how to navigate an interview (solo show)

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All right, so preparing for interview. So I'm doing a lot of interviewing right now with some clients, you know, definitely some activity right now. And so I definitely wanna, definitely wanna talk about how to prepare yourself. So first off, no what the company does, so that's a big one. And when I say no what the company does, I mean, no what the company does, and then also how can you tie in your experiences, right? And I think that's the one thing I wanna get across today, is so many of you all prepare for interviews, but then you don't tie it into what you all have done, right?

So like if I'm, like I'm staffing up for healthcare client right now and it's like, all right, you know, this healthcare client. So like try to find commonalities to bring into interviews. So for example, I think I told this story before where I worked on a project for a hot second or a podiatry center. They wanted basically a marketplace bill where you can tell a medicine, you can purchase their gear online, like the kind of one at a one-stop shop. And again, I eat my own dog food as they say. I literally was like, I went into the first conversation to get the business. I was like, I'm really passionate about this.

And they're like, what are you talking about? And I go, I've had major foot issues throughout my career. And I really have. And I was like, you know, this is incredibly important to me because as somebody who has had foot issues, I would have loved something like this. Well, they chose to go with us now. Then they canceled the project with the funding on their end, but they chose to go with us because I had a passion for their business, right? Because people want to work with other people who are passionate, right? So again, if you research the company, that's great, right? That's step one.

Do not get me wrong. Research the company. Know what's up. But then also to hide into your personal life, right? Hey, listen, I had a family member dive cancer. This is incredibly important to me or I've had foot issues, right? So this is important. So again, tied into that. So that's the first thing. Second thing, also do that with the interviewers, right? That is like, so who did I have? Oh, Julian, was it Julian this week? If somebody's watched with me all week, remind me this, I think it was Julian. I've only had two guests. I think it was probably Julian. No, one guest actually.

Julian, so was Julian. Sorry. Julian said he got the job where he's at. Julian is an engineering manager. Julian said he got the job where he's at because he did research on the people who were interviewing him and he tied in his similarities and it changed the entire trajectory of the interview. Now you probably like, Taylor, this sounds really familiar. You've talked about this a lot. Yes, I know I've talked about this a lot. It's that's literally what I preach. What happens is the typical way people interviews, there's no research. So it comes in and it's a very like, the reason why people don't like interviews is because they enter it, because y'all don't know how to have a conversation.

Yeah, like let's call what it is. None of y'all, very few of y'all know how to have a conversation. So you go into interviews just sitting there expecting to be like just bombarded with questions and then you just answer the questions with what they are at face value and then you wonder why you hate interviewing, right? I've said this before, it's like going on a date, it's going on a date and I ask you 25 questions and I don't deviate from those questions. First off, how are you gonna feel after that date? Not great. Also, too, I'm not gonna be able to probably learn a ton from you because I have my own agenda, right?

Now this can also go for the interviewers on the company side too, but we're not talking about that right now. Let's hold another episode. So again, for me, bring specifics into, so if you interviewed with me at gun and you're like, hey Taylor, I saw where you love Gary Vaynerchuk and South Carolina football. I didn't go to South Carolina. I went to Auburn the year we played y'all in the SEC Championship with Cam Newton. I would immediately be like, yeah, dude, y'all just absolutely, absolutely raced over this, raced over us. And we would hit it off. I'd be mad at you because you're an Auburn fan, but we'd hit it off.

Right, or Taylor, I see your prolific content creator. My favorite content creator right now is X, whoever, Mr. Beast. Then we'd probably start talking about what Mr. Beast does and the entire interview changes, right? So again, know who you're interviewing with, the company and the individuals, and tie in your background to those people. I think you do those two things alone. The entire interview is gonna change. Now, are you gonna pass the interview and move on to the next round? I don't know, but the interview is gonna feel so much not like an interview. Been like, you know what I'm saying? So again, those are my two steps right now.

Also, nothing to, I've talked about this in conversations with engineering leaders. Actually, I wanna get to questions real quick too. Let's see here. Yes, Dominic, congrats on making every, coming to grads on making it through the first week of the year, 100%. Thomas, I've been working behind the scenes on some job opportunities in April. I was laid off in June. I worked a contract job in July. I received an offer for a government contract, I can't answer it by no, but in the meantime, I've been working temporarily for local universities. I love that. I love that. Thomas, I'm very proud of you. Congrats, man. That's awesome.

Let's see, are you gene connection on a human level super important? Your technical skills alone won't get you hired? Yeah, again, right? I mean, so many higher manage that talk to you. How about soft skills? Like third, like I would say they're the hardest skills, because it's hard to master. Jason, it's good to see a big dog. Yes, talking to such a lost art. Air could, it's good to see you on the date. What did we have for dinner though? That's great, Jason. Let's see here. It's counterintuitive, but your interviewing the person more than the company. Yeah, 100%. I 100% agree with you as well.

Robert, it's good to see you, man. It's really good to see you miss you. Joyce, yes, absolutely congrats, Thomas. All right, so the next thing I wanna talk about when it comes to interviewing crap is, I would have like, I would almost have like a little packet, like a little, I would have a moleskin. Do you guys have moleskins? I would have a moleskin. And during your interview, I would literally have a few things laid out. First off, I would have your sizzle reel. So three to four bullet points of your career, specifically, at how it relates to the interview in the position you're interviewing with, right?

So let's say, let's say Brian, because again, Brian's a hiring manager. Brian is talking, let's say Brian goes, hey Taylor, tell me about yourself for this role. I need to be able to go, all right Brian, I'm gonna tell you about myself as it relates to the role, and then I need to have those three or four bullet points to do that, right? So again, prepare it in here, have it in front of you. Also another thing too, basically like, we need to, again, prepare, sorry, there's a lot of slack channels going back and forth right now, so I'm a little distracted. So let's, let's, let's, let's, we start here for a second.

Right down, right down, your, your, your sizzle points, right how it relates to the role. I would also have a pen and paper in front of you, because what happens is, is that a lot of us interrupt people, I interrupt people, right? I actually did it on a call with Gun I O a few weeks ago, and it wasn't good, right? So what happens is, as we lose our train of thoughts, so right down your train of thoughts, I've asked a few hiring managers, I said, I said, if somebody would be, what's more distracting? Somebody looking away from the screen and typing, or somebody looking down taking notes.

Every single hiring manager I've talked to said, it's less distracting. If I know they have a note pattern front of them, and they're taking notes instead of typing, because the engineering leaders go, basically they think they're cheating, they think they could be using chat GPT, listen, listen, every hiring manager right now that I've talked to is super nervous about people using chat GPT and interviews. So if you're over here typing off your screen, questions or notes like we're talking about, the hiring manager is immediately gonna go to, hey, are you chat GPT in this interview, right? So be aware of that, right? Please be aware of that.

Brandon, my mic is super hot right now. I don't know, anyways, we'll fix that, I don't know. So again, do that, really, I mean, just like, like make sure that you're aware of that. But what else? We got a question here. Tyler Bryan comes in here, can you talk about the best way to research people, especially when they are very limited on LinkedIn content? Yeah, this is tough. I would do, I would definitely Google, I would Google, I would go to their LinkedIn, see if they have any links out. I think sometimes at the end of the day, like you're not gonna be able to find stuff on every single person, that's okay.

But I would also just Google, just literally go to Google, if, yeah, I mean, that's what I would do. Like, Bryan, like if I didn't, if you didn't have a good LinkedIn, I would literally go to Brian Walter, Blacksburg, Virginia, and I would put the company you work at and just see what pops up and just Google, right? But again, Brian was on the show. And if I did some Google and Brian, I could probably find out you do triathlon, right? Cause your name's gonna pop up on Google, but I would triathlon stuff. So then if I come into a conversation with Brian, and be like, hey, man, I see you do some triathlon stuff again, that conversation's gonna shift, right?

Because if you start getting people to talk about what they're passionate about, they're immediately gonna endear themselves to you, right? So again, do Google, I would do Google on this stuff. Still look for software development roles or starting customer. Yeah, I love that Robert again, very, very smart man. Network within the company is incredibly important. Bryan is good to see a man. In tech, we have two problems, not a lot of devs to know how to interview people and you've got a lot of jobs here, you know how to connect with people. Jane, you could not have summarized that more effectively. All right, so again, a recap.

Research the company, research the people you're interviewing with, tie in your similarities to those people in their backgrounds. Third thing is, is make sure you have a pen and paper in front of you with a three to four bullet point, or specifically of how your background relates to the role. Also, I would have your interview out, or not your interview, your resume, words are hard this morning, your resume out, have your resume out in front of you, print your resume. Right, again, that's what I'm saying. Like every single interview you need to have like this little like packet in front of you. Because what happens is we, you don't know your background as well as you think you do, right?

Because people get nervous and interview and people blacked out. I don't know my eye black out, right? So if you have your resume and your notebook in front of you and your taking notes, it allows you to be intentional and focused and dialed in. I don't know about you, but when I interview with, or I talk to people online, or Skype people, and it's, and they start talking, I zone out. I have a problem zoning out, right? And so when you're in an interview, you be locked in, stare at the person, and then if you have a question, write it down, it keeps you engaged.

The problem is, is if we have different tabs open, our ADD minds are like, ooh, tab, ooh, Google, oh, what's this, right? So make sure you only have a screen out for the Zoom call in front of you, and then everything else is right here. And so it's either Zoom, or it's writing things down, and there's no distractions, right? Don't have your cell phone out, don't have your iPad out, don't have your video games out, none of that, right? So again, just focus, be doubt and be intentional. Another thing come with questions, right? We tell us all the time, all my website, gun.io, backslashh, Taylor, you can find a bunch of questions that I've created to ask interviewers, come with that, right?

Because for me, here's a deal again, going back to dating, there's so much that comes into play when it comes to dating and the job search. When you're on a date and you sit there, like a nod on the log, and you don't ask any questions, how does that come across? Or if your date goes, do you have any questions to me and you go, no, I'm good, you're not going on that second date. Now, if some of you all married that person, perhaps you all, but you ain't going on a second date if you act that way, same thing here, right? The whole, the whole, hi, you know, the whole, like, oh, you've answered all my questions.

Nope, that's just lazy, that's a lazy take, do not do that. Listen, the conversation we're joining, or highly recommend checking out, I did it on Tuesday with him, it's all my LinkedIn. The conversation was so good. And basically, what he talked about is the fact that the more engaged, the more intentional, and the more back and forth banter you can have with an interviewer, it's gonna completely change. It's gonna completely change. I wanna go do a few questions here or comments, Eugene, here's an unpopular opinion. If I were interviewing devs from my company, I'd actually be curious on how Kansas used chat GBT. Yeah, I think this is interesting take, I think this is interesting take as well, for sure.

And it's, talk about what happens when the interview has curveballs, interviewers, late internet drops out, ooh, great question, Emmet. All right, what happens when the interview has curveballs? Interviewers, like, if anybody has other curveballs that they wanna chime in here, please throw them in. So TikTok, if you're watching, and you've had a curveball and an interview, please throw it up in the chat, and I'll answer how to deal with it. Let's talk about interviewers late, first off. If it's more than five minutes late, I would send them an email. I would just send an email and be like, hey, here's what's going on. If you're working through a recruiter, I would message you texts that recruited me, like, hey, so so and so's not on the interview.

If you're working with anybody, like, not yourself, I just, like, you gotta be on it. Just don't sit there. Again, don't sit there, do something. Tech somebody, email somebody, and see what's up. Right now, this may, this may rattle you a little bit, right? So again, like, take breaths, right? Take breaths to breathe, relax. Because what happens is a lot of people get flustered and then they jump right into the interview, right? This is where, this is where, when it comes to connecting with people's important because if the interviewers late, people can get flustered, so then if you jump right and the interviewers can be hard, right?

Know how to build that rapport in the front end. Internet drops out, listen, make sure you get texts, not make texts numbers. Make sure you get phone numbers from people because I think this is great. Make sure on every interview, you have a job description, the interviewers link in the interviewers phone numbers if you can or HR or the recruiters. So that communication happened. I love that question. Jason, I'm talking right here. Can't confirm. I work alongside Jason with all my stuff. Also, I want to give a shout out to Jason. I really have an announcement. I brought Jason on board as my project coordinator, Jason is in charge of running all my brands.

So you may hear from him or me, but Jason is awesome. So can confirm per talker right here and even floods and even floods think about how much practice you need then in communications. It goes, yeah, 100%. Let's see here. Stacy's good to see you. Brandon, I often have my resume open on the screen, but video screen overlaps and 10 not to see as much. Printing sounds a great idea. Yeah, again. And then what happens, Brandon, if you're in the interviewers, somebody asked you a question about your backgrounds, you can like maybe go in your background and circle it and like write a quick, again, I just, I don't know about you, but for me, but for me, writing stuff down is just better.

And I'm trying to go back to that. Like I've started journaling, by the way, low key big fan of journaling. So people have asked me, I'm gonna do a video about this. I've started journaling, brain dumping, what brings me joy, what brings me anxiety, what am I thankful for? I do those four things every morning in this. It's helped me a time. Just again, writing, I think it does a lot there. Robert, I once had an interview, I was supposed to have a five 30 a month Sunday for remote work from Ireland. That is not ideal. That is not ideal. And it happens, it happens.

Andrew comes in here. Yeah, I love that you can comment on X now, and now I can see you could use to only see comments on YouTube and LinkedIn. Now I can see comments on X, which is great. Andrew, I've had years of experience over a range of errors from design leadership coding to a founder, even to adventure, outdoor management, how to communicate 20 plus years of people. In the past three years, was in hospitals for cardiac issues. First off, I'm glad you're still on this earthland in a live, so props to that, Andrew. Here's the deal. Andrew, this is where you really got to dig in to what the position actually entails.

So then tell me about yourself question. I talk about this a lot. Andrew, if you are interviewing for a leadership design role, then you got to talk about that. Right? I would make a joke. I would play it off like, hey, tell me about yourself. Well, I'd be like, I can't really tell you about myself for the last three years because I was having cardiac issues. Right? And then like, that's gonna like set the tone to be like, but I can tell you what I've done here, bang bang bang bang. Here's the deal. If you have been out of work for a few months for a few years at this point, it is so incredibly important to have me about me, statement question nailed down to a T.

If you do not, you will struggle to go past first rounds. Because if you sit here and you're like, well, I really know anything for three years. And then before that, I kind of did this. And then I kind of did that. Bro, I'd be like, oh, pass. I can't, I can't. It is. Hey, my name's Andrew. I don't really have anything to show for for the last two years because I was in and out of hospitals with cardiac issues. I'm still glad I'm on this earth. That's funny. Not funny, but like you would light the mood. But here's what I've done. Bang bang bang bang bang.

What else do you want to know? Right? So much more impressive. Let's see, Adrian comes in and I had a coaching interview with the CEO on the press my audio work with my video wouldn't work. Yes. Adrian, thank you for chiming in here. Listen, do a video test. Do a video test. This is incredibly incredibly important. Make sure your audio works. Make sure your video works. I would log on 15 minutes early right now and interviews and make sure this, this, this works. Let's see here, trying to convince someone to mentor me in recommendations. Trying to convince someone to mentor me. Well, first off, Adrian, it depends on what you want.

And I, I have done, I have done sessions on how to navigate mentoring mentoring mentoring relationship. You need to be very direct. You need to drive the conversation. You need to drive, drive everything. the agenda, the conversations win, where, what time? And just ask, just ask, right? Hey Taylor, I would love for you to be my mentor. I'm asking for a one meeting a month or 30 minutes. I'm going to come with you with questions. I will do that. I will do that once a month, right? Or again, but you've got to be specific on what you want, how many times you want to meet the cadence, the amount of time and, and just start asking people.

But have a clear defined ask from a mentor mentee approach. Danny comes in, make sure the confirmed times zones with interviews, another great suggestion here. Again, this is why I like going live. This is why I like going live. So y'all can comment because I'm, I'm going to miss things. I'm going to miss him. So that's, that's wonderful as well. Andrew, I was coding side projects. The hospital just not paid stuff for tips. Thanks Taylor. Glad I'm not dead too. Makes productive. Yeah, again, Andrew, CC is a little banter back and forth. Like I love this. It completely changed the conversation, right? I'm glad you're alive.

Andrew, I'm glad you're on this earth. This earth is better with you on it. I don't even know you, but I can already tell you're an awesome dude. But yeah, but here, here's the, Andrew, I want to see this. The paid stuff doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I've told the story multiple times. I worked with the junior developer. I'm going to wrap up here. It's like, I know I got to go to here pretty quickly. I worked with the junior developer. He had two years of experience on his resume. I said, man, this is great. How much are we getting paid? Because I'm, I wasn't.

What are you talking about? Because I was doing this for free. He has resume looked incredible. And it was completely paid for it. Unpaid work. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. You have experience. Andrew, if you can, if you can show the code for what it is, it's legit. It's a nine to five. Don't worry about the non paid stuff. Don't even bring that up. Just like, hey, this is what it is. This is what it was. And if you have the GitHub show for the code and you can walk people through the code, you're good. You're good. What is the best way to break into the tech industry?

Brian, I'm glad you asked this. I'm going to end on this question. What is the best way to break into the tech industry to network your ass off? And what I mean by networking your ass off, I would, I would do two things. One, I would talk to a complete stranger that you want to meet every day. So Brian, if I were you, I would try to network on the back of my live show every day. Every day, message, Danny, message, Adrian, message everybody, hey, nice to meet you. Two, I put out a clip on this recently. There's a lot of creators out there that need websites built for free.

If you can take on a project for free, I think you should. Jordan Ryerson, want to give a shout to him. He developed the website for unicorn finders for me. And he used that to leverage to get a job. And he needed it for free. He needed it back up job. The unicorn finders.com knows what he did. Right, offer your services at work. Talk to your friends, go to your local city, nonprofits, you know, kennels, churches. Everybody needs work done, but no one's asking. So just start asking, hey, I'm trying to get work. You know, ask the shadow. You know, everybody who, everybody who has worked with me for free, everybody who's working me in general has found a job, run the effect.

Everybody who has worked with me for free is an intern, has found a job. I'm telling you, if you get caught into people's ecosystems, you will network off the back of them and find a job. So again, just ask questions. Another interview tip, don't book another interview and give, don't book another call right after the interview. Make sure, make sure that you provide space to breathe and go to the bathroom. Go to the bathroom, make sure you schedule time to potty. You know what I mean? Worst thing is to get caught in another interview. You got your bathroom. Anyways, all right, cool. That's it, y'all.

I got a bounce. Hopefully y'all enjoyed this. Happy Friday. I appreciate it as well. For y'all joining in TikTok, it's great to see y'all. Saw the people tune in. Appreciate y'all. LinkedIn, love y'all. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram. It's great to see y'all this morning. Y'all have a great one. I appreciate y'all tonned. And I will see y'all on Monday. Again, next week, we're just going to read through next week. On Monday, we got Taylor, like I said, Taylor Pointechster, Pointechster, Engineering Manager, Spotify coming on. On the next week is all of the details in tech. I'm Steve. I'm Steve. Tuesday is my dear friend, Kelly Don, Director of Engineering.

Wednesday, Pear, who basically started Black Tech Twitter. It's going to be hell the week next week. So can't wait for this. I'm already recording anyway. Yes, this is on my YouTube, Gene. So go to my YouTube, Taylor Dessin on YouTube. You can catch all of these and learn some stuff. Again, appreciate y'all support. Y'all have a great one. Have a great weekend. See y'all. Peace. Hey, you did it. You listened to an entire episode. And I am very grateful. Because you know why? There's a lot of podcasts out there. There's a lot of episodes. And I myself rarely finish an entire episode. So I appreciate you so, so much for listening.

Quick reminder, please rate and review this podcast in the app store. I want this to be discoverable to others and the only way that happens is if you take the time right now and rate and review it. Please, like right now, unless you're driving, then don't do it. So thank you again. If you need to reach out to me at T-Dessin on all social media handles, and I hope you have a fantastic day.