First for-realz interview

Jasconius

OK. Im going to be going in for my first professional interview ever. It's for a web design firm for an entry level position. They've already seen my resume and portfolio and asked me to come in for an in-person interview.


I'm not really sure the mindset I need to be going in with. I've never interviewed for anything past a cashiering job


1) What do I need to prove to the employer about my work/myself. I'm extemely confident in some of my web design abilities and not so much in others.. how much self-promoting is acceptable if any?

2) Dress code. I have a full suit, the jacket, the tie, everything, too much?

3) Salary. I've been told that the first person to mention money loses, but they kinda had me in a trap because the requirements for submitting my resume was that I include a "desired" salary. Having never officially worked in the field I had no goddam idea how to price myself, so I calculated what I would need to live on my own comfortably and added 4 grand to the end of it.

Is the fact that I gave a solid figure going to screw me? Will they haggle more out of me? Did they only call me in because I would work for teh cheap? I don't really mind making 12 bucks an hour for web design, considering I'm still in college and even by my own standards I'm not all that hot at it yet, but not only does it pay more than my current job, it gives me vital work experience that will pay off in two years when I graduate... and I can't even put a dollar value on that.

4) Things not to do. I know hands in the pocket is a no-no.. what are some other little things and phrases I really should stay away from that will come back to haunt me.


I don't have a problem with nervousness at all, I handle people really well, but I want to make sure I don't say or do anything that disqualifies me.

Herschel

Full suit is definitely fine.

My tip:
Grab one of those nice leather folder/clipboard things. Keep a few copies of your resume in it, and have a nice pen. Prepare a few questions about the company beforehand (what kind of work environment? will you help with education? etc.). When they are done interviewing, they will probably ask "Do you have any questions?" Bust out your intelligent-sounding questions and write down (or pretend to write down) their answers. This will make you look actively interested in their company and your career.

edit:
Also, for technical type jobs, be prepared for a technical question or two to test your knowledge. For a web design job, I could see things like "What is XHTML? How does it differ from regular HTML?" etc.

Good luck!

Jasconius

Herschel wrote:

Full suit is definitely fine.

My tip:
Grab one of those nice leather folder/clipboard things. Keep a few copies of your resume in it, and have a nice pen. Prepare a few questions about the company beforehand (what kind of work environment? will you help with education? etc.) and write down (or pretend to write down) their answers. This will make you look actively interested in their company and your career.

This is a really good idea, I wouldn't have thought of that. Thanks.

Vincent Grayson

Jasconius wrote:

Herschel wrote:

Full suit is definitely fine.

My tip:
Grab one of those nice leather folder/clipboard things. Keep a few copies of your resume in it, and have a nice pen. Prepare a few questions about the company beforehand (what kind of work environment? will you help with education? etc.) and write down (or pretend to write down) their answers. This will make you look actively interested in their company and your career.

This is a really good idea, I wouldn't have thought of that. Thanks.

The extra copies of your resume thing is a very big thing. Almost every interview I've had, they'll ask for another copy of it (sometimes the person interviewing isn't the one who looked over your stuff in the first place), and it's really embarassing to not have one handy.

Dynagrip

Make sure to research the company and think of some good questions to ask them. They always ask you at the end if you have any questions and you look like a total retard if you just sit there with a blank look on your face.

Spackle

Well, it sounds like the company knows this is your first professional job. So I wouldn't worry much about the salary bit as I imagine they'll pay around the norm of what company's pay for your position. They didn't call you in because of salary, they called you in because they liked your work and are interested in you.

Keeping that in mind, confidence is always important. Be confident in your work. Be confident in your knowledge. Answer questions fairly straight forward, try not to babble or get on tangents. They'll ask you questions if they want more information about a topic that you mentioned. But be human. You can make little jokes here and there. Also, be honest.

I'm a programmer, so for my interviews, I would usually research the company a bit and stock up on some knowledge about some common concepts. Especially if it's on my resume. If I have something like 'adept with SQL' I better be able to defend that with some on-tap information.

I think your dress-code is fine for the interview. I've always worn just khakis and tucked-in collared shirt with presentable shoes. Part of this reason is I knew that most people in my profession generally dress this way, anyways. It never hurts to over-dress a touch for an interview.

Interviewers often as questions with no right or wrong answer, they just usually want to see how you react to it. Often, they might present a dilema that they figure you've never seen and ask you how you might solve it. What they are looking for is how you react to the situation and the pressure. They know you don't know the answer.

Best of luck to you! The best way to be prepared for an interview is to practice as well, with a friend just to calm the nerves a touch.

Edit: Good point was brought up about preparing questions for your interviewer. Ask about the position. What a typical day is or what are some common tasks that I'll be doing. If your fortunate, they may have someone around that has your position or is leaving your position and you can therefore interview them about the position.

Slungsolow

you should use Salary.com to see if you lowballed your worth. $12 is an can be low for some areas of the country when it comes to web design. It also depends on their clientel.

You'll probably be pissed if they pay you $12 an hour while they're billing you out at $80.