Do not repeat my mistakes at the interview

I am a developer with a little more than 10 years of development experience and experience in passing several rounds of interviews every year or two.
The post was written under the impression of the two previous posts on a related topic - How I was looking for employees or How not to go through interviews and How I was looking for work or How not to conduct interviews . And although in these posts the most pressing problems of the applicant and the employer are highlighted, I would venture to express my opinion, which is based on personally filled cones and helps to look at the problems from a different angle.

I would also venture to describe ways to solve problems, consisting in changing what can be changed (mostly myself), and not what cannot be changed (say, the labor market).

Error number 1

The applicant receives so many invitations for an interview that he is unable to process them.
The logical conclusion of the applicant: “there is an acute shortage of personnel in the market, so I can sift out companies as I want, by flipping those who hint about the code on a piece of paper, sorting or gnomes”. A less modest variation of the same conclusion is also possible: “since everyone wants me, it means that I am a great professional, I can dictate my own conditions to everyone”. It sounds, it seems, logical, but absolutely useless.
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I suggest looking at the root of the error (yes, this is a mistake). If the applicant receives too many invitations, it means that he has incorrectly compiled a resume. After all, the summary was the reason for the avalanche-like interest.

So, if the applicant receives 10-20- ... calls per day - you need to change the summary to reduce the number of calls. “Why reduce? Hands off my resume! ”- the applicant may exclaim. And then, that it is impossible to work in all companies at once. And even you can not pass all the interviews.

The first candidate for change is the expected salary. Yes, I know, it is not necessary to indicate it in the resume. But most job search services ask (and sometimes require) to indicate the amount of salary in the questionnaire. Feel free to specify more.
The second candidate is the expected role in the new project. For example, a job seeker is a senior developer who has stayed in his place. Maybe you should change the accents in the resume and pretend to be a beginner team lead?
The third candidate is the expected development methodologies, platforms, frameworks, etc. In the summary, it is necessary to emphasize exactly what we would like to work with, and to burn out the experience of what we didn’t want with a hot iron. So that employers do not even think about offering what they don’t like.

Thus, changing the resume, you can achieve a comfortable number of calls. For me personally, this is 1-3 calls a day, if I'm still working, or 3-5 if I'm already unemployed.

Error number 2

Discussing the salary, the applicant believes that he calls the minimum allowable amount for which he is ready to work. Then follow the bidding, ending with the complete disagreement of the parties.

This is the anti-pattern of trading - to start with the last sentence, the worst of which can not be.
Naturally, few employers will increase the amount mentioned. In my entire career, only one of the interviews gave me more than I asked.
The employer quite logically regards the designated amount as the “first sentence”. And, if this amount in principle falls into the budget, as a rule, it will start to be traded. Even if the amount is slightly below his expectations - he can still bargain. Employers who unconditionally accept the named price are a minority. If this happens - the applicant, most likely, made a bad bargain.

The applicant should be called the upper threshold of its market price, throwing another 10 percent for freedom of maneuver. You need to calmly and confidently call the price, it is advisable to practice before the mirror in advance (this is not a joke, the moment the price is announced is one of the most important). If the market price is determined correctly, then bidding will follow, ending to the full satisfaction of both sides, somewhere between the middle and upper bar of the market price.
In the case of an understated or overvalued market, the applicant will receive too much or not a single offer, respectively. Obviously, you need to adjust the wishes and continue to go on interviews.

Error number 3

The applicant receives a lot of invitations not on the profile.
For example, if a job seeker is a .NET-developer, and they invite him to write websites in PHP, then instead of bringing righteous anger to stupid HR, you should understand the root cause of how this happened. The roots of the problem most often lie in the resume. For example, the resume is striking that the applicant has worked on some kind of front-end. And on the 4th page it may be revealed that he was a student of phlegm in his student life. Here is a poor HR and singled out acquaintances from the mass of abbreviations and decided to make a bell.
Such a job seeker may be advised to rework your resume, make it concise, concise, unambiguous and understandable even to a layperson. So that no HR at all desire could find in the resume what is not there. For the first third of the first page to be clear who the applicant is and what he is looking for.

Error number 4

The applicant does not know the information about the company, where he goes for an interview.
The applicant's thoughts vary from “Here, read about them, there is no time and so. This is not Google, let them tell. ”To“ It’s better to see once than to read 100 times. Only through personal contact can one understand who you are dealing with. ”And then the applicant could barely convey the disappointment of the meeting, in order to pour it onto a forum or blog, without spilling it on the way.

Recommendation in the style of K.O. - the applicant should google about the company on thematic forums, read reviews of insiders. Time will take 15-30 minutes for the company, but it will potentially save 3-4 hours for an interview (taking into account the road), not to mention a lot of nerves. In addition, if the interview nevertheless takes place, the information obtained in the network will allow in advance to formulate the right questions to the employer.

Error number 5

Expectations of the applicant are not justified in an in-person interview.
This error partially overlaps with errors No. 3 and No. 4, and is partially solved by the methods described above, but has a more general character. It includes a lot of heterogeneous "surprises", ranging from the location of the office in the utility room at the plant and ending with a "gray" salary.
Of course, it is impossible to exclude the possibility of a surprise completely, but you can significantly save time and make it easier for yourself (and the employer) to live using a more advanced telephone interview.

The applicant should prepare a list of questions in advance so that during a telephone conversation with a representative of the company not to miss anything important. In case of appointment of an in-person interview, it is necessary to look at information about the company on the network, make another (this time personalized) list of questions, call back or write to the company for clarification. Of course, such a meticulous study takes time, but it is intended to save it. It is very likely to find a "stop factor" in the way of employment, so it will be better sooner and more remotely than later in the company’s office.
The number of face-to-face interviews is decreasing, while their quality and effectiveness is increasing. For me, this indicator is at the level of a couple of interviews per week or one interview each day, depending on whether I am currently working or not.

Error number 6

Applicant is not preparing for an interview. Because the applicant doesn’t have enough time, he thinks that “you don’t breathe before dying”, that due to a shortage of personnel, you can’t afford to prepare, or in general, that it’s impossible to prepare.
The result of an error is an increase in the probability of failure in good places with good money.
Behind excuses most often laziness is hidden, sometimes non-professionalism.

It is possible and necessary to prepare. Of course, nothing new can be learned during the preparation at a deep level, but at the very least it is necessary to refresh existing knowledge, streamline it, and identify gaps.
Yes it's time. But what if it is thanks to the preparation that it is possible as a result of the interview to get 10% more money than without preparation? So, during the preparation, the applicant earned these 10%, multiplied by the average time spent in one place. And this is a good amount.

Error number 7

The applicant agrees to the first offer (job offer).
Even if this proposal, which I never dreamed of, it is worth thinking about what made the first sighting shot hit the bull's eye? I do not urge to refuse the proposal only because it is the first, but I think that it will be useful for the applicant to pass several more interviews. As a result, either the applicant will be convinced that the first offer is truly an incredible success, or will get the best offer.

And in conclusion, the applicant may be advised to use the Parkinson's law, namely, the head of the Final List, or the principles of personnel selection . Only instead of personnel selection, apply these principles to the selection of companies. The results can be very interesting.