Good day mates!
This morning I had my very first phone interview. First they had sent me written interview and them the next step was the phone call!
I was quite excited, so I went all over Dev.to looking for suggestions on questions I should ask (Will link to the ones I used in the end).
The before interview.
I got this interview scheduled with the CTO the day before thanksgiving, after exchanging emails with the CEO. Excited and anxious as I am, I spent the Thanksgiving morning doing some research on the company, may or may not have looked them on LinkedIn and wrote down everything they had share of importance and everything I found out about them, not much since it is a startup. What I found made me really want to work there, because their work is something I really believe in.
My question list
After the Turkey wore off my system lol I came to Dev.to as mentioned, to look for questions to ask. Here is the list I came up with based in several other posts I got here. Due credits will me given in the end of the post :
- What are your expectations of me? M. shared with me a overall view, but I would like to know more in technical terms. Will most of it be me working with a teammate, or will I do most of the work by myself?
- What am I going to work on?
- What would my immediate responsibilities be? What are your expectations of me in 3 months?
- Do you have a feedback system? Like how often will I get feedback? How do you assess people's performance? My performance?
- What would you say consists of a successful internship? How do you define and measure success? What qualities make someone excel at this company?
- What's the general working process? Can you describe one day or one week of the team's work?
- How does the company help junior people to grow?
- What does a team look like? How many people, which positions?
- How can I best prepare for this role before starting?
- How do I compare against other candidates that have interviewed/ applied? And what’s the next step?
Those were the most general questions, I had some more that are particular to the company type of product (It is a bit of a controversial product) but I won't share those
During the interview
First, for some reason I thought it was going to be a video call, so I spent 10 minutes trying to find the place with the best illumination and even applied a tiny bity of makeup. But them, she called me on my phone lol
Also, I got nervous and forgot to ask about 2/3 of the mentioned questions lol
I answered her questions, asked a few of the questions above, got to know a bit more about the company, the team and the project I would be work on for starters.
And I am happy to announce...
That I got the internship!!!
It is an unpaid position, but in a startup that has a cause I really believe in, and it is part time so they will work around my schedule so I can get a regular job to pay my bills, while I get real life experience as a front-end developer!
I am super excited and of course I will let you know how it all goes!
Hope you all have a Monday as good as mine!
XOXO.
P.
And as promised, here is the awesome post from where I got most of my questions:
Top comments (22)
You have done a great deal of research! Your questions for the employer show you are eager to work, and help you to understand the mentality and culture of the company.
If I were you, I would not be worried that you have not asked all of the questions! Some of them, in fact, would be a lot more relevant after you receive the internship offer. For instance, questions #3, 4 and 9 will help you before your first day. These are just my 5 cents from a recruiter's perspective.
Congrats again and keep it up!
Thank you Soo much, and your perspective makes a lot of sense and is very helpful!
Thanks again!
Don't mean to rain on the parade, but unless you're in school or this internship consists of a specific set of training, such UNPAID internships in the US are illegal. A company trying to get out of paying at least minimum wage should be viewed with suspicion.
Thank you for your concern. It is a very specific agreement so is all legal. :)
Congratulations on getting the internship, i hope you have a great experience, and really try get most of experience that you can, to better yourself, finding a people that can share the knowlege and experiences with you, it's the base to you grow up. Show your power!
Thanks Gabriel! <3
Congratulations!
You've assembled a very helpful question catalogue. It's nice and slimmed down enough to actually fit into one interview.
Thank you !!!
There are lots of good questions out there and those were the ones that I thought made more sense for me at this moment :)
congratulations on getting the internship!
Thank you!!!
Congratulations Pachi! Thanks for sharing your experience and all the best with the internship.
Thank you!!! <3
Many congratulations! All the best for your new job.
Thank you Soo much 🥰
Aêêê!!! Parabéns, Pati!!
That's great news! Congrats and best of luck on your first job! Hope you learn a lot and show them your talent, help with their growth and may you grow together.
Obrigada -
<3
You are an intern now! So happy to read it!
Wonderful questions, especially 9 and 10 wasn't obvious for me. Will save all this for the future.
Keep sharing your way it's so motivating.
Yeeey!!
Thank you 🥰
Congratulations! I had an interview through a few months ago, my first one to a remote job and yes I got nervous too and forgot to ask half of the questions I found around the web too 😂
😂glad it isn't only me 😂