Scepticalscribe
macrumors Haswell
I used to be an academic. In recent years, I have sort of drifted into public service.
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Anyone here a pro at interviewing/questions?
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I used to be an academic. In recent years, I have sort of drifted into public service.
Gutwrench
Suspended
I understand now. It’s still not been my experience but I’ve worked in large shops where I don’t think those issues weigh much.
My company moved the local HR office from my city to the home office. The home and local HR are/were headed up by a woman, and before closing the local HR office it only had one male. There is only one other man on my team and the rest are woman. I report to a woman (director), she reports to a man (SVP), he reports to a woman in executive leadership.
LizKat
macrumors 604
Last interview for me was a couple years ago and would have been a career change, for which I was qualified, and had done internships; it involved someone trying to haul me back out of retirement but from a completely different career.
Old career was IT with a mix of short and longer-term consulting gigs (three months to five years) as well as one very short and some quite long "permanent" jobs (nine months to twelve years). I did everything from systems analysis, spec writing, coding, database design, project management, database administration, data security oversight.
New career would have been counseling recovering alcoholics in an outpatient setting. I had the academic and state-required credentials and am in long term recovery myself, but decided I'm not well enough suited to deal with some of the co-dependency issues that could arise, nor for dealing with cross-addicted clients. My own experience with drugs other than alcohol was so minimal that my own pre-recovery denial was very strongly based in a kind of condescension at that time for "drug addicts". Even a trace of that is no good for a client.
New career would have been counseling recovering alcoholics in an outpatient setting. I had the academic and state-required credentials and am in long term recovery myself, but decided I'm not well enough suited to deal with some of the co-dependency issues that could arise, nor for dealing with cross-addicted clients. My own experience with drugs other than alcohol was so minimal that my own pre-recovery denial was very strongly based in a kind of condescension at that time for "drug addicts". Even a trace of that is no good for a client.
Bottom line I figured I'm now into the afternoon of my life and enjoying having the time to spend in leisure and on a longstanding avocation: designing and piecing quilts and wall hangings, sometimes also known among likeminded folk as "stroking one's fabric stash". So I passed on a formal career change opportunity (and on the stronger risks to my own recovery from alcoholism).
Really I'd recommend to everyone an exploration of options for a pleasing avocation while you're still in career mode. Some of it should be social in the "real life" sense. Get involved with a local charitable endeavor. Get active in local politics. Become a kayaker or a marathon runner or take up yoga, anything where you end up at least bumping into like minded folk and from assorted walks of life. I cannot imagine anything more jolting than a migration from spending 60 hours a week on work to having 16 hours a day to do.... something... if only could think of... something... ugh! Aside from being interested in more social stuff like local politics, I knew I wanted a solo endeavor that would call me to get out of bed in the morning. I love being reluctant to quit sewing for the day, and love waking up thinking oh yeah today I'm cutting that Sasserman thing with the big flowers.
I knew ahead of time I didn't want that eventual jolt from overworked to undermotivated... and so while still working for a paycheck always tried to set aside even five or ten hours a week to work on my fabric collection or wash, press, cut materials for little ideas I could then spin out into a project -- or sigh and convert into a pot holder or hotmat. 😀
Anyway it's great to shift gears mentally from focus on work to something more like "work as play" -- even if you like your "real" job so much you'd do more of it for no extra pay. Don't go there. Explore for some interest that entices you to shift gears towards developing your other talents. Eventually your age forces that shift and it's better to have discovered other things you like to do and from which you can still derive that sense of achievement at day's end.
ejb190
macrumors 65816
There's a lot of great information in this thread.
I have an interview tomorrow. I've been with my current job for over 10 years. The thing is, I don't need to make this move. So I am interviewing the company as hard as they are interviewing me!
Having sat on both sides of the table over the years, there are a few things that I have learned:
1) Knock it off with the "Spy vs. Spy" crap - both sides. This is stuff like checking out an interviewee's car, using Google Earth to find an executive's house, or trying to get some scoop on the company to make yourself look like you have an "in". Partial information without context can really backfire on you. If you have a question, ask it. If you have a feeling someone is being dishonest, move on. If the interview leaves you suspicious, that's not a good way to start employment - from either side.
2) Know what you want to know. I was asked on a phone interview to "Describe your hands." Dumbfounded, I asked the interviewer what they hoped to gain from this question. "I don't know. It was on a list of questions."
3) One of my favorite questions regarding company culture is "When do/What makes/or How often do you say to yourself "I get paid to do this?"
4) Be aware of what questions you legally CAN NOT ask. And it never fails that they come up...directly or indirectly. So have a plan to either deflect or answer them, but don't club your interviewer over the head with, "You can't ask me that!"
5) There are interesting "interview tactics " people should be aware of. Like leaving a piece of trash on the waiting room floor and seeing who picks it up. Or the flight attendant interview trick of asking for volunteers - if you don't volunteer the first time, you are already out... Or the legendary trick questions used by the likes of Google or Facebook. These things are out there and other companies are picking them up, so it pays to at least be familiar with them. If you are going to use these - see number 2 above.
6) Both sides of the table - have some answers, have some questions, and be prepared to shut up and listen!
7) The best interview question I was ever asked was at the end of a three hour tour/interview. I was asked, "Do you see yourself fitting into our organization?" It was asked with such kindness that I felt like I had permission to say "No" without feeling like I wasted their time. I said no, and they agreed. I leaned a lot from that interview.
I have an interview tomorrow. I've been with my current job for over 10 years. The thing is, I don't need to make this move. So I am interviewing the company as hard as they are interviewing me!
Having sat on both sides of the table over the years, there are a few things that I have learned:
1) Knock it off with the "Spy vs. Spy" crap - both sides. This is stuff like checking out an interviewee's car, using Google Earth to find an executive's house, or trying to get some scoop on the company to make yourself look like you have an "in". Partial information without context can really backfire on you. If you have a question, ask it. If you have a feeling someone is being dishonest, move on. If the interview leaves you suspicious, that's not a good way to start employment - from either side.
2) Know what you want to know. I was asked on a phone interview to "Describe your hands." Dumbfounded, I asked the interviewer what they hoped to gain from this question. "I don't know. It was on a list of questions."
3) One of my favorite questions regarding company culture is "When do/What makes/or How often do you say to yourself "I get paid to do this?"
4) Be aware of what questions you legally CAN NOT ask. And it never fails that they come up...directly or indirectly. So have a plan to either deflect or answer them, but don't club your interviewer over the head with, "You can't ask me that!"
5) There are interesting "interview tactics " people should be aware of. Like leaving a piece of trash on the waiting room floor and seeing who picks it up. Or the flight attendant interview trick of asking for volunteers - if you don't volunteer the first time, you are already out... Or the legendary trick questions used by the likes of Google or Facebook. These things are out there and other companies are picking them up, so it pays to at least be familiar with them. If you are going to use these - see number 2 above.
6) Both sides of the table - have some answers, have some questions, and be prepared to shut up and listen!
7) The best interview question I was ever asked was at the end of a three hour tour/interview. I was asked, "Do you see yourself fitting into our organization?" It was asked with such kindness that I felt like I had permission to say "No" without feeling like I wasted their time. I said no, and they agreed. I leaned a lot from that interview.
Nice recovery alcoholic for how many years?
I take it LizKat you are female too correct?
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What is the flight attendant volunteer trick?
a 3 hour interview & tour, why didn't either party think you would fit in?
I had that happen once when I was real young, I applied for a call center (chimney sweeping) & I walked in and it was all women in their late 40s early 50s looking wrinkled and like they smoked a pack a day. Realized that wasn't the place for me.
Usually number 5 I never seen people play games like that.
LizKat
macrumors 604
My recovery is forty years old this summer and it's true that if one pays attention to this day, the days do stack up to decades... but one must bother to remember that it's one day at a time.
It was really really really hot in the summer of '78 in New York, so that was part of the reason I quit using alcohol that year. You walk out of a NYC bar that's nice and A/C'd into the heat of a city's midsummer gig, still radiating the sun's gifts off the concrete at 2 in the morning. Even someone who made a point of drinking other people under the table could feel that blast. So one of those nights made me think the company-provided shrink I’d been seeing might have had a point. He kept saying “you know Liz I can’t really help you while we’re still talking through this veil of your denial of alcohol dependence as related to your problems.”
I decided the chats I'd been having with him might work better if I didn't feel like sh^t half the time. Maybe if I subtracted alcohol I would feel better. Maybe better enough to tell him to go to hell. LOL instead of that, I quit drinking just to prove I could do it. I lasted three or four days and then unaccountably found myself selecting a couple beers to go with the BBQ shrimp... and for once was honest enough to mention that to the shrink. He ending up writing me a “script” to an open AA meeting -- yeah, on his prescription pad. “They can help you with that. I can help you with the rest of this stuff. You have to want to do the work.”
I’d had the good fortune to end up referred to the help I needed via a company program that taught managers to refer subordinates to counseling on performance issues alone, i.e. "I dunno what your problem is and it's not my business but you need help getting it solved because I gotta run THIS business right here and you're messing up when you're not around and I need you".
There were only two options offered: get escorted to first appointment w/ a counselor (immediately, in the next half hour) or pack up my stuff and be escorted to the curb, end of job. The counselor would make an assessment and further referrals as needed, and my job would be protected while I followed up as suggested. The managers were re-trained every year on how to use the program and how to do the referrals. They had no part in the subsequent events nor knowledge of what transpired in the program, short of being informed if and when there were times the employee would be unavailable for regular work.
It worked. I voted for counseling. I had felt unemployable inside that veneer of having it all together. If I’d been fired I would have been unemployable just via lack of confidence to go job hunting. The prognosis is always better for people who still have some frameworks of job, family, friends around them when they enter treatment for alcoholism or other drug addiction. No one ever thinks he's "really" hooked on anything. We can die thinking that. Our surviving kin call it something else, you know. "Heart attack" or "hit by a taxi while crossing the street" is easier to say than "untreated alcoholism."
I'm a textbook example of someone who could easily have died without an employment-based referral to treatment of alcohol addiction, because I always had a job and never even thought of myself as a drunk. A party girl after work, sure. I could drink like “one of the boys” back in the days when fewer women worked in IT. I could go out after work and drink everyone else under the table and help them get a taxi home and then have one for the road and ride the train uptown by myself, often enough because I figured to pick up a sixpack "for the weekend" at the deli on the walk home from the subway. I must have had a lot of guardian angels. The fact is, women generally cannot overuse alcohol for long as some men are able to do without ending up dead; our different hormones can accelerate the ill effects of ethanol on our livers and cardiovascular systems.
So I regard myself as having been saved just by where I happened to be working when my tightwire act of being a star at work and being a messup at work became precarious. I'll credit myself with taking full advantage of the help and putting serious elbow grease into my own recovery, but the point is I would never have sought out treatment on my own. I came from the “Got problems? Pull up your socks and get over it" class. Without that referral on the job to counseling, I'd be dead now for probably thirty years or more. I was privately suicidal after three years of reaction to consecutive losses of people close to me, and treating all that with a sedative class drug in a fancy ale mug or expensive wine bottle... not a recommended treatment for depression. I needed a shrink, yeah. But most of all I needed not to be using alcohol and had no clue that was the case. I had thought the alcohol I used was keeping me glued together.
I am extremely lucky for that corner my company backed me into that day when my boss figured I'd annoyed him one too many times by being so erratic, even if I was still ranking as one of his "star class" performers. I stayed at that outfit for another four years and then hunted up a different job with more confidence in the different self I had become in the meantime. I then had another twenty years and more of opportunity in the workforce ahead of me, not to mention a lifespan extended past where I’d been headed. And... more fun.
One does know when alcohol or some other drug doesn’t really underwrite the fun any more. Sometimes it takes a carefully calibrated shove to get around to acknowledging it in a “safe space” -- and there’s possibly nothing more effective than a well designed corporate assistance program in getting someone to understand that their job’s on the line when their life is also on the line but they don’t know it yet. Successful use of the program saves them a valued employee and it saves the employee and his family a breadwinner. What’s not to like there... even on the bare economics of it?
It's too bad so many places have no program or toothless/useless ones that amount to a line in the company handbook: feel free to avail yourself of our medical group and counseling referral service if you feel you need help with a personal problem. I never thought I had a problem that needed some Big Brother poking into my biz. I never would have wandered up to the medical office with a complaint that I might have a drinking problem. How could someone with a drinking problem even have a job? That's where I was coming from. I would have been one of the lost ones behind that sort of corporate offering. I could have ended up begging on the street on a January night even six months after that hot night in July of '78. But... I didn't, thanks to someone in a corporation who managed to sell in an employee assistance program with teeth in it.
0002378
Suspended
Great story ! Reminded me of a book I read - "Drinking: A Love Story" by Caroline Knapp
Great story and sounds like a great company!
How did you boss realize a problem existed if you were a star performer?
LizKat
macrumors 604
It became a mutual enabling game. I save the co's bacon by putting together a huge bunch of programs over a 56-hour stretch and produce some list of names some court settlement had required... then i figure why should i show up at 9 am for a few days, I just saved their behind, so I'd kick back, go in at ten... rinse and repeat on assorted rush jobs.
Eventually I'd miss some regular ol' meeting that turned out to be something i should have been able to contribute something to, but I wasn't around. So they went down some other road. When I showed up later and took a look at what they were doing on a team I'd maybe say yeah but what about this,,,, this isn't gonna cut it... so I'd be right but had made the boss a day late and dollar short of looking like he was on top of the problem.
So now I owed him one. He wanders over one afternoon and says you owe me behind that gig, have a look at this thing and fix it before Monday. That sort of thing. I fixed it after a crazy weekend of no sleep and living on coffee and snacks. Then I took two days off thinking about how I didn't want to work there any more, life was unfair, you work hard then they ding you for coming in a couple hours late....
[Mind you I'd already have fired me...]
Rinse, repeat six or eight more times over a year or so...
So one day I wandered in at 2pm and was just reading over some specs when he said get in here, and I went in there and he said close the door and I closed the door and he made the spiel about performance issues and pitched me the options and I said ok I'll take door number one and he said ok and spun around on his chair and picked up the phone on his credenza and started dialing and i said "should I leave?" and he said "hold on, I'm getting us squared away to meet the counselor" and I said "I can do that later" and he said "Uh no, that's not how it works... Hello Joe this is Jack, I got one for ya, we're coming up now"...
LOL and blam, half an hour later I was "in their program". Door to door delivery. "Hi Joe, this is Liz... so ok then, see ya later, I'm headin' back down." It was either that or be fired. He thought I was worth saving. So he had pitched me the options. That's how they were trained if performance was erratic like that: don't get involved, make the referral and if they won't take the counseling option, then fire them, it might save their lives even if you can't save the job situation.
You can't enable an active addict forever. They'll work really hard but they're banking "good time" behind it and they'll screw up on some ordinary thing they can't focus on sometime, and they'll cost you your own job. If they won't go to counseling and you fire them, the shock does sometimes cause a person to bottom out and seek help. It works out better for everyone though if they take that door number one and get help and keep the job in the meantime.
D.T.
macrumors G4
I've been in the tech sector for ~30 years, where I've always owned my own company (even when I was in college), on my 3rd iteration, with a few startups under my belt as well. I learned from an early age I didn't want to work for anyone (i.e., report to, vs. clients), and that I was not only very effective in the tech space, as a developer/architect/writer, but also had reasonably solid business skills, translating needs into solutions, sales, communication, issue mitigation, etc. Last year I did a several month engagement in the AR/VR space in Silicon Valley, it was more in an indie contractor sort of capacity, but at this stage, I get the calls ("When can you be out here?"), so there's no need to interview 🙂
ejb190
macrumors 65816
Years ago, airlines would bring 50 or so flight attendant applicants into the room. They would ask the candidates to do something like come up front and introduce themselves, then ask for volunteers. If you didn't volunteer right away, you were already out of the running.
I have total respect for that company, but I just wouldn't have survived very long at their pace and with their culture - all in, all the time.
0002378
Suspended
Add a little singing/dancing and it sounds like a stripper audition ... like in that movie Showgirls.
As a hiring manager my perspective is on the other side of the fence and, from what I've been told, I have a brutal final interview process (consider we are a small company) that can last anywhere from 1 to 5 hours. 😱
What I can tell you is that I'm unconventional. I stay away from any question I'm legally not allowed to ask, and treat everyone I interview the same. However my interviews are most definitely not stale, boring or rigid, and each one is unique in the ebb and flow as I adapt to each 'victim'.
Having been interviewed and as an interviewee here's what I can catagorically state: no two interviews are the same and each company, nay each department, will invariably have its own flow and style.
The only consistency is honesty. Lie and you'll be caught out. Secondly prepare - show interest and be prepared to answer questions about the company thats looking to hire you (if it's external).
Finally, expect the unexpected. Eons ago I had my choice when doing an internal hire between a 3 year 'seasoned' Sql Server DBA or a young lady who was hungry to learn but had only a few months experience and who was also four months pregnant. I chose the latter and never once regretted it (she's now surpassed me as a Sql Server DBA!). I asked her sometime later if she'd had any inkling during the interview and she admitted that she was totally convinced she'd failed the interview and was shocked to her core when I offered her the job.
My reasoning had nowt to do with her gender or status: she was green and moldable. The guy was more set in his ways and therefore wouldn't have been a good fit.
Like I say, every interviewer is different, as is every role. Keep to the basics and let your belief in yourself drive the rest.
What I can tell you is that I'm unconventional. I stay away from any question I'm legally not allowed to ask, and treat everyone I interview the same. However my interviews are most definitely not stale, boring or rigid, and each one is unique in the ebb and flow as I adapt to each 'victim'.
Having been interviewed and as an interviewee here's what I can catagorically state: no two interviews are the same and each company, nay each department, will invariably have its own flow and style.
The only consistency is honesty. Lie and you'll be caught out. Secondly prepare - show interest and be prepared to answer questions about the company thats looking to hire you (if it's external).
Finally, expect the unexpected. Eons ago I had my choice when doing an internal hire between a 3 year 'seasoned' Sql Server DBA or a young lady who was hungry to learn but had only a few months experience and who was also four months pregnant. I chose the latter and never once regretted it (she's now surpassed me as a Sql Server DBA!). I asked her sometime later if she'd had any inkling during the interview and she admitted that she was totally convinced she'd failed the interview and was shocked to her core when I offered her the job.
My reasoning had nowt to do with her gender or status: she was green and moldable. The guy was more set in his ways and therefore wouldn't have been a good fit.
Like I say, every interviewer is different, as is every role. Keep to the basics and let your belief in yourself drive the rest.
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0002378
Suspended
Good intuition on your part !
My manager and I had a similar hiring experience with a guy (applying for entry-level Software Engineer) fresh out of college who didn't know any Java, but had done C++. We were a Java shop. The guy seemed sharp and sociable (easy to work with).
We had some very aggressive project deadlines coming up, so I was a bit nervous about hiring a guy with no Java knowledge (given many other candidates who could be up and running with Java), but my manager overrode me and said that this guy will ramp up in no time and is easy to work with and would be a good team player.
I'm glad my manager overrode me because he turned out to be a superb addition to the team ... hungry to learn and great to work with. Mentoring him was one of the most rewarding experiences of my entire career in software engineering.
A good instinct, esp. concerning people, is a good tool for a hiring manger to have 🙂
Scepticalscribe
macrumors Haswell
Agreed.
Anyone who expects candidates to hop, skip and jump are probably seeking a certain sort of - docile and eager - types.
Some are nota fit for that, especially those who sometimes ask "why"?
That is an excellent story.
Years ago, a friend of mine, a doctor (with the NHS) was hiring another doctor for where she worked. On paper, one candidate was excellent - his qualifications were superb, but he sat rigid and tense and terse at the interview answering with tense monosyllabic responses.
My friend, almost in despair, - this was one of the worst interviewees she had ever seen in terms of how he presented himself - threw a final question at him: "What makes you laugh?" He squirmed, and ground out one word between tense clenched teeth: "Pythons." (Meaning Monty Python).
On the basis of that answer, she hired him, - she said she knew that he would get on somehow with everyone else - and told me that he turned out to have been one of the best doctors - kind, competent, caring - the practice had ever had and that the patients adored him.
I’m not sure how relevant my employment history or advice will be to the OP in my chosen field, but I still have quite a bit of experience with interviewing:
I work in the Law enforcement sector and I’m a Public Relations Officer/Police Officer. Prior, I was a Level II Loss Prevention Investigator for a major company in my state. I’m heavily involved in speaking engagements, interview panels/hiring processes, direct access to media outlets, content curator for specific trainings, Press release Editor, ect. I will be in Fort Meyers next month for a speaking engagement/Training.
I have been involved in enough interview processes to know where Applicants make the most mistakes and area’s that are crucial for success with someone trying to earn a new position.
1.) I see a lot of applicants where they try to pre-rehearse every response that they believe they will be asked certain questions and have some form of premeditated response of what they will say in return, that does not always work, which throws off the applicant during the interview process if they were expecting to be asked specific questions.
My advice is to new applicants for the position, is stay open minded and try not to overthink/over analyze every question you *think* you will be asked. I’m not saying to not use improv, but some of the best responses are the natural responses, not ones that are “Pre-recorded” if you will.
2.) Know the company/corporation/agency’s background and history. For example in my field, most agencies want to know specifically what do you know about them, what organizations do know that they are involved in, Community engagements, programs they offer, volunteer work, etc. It shows that you researched your job interests, acquire thoroughness, and have shown you are assertive For the sought after position.
3.) In a way, “You’re not interviewing for the position, the position is interviewing you”. In another words, What can you offer your employer in your experience, workflow, professionalism {and} what can your employer offer you in terms of why you would want to work for them (Advancements, growth, additional training, Wages/Gain share, ect).
4.) Lastly, [Confidence]. Its So important to be confident in yourself and who you are with your skill set, goals and what you want to achieve. Even if you don’t earn the job, you can still take that experience and apply it to your next interview and learn from your past interview.
[Side note:] I know this sounds rather Mundane, but a lot of technical colleges actually offer interview courses to help better a candidate that may want to gain more experience, perhaps they’re struggling to find a particular job in their chosen field, they want to be able diversify themselves as much as possible, learn how to create contacts. I find these types of courses to be really helpful for those who truly think they would benefit from it, especially if it’s a very competitive market for various positions someone might be applying for. In the end, you’re trying to separate yourself from everyone else and *why* the employer would want to hire you.
I work in the Law enforcement sector and I’m a Public Relations Officer/Police Officer. Prior, I was a Level II Loss Prevention Investigator for a major company in my state. I’m heavily involved in speaking engagements, interview panels/hiring processes, direct access to media outlets, content curator for specific trainings, Press release Editor, ect. I will be in Fort Meyers next month for a speaking engagement/Training.
I have been involved in enough interview processes to know where Applicants make the most mistakes and area’s that are crucial for success with someone trying to earn a new position.
1.) I see a lot of applicants where they try to pre-rehearse every response that they believe they will be asked certain questions and have some form of premeditated response of what they will say in return, that does not always work, which throws off the applicant during the interview process if they were expecting to be asked specific questions.
My advice is to new applicants for the position, is stay open minded and try not to overthink/over analyze every question you *think* you will be asked. I’m not saying to not use improv, but some of the best responses are the natural responses, not ones that are “Pre-recorded” if you will.
2.) Know the company/corporation/agency’s background and history. For example in my field, most agencies want to know specifically what do you know about them, what organizations do know that they are involved in, Community engagements, programs they offer, volunteer work, etc. It shows that you researched your job interests, acquire thoroughness, and have shown you are assertive For the sought after position.
3.) In a way, “You’re not interviewing for the position, the position is interviewing you”. In another words, What can you offer your employer in your experience, workflow, professionalism {and} what can your employer offer you in terms of why you would want to work for them (Advancements, growth, additional training, Wages/Gain share, ect).
4.) Lastly, [Confidence]. Its So important to be confident in yourself and who you are with your skill set, goals and what you want to achieve. Even if you don’t earn the job, you can still take that experience and apply it to your next interview and learn from your past interview.
[Side note:] I know this sounds rather Mundane, but a lot of technical colleges actually offer interview courses to help better a candidate that may want to gain more experience, perhaps they’re struggling to find a particular job in their chosen field, they want to be able diversify themselves as much as possible, learn how to create contacts. I find these types of courses to be really helpful for those who truly think they would benefit from it, especially if it’s a very competitive market for various positions someone might be applying for. In the end, you’re trying to separate yourself from everyone else and *why* the employer would want to hire you.
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ejb190
macrumors 65816
If you think about it, an airline doesn't want a flight attendant who will stand back and watch a guest struggle with a suitcase or wait to be told what to do in an emergency. They need people who will take charge. And looking for people who will step up when asked to volunteer is a good filter for that. But if you are going into that interview situation, it's a good idea to know what you are in for. If that kind of interview puts you off, you might not be right for that field.
D.T.
macrumors G4
That's pretty terrific. I used to do most of the technical hire interviews for my #2 company, and I didn't spend a ton of time on scrutinizing the candidates technical acumen, honestly, in about 60 seconds of them discussing one project, I had a sense of their skills - I was way more interested in their other attributes, we had an exceptional company culture, that always gave us a business advantage, so personality fit, soft skills, work outlook, was just as important.
We used to make people assemble their own desk 😀
jkcerda
macrumors 65816
I have been a suspect multiple times for multiple crimes, still free at this moment, does that count? or what kind of "interview/interrogation" do you want to prepare for?
0002378
Suspended
Thats the old school way. Make people work for something/earn it.
I think it should be a little bit more of this out there. Feel like it adds some substance.
D.T.
macrumors G4
Yes! Airbrush? How about FLAMES 😀
We had this one young guy sit on his boxed desk for like an hour, I asked how the initial code review was going, he said, I haven't started, I said, yeah, clearly you need a desk and walked away.
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It was a mix of just funny (clearly, I was not compliant with most HR departments 😀), and just to cross check someone's assertiveness (I usually just jumped in an helped).
lol. Thought you were the captain of the ship.
But I know a lot of people will say: "That'll make a man out of you!"
Anyhow I put together a nice power point for this gig.
D.T.
macrumors G4
Oh heck, I didn't mind, and generally, even good solid software developers can get befuddled with the assembly instructions in a desk 😀 FWIW, 1/2 of my dev staff were women, talking the core system architects, services, side of things. Sold that company, went off the radar for about 2 years 🙂