What do Companies ask Working Professionals in a Job Switch Interview?

What do Companies ask Working Professionals in a Job Switch Interview?
What do Companies ask Working Professionals in a Job Switch Interview?

Introduction

A job switch interview is quite different from traditional interviews for freshers, especially in the field of IT. These interviews are more difficult to crack and employers have higher expectations from job switch candidates. Thus, it is crucial to prepare for these interviews with an equal level of hard work and knowledge.

Also, product- and service-based companies are completely different, so are organisations that are in the IT sector and the other non-IT businesses. Thus, it requires a different set of skills and tools in order to qualify for a job switch in IT giants such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. 

However, with proper preparation and a good programme to support you or back you up, you can easily do it. Good job switch programmes cover all the necessary subjects or topics you will need to crack your dream job in IT. These courses generally feature mock interviews with real-time domain expert sessions as well, to help you through the final round of the recruitment process.


What are Companies Looking for when Interviewing Job Switch Candidates?

The technical evaluation is mostly done through aptitude and coding rounds, however, there are still technical interviews one must sit for. But, let us first focus on the non-technical interview or HR round that every candidate has to go through.

Yes, technical interviews are important as well, but they do not evaluate a candidate’s personality or behaviour and can mostly be cracked with a good preparation strategy. We will talk about technical interviews as well, but first, let us cover what the HR department and employers are looking for when interviewing you. 

In order to sail through the HR interview with ease, you must first upgrade your business communication skills and portray yourself to be as confident as you can be. A positive attitude is appreciated everywhere and is also generally associated with honesty. You must be as honest as you can throughout the interview as HR managers have been in this field for a long time and will definitely know if you are lying.

Being honest represents you as potentially a loyal employee who will stick with the organisation for a longer duration and also not get involved with any illegal activities. You must also speak good things about your previous employers and colleagues as you are associated with the traits you describe other people with. This will also ensure the company knows that you will never speak bad about them, even if you leave the job eventually. 

Mostly, HR recruiters are looking for people who have good behavioural traits and can work in teams. A good personality is appreciated everywhere and it is especially needed for teamwork in massive projects or processes. Also, you must ensure that you do not speak too much about things that have not been asked but still provide all the answers to questions that have been asked. Speak to interviewers like they are your friend and do not hold back, if you are holding back, they will feel like something is wrong.

Now, coming back to technical interviews, this round will generally ask questions that will assess your technical capabilities such as writing clean code, finding out solutions to problems or designing a system. For example, you might be asked to estimate a value of a random occurrence in this world of ours such as distances between things or the sum of total masses. This is done so that they can evaluate how good you are at logically processing information. 

You might also be asked about tools you are comfortable with and about projects you have deployed. Projects are very important and every interview focuses on them at one point during the session. You must make sure you revise your project so that you can answer all the questions correctly. Interviewers will ask what problems you have faced with your project, how you could have done better and many other questions related to your projects. You might also be asked to do a system design for an app such as Zomato or simply asked about the components you will need to build one.

Interviews exist to evaluate the kind of person you are as well as the kind of skills you possess, thus, you must prepare yourself by sharpening your communication, aptitude, logical reasoning, programming and other technical skills.

Common Questions that Companies Ask during Job Switch Interviews

Here are some common HR questions:

  • What do you know about this company?
  • Why did you choose to work at your last company?
  • Why are you switching?
  • Did you like your last job? If yes, why? If not, why not?
  • What kinds of job roles intimidate you?
  • Do you have any ideal work environment?
  • What are some good concepts you have implemented?
  • What are you the proudest of?
  • Tell us about your academic life.
  • Tell us about your family life.
  • How organised are you? Explain.
  • Which project, result or idea is your biggest achievement?
  • Do you consider yourself to be someone who focuses on the bigger picture or do you focus on details?
  • How were your managers from the company you were previously working at?
  • Do you have any complaints about your previous company or employers?
  • What kind of a person would your previous employers describe you as?
  • Who, what or which situation made a difference in your career?
  • Who or what had the biggest effect on your life?
  • What are your core objectives in life?
  • What are your career goals?
  • What are your long-term dreams?
  • What can be your personal mission statements?
  • What kind of people or colleagues/seniors/juniors do you enjoy working with?
  • What are the two negative things about you?
  • What are the three positive things about you?
  • What is your desired salary package?
  • Would you prefer a fixed salary or more incentives?
  • What salary are you expecting in the next 12 months?
  • What job role do you want after one or two years?
  • Do you like working with teams?
  • Are you good with teamwork and do you adjust?
  • What experience do you have with teamwork?
  • Did you handle any team problems?
  • When was your work criticised and how did you take it?
  • Are you open to feedback and suggestions?
  • What are service-based companies? What are some product-based companies?
  • Give a few examples of our competitors?
  • What kind of processes do you think we are involved with?
  • Who are our clients and how do you intend to deal with them?
  • Can you handle pressure and have you worked under serious pressure?
  • What is the most difficult situation or period that you have faced?
  • Tell us about a few low points in your life.
  • Tell us about a time when you had committed a mistake and how did you fix it?
  • How do you manage people who compete with you, intimidate you, annoy you or disagree with you?

Here are some common technical questions:

  • Why are programming languages important?
  • What are query languages?
  • What is dynamic programming?
  • What is object-oriented programming?
  • What do you mean by operating systems?
  • Which operating system do you like working on and why?
  • Do you like working on Linux? What do you know about Linux?
  • What are UNIX systems?
  • Can you write clean code? Show us by returning subsets from an array with N integers.
  • What seems to be the problem with this code? Fix this code (Automata Fixing).
  • Estimate how many trees are there in this world (some information will be given).
  • Estimate how many fish are there in all the seas (some information will be given).
  • Estimate the distance from the Earth to the Moon (some information will be given).
  • Design a system such as an app like Telegram.
  • What modules and compartments will you need for an app like Zomato?
  • What kind of APIs and integrations would you need for an e-commerce web portal?
  • What kind of data would you need when designing the system of an app such as Zomato?
  • What do you know about building solutions? Build a solution to ‘X’ (depends on the interviewer).
  • Which development tools are you comfortable with and which development environments do you prefer?
  • How do you learn more technical skills?
  • What do you know about advanced DSA?
  • Design a system such as ‘X’ (depends on the interviewer).
  • Tell us about your deployed projects.
  • How did you build this project and within how much time?
  • How did you deploy your project?
  • For your project, if you needed to scale, how would you do it?
  • What could you have done to make your project better?
  • What are some mistakes you have done when working on your project?
  • What is scalability and why is it important?
  • Do you believe in code reusability? Why?
  • Find the error in this solution or programme (on-demand).
  • How do you make sure projects pass quality checks?
  • What do you know about SDLC?
  • What benefits can some OS provide to development?
  • Name some operating systems.
  • What do you know about CI/CD?
  • What are development pipelines?
  • Do you know any DevOps tools?
  • What tools do you need to build a programme or solution such as Swiggy?
  • Which are the programming languages you know? Which ones do you want to learn? Why?
  • How can you use machine learning in business process automation or general automation?

A Few Preparation Tips

If you need more help, then you can always opt to enrol into the Job Switch course by Coding Ninjas which is specially designed to help you crack job switch assessments and interviews both. However, aside from enrolling in the Job Switch programme, you can also follow some advice in order to ensure your success.

Here are a few more preparation tips for you:

  • Be honest, even if asked about your personal affairs such as family life and low points in your life.
  • Sound confident and be sure of what you are saying.
  • Introduce yourself with a positive attitude and maintain that energy.
  • Look into the interviewer’s eyes when speaking. This makes you come off as a confident person as well as someone who is very focused.
  • Be as respectful as you can be. Do not sound soft but do not speak too fast and do not speak loudly.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I prepare myself for a job change?

You can prepare yourself by learning new tools and improving your business communication. It is also recommended to learn DBMS, system design and advanced OS concepts in order to fare well in a job switch interview.

How long should you stay at a job before switching?

You should at least spend 1 year at your current job before switching. However, it is sometimes recommended to work for 2 years to seem like a loyal employee.

How can I prepare for a switch in the IT sector?

If you are wondering how to switch jobs in India, especially in the IT sector, then you must take additional help from mentors and mock interviews from courses such as the Job Switch programme.

How do I switch to an IT career?

You can switch to a career in IT with a certification in programming or by completing a programme in any of the technologies or tools that are heavily used in IT.

How do I prepare to switch jobs?

If you are wondering how to prepare for a company switch, then you can easily do so by learning about the job roles you wish to switch to or the companies you wish to join. Then, you can choose a good course to help you out along the way. You can take up a service-based course or a product-based course accordingly.

What is the Job Switch programme all about?

This programme is for helping you with job switch interviews and assessments.

How will the job switch programme change your career?

It will change your career by allowing you to crack your dream job at the company of your choice. You will also be motivated to progress faster and have the necessary skills and tools to do so.

How to handle a job change?

Handling a job change is easy. You can easily do so by taking some additional lessons (courses or personal development programmes) and help from your managers or colleagues.

What are some good companies to switch to?

Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Oracle, Adobe and Intel are some great companies that you can switch to.

Key Takeaway

If you are looking for a career switch, then the Job Switch programme is the perfect choice for you. Switching jobs in IT is easy, especially if you have a fool-proof strategy and the support from a well-orchestrated course. You should also create a ‘changing jobs’ checklist, which will allow you to tackle all the things you need to do and prepare in order to get selected for the job of your dreams.

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