Second Round Interviews: Part 2

Um, a second round interview typically, I say, you've been deemed qualified, you've made it through the first filter, so it's not really about your qualifications anymore. It's really about who are you as a person? And then, how do you fit in to that firm's culture and what they do? So you need to show an interest in what they do, you need to show your professional skills as best you can, time management, project management, and be ready for questions that go along those lines. (inspirational music) Typically, you gotta go to the office of the company you're looking at which is interesting, you kind of get a feel for what the working environment's like or the culture. And then, you will typically interview with more individuals, not necessarily in a group setting, sometimes in a group setting, but you know, you might have four individuals that are gonna come speak with you and a lot of times it's going to be some higher ranking individuals, so a partner, director. I always tell students if you're going in for a second interview, that's a great opportunity for you to pretty much market yourself, so definitely hone in on what your skills are and how your skills are aligned with the position that you're applying to. But I think the second interview is a great opportunity because that means that they're interested in something and they wanna learn more. Second round for us is usually trying to get some interaction with that person, putting them out on the production, not putting them out on the production floor, but touring them through the production facility, showing them some of our processes, seeing if it's, you know, asking them some a little more in depth questions to see if they really have the knowledge that their piece of paper says they do. Well, second round interview, they should know that they're under serious consideration if they've been called in for a second round. Be ready to address more probing questions, discuss the position in more detail, find out more about the salary and benefits if the employer offers that. My second round interview's always more technical, and I have things that I'm trying to get them to show me that they can do. Like, I want them to show me that they can think critically. I want them to show me that they can accept the limit of their knowledge, that's actually probably the biggest thing. I'm gonna ask you a question that you don't know the answer to, I will find that point in the interview, and if you never acknowledge it, that's a problem and you won't get a job. It's totally okay to say "You know what, I don't know the answer, but here's how I'd find it." What we see is some of the biggest mistakes from round one to round two is not bringing in any new knowledge, right? You've gotta learn some things and ask the right questions in the first round and bring those to the second round. The other one is answering things kind of the same way. If you're going to have every answer be tailored to one idea or one thought and you don't grow or have anything to expand on that in the second round, it can really hurt you. The biggest one that comes to mind there would just be kind of inconsistencies. So, for instance, you know, I'm taking pretty thorough notes during the interview process, from the initial phone screen all the way through the end and so if I see inconsistencies in there I will ask candidates about that, so I think that's a big one. When people come toward the end of the process and they're just not prepared, they're not asking good questions, it's kind of a turn off to the companies because it doesn't seem like that person's really interested and a lot of times when folks are just taking a job to take it, they're probably not gonna stick around too long. (inspirational music)