A conversation with hiring manager - Part 1
Students often told me that they did not know why they did not get hired although they did well in job interviews. Of course, companies never told candidates the reason but I asked Timothy, a hiring manager of a large software company in California and following was his explanation:
“I have spent over 20 years in recruiting college students and conducted countless interviews and there is one common mistake that many students often made: They did not bother to read the entire job description that they were applying. That meant they did not pay attention to the job and it is an indication of their bad attitude if I hire them. They probably will be someone who waits until the last minute to get things done; never do adequate analysis for their work; or do not pay attention to the detail. That is why most did not get hired.”
“Why is understanding the job requirements so important? Because when you understand them, you can prepare yourself better. If you had a lot of job interviews but did not get hired, you might not be doing enough of the right preparation. Many students go from one interview to another and hope that they may get hired without any preparation; it is like buying a lot of lottery tickets and hopes to win. Some believe that a degree will get them job without knowing that a degree does not guarantee anything. The fact is there are more qualified candidates who compete for a few available jobs. To get hired, you must put in efforts to analyze the job requirements to know what the company needs and be prepared for it. I know students are busy with school works or some may have several interviews in one day but it does not mean they can be careless. Every time I go to a university, I have to interview ten to fifteen graduates a day, some are prepared and I hire them but many are not prepared to meet my company's needs and they do not get hired.”
“Many students have a tendency to use the same resume for every job that they apply that is a big mistake. Today companies receive thousands of resume each week and they cannot review all as it takes a lot of time and effort. The common way is to scan these resume and using special software to look for matching keywords. The software will reject all resumes that do not have at least 90% matching keywords so if you do not get an interview, it means your resume do not have good match. It goes back to the common mistake that students do not read the job requirements carefully. When apply for a position, students must read the job description carefully to make sure they understand the requirements then analyze their knowledge, skills, education and experience against the job requirements to determine if they qualify and whether there is any skill gaps that might exist. They should look carefully at the keywords that used to describe the job then update their resume using these keywords to make sure the resume showcases your skills that are most relevant to the job requirements. By having matching keywords will increase the chance of getting interview, that is so easy to do but most did not and it means they do not care.”
“Before the interview, students must be prepared for the interview questions that they might be asked. They should read the job description and try to predict the kind of questions the interviewer might ask to find out how their skills fit the job requirements. They should practice their answers clearly to develop good answering skills but if they mumble the answer then it is no good. It is also important for students to clarify the questions if they do not understand something listed on the job description by come up with some questions they could ask to obtain clarification such as “Please explain what do you mean by the sentence “Must have intensive knowledge of Hadoop?” Does the word “intensive” mean skills or experience? Please explain.”
“As a hiring manager, I always take time during the interview to explain the job description with the candidate. I go through each requirement one by one and ask candidates to tell me how they qualify based on their knowledge, skills, education or experience. For example, I would ask a candidate about security requirements for a web development position. Candidates can tell me that either they have built a website with strong security or have taken a computing security course. Depend on their answer, I would ask more detail. As a candidate, if you are prepared and read the job description well then you should not have problem of answering as you know what I may ask. You may include the relevant information on your resume already. If you are NOT prepared and NOT read the job description carefully then you will not know what I may ask about security then you will get nervous or cannot answer and that is why you may not get hired. You must know that there are more job applicants who are well prepared and the key factor is to find ways to be better than others. My advice is to review each job description by analyzing the job requirements and be prepared BEFORE go into any interview because that is the best way to get hired.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
