Preparing for Recruiters and Phone Screens (The Jungle, Chapter 3)

Last time, I discussed how I decided to leave my last position, got my resume in order, and posted it online.

Making connections

I looked for user groups to join in the area that I was relocating to (Philadelphia). Both the Philly JUG and Philly on Rails websites and mailing lists gave me some solid ideas and connections.

Initial Reaction

Unfortunately, the majority of responses to my resume were “recruiter spam” — desperate, semi-comprehensible noise.

Never make your phone number public on a job site, unless you’d like to receive dozens of phone calls every day about positions you have no interest in.

It’s important to keep a sharp, focused eye on your inbox. For every 50 sleazy emails, I received a few that were interesting.

In the abstract, it’s fascinating to think that the technology industry has spawned a sub-industry completely dependent on a continuous flow of employees moving from one company to another. But it’s an ugly scene when dealt with up close.

Dealing with Recruiters

I wasn’t looking to work with any recruiters during this job search. I generally haven’t had a good experience with them. However, in the process of pursuing connections I made contact with a recruiter who seemed trustworthy, ethical, and effective. I didn’t end up taking a job through him, but he put me in contact with quite a few quality organizations.

Three Tips for Getting a Job through a Recruiter is an interesting post. Some with differing opinions chimed in with comments.

Preparing for Phone Screens

I created a document which I called a “career outline”. It fills in some of the gaps on my resume by explaining what I did for each company/project in a less buzzword-compliant fashion.

High-level questions

In terms of non-technical questions, these are the basics — for a phone interview, at least. The effort I put into preparing for these was definitely worthwhile.

Tell me about your background.

This is an annoying yet unavoidable question. It simultaneously functions as an icebreaker, a test of communication skills, and a catalyst for further questioning.

I try to provide a high-level overview of the type of work I’ve done over the past few years. When in doubt, I start with my most recent project and work backwards.

Why are you leaving your current position?

If I’m actively looking for a job, it’s obvious that there is something about my current position that isn’t satisfying. But I try to be careful about what I say.

I believe that it’s best to be sincere — respectfully sincere. Most developers have been in similar situations and will understand my perspective.

What type of work are you looking to do?

I tried to communicate that I wanted to write a lot of code, but also be involved in higher level design efforts. I’ve worked in some pretty segregated environments — so I feel it necessary to make this distinction.

I’ve worked on projects where “technical leads” provide “programmers” with specifications containing class and method names, return types, and exceptions. I’d like to have some control over the code that I write, so this is not the type of experience that I’m looking for.

What is your current salary?

I don’t answer this question. It’s personal, and irrelevant.

I was caught off guard a few times and answered it, but was cautious enough to give a range instead of a precise number.

What salary are you looking for?

Many people say that you shouldn’t answer this question. However, I think that the other side makes a more convincing argument.

I did my homework, calculated the typical pay ranges for my situation, and communicated my expectations. I gave a range instead of an exact number — this provides some room to operate.

Whether a company makes an offer on the low or high end of your range can tell you a lot about the situation.

Technical questions

Since the purpose of this phase is to facilitate a quick decision, I focused on the fundamentals, as opposed to obscure details.

I read over my resume, and prepared myself to be asked technical questions about anything on it.

Five Essential Phone Screen Questions is fantastic, and The Sanity Check is also especially relevant.

Learning about the companies

For each of the companies that I was to speak with, I read over their websites and tried to understand their fundamental business model. What are they selling, and who are they selling it to?

I also tried to learn about the technologies that they are using. Some companies have case studies or installation instructions that can provide some clues. If they have job listings on their site, that is a more obvious source of information.

There were two purposes for this — it helped me to decide if I was interested in working there, and it helped me to think of some questions to ask them.

Next time, I’ll give the gritty details of my phone interviews.