Dear CareerBabe...

Dear CareerBabe:

When I interview, I find I’ve worked on one release of a product that isn’t as up to date as the newer releases in the data centers that I want to work in. When they ask me: "What is your experience with release 5.5?", in truth, my experience is with release 5.3 and nothing at all in that exact release. If I say "No, no experience," that doesn’t work at all and the company isn’t interested in me. What should I do here to overcome this objection?

Signed:
Unreleased at Interviews

Dear Unreleased:

First of all, if you have very good experience and you’re an expert in Release 5.3 than say not only why you’re an expert in that release but also how it applies to the business problems the company is trying to solve, so your interviewer can see you not only understand the technical issues but also the business issues. In fact, according to San Francisco technical recruiter Kip O’Neil, this is a really important factor at interviews, i.e. whether or not the candidate understands the business implications of what he or she has been doing.

Second, never say you don’t know anything about the new release. As Ed Bell, President of Edward Bell & Associates in San Francisco says: "I advise candidates to be honest – but not painfully honest." If you are aware that this is going to be an issue, then study up and practice your response so that when you go into the situation, you can plainly say what you have already done and are doing to make yourself an expert in the new release. Check out the "Interview Stumpers" column in Computer Currents. It’s at http://www.currents.net/magazine/national/care_index.html

Best of Luck!

CareerBabe accepts no responsibility for specific decisions of individuals and advises each individual to seek specific advice on their specific situation from qualified professionals.