How do you prepare for an SE job interview?
The job involves skills at dealing with people, answering questions, listening, presenting and becoming a trusted advisor. If you want to win the job, you need to be prepared to show all of these skills and give your future manager the ability to see you in action.
Previously I have written about questions to expect for an SE interview. However here we will focus on a few other areas, such as who will be there, and what should be prepared to do or show.
One common thing I look for, is to give the prospect a chance to show their presenting skills. I wouldn't expect them to show a presentation on our products yet, but I would expect to see a polished presentation on a topic familiar to them already, such as their own tool.
I would also expect to go through a scenario where we role play a meeting with a potential customer for this presentation, and expect to have both questions and answers on this topic.
You can also expect to meet both people within the SE team, the manager and also sales resources you'd be expected to work with. In these cases, it is not just skills, but also personality, teamwork and the ability to build a rapport with your future colleagues that is being tested.
Finally, some in depth knowledge that is important to the job, whether this is technical, subject matter related or your capabilities to communicate in the languages/mediums required which will be in focus.
Preparing for an interview is difficult, but I hope with these things in mind, you can be ready for anything - which is what you really need if you are going to be a successful SE.
The job involves skills at dealing with people, answering questions, listening, presenting and becoming a trusted advisor. If you want to win the job, you need to be prepared to show all of these skills and give your future manager the ability to see you in action.
Previously I have written about questions to expect for an SE interview. However here we will focus on a few other areas, such as who will be there, and what should be prepared to do or show.
One common thing I look for, is to give the prospect a chance to show their presenting skills. I wouldn't expect them to show a presentation on our products yet, but I would expect to see a polished presentation on a topic familiar to them already, such as their own tool.
I would also expect to go through a scenario where we role play a meeting with a potential customer for this presentation, and expect to have both questions and answers on this topic.
You can also expect to meet both people within the SE team, the manager and also sales resources you'd be expected to work with. In these cases, it is not just skills, but also personality, teamwork and the ability to build a rapport with your future colleagues that is being tested.
Finally, some in depth knowledge that is important to the job, whether this is technical, subject matter related or your capabilities to communicate in the languages/mediums required which will be in focus.
Preparing for an interview is difficult, but I hope with these things in mind, you can be ready for anything - which is what you really need if you are going to be a successful SE.