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Interviewing tips

christinacacioppo.com · 1,845 words · saved by 1 readers

Your job is to learn about how this person thinks about/does/interacts with [something] with lots of specifics Tell the person this is your job: “Hi, I’m Christina, and I’m working on a new startup. I’m here to learn more about how you communicate with other teams at Airbnb.” The more stories you can get someone to tell you — or show you — the better. Stories tend to be where all the interesting stuff lies. Try to do interviews in their world — their office / home / etc., as it helps you better see/understand their worldview. (It’s also often logistically easier for these people, too.) Avoid phone calls, which are tough, because it’s more difficult to infer meaning, understand vocal intonation, read body language, and ultimately, understand what really matters to the person. Interviews aren't normal meetings. Embrace that! You can ask seemingly-silly questions under the cover of “being on an interview” without problem. Framing the interaction: If you're not fully comfortable, the other

Interviewing tips Interviewing tips Notes from Steve Portigal's Interviewing Users General Reaching out to people It's easier to start out with people you already know, because they'll almost certainly meet with you if you ask. Next are people with whom you have something in common ("we both went to Stanford!" "we both went through the APM program!" whatever) Then there's people your friends can intro you to. (e.g. Saad intro'd me to Angela who intro'd me to the lab in Santa Clara.) Finally there are totally-cold reach outs. These tend to have low response rates. Framing for yourself Cultivate

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