Interview
Interview
I’M JEREMY
H I R E D M B A’ S , M Y S E L F
HIRING MANAGER
LINKEDIN
V P, M A R K E T I N G
V C - B A C K E D S TA R T U P
I WAS JUST LIKE
THIS GUY
REMEMBER KEANU REEVES’S CHARACTER FROM THE MATRIX:
THOMAS ANDERSON
WELL, I WAS
JUST LIKE HIM:
• …But, as a former
kindergarten teacher, I was
totally clueless about how
to prepare.
A N D S O I ’ D H AV E N I G H T M A R E S A B O U T
NOT KNOWING THE RIGHT ANSWERS
S O I D I D W H AT E V E R Y O N E
ELSE WAS DOING…
I CRAMMED.
BECAUSE AS SOMEONE WHO HAD NEVER HIRED BEFORE,
T H I S W A S M Y M E N TA L M O D E L O F
INTERVIEWS
AND SO I FIGURED I NEEDED
X
AND THEN RATIONALIZE IT
A F T E R T H E FA C T
W H I C H M E A N S T H AT I N T E R V I E W E R S
DIDN’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ANY OF
THE THINGS I HAD CRAMMED FOR!
SAID NO INTERVIEWER, EVER:
DO I LIKE
YOU?
CAN YOU DO
THE JOB?
THE SAME IS TRUE FOR INTERVIEWERS:
• With warmth
• With competence
5 W AY S T O P R O J E C T
WARMTH
1 ) S TA R T W I T H E M O T I O N A L
C O N TA G I O N
DON’T BRING NEGATIVE ENERGY
T H AT R U B S O F F O N Y O U R
INTERVIEWER
2 ) N O FA K E S M I L E S
A FA K E S M I L E
BAD GUY
+
HEROIC ACTION
+
HAPPY ENDING
+ +
4 ) TA K E A D V A N TA G E O F T H E
P R AT F A L L E F F E C T
NO ONE LIKES
A SHOWOFF
BUT EVERYONE LOVES SOMEONE WHO’S HUMAN -
“CLEVER” QUESTIONS
BUT BY ASKING FOR
THEIR ADVICE
W O U L D Y O U S AY T H I S I S A
FA I R A S S U M P T I O N ?
GOOGLE
• Their present
ALERTS
GOOGLE
• Their present
ALERTS
GOOGLE
• Their present
ALERTS
HEROIC HAPPY
REQUIREMENT BAD GUY
ACTION ENDING
HEROIC HAPPY
REQUIREMENT BAD GUY
ACTION ENDING
HEROIC HAPPY
REQUIREMENT BAD GUY
ACTION ENDING
HEROIC HAPPY
REQUIREMENT BAD GUY
ACTION ENDING
HEROIC HAPPY
REQUIREMENT BAD GUY
ACTION ENDING
• Listen
• Here are the five steps I’d take to tackle this problem…
C O M M U N I C AT I O N :
GET ORGANIZED
• Listen
• Sign-post
N O T O N LY D O E S T H I S G I V E
YOU TIME TO PLAN A BETTER
• Here are theAfive
N S Wsteps
E R B UI’d take
T IT M A to
KES tackle
Y O U this problem…
LOOK THOUGHTFUL!
C O M M U N I C AT I O N :
GET ORGANIZED
• Listen
• Here are the five steps I’d take to tackle this problem…
OK, LET’S PUT IT ALL
TOGETHER
INTRO QUESTIONS
• Now, I’d like nothing more than to put that passion and COMPETENCE:
experience to work for a company like LinkedIn that’s STRUCTURE!
using technology to improve millions of lives around
the world
PRACTICE WITH A FRIEND:
“TELL ME ABOUT
YOURSELF”
H AV E Y O U R F R I E N D J U D G E Y O U :
• Warmth
• Competence
• Warmth
• Competence
• Wow - great question. Do you mind if I take a second and put together a
strategy? WARMTH:
SHOWS
• OK, I’d tackle this in five steps:
E M PAT H Y
• First, I’d want to define our goals for the app - are we trying to improve + BEN
App Store reviews, increase usage, maximize revenue, etc.
FRANKLIN
• Second, I’d want to understand who our target customers are - maybe EFFECT
mobile professionals like salespeople or future customers like students?
W H AT ’ S A P O O R LY- D E S I G N E D
PRODUCT + HOW WOULD YOU
IMPROVE IT?
H AV E Y O U R F R I E N D J U D G E Y O U :
• Warmth
• Competence
• Woah - this should be fun. Is it OK if I take 3 minutes to put together a good plan for you?
WARMTH:
• Actually, now that I think about it. I’ve got a couple questions: EMOTIONAL
• Are you thinking only about building windows or are you including others like car windows C O N TA G I O N +
and even computer screens?
BEN FRANKLIN
• Do you want me to actually give you an answer or, in the interest of time, should I just give EFFECT
you my plan of attack?
• OK, since you only want building windows and a plan to estimate them, here are the steps
I’d go through:
• Second, I’d estimate the average number of windows per building segment
• Lastly, it’s hard to know just how many retail locations there are. But let’s say it’s
roughly 1/3 of the space in New York. In that case, if we figure that retail is
probably better-windowed than office space - for aesthetics - but fewer than
homes - for efficiency - we can average the two and say there are 20 million retail COMPETENCE:
windows.
LISTENING +
• Which gives us 60 million in all. Although I’m not 100% satisfied with that number,
SIGN-POSTING
since we neglected development trends in the city. Even though, historically,
there are relatively few windows per people, every new building I’ve seen is an
all-glass monster. Which suggests that this number is probably on the low side.
PRACTICE WITH A FRIEND:
• Warmth
• Competence
• Be empathic
• Be warm
• Be competent
TELL ME ABOUT
YOURSELF
TELL ME A TIME
WHEN…
HOW MANY
CLOWNS FIT IN…
SO STOP AND
F O C U S O N W H AT R E A L LY M AT T E R S
BECAUSE WE’RE
OF THE MACHINE
AND
PAY T H I S F O R W A R D TO
SH
A R E
K
CLIC
As a former teacher,
I believe in sharing everything I’ve learned.