Tomorrow at noon I’ll have my interview with Google. I went through a
great deal of effort to be as prepared for this interview as I could
be. I poured over my resume, I researched practice questions, I had
friends and family run me through mock interviews. Let me share some of
the things I learned, and tell you about some of the things I did.
I proofread my resume about a million times. When I printed it, I found
that I spelled “laptop” as “laptpo”. Ouch! Whatever, I made it this far
into the process with a typo, on my resume. On this plus side I did rig
up this resume custom just for Google. Just goes to show that you
cannot proofread or double check your work too many times.
I have a long document with all my skills in it, formatted the way I
wanted my resume to look. When I want to apply somewhere I copy this
document and delete out skills until it fits on one page. This only
leaves the skills that the prospective employer cares about most. This
is great because I can proofread the big document and benefit from it
on all the resume I create later. Each employer I deem worth an hour of
my time can get a custom version of my resume. It usually takes me
about 15 minutes to snip the chaff, then about 45 minutes to put in
company names and copiously proofread. I also made a generic PC
Technician and Software Engineer Resume, for businesses that aren’t
worth an hour of my time.
When printing my resume I always use some special kind of paper. I have
been told that this make it stick out in the pile from other resumes.
For this I purchased some 100% cotton 32# paper, it is thick, has a
rich color and feels sturdy. Then I just printed it on photo paper. The
photo paper is thicker, harder to rip, and this ink/paper combination
is completely waterproof. I do not know if this works, but it can’t
really hurt. I will post my interviewers reaction to a glossy
waterproof resume later.
Next, I wanted to brush up on Linux and PC hardware skills. Not that I
have let them lapse in any particular way, but I do not know
everything. I started looking into Comptia’s practice tests and their Certification Objectives.
I have taken countless A+ tests and passed them all, but judging by my
knowledge of the objectives I am a little surprised I scored as well as
I did. I studied the best I could in the few short days I had. Despite
the objectives list, I feel that my real world experience will pull me
through. For some scope on my experience, right now, in my house I have
four computers I am fixing for other people. I will diagnose them all
successfully, and suggest solutions to all the people who own them. I
guess actually fixing computers is the best kind of study I can do.
I also searched for A+ practice tests, even though there are plenty out
there I feel I came up empty handed. Most of what is out there is old
and not worth studying. I stuck with Comptia as my guide, they had
enough to fill my time well.
I asked three other people to ask me technical interview type
questions. There where tons of technical questions, and there were Crazy Google interview questions.
Many people have told me that an interviewer may throw crazy stuff at
you just to see how you react. If this is true I think the worst things
you can do is give up or say things like “I don’t know”.
I think the best way to respond to crazy questions is to give the kind
of answer they are looking for and a creative answer. If a question
relates to real world behavior then it may be wise to point out what
could be done better to improve teamwork or leadership or one of those
other key skills that all businesses are looking for. For example, on
the bridge crossing question couple question from the crazy interview
question page: I would start by explaining how I would carry the 10
minute guy because I would be the 2 minute guy or if he refused I would
toss him the flashlight once I crossed. Then I would explain the
‘Proper solution’ which involves the fast people ferrying the
flashlight back and forth so both the slowpokes can cross together to
save time. Then finally. I would state that if the bridge is so unsafe
that if a flashlight is mandatory to cross it and our flashlight has
exactly the amount of time that we we need it, then it would be safer
to wait until morning. My rationale is, if it is too dangerous to cross
without the flashlight then it is too dangerous to mount a rescue
mission when something goes wrong.
I will follow this up tomorrow with as much as I can say. I am sure
that there will be mistakes, highlights and an amazing story about how
I got my new job with Google.
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