[Discuss] Looking for work

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

Jerry wrote:
>> Don't volunteer anything and don't be negative.

Edward Ned Harvey responded:
> Agreed with everything Jerry just said, except "don't volunteer anything."
> ... I feel the best interviews
> are usually the ones where the candidates show energy and enthusiasm,
> passion for the technology and love what they do.

You're both right. ;-)  I have quite recent experience with this; just got the
thumbs-down yesterday from an interview 10 days earlier.  My failure mode in
interviews is that I ramble until a timer goes off inside me reminding me to
give the interviewer a chance to ask a question.  On this occasion, my
rambling took me down a dangerous turn.  One of my previous jobs ended in a
horrendous way, and to this day I still feel a whole lot of rage and angst
about it.  Deep in my subconscious is a desire to get all this off my chest
and transcend the person who caused this wound in my life.

*But* I shouldn't ever talk about it.  10 days ago, I did, without being
prompted.  The facial expression of this hiring manager changed for the rest
of the interview, so I pretty much knew his decision 10 days before it was
officially communicated to me.  Perhaps there was another reason behind the
adverse decision, but this gaffe stood out in an otherwise positive 3 hours of
discussions with 5 screeners.

So in response to this advise from Jerry & Ned:  I think it's good advice to
ramble on about positive achievements and/or things that you know the hiring
company is working on, for up to about 2 minutes, but then you need to bring
your comments to the point and prompt another question from your interviewer
(usually, by asking an innocuous question of your own).

-rich