As I browsed one of my favorite new sites Quora.com—a question-and-answer website—I found something extremely relevant to you.
First, let’s check out the initial question that prompted the answer I wanted to show you:
“I see 25-year-old young developers are offered crazy amounts of salary like 150-200k+ in such companies as Google, Facebook, Apple, etc. How can I become so high-skilled to be qualified for such offers as well?”
Here’s the top answer:
I loved some lines in the top response by Mohsin Ali.
He says, “Did I suddenly become “high-skilled” in the 6 months? No, I started preparing for interviews!” Then spits more truth with, “You have to realize that being “high-skilled” and getting these jobs don’t have as strong a correlation as you might think.” And he has a perfect close, “[Interviewing is] a game, you have to play your cards right.”
Mohsin didn’t waste his time finding special resume paper or breaking his back to learn more programming. Instead, he knew that preparing for a job interview is the best use of his time and so he did just that.
His decision to prepare for a job interview paid off in the form of a $175,000 job offer—not bad, kid.
Brian’s Takeaways
It would be hard to communicate this message any better than Mohsin Ali did, so I’m not going to try. He hit the nail on the head.
Interviewing is 100% a game. Those who know how it works, practice beforehand, and execute get the jobs.
Meaning the best jobs don’t go to the best applicants, but those who interview well in a short span of time and don’t commit the 11 interview mistakes in this article.
So once you understand that, you know where to focus your energy: practice interviewing, practice interviewing, and practice interviewing. I can’t stress it enough!
I’ll go as far to say that your ability to interview well is more important than your college, major, extracurriculars, skills, and more.
And if you’re curious, here’s a start on what makes up good interview answers.
If you want to go further and get a guide that truly dives into writing a resume, dominating interviews, and getting a job, then check out my bestselling book The Golden Resume. I’m positive these in-depth strategies will serve you well when it’s your turn at the interview table so you get the job you want. And don’t end up at a job that makes you not happy at work.
What do you think about perception having more importance than reality in the interview process? Do you agree that interviewing is a game?
Here’s the original question and all the responses on Quora.
