions about your job dude.

and if you want specifics, say the job title

3/10/2008 7:34:58 PM

I'll be writing SAS code (statistics). They are looking for a person who has completely or is currently enrolled in a SAS programming course. I am currently enrolled in one, so I am by no means a master of the language, and I suppose they aren't expecting me to be. I know enough to do what they are asking for though (I hope).

3/10/2008 7:38:25 PM

They'll probably do the basic questions:

Tell us about yourself
Give us examples of Teamwork, Organization blah blah
How would you handle (insert situation)
What are your greatest strengths/weaknesses

Then probably go into more technical stuff like your programming skills etc.

Just remember to dress nice, smile a lot, and don't say "Uhhhhhh"

3/10/2008 9:04:46 PM

google "behavioral interview questions"...there are plenty of sites with a good list of potential questions.

3/10/2008 10:20:00 PM

the interview team may or may not be all at once. I've had places where it is a panel, like you describe . . . but I've had a bunch more where you have 4 or 5 30 - 45 minute interviews, each with 1 person.

3/10/2008 10:35:57 PM

My Personal Selling teacher says that if they ask for weaknesses, tell them that you work too hard. Don't tell them you're an alcoholic.

3/10/2008 10:42:27 PM

I had 3 team interviews last year for SAS programming positions. One, they had me talk to people 1-2 at a time for 30 minutes each. The other two, I talked to all 5-6 people at the same time. If they don't give you a schedule ahead of time, it's probably going to be all at once. All the rules are the same as for 1 on 1 interviews. (Ask good questions, be professional, etc.) You just have a conversation with several people instead of one.

Not sure what content they'll ask of you. What will your duties be? Is it a student position? When are you graduating? What course are you taking now, 445? Undergrad classes only teach a small, small fraction of SAS, but I don't know how much they'll expect from you. You should at least be prepared to answer questions about what to do with errors & how you'd check the data for accuracy. You might be well off to bring in a code sample/pretty graph too.

3/10/2008 11:55:36 PM

"Where do you see yourself 5 years from now/in the future?" .... I hate those questions

3/11/2008 8:07:51 AM

[two cents]

during a panel interview, do not just focus on the person that asked the question. while giving your answer, make eye contact with each person in the interview, like you are talking to each person there, because you are.

3/11/2008 8:42:18 AM

It's very important to be relaxed in these interviews as well. They're likely testing you to see how you handle stress because interviewing with multiple people at the same time can be very taxing. The best thing to do is turn the interview around and let them talk more about the company than ask you questions.

3/11/2008 8:44:25 AM

Quote :

""Where do you see yourself 5 years from now/in the future?" .... I hate those questions "

my biggest problem with that question in particular is that everyone seems to mean something different by it. Some pepole just mean like do you see yourself in an engineering position, or sales, or supply chain, or whatever. Others want to know where you see yourself location wise. Others want to know if you see yourself on the management track or the technical track (which is stupid since there won't be much of any difference at the 5 years point).

3/11/2008 11:40:08 AM

I have an interview in front of a panel in a week as well. It's for a government position. I've only had one other important interview (paying job) and I found myself extremely nervous. Aside from being relaxed, do you have any other advice? I'm going to try to know as much about the oragnization as possible and be confident and all the other basic stuff. Just wondering if you had some indvidual things you've done to help. And if there are those of you that have worked for state or local govenrment know of anything different to expect?

3/11/2008 2:36:33 PM

During an interview... NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER say that your an expert at something... because the guy that wrote the book on what you say your an expert on, or has a PhD in it could be interviewing you... Say that you are familiar with it at whatever level and describe the details about whatever they asked... This avoids them asking you challenging questions to trip you up and sometimes humble you...

explaining what you know about a question and your familiarity with the terms and considerations that go into dealing with that question is a good answer. A lot of getting interview questions right stems from getting the interviewer to ask the proper question. They do often throw out broad vague questions to see how you narrow down a problem.

3/11/2008 3:19:17 PM

Q. If you could be any animal, what would you be?

A. A buzzard--so I could pick the bones of my dead enemies.

This might help--might not. Good luck!

3/11/2008 3:36:05 PM

^^that's fairly helpful

^the one other interview I've had, was almost all questions such as that. They asked "what type of car are you" "who do you admire?" and others. Really threw me off because I was expcecting techinical questions or at least career oriented stuff. It was tough to say "camry because I am reliable" or whatever lame answer I could come up with.

3/11/2008 3:41:59 PM

^ I have been asked the "animal question" a number of times. I think it's stupid, but it does sort of throw people off their pat answers. I'm sure there's a corporate chart somewhere that lists "worker bee" or some other bullshit as the top answer.

That Q&A was a joke, though. I wouldn't use it except maybe as an ice-breaking answer to the animal question from reps of, say, an edgy company.

PS: be careful with the "Who do you admire?" question. They could be stealthily probing your politics.

[Edited on March 11, 2008 at 4:46 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2008 4:43:53 PM

along those same lines, I've been asked "If you are any tool in the toolbox, what are you?" and "If you were a Charlie Brown character, who would you be?" There is no right answer, it is mostly just to see how you think on your feet.

3/11/2008 5:20:04 PM

Quote :

"my biggest problem with that question in particular is that everyone seems to mean something different by it. Some pepole just mean like do you see yourself in an engineering position, or sales, or supply chain, or whatever. Others want to know where you see yourself location wise. Others want to know if you see yourself on the management track or the technical track (which is stupid since there won't be much of any difference at the 5 years point)."

That's actually not true, they mean one thing by it in every case I've seen and that is, "Yes I see my self doing this job in five years my life is great and I love this shit."

They don't want someone that is desperate or isn't sure what they want to do in life. Even if you aren't sure that is always the right answer

3/11/2008 5:34:25 PM

Quote :

""Where do you see yourself 5 years from now/in the future?" .... I hate those questions"

I dont think any engineer is going to ask, nor cares, where a new hire is going to be in 5 years.

3/11/2008 6:10:11 PM

^Some companies don't lay off people every 7 years... and are actually looking for Career people...

High tech and design jobs aren't that lucky though... I completely expect to get laid off at some point in my career... Sad to think that way but I've seen so many 25year+ IBM'ers get tossed out on their butts...

3/11/2008 10:21:37 PM

Quote :

"I dont think any engineer is going to ask, nor cares, where a new hire is going to be in 5 years."

This is BS. Furthermore, as an employee, you WANT to go to a company that wants to keep you around for a long time. This means they will compensate you competitively to keep you. Regardless of whether you think you will stick around there, you still want to work in this kind of environment.

This is simply a sign that they are well run (talking about a company, not the gov). Any company that doesn't realize the very high expense of turnover is poorly run.

Also, the correct answer is that you see yourself leading a team, making bigger decisions that affect the direction of the project, earning XYZ for the company.


Honestly, once you have work experience, you have plenty to talk about in interviews. This shit becomes easy.

[Edited on March 11, 2008 at 10:33 PM. Reason : sdf]

3/11/2008 10:32:30 PM

actually it's not complete BS, Quinn is half joking and half being serious from his own experience and the environment that he is in...

I'm going to speak for Electrical engineering doing High Tech design work in this statement:
You graduate with a BS... you might have SOME experience... but it will only get you in the door... your going to make something... IF your in a big company with lots of opportunity and mobility then after you get your 3 years of experience and make level 2 you might consider changing groups or taking on more responsibility in your current group...

However: if your at a smaller-medium company, once you get your 3 years experience and you pretty much know what you've done... unless somebody above you quits your not going to grow any and you need to change jobs. B/c stagnation is death to an design engineer... The only way to move up is to move out... Also many companies have a 10% raise limit vs if you change jobs you can easily pull 30-50% raises b/c you will get incentive + level change money.

Example: I worked with Quinn... that place there was no mobility... I worked at Northrop Grumman... there was infinite mobility (but it still required qualification and networking)... NGC you could make a solid career at given you don't get laid off... Quinn's place if you start making a career there and get laid off you'll have a decent skill set but probably be bored shitless with what you've been doing for several years in a row

3/11/2008 11:10:42 PM

i interviewed for a summer internship with progress energy a few weeks ago. they asked where i saw myself in 5 years. it was my first real interview also, so i was in the same boat. pretty much asked the exact questions i was expecting. here's what i remember:

- example of time you worked with a group, your role in the group, how things worked, etc.
- leadership--asked me about one of the leadership positions i had on my resume
- community involvement--asked me specifics about an example i had on my resume
- a specific engineering problem i had faced that i found difficult and how i worked through it--i just talked about a tough homework problem i worked on with a study group
- what i knew about the company
- what i knew about the electric utility industry
- other internships i had applied for (they want to see others...shows some ambition)
- any past internships? i had none, but mentioned my summer work and work during high school. at least shows that you have some work ethic.

that's about all the major stuff. no real applicable work experience makes things tough. might seem like you have nothing to talk about. a strong resume will give them things to specifically ask you about and make it easier on you.

i got the job, so i must've done alright.

almost forgot....my interview was about 45 minutes with a team of 3 guys. they just went around the table moving down a list of question topics on a form each of them had a copy of. the form gave them a topic, they looked at my resume or just came up with something off the top of their heads to get it a little more specific. (ex: form says community involvement, looks at resume, "tell me about when you were service project chairperson for....). i also talked one-on-one with another guy, who ends up being my supervisor. but that was mainly because they were thinking about putting me in a position they usually don't put first summer interns in (traveling a little more, etc.)

hope this was helpful. let me know if you have any questions for me.

[Edited on March 11, 2008 at 11:41 PM. Reason : team stuff]

on the "5 years from now" topic: i got the feeling they were looking for interns interested in a career with them. but it's a lot different from a design job anyways. just fixing and preventing broke stuff, so experience is very valuable.

[Edited on March 11, 2008 at 11:46 PM. Reason : "5 years from now i wanna be making bank"]

3/11/2008 11:32:03 PM

^^
1. I suggest you never ever use the second tense again if you can't figure out the difference between "your" and "you're"

2. You are confusing what he should look for in an employer and what he should do for his career. Going for the best employer now doesn't somehow stop him from doing what you said and looking for a better job soon after. My point is simply, no matter how many times you plan to switch jobs, look for the best employers every time. One quality of a great employer is that they try to keep employees. This is true in design as it is in any industry.

And in an interview, don't say "I plan to quit this job in 5 years and go somewhere to get that big second job increase."

3/12/2008 12:01:26 AM