How do I prepare for an interview with a jack-of-all-trades CV?

Question

I have a CV with a vast array of different technologies that I've used at my former jobs. In my experience at those jobs, I employed parts of those technologies depending on what the job required, but never enough to be a master of all the remote parts of the technologies used.

But as I've been interviewing for positions, employers see that I have experience in a technology, and ask very specific technical questions that, while I might've known when using them, I can't answer now.

To learn everything about each of the technologies on my CV seems to be a gargantuan task that would be overwhelming.

How do I prepare for job interviews where each prospective employer focuses on a different subset of my experience in great detail?

Answer 1

I have also used a lot of different technologies in a somewhat longer career. I can't remember everything about all of them. When asked specific questions where I don't have exact or current information, I answer truthfully, explaining what I do know and trying to demonstrate general understanding. I have used MySQL, but also have several years with Oracle and am now using Postgres. So if asked "Can you update MySQL views" I would say "I don't know if MySql views can be updated. Some database engines allow views to be updated if the columns being updated can be mapped to unique table rows. I would expect current versions of MySQL to support this, but I would have to check the documentation."

Answer 2

Interviewers seeing that many technologies in that short a time will understand that you can't possibly have very deep knowledge of all of them (which you don't - basically no one could). So you are going to have to exhibit a certain degree of honesty about what you know and what you don't. If you can't answer something you never claimed to know it's not too bad, but if you can't answer about something you do claim to know then your interviewer won't find you credible and won't know what skills you do have.

In your case you might consider breaking out the "keyword" section of your resume into core skills and secondary skills, otherwise people might not know how you fit in at their company.

Try to emphasize how what you know will help with the specific job you are targeting. If appropriate try to show that you can start from scratch in a new technology and get things done.

As far as what to study, you have to decide what you want to do, no one can learn it all. I don't know that anyone can decide for you, or even really help with that.

Answer 3

Find out what technologies will be used at the job you're applying for and brush up on those. I remember being impressed with candidates that asked what technologies we worked with, and then went out of their way to learn more about them.

Even if they don't tell you, at least take the time to Google them and see what you can find out. You can often get an idea of what kind of development they do by looking at their website or software products.

Also be honest and tell them the languages you have worked with most recently or know best, and which ones you have worked with in the past and have forgotten, but are confident you could remember quickly.

If they ask you questions where you recognize some of the syntax but not all, feel free to ask if that is the equivilent to [some keyword] in [some other language/techonology]. They are probably willing to overlook syntax errors providing you can explain the process that occurs

Answer 4

Focus on fundamentals; If you've worked on MySql, Sql Server and Oracle, talk about relation databases and set-based operations vs working on specific rows. If you've worked in C#, Java, and C++, talk about Object Oriented design. Feel free to say, "I can't remember if MySql supports that feature, I'd have to check the documentation. In Oracle, I would use..."

Most interview questions seem to be designed to determine if you know the stuff you put on your resume, or if you are lying. But the underlying question is, "Can this guy do the job?" If you answer that question, the trivia is meaningless.

Answer 5

There must be a way to have a few versions of you CV for the types of job you want. Be specific with the recruiters and start hitting the books on those areas. At least tailor the CV for each of the top jobs. You may find you are not marketable for some, so you'll have to adjust.

Answer 6

Stop trying to be a jack of all trades. What are the core technolgies you know in depth? Focus your resume and your job search on them. Nothing turns off an interviewer faster than thinking someone is well-versed in something from their resume and then finding out they don't understand basic concepts. If you can't answer technical questions in depth about a technology do not make it one of the core technologies on your resume. We just interviewed 4 people and 2 out of the four could not discuss, at any level of detail, items on their resume and they are the two eliminated from consideration so far. They wasted my time and my colleague's time and we wouldn't hire them for any position now.