I'd say yes, in most cases. What did the cofounder wear during your interview? What do they wear at the office? unless it's one of those type of companies that prides itself on wearing super casual clothes, go with the higher level of dress.

You can always ask whoever calls to set up your meeting what they wear. Also, dont worry about wearing the same suit. Just change the shirt and tie.

Gl

Well I had that phone interview today and I thought it went well expect for the fact the HR lady has previously interviewed me. I applied for an internship with this same company in 2009 and did not get the position. She most likely had records of me in the database. I am thinking this is a bad thing. Though since 2009 I graduated with a bachelors degree in business administration and had another job.

I was confident talking about past work experience and tried to make the interview more like a easy going conversation. She told me I will be getting a call back next week if I am selected for face to face interviews.

Another issue is that I don't really know where to send a thank you letter for the interview. I have her name, but no e-mail, or office location.

You have her name and the company, a little research should allow you to figure out the email naming convention for the company (first name only, first.last name, first initial.lastname, etc). If all else fails send out notes one by one to the standard naming conventions (don't blast as sometimes more than one convention works for the company). When you don't get a bounce back, you're good to go.

Yeah so I set it up for tomorrow. I was told to not wear a suit, and the guy gently made fun of me for wearing one in the first place. I also got a hard offer today for the other job and the contract is being written...and I kinda accepted verbally. I'll feel like a slime ball if I end up weaseling out for my preferred job, but I'll do it.

I'm a Sr VP for a major software company and I've probably sat in thousands of interviews over the years. There is some good advice here. I always ask our receptionist for her impressions of the candidate -- don't be an ass to them. Showing up about 5 minutes early is perfect, way early is almost as bad as way late. Be appropriately dressed and well-groomed. You should be aware what looks bad about your resume and be prepared to address it. Questions about the gap between jobs or the career change are inevitable -- if you don't have a coherent answer, it suggests that you aren't very bright or well-prepared. Never be disparaging about old jobs -- there is no way to talk bad about a place without some of it sticking to you. Pay attention to the interviewer's body language. If they are leaning forward and nodding, they are engaged with your answers. If they are looking bored or distracted by your resume, you are probably rambling. When you are asked technical questions you can't answer, the advice to say "I don't know" is good, but more important is to follow it up with how you could find the answer and solve the problem or what related knowledge you have that might help you infer the answer. To the extent you have game, try to engage the interviewer in conversation -- use your personality to capture their interest.

On the off chance any of you are women, the cleavage advice is of course terribad. The kinds of places and bosses that would hire you as a result have almost no overlap with the kinds of places and bosses you want.

Things that stand out with me later include having something interesting to ask about the company that demonstrates that you've done some homework, having the confidence to ask me to clarify questions where you think the information sought is ambiguous or unclear, giving the impression that you are clever and quick on your feet and seeming likeable. By and large, people want to hire people that they think will be pleasant to deal with. Any character trait that you associate with difficult co-workers are giant red flags to interviewers (defensive, obnoxious, malodorous, argumentative, surly or angry people are always going to be rejected)

There is no set answer for this question. You should place whichever you feel gives you a more impressive resume first. If you are two years out of grad school and have been applying your learned skills in the business (I am assuming this is an MBA) world, than work experience shows you not only can pass the test, but utilize those skills as well. The opposite holds true as well; if your work experience is very limited start with your impressive educational record.

surprised that it took 250+ posts for someone to say "don't talk **** about former employers." that's a big one.

i am a director in a non-profit with 100+ people under me and i have done a lot of interviews, entry level up through middle managers. if there is one thing i think people should take from this thread it's got to be about building rapport and having a conversation with your interviewer. if you can get them talking, and make them feel like you get what they are about, you are in great shape.

i always spend at least a couple minutes in every interview commenting on some industry-specific issue or giving some insight about the job. not giving the standard "this is what your day will be like" stuff, but something with some actual substance, often something a little tangential to get the conversation off the beaten path. if the interviewee gets it, responds, asks relevant questions, has an interesting opinion, that is a huge plus.

don't say too much or too little. very good advice. i can't stand when somebody is finishing my sentences to try and show they understand what i'm saying.

please do not use stock resume phrases or canned answers. nothing causes my eyes to roll like being passed a resume in an interview and realizing that the candidate has put all their alleged "skills" through some careerbuilder translation designed to make them sound smart. it seems like the trend now is about turning typical answers like "hard worker" and "team player" into equally vapid behavior-based statements.

re: behavior based questions. to the people who hate this line of inquiry - it shows that you are insecure and over-rehearsed and insincere. these types of questions are a great way to get around the typical interview BS and see how people think. it requires you to really listen in the moment and understand what the person is looking for, and then think on your feet based on what you know (and have hopefully reviewed prior to the interview) about your own experience.

some people do freeze up with these types of questions - giving a mediocre answer is not an immediate "no" for an otherwise good candidate. but if someone gives me a great answer on one of these questions it is usually a very reliable indicator that they are a good fit and i put a lot of stock in it.

Never stop interviewing until you have the offer letter signed, and sent back. I know far more people than I should who actually relocated and showed up to work only for the new boss/old boss tell them they hired someone else.

and...

Don't read too much into the interviews. I had interviews that went awful, which I got offered the job. Conversely, ones I thought I aced, where they went another direction.

Obviously play is to show up on her back porch with your thank you letter and one black rise. She'll be touched, and impressed with your investigative skills.

All of this is solid gold, just really awesome stuff.

But the bolded part...I'm sure I've said it before on here (well 40K ****ing posts, I've probably written it several times), that's so, so, so important. Smile, be pleasant and engaging, be someone they want to work with.

Also worth reiterating above (and I've probably written before):

- research on the company and conveying company/product knowledge is an easy way to score points

- research on the person/people you'll be meeting with - often super easy in this age of LinkedIn - can go a really long way because people love to talk about themselves and you can build rapport by referencing their past employers (chance to name drop people you both know, so long as you're sure it will work in your favor), their education, their listed hobbies (especially if you share them), etc.

- showing up way early is obnoxious and a huge pet peeve...it doesn't impress anyone, it just burdens them

This may be rehashing cuz this is an old bumped thread.

I sent her a thank you letter to the main office with attention to her name so I hope she gets the card. I will find out next week if I get another interview.

im going to do a phone interview for a bank teller job. what is some advice for phone interviews, and interviewing for customer relations.

Some ideas:

-approach a phone interview as seriously as you would an in-person interview.

-be prepared. Choose a quiet place to do it. Don't just answer the phone in your living room with the TV on in the background, or have kids running around playing. Do it at a table/desk, and have any documents spread out and ready to refer to (i.e. your resume, references, maybe the home page of the company's website, etc.) You want to be able to access that stuff quickly if you are asked a question.

-watch your grammar/voice inflection. Often on the phone, people are used to speaking more casually than you would live. Don't use slang. Watch out for your voice getting too high-pitched; it happens when nervous and on the phone.

-listen closely to the other person. While obvious, you won't be getting any visual feedback to your answers since you can't see their face. So you must try to get feedback solely from what they say/tone of voice.

-With all that above said, you also need to relax and try and be yourself. Especially for customer relations jobs, they are looking for people who can sound friendly and interact well with a variety of people.

That's some stuff off the top of my head.

GL.

Also, don't fear moments of silence. People tend to get very uncomfortable with silence and try to fill in those gaps, which leads to no good.

So you're saying to stfu?