Did you know we’re hiring? We want stellar people like you to join our team. For that to happen, you’ll need to show us what you’ve got.
A first step in our interview process is a recruiter screening, followed by a coding challenge, a technical screening interview, a system design or a frontend architectural challenge, and then a final behavioral interview. The recruiter screening is our first opportunity to get to know you as a candidate. And while this is a pretty straightforward conversation, you’ll want to come prepared.
Understand the Goal
The recruiter wants to come out of a screening interview with evidence that you have the skills and experience to do the job you’re applying for. They also want to understand what you’re looking for in terms of the job itself and the job’s culture, as well as what your notice period and salary expectations are.
Prepare
A call with an internal recruiter will most likely be the first video interaction that you’ll have with Mixmax and you’ll want to make a good impression. Most of these calls are fairly similar. Some of the questions you’re almost guaranteed to be asked are as follows:
Tell me about yourself/about your current job.
Prepare a concise answer that describes your experience most relevant to the role. You can mention your years of experience in backend development, types of companies or projects you’ve worked for, technologies you’ve used, whether you’ve been part of multi-disciplinary teams, and if you have experience following Agile methodologies of working. This answer shouldn’t be your whole career or life, but more of a summary of your most relevant experience.
Why do you want to work for Mixmax?
To come up with a strong answer to this question, read the job description thoroughly. Find out what we do and be prepared to explain what specifically attracted you to the company/product or the job.
If you know someone who works for the company, talk to them. The more you know about the organization, the easier it is to impress the interviewer and demonstrate your interest in the role.
What are you looking for in your next job?
Keep your answer positive. Talk about what you liked the most about past roles—you can mention opportunities for growth, or product and company mission.
What is your experience with our technology?
Since this isn’t a technical screening, all we typically expect you to do for this question is to provide a high-level overview of where you’ve used the specific technology and for how long. (In our case, the technologies are Node.JS, React, and TypeScript.)
The same principles apply when you have a behavioral interview, but that interview will be more in-depth. The behavioral interviewer will expect you to prepare examples of projects you’ve worked on, problems you’ve solved, mistakes you’ve made, and what you’ve learned from them.
Here are some tips to help you succeed in the behavioral interview.
Prepare your examples in advance. We recommend following the STAR format (Situation-Task-Action-Result) or CAR (Challenge-Action-Result) format so that your answer has a structure that’s easy to follow.
Know your Unique Selling Points (USP). What are the skills, experience, and qualities you can bring to Mixmax, and why should we hire you? This will help you stand out from other applicants.
Understand your development areas. Being able to articulate what your weaknesses are and what to improve demonstrates that you have a level of self-awareness.
Prepare a few questions to ask. No hiring manager will be impressed if you have no questions at the end of the interview. The interview process should be two-way: a process for us to assess your suitability, but also for you to find out if this is the job for you! Even if you know a lot already about the job and interview process, you might want to ask about career development, what the hiring manager would expect you to achieve in 6 months, or what their management style is. You can also ask any product-related questions based on the research you’ve done prior to the interview.
And finally, be yourself. I’m always looking to get an insight into the interviewees’ personality. Your motivation and cultural fit/add are very important. Show us who you are! Smile, be enthusiastic, and ask questions.
Come Join Us!
Now that you know what to expect and you’ve taken the time to get your own stories into shape, come apply to join Mixmax Engineering! Check out our open positions!
