Friday, July 2, 2010

It's all in your delivery

Do you have two volumes: silent and loud?

Do you find yourself saying more about who you aren't rather than who you are?

Do you talk about experiences in terms of "my last job"?

If the answer to any of these is Yes - I don't want to interview you. Delivery, to me, out-weighs experience. After all, I can teach anyone the correct way to document requirements and I can teach some fantastic elicitation methods. I cannot teach people how to tailor their approach and how to best communicate with our customers.

A trend lately has been interviews with people who are too chatty, providing answers to questions that circle the moon and back before making a point. Also, lots of people talk about how they do analysis in terms of what their last company required them to do. Do I look like your last company? No. I really don't care. I want to hear about your experience, skills, and approach in abstract terms. Granted, if a story from a past project help builds your case, use it. But I don't care what X company required as part of their methodology because odds are, I am not going to clone their process.

Practice makes perfect: no matter how embarrassing it may seem, do practice interviews with past or current colleagues, friends, or neighbors: by phone and in person. Ask for brutally honest feedback and don't get offended when they point out your areas of improvement.

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