Job interview coaching

Hello, I am a mother of 21 year old daughter who is struggling to land a first job in software development. Long story, she has had several interviews and can clearly do the job as she passes through the technical interview stage but then she fails at the general competency such as team work, feedback etc. She is reluctant to tell the interviewers about her autism diagnosis. She can come across short, does not smile and only asks technical questions when prompted thus seems not interested in the team and the softer elements of job. She has just had the latest rejection, the feedback was the employer thought that the other candidate would work better in the team. I am so sad for my daughter. We just had a chat, I suggested to we look for a coach to help her prepare for the interview next time. Can anyone recommend a coach? Thank you, Dasha  

Parents
  • the feedback was the employer thought that the other candidate would work better in the team

    Team work is a very important aspects of most jobs and software development often required collaboration with team mates to balance workload, divide tasks and troubleshoot issues.

    It would be good if you could teach her the importance of this and give her role play practice of answering these sorts of questions. By giving her positive feedback on her progress you can instill confidence and get her to practice until it feels natural.

    If she is looking for a job that has no social contact and she just works on her own then she will struggle as working on a team environment is by far the standard now.

    A quick search brings up plenty of helpful articles to study this (for her to do) so she can examine the rules, dynamics and expectations from the comfort of her chair before your roleplay makes her explain how she would integrate into such an environent.

    A good link to start with is  https://theinterviewguys.com/teamwork-interview-questions/

    I used to both coach and mentor staff for interviews (in my own time) when one of my team had aspirations of changing roles or moving up the chain - the site rules here prevent me from giving out personal details otherwise I would offer to help remotely (I don't live in the UK now).

  • That's so true about the importance of teamwork. In my company the last interview stage is meet the team. The candidate meets the members of the wider team, we have a chat so that both parties can see if they could see themselves working together. Now on reflection it feels odd. We know from various theories that teams are the best if they include the diverse membership (the leader, the inspirer, the organizer, the completer / finisher etc). To be honest right now I am mostly heartbroken for her because I know she is so intelligent and the hiring managers can't see it. I need to pull it together, find resources and work with my daughter so that next time she does get the job. Thank you

  • Things like 'meet the team' make me feel sad, because I know personally that I would fail instantly at that stage. I would have absolutely no idea what to say and either stand there and freeze, or say something completely random and/or weird. Even though I know on  the inside I want and could do the job, this would not come across outwardly at all. It would take me a few weeks to come out of my shell and I just could not do that when put on the spot. Maybe try 'disability confident' employers who can adapt the interview process or make allowances. I wish you and your daughter all the best.

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  • Things like 'meet the team' make me feel sad, because I know personally that I would fail instantly at that stage. I would have absolutely no idea what to say and either stand there and freeze, or say something completely random and/or weird. Even though I know on  the inside I want and could do the job, this would not come across outwardly at all. It would take me a few weeks to come out of my shell and I just could not do that when put on the spot. Maybe try 'disability confident' employers who can adapt the interview process or make allowances. I wish you and your daughter all the best.

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