Interviews always come with a certain degree of stress, no matter how you look at it
Interviews always come with a certain degree of stress, no matter how you look at it.
After all, the outcome of the interview decides where and how you spend your workdays, how much money you make, and how you develop your career. With such high stakes and so few chances to prove to a company that you are a good fit, there is a lot that factors into that precious face-to-face time.
Now, with any startup, the hiring manager is going to be very picky. The initial group of people brought onboard essentially lays the framework for how a company operates, how the culture develops, and the overall mindset. In a tech startup, things are a little different. Silicon Valley and all the hype surrounding new technology has changed the way businesses operate.
For a tech startup to be successful, those involved need to have the mindset that they are on the forefront of innovation, and they need the right staff to support them. With this in mind, many aspects that define a “traditional” interview have been thrown out the window.
If you’ve got an interview with a tech startup, here are four ways you can put yourself in a position to stand out.
1. Make a Strong First Impression on Paper
It’s no secret that the value of a resume and cover letter will only take you so far these days. In fact, some would argue that a good resume is only enough to get your foot in the door. In other words, your resume is the first impression that gives companies an idea of whether or not they want to meet you in person.
Crafting a killer resume and cover letter is something many consider an art form. Unless you have a friend who works in HR, it can be tough to pinpoint what exactly a tech company is looking for. Thankfully, there are plenty of resources at your disposal to help you out. Tools like Resumonk have all kinds of pre-made templates and formats where all you need to do is fill in your information and you’ve got a resume that pops out.
Now, in regards to what tech companies are looking for, the name of the game is simplicity. In your cover letter, don’t give them a bunch of fluff and fancy language. Talk about one of your past successes and how it applies to the position. Make your professional mentality clear. In terms of the resume, DO NOT exceed one page. Seriously, if Elon Musk can fit his entire resume on a single page, you can too.
The resume should do more than just list your skills and qualifications. You need to make it clear in your work experience how you used them and what the results were.
Keep in mind, tech startups likely get hundreds of applications for every open position. The paperwork you submit needs to be short and sweet, while also getting the point across that you are the best candidate for the job.
Also read: 8 things your resume needs when you are applying at startups
2. Prepare for the Tough Questions
Generally speaking, technology has changed a lot about the way businesses operate. Moreover, it has changed the way businesses recruit talent.
At this point, everyone knows that the traditional interview questions can only give you so much insight as to how an employee will perform. This has been a pain point in the hiring process for generations. It’s estimated that the cost of a bad hire can equate to as much as 30% of that individual’s annual salary!
As AI and machine learning have infiltrated HR departments across the world, many companies are investing in data-backed systems that run comprehensive assessments on each candidate. The results of these assessments are compared to a number of public and company-specific datasets. The goal is to ask questions that gauge factors like situational judgement, problem solving ability, and communication skills to determine how well a candidate would fit the bill for a company’s needs.
If you are interviewing with a tech startup, it’s safe to assume that they will be using a system that gives them all the necessary means to make a good hire. The questions they will ask on these assessments will be tough. After all, they are designed to make you think.
In addition to scenario-based questions, be prepared to provide in-depth answers about your previous experience. This will likely include questions like:
Throughout your career, what was your most successful project?
- What made it successful?
- What were some of the big obstacles?
- How did you approach those obstacles?
- How did you gauge the progression of the project from start to finish?
What was your most epic project failure?
- Why did it fail?
- What did you learn?
- How did you apply these lessons in the future?
When preparing for the interview, you need to think about these questions in detail from an objective standpoint. The most important thing to keep in mind is to not point blame in your answers. For instance, if you answer the question of why your project failed with something along the lines of: “Oh, because my team sucked and I had to do everything,” it will likely rule you out immediately.
3. Brush Up on Necessary Skills
At the core, tech startups require a mishmash of hard and soft skills.
Hopefully at this point in your career, you have developed decent soft skills which include good communication, self-awareness, motivation, empathy, foresight, etc. These are more or less transferable across the entire business world.
In terms of hard skills, while each tech startup will have slightly different requirements, there are several that will help you across the board.
Also read: 3 lessons I learned balancing a successful e-commerce business with a full-time day job
First and foremost, coding is a skill that will make you valuable to nearly every tech company. Familiarizing yourself with popular coding languages like Java, Python, JavaScript, etc., will make you much more marketable in the tech world.
Fortunately, there are plenty of awesome resources out there like Codecademy in which you can learn and practice the major coding languages.
Another skill you need to brush up on is data science; the tech world runs on data. The ability to interpret large datasets and spot patterns and commonalities will make you a hot commodity in nearly every tech startup these days. Just like coding practice, there are several awesome tools out there where you can play around and gain hands-on experience in big data. Kaggle is a free resource that has all kinds of practice problems to help you get a better grasp on data science.
The platform is interactive so you can analyse datasets and share insights/processes with other users.
Lastly, be sure you have brushed up on Excel. As you probably know, Excel is present in virtually every company these days and your skill level will almost certainly be questioned during the interview.
Keep in mind, these skills just cover the basics. When you initially reach out to a tech startup about a job, you can always ask what tools and technology they use for a better idea of how well you would fit in.
4. Write Your Own Set of Questions
A good interview should ideally function like a two-way road.
Also read: 8 interview questions you can use to distinguish A players from the pack
As the interviewer will be asking questions to determine how you would mesh with the company, you need to be asking the interviewer questions to determine how well the company would mesh with you. For the most part, there are several common questions you can ask to get a feel for this.
- What is the future vision of this company in both the long term and the short term?
- How do you provide value to both clients and employees?
- How can one be successful in this company?
- How does this company define success?
- What are some of the biggest challenges facing this company?
- How do you plan on keeping employees around for the long haul?
These are just a handful of questions to keep in mind. The most important information to gain from asking these questions is how you can grow as a professional and make an impact in the industry.
Additionally, these types of questions show the interviewer your values and overall gumption.
Wrapping Up
Landing a job at a tech company is a dream come true for many. It’s a chance to be on the front lines of what the future holds and how we live our lives. With such a high demand for these types of jobs, you need to do everything you can to nail the interview and make a strong impression.
If you have just landed an interview with a tech startup, keep these four points in mind and you will be setting yourself up for success!
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