Careers and Advice
Meet the Team: Jordan Rorrison
Job interviews can be a nerve-wracking experience. When you're interviewing at ZeroLight we really want you to do your best and that means preparing properly so that you feel comfortable, relaxed and confident when you're here. Here are our top tips for preparing properly so that you're most likely to give a great impression of yourself on the day.
Research
As a standard, we would expect all candidates to gain an understanding of what we do via our website. But those candidates that stand out have looked a little further afield. They've read our blog and Facebook page, they've checked out our CEOs LinkedIn profile and scrolled our Twitter feed for interesting insights, they've watched our videos on YouTube - so they've seen our tech in action.
It's immediately obvious when candidates have made a real effort to gain a true awareness of what ZeroLight is about, rather than memorised several lines from the front page of our website.
What does the interview entail? Who will you be meeting?
If you aren't sure about this make sure that you email to check the format of the interview beforehand. The Talent Development Manager will be more than willing to go over this with you. If there is a test prior to the interview (and with most technical roles there will be), gain an understanding on the set-up of this - length of time? Written, electronic or whiteboard? Knowing what to expect when you arrive will go a long way to calming those pre-interview nerves.
It's always good to ask who you will be interviewed by as well. You can then build this into your research.
Plan your journey
Ensure you know exactly where you need to be and give yourself enough time to get there, but don't arrive too early! Make sure you have our phone number in the unlikely event that you are running late and need to let us know.
Practice
By this time, you've done your research and have a full understanding of the company ethos and what they are looking for in candidates. Now you need to prepare what you want to get across during the interview. It's a good idea to take time beforehand to get clear on what you want to say about yourself and the impression you want to leave on the interviewees. A good way to do this is to study the company's values and think about examples that you can give on how you embody these.
Chances are you will be asked about your previous experience - whether this be your recent university work or previous employment. Ensure that you have plenty of examples of challenges you've faced and ways you've overcome these, including what you've learned and improved upon in future. If you are a great technical problem solver give examples of tough coding difficulties you've had. If you want to show that you've got drive and ambition tell the interviewer about times when you've gone above and beyond standard requirements in order to stand out. If it's important to be a strong team player, think about group projects where you've used your communication skills to bring together a multi-disciplinary team and produce a project to a deadline.
