What are typical IT interview questions? What are the best answers to IT interview questions?
Those are questions I recently asked an expert–Jeff Lipschultz, owner of A-List Solutions, a recruiting firm in the Dallas area that places a large number of technology candidates all over the country. He’s got a front-row seat for both sides of IT hiring–managers and candidates. Jeff offered some great insight into what interviewers ask and what they’re looking for in your answers to IT questions. Here are excerpts from Jeff’s best IT interview advice on how to answer IT interview questions:
IT interviewers will still say, “Tell me about yourself.” Don’t think non-technical questions aren’t important in these interviews. You still have to know how to answer interview questions that are universal, like “Tell me about yourself.” The key is to remember that it’s not a generic, icebreaker kind of question.
By saying, “Tell me about yourself,” they’re giving you an opportunity to talk about your projects, the type of growth you’ve had within different technologies and the type of industries you’ve worked in. That’s where you dive into. If you want to mention that you’re a Triathlete to give someone the very end of that question, just to give someone an indication that this is a person who can set and achieve goals, that’s always a little extra on the end, but you have to stay technical.
When interviewers dive into specific or technical questions, there’s still a trick to answering them well. You must answer it in a way that’s going to speak to that hiring manager and make him or her more interested in you as a candidate.
…My client might say “Tell me what you know about this company. Why would you want to work here?” This forces you to talk about technology. They want to hear you say “You guys are working with stuff that I want to work in.” … That’s where you would have to have done your homework. You and I can talk about how to prepare for the interview in a moment, but homework is very important.
Within those questions I’m going to ask about relevant experience. If you have a job description in front of you, Mr. or Mrs. Candidate, you definitely know where I’m going to go. I’m going to go right into saying “Here’s a technology that I know my client needs.” You’re going to have to answer questions about that. Some might be technical, but some of the questions prompt you to walk me through your tool belt. How long have you used it? How recently have you used it?
When the rubber hits the road, though, the most important thing is that you to tell us how you’ve used it. This can include what projects you’ve worked on recently where you have used it, and which of those projects are you most proud of? However, if you’re going to talk about something you did ten years ago that happens to fit the description, there’s going to be a little bit of a staleness to what you’re saying. It might be your favorite, but you’ve got to do your homework and say, “Ok, I’m going to go with this project as my favorite because it’s more relevant, it’s more recent, and it deals with these technologies.” Your personal favorite doesn’t really matter….They’re essentially asking, “What would be my favorite project that you did?”
In this conversation, Jeff also talks about how to answer IT interview questions like:
- Why should I hire you?
- What are the components of a successful team?
- How would you rate your own abilities?
…and more.
He talks about how to handle conversations about your process, problem solving, decision making, troubleshooting, quality, testing, deployment processes.
Overall, he gives IT professionals advice on how to stand out from others in the interview process and get the job.
Jeff and I talked for over 30 minutes about IT interviews, and it’s way too much to put in one blog post. So what I did was put the entire audio up so you can hear it for yourself. There’s nothing like hearing advice straight from an expert in the field. This audio is going to help you dramatically improve your IT interview performance.
Listen to the complete 30-minutes of IT Interview advice from Jeff Lipschultz. Click this link to go to the audio => IT Interview Questions
This information is gold if you want an IT job. It covers resumes, job descriptions, preparation, interviews, questions, and more.
In this audio, you will hear:
- How to interview for an IT job
- Typical questions to expect in an IT interview
- How to prepare for an IT interview
You can get more of Jeff’s advice on his blog — Jeff Lipschultz’s Blog.
Get ready for your interview with my Free Training Webinar, How to Answer Interview Questions. You will learn how to communicate with the hiring manager in a way that will make them practically beg to hire you! >> Find out more here. <<