When you are a software engineer looking for your next gig, it is very easy to get lost in the world of data structures, algorithms and system design — preparing day-in and day-out so that you can excel at those whiteboard interviews.

After all, being a technical person, these are the things that matter the most in interviews, right?

Well, not really.

One of the most overlooked aspects of such interviews is the preliminary screening/HR/role-chat rounds. This is where they assess you on your competency, skills, communication and to an extent — the culture fit.

And most importantly, you’ll proceed to the technical rounds only if you clear this round first, so it’s very important that the interviewer gets a good impression about you.

So, I’d like to give you a few tips and tricks that can help you create that good impression. Of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list and not all points might work for you. You are encouraged to improvise.

1. Be on time —
   Be available for chat at least 5 minutes before the interview (in case of an online interview). If you are running late for any reason, let the interviewer know beforehand.
2. Slow down —
   It is very common to get excited during the interview. Maybe it’s your favourite company or you feel the interview is going well — the reasons are many.
   But it is very important to stay in focus. Slow down your speech — many interviewers, especially if you are applying for a job in a different country, will have trouble catching up with what you are saying because of the different slang and pronunciation. Not to mention the delays and disturbances if the interview is happening via Skype or Hangouts.
   Take a deep breath and slow down — the more clear your words are to your interviewer, the more the chances of creating a good impression.
3. Be confident —
   Nothing works without confidence. Even if you are in the top 1% of programmers, without confidence, you won’t be able to show your true potential to the outside world.
   If you are an introvert or generally have trouble speaking — seek help from your friends or family. Do mock interviews. Practise till you are at ease. Keep in mind — the interviewer is seeing you for the first time, they know absolutely nothing about you and so it is your responsibility to let them know all about your potential and experience.
4. Show your strengths —
   Most people have trouble telling about their work experiences. But it is an absolute necessity. If you don’t tell, they’ll never know.
   Let them know your professional strengths. For example, if you used to work in a logistics company and now you are interviewing a food delivery company, you could say something like this —
   “In my previous company, I worked on optimisation— finding the shortest path and optimising delivery times through these paths. “
   Now the reason this works is that food delivery is also something that requires optimising routes and delivery times — your past experience is in direct correlation with what your new job demands. Voila! You just earned some extra brownie points from the HR.
5. Be honest —
   do not mention things/technologies you don’t know about just for the sake of it.
   It doesn’t matter if React is hot right now and you don’t know it. Just be confident about your existing skillset. Throwing in jargons just for the sake of it will only make it harder for you because the interviewer might just pick one of it and may ask you deep technical questions on that topic.
6. Show your interests —
   Overseas companies specifically care a lot about what you do outside of work. Don’t hesitate to speak about your hobbies.
   Open source is always a good way to show your interest in programming outside of work. A company I interviewed for also asked a lot of “philosophical” questions like
   “What 2 qualities have made you better than your peers?”
   “What qualities do you seek for in your colleagues?”
   “If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?”.
   Point is, it’s not just your tech skills that matter — these kind of questions are completely unpreparable and it boils down to how you collect your thoughts, put it all together and tell a story.
7. Do your research —
   Do at least 30 minutes of research about the company you are interviewing for. Attending the interview with 0 knowledge of the company is the worst thing you can do.
   How to research? — Run through their website and figure out what they do and their product features.
   Run through Crunchbase/wiki and see their funding — who has funded them?
   How does all this help? — you can ask questions/discuss based on these later — they would ask “Why do you want to join our company”? and you could just add “you are funded by Accel. They fund the best in the industry” along with other reasons.
   USE DATA FROM YOUR RESEARCH IN YOUR ANSWERS. PERIOD.
8. ASK HARD QUESTIONS —
   If there is one rule you should follow in interviews, it is this.
   Always, always make it a point to ask questions. And not just any question for the sake of it — ask hard questions.
   This could include questions about their competitor — “You folks compete with Swiggy and obviously, they have much deeper pockets. How do you think this will affect your company?” or their general day to day policies — “how do you deal with customer requests — do you say NO to customer requests often?” ASK HARD QUESTIONS.
   This makes them feel that you know them, their industry and their competitors. Personally, I have had instances where I did not do so great in the tech part but still cleared the rounds because I asked good questions and that created a good impression with the interviewer.