Peer-to-Peer Mock Interview Guide

Mock interviews are designed to help you build articulate, pointed answers to use while in a job interview. Practicing with peers and receiving early feedback is the best way to prepare for the interview process. Learning about your interview skills—what works and what needs improvement—is vital before hitting the job market. Refine your interviewing skills in a safe and constructive place. When your nerves are high (and they will be) you’ll need your muscle memory to be your guide.

You will get to practice both as an interviewee (honing your delivery), and an interviewer (gaining understanding of what hiring managers are looking for). In this workshop, each person will play the role of the interviewer and interviewee twice.

To prepare for the mock interviews make sure all your materials are in alignment with the Code Fellows standards outlined in these links: resume, LinkedIn, and GitHub. As an interviewer you will be expected to make sure your interviewee meets these standards. Interviews will last 30 minutes (5 minutes to review materials, 15 minutes for the interview, and 10 minutes to provide feedback).

Expectations of your scheduled mock interview day:

• Come dressed in business casual, well groomed, exhibiting good hygiene
• Bring 1 printed resume
• Be prompt and on time
• Bring a notebook with a pen

General interview behavior

• Stand up and give a professional greeting
• Give a firm handshake
• Be patient and allow the other person to speak
• Have good volume when speaking
• Have good body language and eye contact
• Take the process seriously AND have fun

Expectations of interviewer

• Review all the materials of the interviewee (resume, LinkedIn, GitHub) and critique them accordingly.
• Greet interviewee
• Be in an observatory state and ask the interview questions only. Do not chime in, agree, or disagree. Allow the interviewee to expose their personality authentically without leading them.
• Interviewers are looking for professionals that are exhibiting confidence through developed, fluid answers.
• Choose 5 behavioral and 4 technical questions (listed below) to ask potential candidates. Once you have chosen your questions, make two electronic copies of this interviewer evaluation spreadsheet and add your questions to the appropriate section.
• Behavioral Questions
  • Evaluate answers in terms how well the candidate uses the STAR method. Do they:
    • Describe the context?
    • Make clear the challenges?
    • Identify specifically what they did?
    • Explain measurable numbers for outcome ?
• Technical Questions
  • Candidates should be able to generally answer technical questions, this phase does not require significant depth.
  • Candidates should be readily able to switch gears between behavioral and technical questions.

Expectations of interviewee

• When greeting the interviewer, allow them to introduce themselves first.
• Bring resume and hand off to the interviewer as you are sitting down.
• Sit engaged at the table with arms casually resting on top of the table with shoulders back.
• Smile :smile: :smile: :smile:

These will be the companies that you will either be representing or applying to during this mock interview. Make sure you come armed with their history, leaders names, their vision and mission, product knowledge, and why it would be great to work there.

1. Zillow
2. Expedia
3. F5
4. Amazon
5. Avalara
6. Microsoft

Lastly, you will be asked technical and behavioral questions during the interview. To prepare for your behavioral questions make sure to use Star Method answers. :star: STAR :star: is an acronym for four key concepts. Each concept is a step the job candidate can take to answer a behavioral interview question. By completing all four steps, the job candidate provides a thorough answer. The concepts in the acronym include:

1. Situation: Describe the context within which you performed a job or faced a challenge at work. For example, perhaps you were working on a group project, or you had a conflict with a coworker. This situation can be from a work experience, a volunteer position, or any other relevant event. Be as specific as possible.
2. Task: Next, describe your responsibility in that situation. Perhaps you had to help your group complete a project under a tight deadline, resolve a conflict with a coworker, or hit a sales target.
3. Action: You then describe how you completed the task or endeavored to meet the challenge. Focus on what you did, rather than what your team, boss, or coworker did. (Tip: Instead of saying “We did xyx,” say “I did xyz.”)
4. Result: Finally, explain the outcomes or results generated by the action taken. You might emphasize what you accomplished, or what you learned.

Expectations for professional etiquette and competency

1. Be prompt and on time (15 minutes early is the standard)
2. Come clean and exhibiting good hygiene
3. Come well groomed, even on video call
4. Come dressed in clean business casual
5. Give a professional greeting
6. Give a firm handshake, or professional verbal greeting on video call
7. Have good volume when speaking
8. Have good posture
9. Have good body language
10. Have good facial expressions
11. Have good eye-contact, even on a video call
12. Speak without “um’s” or other hiccups
13. Exhibit confidence
14. Exhibit the ability to “connect” with interviewer