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Types of Interviews

Types of Interviews

Behavioral interviews ask questions related to your past behavior to help inform the organization of your potential future behavior. Behavioral interviews are very common across all industries.

Question Content: General Questions & Past Experiences

  • “Tell me about yourself.”
  • “Tell me about a time when….” 
  • “Give me an example of…” 
  • “What is your greatest strength and weakness?”

Strategies for Success:

  • Think about your stories that you anticipate will come up in an interview. Stories involving examples when you (1) went above and beyond what was asked of you, (2) have handled difficult situations, (3) were most proud of yourself and your achievements, (4) were seen as a leader amongst your peers, and more.
  • Use the STAR method when providing responses to the interviewer’s question to provide them with a concise and detailed story.

Situation: Set the scene and give the necessary details of your example.

Task: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation.

Action: Explain exactly what steps you took to address it.

Result: Share what outcomes your actions achieved.

 

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Technical interviews ask candidates to solve equations on the spot and/or coding questions to demonstrate your technical skills, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.

Question Structure: Skill-Based Questions

  • What are some benefits of working in an Agile environment?
  • Why are doors rectangular instead of round or square?
  • What's the probability of rolling a two on a die the first time?
  • What is the role of continuous integration systems in the automated-build process?

Strategies for Success:

  • Practice solving technical problems. You can use online resources to practice coding, building frameworks or your data analysis skills to practice solving problems that might be presented to you during a technical interview.
  • Review the basic applications of your field. Ensure you have a solid understanding of your technical principles and methodologies can help you succeed during the interview.

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An interviewer presents a detailed situation, problem or challenge (“case”) and asks you to analyze it and come up with a solution that you must talk through by asking the interviewer clarifying questions.

Question Structure: Example Business Case

  • Your niece wants to open a lemonade stand to buy her mother a birthday present. What do you think of this plan?
  • What is the market capitalization of Amazon today?
  • A company that produces various flavors of soda has found that it is operating at a loss despite its revenues being high.  What are the possible reasons for this situation?

Strategies for Success:

  • Practice cases in live scenarios and read multiple cases prior to your first interview.
  • Cases vary in the amount of details that an interviewer provides.  For some cases you are given very little information and the interviewer wants you to probe for additional details.  In other cases, you may be given too many facts and the interviewer wants to see how you can separate the critical information from the unnecessary details for your analysis.
  • Consider these six steps when responding to a case problem (Accenture): (1) Listen to the case, (2) Clarify the problem, (3) Decompose the problem, (4) State a hypothesis, (5) Test the hypothesis, and (6) Summarize your findings.

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Interview Formats

In-Person Interviews

In-person interviews are face to face and can take place on-site at the organization's office or on campus (if it is through the On-Campus Interviewing Program). They can be one-on-one interviews with the hiring manager, panel interviews, or an intensive full-day of interviewing with a variety of people from the organization.

Checklist:

  • Dress professionally from top to bottom
  • Have reliable transportation to the interview site
  • Have copies of your resume and examples of your previous work if possible

Phone Interviews

Phone interviews are conducted through a phone call that can last between 5 - 45 minutes. Often the first round of interviewing, phone interviews gauge your understanding of the role and determine if you are qualified to move forward in the process. 

Checklist:

  • Make sure your phone is fully charged and connectivity is good
  • Do some voice exercises 
  • Consider having your resume in front of you with notes about the experiences you want to present to the employer
  • Have access to your resume and other reference materials
  • Be in a quiet location where you aren’t likely to be disturbed 

Video Interviews

Video interviews are conducted through a video conferencing platform (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.). The purpose of this interview is to gauge your understanding of the role, assess prior experiences and to determine if you are qualified to move forward in the process. These interviews are quickly replacing the phone interview.

Checklist:

  • Test your technology beforehand, including your WiFi connection, audio and microphone
  • Be prepared to turn on your camera and look professional 
  • Try to choose a background with no distracting images/colors
  • Hold the interview in a quiet space where you will not be disturbed
  • Angle yourself so that direct light is not focusing on your screen (sunlight or artificial light) or you are not in shadow

Recorded Interviews

Recorded interviews ask candidates to record answers to a set of pre-prepared questions. Candidates are often given a set timeframe to prepare their answers and then respond, with an average of 30 seconds for each. 

Checklist:

  • Practice recorded responses of interview questions with InterviewStream in Careers4Terps
  • Test your technology beforehand, including your WiFi connection, audio and microphone
  • Look professional within the frame of the camera view
  • Try to be in a location with a background with no distracting images/colors
  • Hold the interview in a quiet space where you will not be disturbed
  • Angle yourself so that direct light is not focusing on your screen (sunlight or artificial light) or you are not in shadow

Online Assessments

Online assessments ask a set of questions to determine if you meet certain criteria that the organization is seeking for the position. Candidates generally cannot prepare for these assessments. 

Checklist: 

  • Test your technology beforehand
  • Have quick access to reference materials (resume, identification papers, etc.) 
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