50 Common Interview Questions

Let's face it - most people dread going to a job interview. We hope that NotchUp's model of tapping into passive talent who are not active job seekers and paying them for their time to listen to a new job opportunity helps change the dynamics of the entire interview.

Here's a great set of common questions in job interviews along with a well thought out set of recommended responses. The comments on the blog posting are worthwhile reading as well.

50 Common Interview Q&A

Ace the Interview

David Silverman recently posted a concise and entertaining set of seven rules to help ace your next job interview. I especially enjoyed rule 7:

7. Answer the question you wish they'd asked. Robert McNamara said that about dealing with the press, but it's also very good advice for interviewees. How many times have you left an interview thinking, "I never got a chance to tell them about my Nobel Prize in possum research?" Don't wait for the question. Answer "What did you do at your last job?" with "Actually, it was my work on possums two jobs ago that you might find most relevant." (Well, maybe for you it wasn't specifically a Nobel or about possums, but you get the idea.)

Read the entire post on Ace The Interview [Harvard Business Blog]

10 Questions Not to Ask in your Next Interview

There are plenty of online resources to help candidates prepare for job interviews. In a recent posting we suggested a set of questions to ask when interviewing at a small startup company.

Here's an article in today's sfgate.com that lists ten questions never to ask in a job interview.

Hiring in a Recession is Hard

We're often asked how is the current recession affecting NotchUp's model of connecting companies with high quality, passive job seekers. While unemployment is high now, the demand for top talent is as high as ever. Our experience is that it's actually harder to hire top talent in a down economy than a growing economy.

Read a recent blog posting from the CEO of a Silicon Valley startup that shares our opinion.

Five Questions to Ask in your Next Startup Interview

In the last 20 years small businesses have created roughly 3 out of 4 net new private U.S. jobs. Here in Silicon Valley we refer to this class of companies as "startups". While the majority of Fortune 500 companies have flat or shrinking employment numbers right now, there are large numbers of small, newly created businesses adding additional headcount to grow their business. So even if you're working for a large company today, chances are many of the best opportunities for your next job will come from a startup.

Startups offer both the greatest opportunity as well as biggest risk for many individuals. It's extremely important to do your homework before interviewing with a small company that doesn't have a long, public track record. Of course the basic questions start with the reason behind starting the company, the amount of investment to date, current cash position, list of investors, etc. Here's a few less obvious questions worth asking the company founders and executive staff in your next startup interview.

1. "How many people who worked for you in the past are working here now?"

It's always a great sign to see that the founders and executive staff of a startup have some of their previous employees join them in their new venture. Conversely, it's a big red flag if a very experienced individual starts a company and can't bring a single former employee into their new company.

2. "Can I talk to a couple of your investors?"

While you should expect a sell job from the existing investors of any startup, it's still worthwhile to grill them on why they invested in the company, their view of the long term prospects of the business, and their evaluation of the current state of execution of the business by the existing executive staff.

3. "Can I talk to one of your customers?"

I once had the poor judgment to join a startup that sounded very promising, only to find out the first week on the job that virtually everything the founder/CEO told me about the state of the company was a lie. One of those lies was Sun and Cisco being existing customers of the company. They weren't customers, and as it turned out, the company didn't even have a working product! Of course this question only makes sense for startups that have a business-to-business (B2B) business model.

4. "Can I talk to some of your references?"

Several years ago a friend of mine recommended me for a VP of Product Development position at an early stage startup. Although I wasn't sold on their business model, I was really impressed by the founders and initial staff they hired. The CEO, one of the co-founders, volunteered to give me a set of references for him that I could check in order to help me consider joining them. I thought this was a great idea, and would recommend anyone interviewing with a small startup to consider asking for a couple of the founder or CEO's references.

5. "What is your average cost of customer acquisition?"

For small companies there's no better business metric to look at other than their growth rate of customers, and associated revenue. However this can be deceiving, as sometimes the way in which a small company achieves early traction on customers is not scalable. This is particularly true for business-to-consumer (B2C) startups although it is also highly relevant for B2B startups. Spending $100 to acquire a consumer that has a lifetime value of $15 isn't a business model that is sustainable.

Photo by drwhimsy

Opportunity in Recent Unemployment Figures

CNNmoney published the latest unemployment numbers and they're up 44% from the same time last year. Leading the way with layoffs this past week were Merck, Yahoo, and Chrysler. The unemployment rate now stands at 6.1% nationally, and the economy appears to be headed into a recession that will last through 2009.

They're alarming numbers, and until year end we'll see the results of massive layoffs hit the economy in a big way, in a way not seen since the end of the tech bubble in terms of unemployment.

Of course, a recession doesn't mean that companies aren't hiring - far from it. In fact, even as companies lay workers off, they hire workers on some scale to fill key open positions. And there are always successful companies that grow during hard times (such as Google in the aftermath of the dot com bust). The key is to keep your eyes open, make sure you're open to new opportunities and take nothing for granted.

Read the article here.

Photo by janmorris

Changing Jobs in a Recession

With the stock markets down again this week, more bankruptcies, and layoffs happening across industries, a rewarding job that provides a steady source of income is your best friend. So why would someone even consider moving jobs in this economy? CIO Magazine investigated and came to the conclusion that conventional wisdom be damned, changing jobs during a downturn can actually be a good idea.

Their rationale? Companies tend to hire more for "critical" positions during a downturn, since every opening is scrutinized more carefully. Basically, the roles that are being filled are ones that offer the potential to both make a huge impact and advance your career.

Firms that are recruiting in a downturn are doing so because the roles they have to fill have a major importance to their organizations

They also point out that staying put during a recession can create a bad perception of you at your current company. Whether or not you agree with their take, it certainly makes compelling reading. Click here to read it.

Photo by buckofive