Are you over-preparing for your job interview?

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Bryan Humphries

When most people think of “HR interview questions”, a traditional set of questions come to mind. These questions are predictable, repeatable, and easy to prepare for. Candidates also come prepared to defend their experience and their resumes. They think any gaps in timeline will meticulously be scrutinized. Candidates can over-prepare to answer questions like, “what are your strenghts and weaknesses?” or “do you prefer to work on a team or on your own?” and my personal favourite “tell me about yourself”.

Typically, when these questions get asked, the overly prepared answers are delivered. Answers that can easily be found on the Internet. Candidates are representing not who they truly are, but who they feel the interviewer wants them to be. These questions might be able to secure individuals who can handle the everyday aspects of the roles they are in contention for. However, for companies concerned over their corporate culture, these questions not only miss out on cultural-fit, but also do not accurately predict how well they will do in the role.

Interviews are similar to a consultative sale, there needs to be a discovery conversation to define what a candidate needs in a new role, what are their skills? Their background? What are the intangibles? At the end of it all, the most important question is what do they want to do? The only way to get here is getting honest answers. The goal is to have a relaxed candidate who is not put on the defensive and relying on prepared answers, but actually thinking and speaking for themselves and relying on their experiences rather than what they think they should say.

At Intelex, our interview process is intended to foster a conversation about what you can bring to our organization, what Intelex can do for you, and what we can pull from your past experiences. For us at Intelex, preparing for the interview process means researching the company, reviewing your experiences and showing us who you are as an individual – not what something on the Internet said you should say!

Bryan Humphries is a Corporate Recruiter with Intelex’s Professional Development Office (PDO). The Intelex PDO posts advice, tips and insight on careers and professional development every second Wednesday.

Getting your resume to the top of the pile

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Kellie Hart

A few weeks back in Bryan’s blog (The Top 5 Tips for Nailing the All-Important Phone Interview), he mentioned that the Professional Development Office (PDO) would be providing this series of blogs to provide candidates with more insight into the Intelex hiring process as well as best practices for making your next career move. This week we wanted to focus on winning that phone interview – starting with your resume!

These key areas make a successful resume at Intelex:

Readability

Is your resume easy to read and navigate? We read through hundreds of resumes each week, trying to get to the core of what you can bring to Intelex. Rather than having your resume read like a copy of your previous job description, list specific projects and contributions you had in your last role.

Personality

Everyone has an opinion about what a resume should look like but in the end you need to be comfortable with your resume. After all, your resume is a reflection of you! At Intelex we feel our Corporate Culture has made us successful and as we grow we want to continue to enhance that culture. Your job is to sell yourself and what you could bring to the Intelex team.

Balance

Resumes are a balancing act – too much and you overwhelm your audience, where as too little leaves your audience with too many questions. Tell us what you think we need to know and leave the nitty-gritty details for the interview.

Setting Yourself Up For Success

Skill and technical summaries are a great way to let us know what you can do, and it is also a great idea to connect these summaries to the roles where you have used them.

Staying Current

As a software company we are in an industry that is constantly changing – we like to see what candidates are doing to keep on top of new trends (courses, personal projects, conferences, certifications).

Also, keep your resume up to date. Let us know what have you been up to until now. And finally, this may be the most obvious point, but it is constantly overlooked: Keep it professional – spell check and proofread your resume before sending it!

Considering applying to Intelex? Check out our current opportunities on our Careers Page.

Next time in our Professional Development series of blog posts, published every second Wednesday, Corporate Trainer Purdal Mya will cover Expectations of New Intelexians.

The Top 5 tips for nailing the all-important phone interview

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Bryan Humphries

Intelex’s Professional Development Office (PDO) is excited to kick off a series of blogs every other Wednesday that highlight the Intelex hiring and onboarding processes, as well as trends in recruiting and learning and development.

Intelex has received a lot of attention recently. After being selected as a Greater Toronto Top Employer, a Great Place to Work (fifth in Canada), and a three-time recipient of the Deloitte Fast 500 Tech Companies honour, among all the other awards that have come our way in the last 12 months. We think it is important to help individuals who are very interested in the company, through the Intelex recruiting process, and that’s why we’ve launched this series of blog posts.

For this entry I would like to discuss The Phone Interview. Most candidates will be interviewed on the phone prior to being brought in for an in-person interview. The process is generally fairly short, usually no more than fifteen minutes.

Here’s our Top 5 tips for nailing the phone interview:

Be Yourself: Our family-oriented corporate culture at Intelex is very central to who we are and what we do, and finding the right people for this environment is a critical part of the recruitment process. So the phone interview is a great opportunity to show us who you are. You know, putting a personality to the resume! While the interview could include some technical questions, in many cases it will feel just like a conversation. We want to get a sense of who you are so let your personality shine through.
Think About Your Future: In addition to getting a sense of the types of roles you have had in the past, the recruitment team at Intelex is really trying to get a sense of what you want to do and where you want to be in the future. Before going on the call, lend some thought to your desired career path.
Get Comfortable: The key to performing well on the phone has as much to do with your experience being in line with the role, as it is with how comfortable you are. If you are nervous, let us know. We want you to perform at your best.
Do Your Research: I believe there is nothing more frustrating for a Recruiter when talking to a candidate, than to have them ask what company this role is for, or what the company does. This is information that is available on the internet, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, Google+, et al. The Corporate Recruitment Office does its best to schedule phone interviews with time for candidates to prepare. It does not take long to look up some facts, to re-read the job description, have a preliminary understanding of the role. So be prepared!
Ask Questions: As Recruiters we often get asked the same questions over and over; tell me about the corporate culture, where is the company heading, what do you like about working with Intelex. All great questions, and a lot of time information that is not readily available. We also love to have questions that challenge us to think!

In the PDO’s next blog we will talk about the importance of Onboarding! If you have any suggested topics you would like us to cover, write me or leave a comment below.