I thought today that I've hardly told about my job interviews. I should write about it, or I'll start forgetting everything myself :)
I reread my advice for students looking for part-time work in the Czech Republic today - damn, it's still quite relevant :) Though one thing can be added - the point about interviews. For interest, I'll tell about what interviews I had in Russia (though there weren't many) and in the Czech Republic.
Too lazy to read? Jump to the conclusions, where I summarized everything.
I won't name some companies. Reasons? Some I don't even remember anymore. In some cases I don't want to ruin anyone's reputation for nothing, who knows what changed over the years of my aging. In some cases the name won't tell you anything anyway. But if I liked it - I'll write, maybe it'll be useful to someone.
Disclaimer: I'm writing only for myself, so I don't forget, and for mom, because she likes all my articles anyway.
Interviews in Russia
I didn't really look for work in those years, because life was good anyway :) However, closer to departure I tried a couple times.
My very-very first interview was in Moscow, as a general worker at a famous children's goods store. It was around 2011, and I took a fancy to write them. They answered very quickly, invited me to the office. There was a bunch of similar schoolchildren there. I waited my turn, they asked me if I was an idiot and all that. I spent about two hours on this, by the way. There was a whole conveyor belt for hiring. Without going into details - they offered the job eagerly, though they paid exactly 83 rubles per hour :) I worked there a little less than 20 hours total, because the level of idiocy was off the charts.
Then I went to several more interviews in Moscow, for positions like psycho-multi-translator (wildly popular position, you need to translate texts from Bengali to Belarusian, and help the boss work with Yandex). In those times I was fiercely annoyed - they always invited to offices near Yebenovo metro station (15 minutes walk, naturally), interviewed, found out I wasn't stupid and offered 100 rubles per hour. I especially laughed when they offered to work in level 1 tech support, again for 80 rubles, naturally. At that interview the guy was amazed by me when I distinguished a PCI card from AGP, because other candidates couldn't. Sic.
Then once I was quite close to a more or less cool job, at one of the most famous auditing firms (they're also in the Czech Republic, and by coincidence I had an interview with them this summer, but again it didn't work out). There already professionalism was in the air, the interview was in 2 stages. In the 1st they talked to me, made sure I wasn't bad and gave 2 tests. 1 on English knowledge, 2 on ability to work with Word, Excel and other crap. A week later they called and said I scored more points than everyone with a gap, I was happy :) They invited me to the second round, I was already running with joy. But it wasn't meant to be - thanks to the famous Moscow transport peculiarity, I was 45 minutes late, though I even left early. Due to inexperience I couldn't sweet-talk my way out either, fail :) Well, to hell with it.
And then came the golden era of jobs that were offered to us at the faculty. This was, briefly, accompanying various cultural and sports events, very relevant to studies and very useful in terms of experience. They also paid good money, and many from the university, by the way, continued to work with them, well I left.
Interviews in the Czech Republic.
Then I spent a year in Poděbrady. A whole year I rested from worries, and in summer decided to try online freelancing. It was good, money came, and in dollars. I really leveled up my skill in contacts with employers and easily got the work I wanted, despite the huge competition there. But the minus was that this work was completely unstable, i.e. experience didn't come. What I can brag about - you'll find my translations, for example, in several Polaroid company products :)
When I enrolled, I was lucky to find an interesting vacancy at a Czech company on the faculty website, I needed to do translations. All interviews were online - talked a bit, I completed test tasks (translations from Czech and English to Russian). By the way, for those interested - yes, after a year of learning Czech from scratch I could already earn money from it, so you can too :) They hired without problems, agreed on payment of 100 crowns per 200 words. Now I wouldn't agree to this under any circumstances, but then it was fine :) I abandoned this thing, by the way, only this year, because orders started coming terribly few. What can I brag about here? I translated for one of the Czech brewing companies.
Then came the time for decisive action. The ruble fell, depression attacked, and, after thinking, I realized the reason was that there was no stable income. I started sending resumes, and now only to the IT sphere, without humanitarian life pleasures.
They didn't answer me for quite a while, but once I was lucky - a small company engaged in web design answered. Well, at that time I was just interested in this, because I even made a blog, though I never did this :) The interview was long, we talked, they gave a test task, which I did more or less adequately. The guy was a bit stressed that I didn't know Czech at god level, so he invited me for a probation period, without a contract, cash in hand type. 100 crowns per hour. I was supposed to do SEO, PPC and code a bit. I could do all this more or less, so already in a week he said he'd take care of the contract soon :) But he was slow for a long time. Fate threw a new twist. Already when I started going there, I was invited simultaneously to 2 companies - 1 brewing company (not to brew beer, again marketing) and AVG (where I eventually went).
In short, when I found out they invited me for an interview at AVG - I got scared. The guy is already ready to sign a contract, but what if AVG hires me? In short, it wasn't easy to make a decision, but come what may, and I said I was leaving, inventing some genius excuse like "oh damn, I have to fly to Germany tomorrow for a year". But the guy himself is to blame - he fapped for almost 3 weeks, it was profitable for him to keep me in limbo. We agreed peacefully that he'd pay me half of what I worked, well at least something. Advice - sign contracts, it should be beneficial not only to you.
First was an interview at the brewing company. The first stage was a serious 2-hour test. Everything was tested - mathematics, physics, computer science, Czech(!), history, and for speed. Yes-yes, even for those who went to stir malt. Results came in a week, and it was evaluated cunningly there. Not like "you solved 10 out of 20 correctly", but you wrote this test better than 80% of those who took this test in the history of testing. Testing was conducted by an agency, they then collect this data and will contact you. I was especially surprised that in the Czech test I beat 86%. I joked to the girl who called me that I would have scored more if I'd lived here longer. She said that as a foreigner I could use a dictionary. Fail. Ask HR such things in advance. In short, they scheduled my interview only 3 weeks after the test. The interview flattered my ego, but somehow didn't inspire confidence.
And then AVG responded. There I saw what's called level. Everyone smart, you can see they're professionals and you can see everyone feels like an advanced person, the atmosphere in the office is peculiar, from the category "we're changing the world". This attracts. Position "intern in online advertising". First I talked with the direct boss, a young Czech woman. She was okay with everything. Then I talked with her boss, an American. He also liked everything, he gave me a test task. I tried, spent about an hour, they liked everything again. They invited me to a 3rd interview, with the main guy in the online team. And he liked me too :) Everything went very fast, within a week. They invited me to work, and in early May I started. A year passed, I really liked everything, I was in charge of optimizing all AVG sites :) After a year I decided that salary needed to be raised, and at AVG this couldn't be done. I set off in search :)
Then I immediately got sick, lay in bed for a month, sadness, sorrow, depression, still recovering :)
This time everything wasn't so smooth. I spent 4 months searching, though they even often answered. I'll describe what I remember.
First was, attention, Czech Microsoft, and, oddly enough, I didn't even write to them, the HR found me (more often like this please). The position didn't quite suit me, but I at least talked with them. There were 2 calls, both online, for an hour, they called from somewhere far away. It's a pity that, of course, this was completely past my skills, I'd be bragging now.
Then a long pause. First a bank responded, where I had a Russian card. The 1st interview was about nothing - for an hour and a half I showed what I can do, in detail, and the guy persistently tried to prove to me that this doesn't bring money to the company at all, and he's looking for a designer-programmer who'll also find clients and conquer the world, because that's how a student should be. Despite the fact that according to the position description it was exactly what was at AVG. Clear :)
A month later an HR from the same bank called and invited me to interview for another position. It was even funnier there - 2 guys sat and told how smart they are :) It was especially funny that one of them offered me logic tasks that are offered at Google, and I persistently hid that I know them by heart :) They asked about salary - I said my minimum is 130 crowns per hour, less - no way. He called me 2 days later, at 8 AM. Said he has very good news - they're hiring me for 80 crowns per hour, and in 3 months they'll raise it to 100, because they want to keep me long-term. IT position, in case you haven't understood. I said I'll yield the opportunity to other applicants :) In general, if positions appear at this bank, I'm unlikely to even write there.
Then there was the only interview where I didn't "pass" even the first stage. Czech "Seznam", they needed a linguist-programmer (no kidding), to work with the "suggester" (the thing that offers options when you type something in search). They needed someone part-time, but for about 30 hours a week, which didn't suit me, I had just learned I was accepted to new media. But the very story amused me, that the Czech Yandex answered me :)
Then Czech O2 responded. There was a double interview, first with the HR girl, then immediately with the direct boss. The woman turned out to be very adequate, but, after talking for about an hour, we came to the conclusion that personally for me such work would be too routine, they were looking for someone who just wants to do the same boring work and won't particularly interfere. They communicated with me as equals, and such interviews leave only pleasant memories.
Then the auditing firm responded, where I interviewed in Moscow, position of data analyst. Again, at the 1st interview I talked with the HR, went smoothly. At the second I already talked with the direct boss, told about my skills, they were just enough to get into the work in general. They offered 160 crowns in money, and I went with exactly that request. It just coincided. A week later they called, said they found someone smarter. Offensive, but fair. Impressions remained good.
Then there was a famous company selling electronics, they invited for level 1 tech support. There were 2 interviews - by phone (and they called from Romania), and then invited in person. Everything was OK, but they wanted someone every day for 4 hours, despite telling them 10 times that I'm free maximum 3. Didn't work out. There was a feeling they wasted my time for nothing, though everyone was pleasant as people.
One of the most interesting was an interview at a pharmaceutical company, they needed a data analyst. I learned this quite well at AVG, so I even fit. First I talked with the HR, then in person with future bosses. There I unexpectedly screwed up a bit, forgot everything I knew :) It's a pity it didn't work out.
Then there was waiting again, and eventually they invited me where I work now. Again interview in two stages, first with HR, second with engineers. This time everything came together, the probation period has already passed, everything's still very OK :)
Conclusions?
In Moscow it generally didn't work out, as a student you can almost never find adequate work.
In the Czech Republic - lots of part-time work, for all tastes. I tried quite a lot :) In general, I'll tell you, I made such conclusions, interviews go approximately like this:
Very Small Company
You'll come, right on the spot show what a handsome guy you are. Fit - ready to hire immediately. Don't expect people to know how to interview - they're the same pros at this as you, so just be yourself. Both for you and for them new people are a novelty, so just be great. Attention, here you come across guys who are initially set to recruit slaves for pennies, if you feel such a one - go home. Be understanding that you'll essentially be paid literally from their pocket, which means it's profitable for the person to offer little. People go to such companies for experience, not for money.
Medium-Sized Company
The most common option. Usually happens in 2 stages - in the first you'll talk with HR, there you just need to show you're not an idiot. Such interviews value the skill of charming young ladies, in 99% of cases they'll interview you. I've been reading pickup.ru since I was 9, so I had no problems. Don't be a fool, in such cases it's very easy to fall for the hook that it's a "dumb secretary", why the hell is she keeping me here smart and handsome. Believe me, the point is simply that the future boss wants to reject inadequate boors immediately, of which there's simply a dime a dozen, especially among techies. Usually HR gets a fixed commission for you, so they're always for hiring at least someone, nobody will put a spoke in their own wheel. Then you already talk with the boss, there - as luck would have it.
Fairly Large Company
Here there's an option that the 1st round will be conducted by a recruitment agency. This is a long mindfuck, but a smart person is guaranteed to beat idiots, i.e. no matter how nasty you are, test results won't lie. And then - as usual. The plus is that the results will remain, you don't need to do tests twice later, maybe they'll invite you somewhere else. A huge minus of this type of interview is that who the hell knows what work awaits you at all, and this mess lasts very long. As for money - you can ask with a margin, because most often the agency gets a commission of 1 of your monthly salaries. They'll help you increase this amount themselves :)
Very Large Company
There, probably, the 1st stage will pass by phone/Skype, only those who speak English calmly pass it. Yes, seriously relate to the language level, because the person doesn't see you, and here it's no longer enough to be a young Casanova. Then also as luck would have it. About money - very often foreign HRs have a poor idea of salary levels in regions. Be cunning and use this.