

Interviewing? Come bearing gifts - ca136
http://schlafnotes.tumblr.com/post/7764173293

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mgkimsal
"12 hours studying the company and market".

For all but new job hunters, you should have a decent grasp of the market you
work in already.

For some type of work, it's a bit different - for web work, you may know the
web scene pretty well, but nothing about the insurance industry. If you're
going for a web job at an insurance company, getting familiar with the
industry _some_ will help a bit, but probably not too much during an initial
interview.

I had one case where I knew more about the industry the interviewing company
was in than the person interviewing me, and I had to bite my tongue and not
correct him when misstatements were made. In other cases, there was little I
could glean from the company about what they actually did, so it was hard to
research too much, and my assumptions ended up being wrong. I'd _tried_ , and
they appreciated it, but I didn't actually know much about that industry (got
the job anyway). Maybe just because I'd tried that swayed the decision?
Dunno...

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mgkimsal
I thought this was going to be about actual 'gifts'.

I haven't interviewed for a traditional job in a long time, but I sometimes
used to bring something with me - milk and cookies, brownies, flavored
popcorn, etc - as a bit of an icebreaker. I didn't always do it, but it helped
to keep things a bit more casual, sometimes gave the others in the group
something to snack on while a couple others of us would have a discussion, and
what not.

In one case, I brought some milk and cookies to a smaller company, and it
happened to be the owner's birthday. He was pleased as punch. :)

~~~
ca136
That's what I thought too when I saw the title. I didn't think anyone brought
actual gifts to interviews, but it's cool to know that someone has! I wonder
if anyone would have a negative reaction to bringing actual gifts.

~~~
mgkimsal
I've never had a 'negative' reaction - the receptionist who saw me at the
milk/cookies interview didnt know what to do with me, so she took the milk to
the break area, but that was it.

A small tray of cookies (milk's too hard to do) or popcorn (we have
palsiespopcorn.com right near the house - easy to pick up), I've found, is
generally a nice icebreaker, especially if you have an afternoon interview.

I've also found these to be a really nice thing to bring to new consulting
projects for kickoff meetings - few people ever turn down a piece of fudge :)
I don't do it all the time, but enough to keep people happy.

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scott_fisher
It's a lot of work to spend 12 hours researching a potential company,
especially if you're applying to multiple positions. But I guess whoever is
hiring you will know that you're committed and passionate about the position
and company.

