Awkward job interviews

[kehlis]

Re: Awkward job interviews

Your interviewer is not just grading you on answers to questions, nor does she want to hear your life story/have it necessarily be "all about you." Remember, you should be assessing them just as much as they are trying to figure you out. Ultimately a new job is a mutual agreement, even though it might seem like the company/organization holds all the cards and you are on trial. It's best not to perceive it like that.

Very well said post but wanted to specifically call out this part because it's the most important.

I even tell those I'm interviewing that as much as it's me interviewing them, the most important part that most forget is it is them interviewing me to see if the job is a fit.

We don't want to hire someone if they aren't going to be a fit for the job or will be difficult to manage. Equally, it's important for the candidate to determine if they are a good fit for the job and if they will be comfortable working for those who will be managing him/her.

[Speedy]

Re: Awkward job interviews

I asked an interviewer one time what the average age is in the department, as I was curious if there were a lot of "vets" who wouldn't accept change given it was a process engineerer type position. Guy said, "I can't tell you that." After asking why, he said "...um, because it's against the law?"

[dsallupinyaarea]

Re: Awkward job interviews

I asked an interviewer one time what the average age is in the department, as I was curious if there were a lot of "vets" who wouldn't accept change given it was a process engineerer type position. Guy said, "I can't tell you that." After asking why, he said "...um, because it's against the law?"

That's accurate. Age is a protected class.

[Speedy]

Re: Awkward job interviews

That's accurate. Age is a protected class.

Yeah, I was like "Agh crud, I'm an idiot......"

[kehlis]

Re: Awkward job interviews

Yeah, I was like "Agh crud, I'm an idiot......"

Hopefully it wasn't for a job in compliance!

[L_O_B_27]

Re: Awkward job interviews

Had an interview which turned out to be a group interview which was slightly awkward.

Not group in the aspect that multiple people interviewed me, but it was me and 5 other people interviewing for the same job at the same time.

Pretty much all they did was ask us to say a few sentences about ourselves and that was pretty much it.

It was such a huge waste of time. I know it sounds slightly bitter, but you can't decide the quality of a person by them saying who they are and that's it with no follow up questions, or anything that might actually show who that person might be.

[kehlis]

Re: Awkward job interviews

Had an interview which turned out to be a group interview which was slightly awkward.

Not group in the aspect that multiple people interviewed me, but it was me and 5 other people interviewing for the same job at the same time.

Pretty much all they did was ask us to say a few sentences about ourselves and that was pretty much it.

It was such a huge waste of time. I know it sounds slightly bitter, but you can't decide the quality of a person by them saying who they are and that's it with no follow up questions, or anything that might actually show who that person might be.

I've been the interviewer in those types of interviews. Trust me, we hate it just as much as you. Waste of time and no way to form a true, personalized opinion of someone.

HATE when recruiting asks me to do one and try anything I possibly can to get out of them.

[Godgers12]

Re: Awkward job interviews

The casino in which I work did group interviews. It's a new casino, that just opened February of this year, and I interviewed 3 months before it even opened. They separated us in groups of 5 or 6 and had us do tasks, like working together to build a house of cards, separating the cards based on color and ordering them a certain way. Then at the end they had each person get in front of the group and basically perform a little skit. Then they would do individual interviews at the end. It was weird and I thought the group stage of the process was pointless,but I eventually got hired as the supervisor of the casino count room.

[JMD]

Re: Awkward job interviews

I own a small painting business. Been doing this for 37 years. For the most part I do all the jobs myself , however occasionally when i get a real big job I will look to hire a guy to help on the job. I always run an ad in the local newspaper. It says , Painter wanted for job lasting ( insert time the job will take here) must be reliable , must have your own transportation , must be clean cut and drug and alcohol free. Pay is $15.00 to $25.00 per hour depending on experience. The jobs usually last anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks so I pay them cash.

The people I have interviewed is just unbelievable. 90% of them show up and do not have a car. I've had guys show up to the interview drunk, reeking of alcohol. I hired one guy who seemed ok during the interview, he worked for two days on then asked if I could pay him for the two days because he needed the money. Normally I pay after a 40 hour week has been worked but I payed the guy for the two days, never saw him again. So I'm left hanging on a 6 week job that will now take 9 weeks because I have to do it myself. Another biggie is they always say they have more experience then they do. I put a guy on a job that told me he's been painting for 15 years and I give him the simple task of filling nail holes and he can't even get that right. At least ten times over the years I've hired guys told them the job starts on the following Monday and they never even show up. It's crazy. I could go on but you get the point.

[Majingir]

Re: Awkward job interviews

I own a small painting business. Been doing this for 37 years. For the most part I do all the jobs myself , however occasionally when i get a real big job I will look to hire a guy to help on the job. I always run an ad in the local newspaper. It says , Painter wanted for job lasting ( insert time the job will take here) must be reliable , must have your own transportation , must be clean cut and drug and alcohol free. Pay is $15.00 to $25.00 per hour depending on experience. The jobs usually last anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks so I pay them cash.

The people I have interviewed is just unbelievable. 90% of them show up and do not have a car. I've had guys show up to the interview drunk, reeking of alcohol. I hired one guy who seemed ok during the interview, he worked for two days on then asked if I could pay him for the two days because he needed the money. Normally I pay after a 40 hour week has been worked but I payed the guy for the two days, never saw him again. So I'm left hanging on a 6 week job that will now take 9 weeks because I have to do it myself. Another biggie is they always say they have more experience then they do. I put a guy on a job that told me he's been painting for 15 years and I give him the simple task of filling nail holes and he can't even get that right. At least ten times over the years I've hired guys told them the job starts on the following Monday and they never even show up. It's crazy. I could go on but you get the point.

Do a reference check first before conducting interviews? And maybe having an ad in the papers might not be the best of things? Average person doesn't read the papers much anymore(and clearly based on this,seems like the types of ones who do read your newspaper ads aren't the best candidates). Try job postings online and see if that helps. So they have to send in a resume and all that so you can see if it's even formatted properly and if their email is a professional one and not something like "[email protected]" or something lol.

Chances are, they probably have an online profile too on a site like LinkedIn for you to check.

[slickdtc]

Re: Awkward job interviews

It's stories like that that make me believe that being able to form coherent sentences, show up on time and wearing clothes in general (let alone professional attire) puts you ahead of 50% of applicants. Because for real, half the people can't even do those basic things right.

Of course there are cases where someone needs the job to afford that stuff (like clean, professional clothes) but I think that should be explained in the interview. Just making an effort to show you give a **** can go a long way.

[daflyboys]

Re: Awkward job interviews

It's stories like that that make me believe that being able to form coherent sentences,.........half the people can't even do those basic things right.

..... can't even do those basic things correctly.

I'm sorry man... I just had to!

[Dave_S]

Re: Awkward job interviews

I had pretty awkward interview to keep my job. Had to take a polygraph. That was certainly awkward for me!

[youvalss]

Re: Awkward job interviews

I had pretty awkward interview to keep my job. Had to take a polygraph. That was certainly awkward for me!

What do you do? (If you don't mind me asking)

[Dave_S]

Re: Awkward job interviews

What do you do? (If you don't mind me asking)

I used to be in military. I swear I've had at least 10 lengthy crazy awkward interviews for security clearance paperwork.