Job interview mistakes

[jay clock]

Following on from the CV thread, my starter for 10 on what not to say at interviews. Both my examples are ones I witnessed personally, so no hearsay

1 To candidate for a management role in huge insurance co. He had lived for 30 yrs plus in South Africa, and had been back in the UK for 6 months or so. I asked him what size of teams he had managed. He told me it was "about 60 people, but 40 of them were black and we only count them as half"

2 Female candidate to my non pregnant female colleague when arriving in reception: "oh, you're expecting, how lovely". She was not even overweight, but was wearing a dress that slightly hugged her size 12 figure.

Over to you!

 

[Yellow Fang]

"And what would you say were your main weaknesses?"

In the past I have been guilty of actually telling them. Tricky one, you can't say you're a perfectionist because that's already a cliché.

 

[yello]

I've never interviewed anyone so can't offer any examples but I've certainly been interviewed by people who, for one reason or another, I would not have wanted to work for.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

The chap who interviewed me for my last job was telling me afterwards that he'd had a pretty hard time finding people "with something about them" that he would trust to drive his lorries. He said that one of the guys he'd interviewed had turned up with a baseball bat, which he carefully propped in the corner of the office prior to the interview. At the end of the interview, which had apparently gone reasonably well, my gaffer had said "so you're a baseball player then?" "No", came the reply "I've got to go and do some f**ker over now". No job for him ...

 

[Archie_tect]

Once intended to interview a student for a 'year out' job but before ringing him I wondered if he had a Facebook page... typed in his name and saw the things he got up to... what a headcase!

 

[Manonabike]

Once intended to interview a student for a 'year out' job but before ringing him I wondered if he had a Facebook page... typed in his name and saw the things he got up to... what a headcase!

Could have easily been someone else......


Not being honest in your CV.... I once interviewed a guy for an Oracle Financials position, the CV said he had most of the relevant skills.... withing 5 minutes I figured he'd never done Oracle Apps, in fact he'd never used Oracle lol - He then told me he had years of experience in Ingress but would be more than happy to learn oracle with us :-)

 

[Roadkill]

I once had someone who received a phone call mid interview and answered it.... he told the caller that the interview had started, said that he thought it was going ok and that he wouldn't forget to pick up the kids on the way home.

He wasn't the best candidate...

 

[Archie_tect]

Could have easily been someone else......

It was him, but yes often there are many people called the same, [but not often in the same year on the same course at the same university.]

 

[ufkacbln]

From the other side....

After my Father died, my Mother wanted to go back to work, so did an evening class to refresh her skills and started to apply... but got nowhere

SO she applied for a job for "School Leavers and "forgot" to fill in the age.

When she arrived and was challenged about being 55, she shiwed her Scottish "School leaver's certificate.

Then she spent the interview telling them why they should employ her rather than some youngster with no experience, and offered to work for 6 months on the wage they were offering but at the end, she expected a promotion if she was worth it!

She got the job, and within a year was PA to the manager!

 

[ColinJ]

(I don't know if what I did was a mistake or not, but it certainly made me feel better...!)

I was being interviewed for a job by a panel of about 10 people. It was mid-summer, a very warm afternoon and I suspect that some of the panel might have had liquid lunches.

Somebody asked me to describe my educational background, work record and interests. Talk about a broad question!

So, I started going through the story of My Wonderful Life but soon noticed eyes closing and heads dropping; the buggers were falling asleep on me! The ones who weren't asleep, were cleaning out their nails, doodling on scraps of paper or whispering to the people next to them.

Call me old-fashioned, but if I can be arsed to travel 30 miles for an interview, I think that the least that the interviewers can do is to listen to me answering their questions!

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck go up ...

"... and then I decided to study Maths, Physics and Chemisty at A-level ..."

(I scanned the panel. The only eye contact came from the secretary who was taking notes.)

"... which was about as much use as a chocolate teapot! I could tell you the story of 'Hairy Donald', one of my distant Scottish ancestors, but I'm worried that the excitement would finish one or two of you off. I'm not sure if black is my favourite colour, or is it red? Yesterday's match - did you watch it? I didn't, I don't like football. Good grief, is that the time - I must be going! But I can't because I haven't finished the interview yet, have I? Not that any of you would notice if I just got up and walked out because most of you are asleep and the ones who aren't are more interested in doing Donald Duck doodles on their notepads!"

(I took a deep breath ...)

"In fact, let me rephrase that..."

"I'm really sorry for boring you, but would you please wake up and pay attention when I'm answering your questions - thank you!"

The panel members suddenly lurched awake. The head honcho leaned forward and said:

"Er, I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your reply. Would you mind saying that again?"

I smiled back ...

"Certainly! I got 9 good O-levels and then I decided to study Maths, Physics and Chemisty at A-level ..."

 

[XmisterIS]

This is how to do a job interview:

[media]

]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBAXWz-8arw[/media]

 

[PaulB]

I once had an interview where the interviewees made the mistake.

I walked in to a panel of the most gormless looking, haven't-got-a-clue set of divs it's possible to imagine. They assumed identical suits (three men and one woman!) would make them look professional and 'dynamic'. They were not. They were all siblings who'd just taken the reins of a family company and wanted to make a success of it.

After three seriously boring questions, the woman writing down my answers in front of me (major faux-pas), I got seriously annoyed and so as the next one came, I stood up and told them I was putting up with no more of this bullshit. I pointed out, in no uncertain terms, that they were exactly the people I would never consider working for or with and that their time-wasting was over and I was leaving toot sweet.

The following day, I got a call from the agency who'd provided the interview and they'd been asked if I'd go back and see these clowns again as they wanted to know what they'd done wrong and how they could improve their interview technique. I asked for, and got, a consultancy fee to do so. Now maybe they had the ingredients in place already to become successful but they are one of the biggest British companies in their field right now. For which I naturally take a bit of pride

!

 

[Chilternrides]

My first interview for over 15 years opened with " Thanks for popping along Mr. Chilternrides, I feel it only fair to tell you that before before we start there is very little chance of us offering you a job, in fact I can say with a degree of certainty that it is most unlikely we will even consider you."

"Goodbye then, and thank you for wasting my time."

"Oh no, please don't be hasty, there may be something in the future for you."

Like a twerp, I continued with the interview - and I fell asleep (honestly!). The bloke was so dull, and rather than find out about me, he wanted to tell me about all of his professional experiences aligned with the history of the company that wasn't (apparently) prepared to employ me

However, this didn't stop them from calling me on a monthly basis with the opening lines, " could we just re-confirm your weight and height Mr. CR?"

" No you can't, and I'm not doing the job thank you."

" But you don't even know what it is yet."

"Yes I do, you want me to do XXXXXXXX" (sorry I can't be too specific here) My stature and qualification marks me out as ideal for the task, but it's a 'kin awful job which I hated when I had to do it, so no way would I choose to do it!

Two short words (one unpleasant and the other one called "off" ) eventually resulted in a cessation of these calls.

Apologies to any little people reading this, and of course their parents

 

[Globalti]

Whatever you say, never EVER address a panel as "Guys".

 

[Roadkill]

Unless they're all called Guy?