IT Interview for Work Placement.

Creamy Goodness

As part of my 3rd year course we've to do a 6 month work placement.

CV's were sent out the middle of October and we were told we would be getting an interview preparation lecture before any of the interviews for work placement would start.

well suffice to say, that didn't happen and now I have an interview for a well established company that focuses on POS/Banking services.

I know the company and where it is so that's grand I can sort out travel and the history about the company.

I got the email today from the college work placement office, and the interview is in 3 days. I've to sort out a suit and shoes tomorrow which should be ok, hopefully.

my problem is though is that I'm totally unprepared for the interview, I've never done one before and I know this won't follow the standard interview as touched on by the sticky in this forum as I don't know what role I'm being interviewed for and they can be no "why this position?" type questions.

basically what I'm wondering is, does anyone have any experience at work placement position type interview particularly in the IT area? specific do's and don'ts?

Thanks.

damnyanks

Good look on the internet for the bog standard questions.

Think of answers for them

Dear oh dear don't recite answers in the interview. But basically if you've an idea of what questions will come up then you might give a good answer.

If you have a particularly good strength you should try to lead the interviewer to asking you more questions about it I.e just drop a slight mention in an answer, they either bite or dont.

Dont touch yourself or your interviewer and its good. Search youtube bet it has it on them.

god bless the internet

DublinWriter

It's a well documented psychological fact that interviewers make up their minds within the first five minutes of the interview.

First impressions really count. Try not to appear nervous and give a firm, confident handshake (not too firm!).

Maintain eye contact with the interviewer. Nod occasionally when they are talking.

If there is more than one interviewer and you are asked a question, reply by switching your focus of address between interviewers occasionally.

I can't believe your particular college didn't arrange mock interviews for you!

Best of luck,

DW.

the_syco

What field is it in? Is it programming, or what? The reason I ask, is, if it were programming, ask your lecturer. Many lecturers have had jobs, before becoming lecturers, so know a few questions. Bring a pen and paper when asking, so you can take down these questions. The questions may not come up, but they'll give you a feel for the questions.

Also, ensure you reread any crap from your projects. As you've no qualifications, they usually ask you about any projects that you've done, how well you did in them, etc.

omahaid

I was conducting interviews for co-op's recently and the one thing that impressed me was people who were enthusiastic about what they studied or the job the were interviewing. I was perfectly willing to ignore lower grades if the person was very interested in what they did. So, that would be my advice, don't be "uh huh, ummm, ya, i like stuff, or something"

Creamy Goodness

sorry i've let this one go quite absent, i've been running around like a headless chicken since i last posted.

thanks for the advice guys every bit is making a difference. the interview is tomorrow at 11:00 and i have everything ready (i'm sure).

i've read up on the company (quite lucky they had an article written about them in the business post on sunday )

the company have three jobs on offer and are taking four students for placement.

the jobs are as follows.

1. 1 x Lab and environment administrator

a. Working on Virtual Machine technology
b. Netorking
c. Ghosting/Imaging
d. Network and Web Tools development
e. TCP/IP
f. System installation/Archiving/Cloning

2. 2 x Test Engineer

a. Hands on experience running tests on our ATMs, Internet and POS solutions
b. Creating Cards for ATMs
c. Performing Operational tests on systems
d. Reviewing Documentation and responsible for updating our FAQ system

3. 1 x Automation Engineers

a. Extending the level of automation of our existing test cases
b. Internet test case automation development
c. Windows GUI automation
d. Connecting to Oracle DB and running validation checks on data

another thing is, when should i arrive at the building, my interview slot is at 11am with three people ahead of me and one behind me. i was thinking of arriving at the building 10:30am? is that too much or too little time?

one of the other students i was talking to today said he's bringing in a copy of his CV. this to me conveys from the interviewer's mind that he's unprepared and should know what's on his own CV. would i be right in thinking this? should i bring anything in?

damnyanks

No harm in bringing your cv incase they dont have it, if they dont have it they arent very organised.

Grab a coffee or whatever at 10:30 in a near by shop, get in for 10:50

Be direct about which job you want and tell them why you want it.

the_syco

damnyanks wrote: »

No harm in bringing your cv incase they dont have it, if they dont have it they arent very organised.

Grab a coffee or whatever at 10:30 in a near by shop, get in for 10:50

What he said. You bring the CV, but don't show them the CV, unless they don't have a copy. Then you produce your copy, which you "just happened to have" on you.

30 minutes is too early. Coffee is good, but don't smoke. It may calm your nerves, but as many places are going anti-smoking, some don't take on smokers.

Stephen

I'd normally show up 15 minutes before the alotted time.