Interview annoyances

Society Business and Career
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what are your interview annoyances and how do you deal with them or address them?

for me the top 5 are

  1. interviewer has not read my resume, and/or is asking the questions that were already covered in screening

  2. the ‘trick’ questions to see how I think…what animal would i be and why? abaaay… I will be a dragon so I can just breathe fire on you right now and end this misery…is that what you want to hear.

but I usually redirect them and just ask, I know you are trying to assess my fit, let me tell you directly about how I have

  1. when in behavioral interviews they look at a company I was 8 years ago and ask how I handled difficult situations there…
    look hub…different time, different place, different culture, different people, and a different me…with 8 years less experience..point is adaptability and how I solved something back then tells you zero about how I will address it with your company today..

  2. key skills questions…i mean it is fine if you are gauging current skills, but something foundational to my role, obviously I was not at mickey mouse companies and obviously I ws promoted so I was doing something right, and the initiatives being successful…why dont we assess me on more advanced stuff

  3. stupid questions- one dude asked me, I want to see how you convince people…convince me that my daughter should go to college and there is value..
    really genius…THAT is what you want me to convince you off..can you be any more lazier..
    I have changed that to say, that is a very personal decision, I can share facts but i dont know your needs, perspectives and situation..so will need to ask you questions on that, or we can try and address an industry topic and make my recommendations..

Most are okay, a few are annoying, over the years I have run into just a couple of real tools.

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Re: Interview annoyances

I never had that issue with the interviewer, but the recruiters who picked up my resume from monster or indeed - man o man, few of them are not even talking about my field (engineering), let alone my expertise.

Second one are those who have read my resume but think that there is a good chance that I would be interested in a 4-6 month of contract job in Timbuktu, and will happily leave my direct position for that.

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Re: Interview annoyances

dude..my worst interview ever with a serious company was with E&Y, thats the only interview where I after I was done with interviews, I called the headhunter on the way out of the building that I did not want to move forward with this group.

headhunters are a strange breed, if they think they can make a buck off you they will hound you like used car sales man or appliance guys at sears, but the moment its not easy money, they will just vanish :D

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Re: Interview annoyances

oh man , I had to see this day , headhunters being told off :hinna:

I am a headhunter , the buck does motivate me but most importantly I cant be putting my reputation at stake by putting a wrong candidate into a wrong job. But I know there are many out there who dont care what the client or the candidate wants!

But then, alot of times, its not the headhunter that is to blame, its the client itself. It took me two years to allow E&Y to let me sit in on their interview panel. They wouldnt allow it because they didnt want us to see their interview procedures and due to data protection as well . But in that time when I did sit on the panel, I realized , what the recruiters in their HR team tell us is half crap coz what the managers are looking for is so different !!

anyways , I get really anxious when I am being interviewed by a not very experienced interviewer. The kind of questions they direct at you are so mechanical and they even have their customary lines written on a script that they say to a candidate while looking at the script!!!

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Re: Interview annoyances

CB- I read blogs all the time by HR and recruiters on how candidates should behave, and I agree with all. What headhunters need to do is be more truthful in general,

I know for a fact that they will leave you hanging if you are choice #2 or 3 because you are their safety net, top candidate does not accept or work out, there are others in the wing. Its much better to just tell the guy ... you are among top candidates, but process is going on.

Us professionals are big boys and big girls, if we are expected to send thank you notes and create custom resumes and cover letters, all a recruiter has to do is follow up and say its a no go, or its not going to be easy, etc etc. But there have been a few times where they just disappear. its not rare enough that it is an anomaly. I have actually followed up with hiring manager and sad, hey looks like this is a no go, I have not heard anything so assuming thats the case, but here is another candidate for you based on what I heard. Then turns out someone in HR/recruiting dropped the ball and never followed up.

I interviewed with a major company a while back and the first VP i talked to and I hit it off, the second one was a pain and I simply dont put up with BS. I had to tell her in the interview that if what she is telling me is what they want me to do, its news to me because its not in the job description and then I am the wrong guy. She was taken aback saying, i have never had a candidate tell me they are not the right person, and i had to counter by, I respect your time and my time, if what you are telling me was told to me by the recruiter, we will not be talking right now. Recruiter never followed up, the first VP and I connected on linked in and i dropped him a note. funny enough the exact issues which i told them i saw led to that group imploding, and that entire mgmt team is out, he and I still chat and i may even be doing some joint speaking sessions with him.

I dont have time or patience for drama, you need certain skills and experience, let me show you i have those...and then I expect to be paid for them and am not jumping ship for 10K. I go counter intuitive and ask in the start, tell me the range you are thinking, benefits and location, work culture, new role or filling a position...who left, why etc... because I dont waste my time pursuing things that are not worth it. Like yes mr recruiter, for 10K more i will relocate, impact my wife's career, leave social groups, sell my home, etc etc..... really? wow...

CB- just like there are bad candidates out there, there are many many bad recruiters out there. It has ranged from lying about specifics, to pressure sales in a boiler room approach, to just not having the decency to even respond to a note. One champion did this and came back after 2 months of zero contact saying they wanted to move forward...now all recruiting advisors would say, follow up, be nice and what nots. I sent this character a very short, yet professional note, specifying that after a few emails i had not heard in 2 months so decided to pursue other options.