first ever job interview in 3 days - advice appreciated

[brianb]

Heh. In the US that stuff about family and parents and their jobs would be quite unusual; not illegal, per se, but pretty gray area.
It could be argued that they are asking about your parents to figure out stuff about their (and your) race or religion etc.

I've been beaten w/ the PC stick enough living here that i must admit it sounds a bit strange to me that a large corporation (which usually has training for mgrs on these things) would ask about stuff like that. I've myself asked questions that i later found out to be verboten (about an applicant's non job related military experience) because i thought it was interesting. I think i also asked once what year someone graduated... also a no-no because it goes to age.

Simonsky is in the Philippines. Employers can ask pretty much anything during an interview. Age, religion, sexual preference, etc.

As to response time, with large corporations it can take weeks to hear back, so i echo the "don't get too down yet" thought.

@Simonsky, follow up with the HR lady or hiring manager. Ask if the position has been filled, and if not, if you're still being considered for the position or not. Also, make sure you keep applying and interviewing with other companies.

My wife is a tech/finance headhunter for companies all over Southeast Asia and I've been interviewing and hiring programmers since the 90's. Hit me up if you need advice.

[Caje]

Have a good attitude. Most people do not make the cut because of attitude.

Could you be more specific? I would assume everyone would have a good attitude at an interview. Or am I living in my own made up world where most all people also squat to proper depth?

[HiTekLuddite]

Could you be more specific? I would assume everyone would have a good attitude at an interview. Or am I living in my own made up world where most all people also squat to proper depth?

You would certainly think so, but you assume wrong. It is amazing what some people will say or how they behave during interviews. I recently interviewed someone that seemed completely bored during the interview, and looked at her watch every few minutes (kept checking her damn phone too). I had one guy tell me that once I hired him, he was going to have everything his way, and proceeded to tell me how many flaws there were with our business model (which was very interesting because he knew dick about our business). One person saw my FF helmet, and then went on a rant about how much he hated motorcycles and bike riders. I took one young lady that was interviewing to lunch and she put her feet up on my dashboard on the ride there. One guy just could not stop himself from dropping F bombs during the interview. Stuff like that.

[simonsky]

Thanks brian!