Job Interviews

[grahamthomson]

Well, well, well. What with all the redundancies and soaring unemployment we have somewhat ironically found ourselves in a position to advertise a vacancy. Nothing particularly glamorous; a full-time printing press operator for £13K a year.

Our previous employee stopped showing up for work just before Christmas and hasn't been in touch since. We figured he didn't want to work for us anymore and so advertised the position.

We had a few interviews shortly after the New Year and offered someone the job. They didn't show up for work on their start date and, again, never heard from them since.

However, we have had letters/questionnaires from the DWP about both of these people. We have answered these honestly.

Anyway! All this meant we had to advertise the position again! We held a few interviews last week and a few today.

One person came in absolutely reeking of beer, all red-faced and out of breath. It turned out he was on his way from the pub to the chip shop with his interview in between. We thanked him for his time and said no more about it.

We also had one person who, when asked what experience he had running printing presses (bearing in mind ours cost £250,000 and is something of a beast, the size of a Land Rover), replied that he has a HP Deskjet at home. We struggled to keep a straight face and then kindly thanked him for his time.

We then had someone who had driven 3 hours all the way from Sunderland, thinking we were Newcastle Upon Tyne, not Newcastle Under Lyme. Idiot.

A young lad, who sauntered in with a slouch merely pulled his long hair from his face and muttered something along the lines of only showing up because the Job Centre told him to. No thanks.

But despite this, there were a few applicants who were genuinely looking for a job having been made redundant and were very keen and professional (but sadly lack the skills and experience) and it was a shame to turn them down.

Thankfully, though, we have picked the right person for the job and they are starting on Thursday!

Hurrah!

[Nigel]

LOL!

Discussions about interviews and interview technique are usually from the interviewee's point of view. It's nice to hear the other side for a change.

There was an interesting discussion on the radio the other day, actually, about recruiting. The speaker was a successful entrepreneur who advocates recruiting unemployed people over those moving from another job; she sees them as often more willing to work, willing to learn and having a good work ethic. The other point was that now is a good time to recruit because the high redundancies means there a lot of keen people out there.

[Hero]

I hope it all works out with your new employee, and that he/she is a team player, Graham.

===KEN

[Andy Turnbull]

Sounds like an interesting morning, I'm hoping the successful applicant does a bang up job.

Andy

[The Doctor]

I am one of those very strange people who enjoys job interviews. I find it far less pressurised than filling out an application form, which stress me out no end. I take the opinion that if the job is already earmarked for someone else before I even walk through the door then there's not a lot I can do about it so pointless getting stressed. I find I can usually tell which way things are going to go very quickly anyway. If it's obviously 'game is a bogey' within the first five minutes the pressure is off anyway.

What I personally find very disappointing, in my experience, is that it is sadly very rare for the interviewers themselves to make any effort to sell the job to me or get me enthused about wanting to work there. I see job interviews as a 2-way process: for the employers to check out whether the applicant is suitable for the position, and for the applicant to check out whether the position/company is suitable for them. I know I've talked myself out of at least one job by being honest about my opinions re: the impression given of the company by their recruitment process.

-Ralph

[grahamthomson]

Jan 19, 2009 19:20:19 GMT The Doctor said:

What I personally find very disappointing, in my experience, is that it is sadly very rare for the interviewers themselves to make any effort to sell the job to me or get me enthused about wanting to work there.

It's funny you should say that, as with each interview as we were explaining what we did, the pride we took in our work and giving a quick tour of the premises, we were actually getting excited about our whole operation!

[The Doctor]

That's the right way of going about it.

I've found myself being treated as if scum/beneath attention at job interviews.

-Ralph

[grahamthomson]

I've been on plenty of interviews in my youth and on most of them I was made to feel about two inches tall.

My worst-ever one was for a well known Butler-based Internet search engine. I was asked who I thought would become the biggest search engine and when I replied with "Google" I was derisively laughed at. Turns out I was right, but that shower of c*nts thought it was going to be Yahoo.

I also had an interview with Yahoo as well, as it happens!

I always promised myself if I was ever on the other side I would be nice to the interviewees and appease my younger self.

[blueshift]

Oddly enough I had to interview some people today!

What I generally look for is not just experience and personality (clicking with the interviewer is important!) but also commitment.

Like, you may be totally qualified, but its no good hiring someone if they're just going to find another job a month down the line. You need to convince the interviewer that you want /that/ job and you'll stay and be investable as an employee

[grahamthomson]

Yeah, commitment is a big thing.

The trick is to try to figure out if an applicant wants a full time job for a long time or if they're just looking for a stepping-stone until something better or more suitable comes along.

[Dave]

A job interview I had back when I was young.

edited to add new url

[Andy Turnbull]

Wow. Sounds like a deeply unpleasant firm to work for.

Andy

[Nigel]

Never mind that, can I interest you in a photograph?

[Hero]

I am glad in my last real job (an LSA at an all boys comprehensive school) I skipped the whole interview thing, because of good refferences and seizing oppurtunity (to prove my worth) by working the odd unofficial day or morning (when I could) and getting great feedback from that.

I think if I did have an interview, I would not have landed the role.

===KEN

[Cullen]

Now I'm a manager (puttup!) I've been more involved in our interview process. I've not done too many unfortunately as there is a shortage of software developers in the north east, which means we haven't had many quality CVs through. As we are a small company we have to be very careful about who we recruit, as having to carry someone who is not up to scratch (and there's been a few) is a massive drain on time and money; to the point where not having them there at all would be better. I'm going to the graduate recruitment fair in Durham in a couple of weeks time to see if we can turn this around.

From my limited experience I would say one of the biggest things you shouldn't do is turn up too early. Not turning up late is obvious but too early is equally annoying. 5 minutes early is ideal, 10 minutes max. We has one guy turn up half an hour early once which was ridiculous. Go get a coffee for goodness sake. Turning up too early show that you have no appreciation for the fact that the people who are interviewing you might have better things to do than babysit you for 30 minutes, and that you lack the initiative to find something more constructive to do with your time. I could understand it if we were on some business park in the arse end of nowhere but our office is smack-bang in the middle of Newcastle. Even still, and I've done this myself, wait outside until 5-10 minutes before.

[kayevcee]

Is being early really that offensive to recruiters? I guess that's what I've been doing wrong up at SEPA. It's not easy to judge it right when you're coming in by bus, though.

-Nick

[The Doctor]

I always ensure I am early for job interviews (10 mins before appointment) as I consider it good manners and polite, as well as cutting down any 'will I get there in time' type worries. Before any interview, I take a trip out a day or so before hand to check public transport routes/times/cost and to familiarise myself with the location. This is so I can focus on the day on interview prep with the worry of how to get there gone. I always get the bus/train/hovercraft that will get be there about an hour early due to the fictionality of many public transport timetables. I then go hide in the nearest cafe/park/doorway found on the previous recee until it's ten to doomsday.

Regarding timekeeping, I do get pissed off when I turn up in good time and the employer is running late. I was once stuck in a kitchen waiting for an hour and ten minutes past my alloted time. By the time I was taken I had such a dim view of the company I told them so!

-Ralph

[Cullen]

Jan 24, 2009 23:41:56 GMT kayevcee said:

Is being early really that offensive to recruiters? I guess that's what I've been doing wrong up at SEPA. It's not easy to judge it right when you're coming in by bus, though.

-Nick

Well obviously plan to get there early, but do what Ralph said and go get a coffee until about 10 minutes beforehand. It might just be me but I think punctuality works both ways - too early can be as bad as too late. Mind you I do this for other things too - never turn up to a dinner party at my place early! Maybe its because I'm a very last minute person.

[The Doctor]

I do agree that 'too early' can be as unhelpful as 'late'. I'm just programmed to think '10 mins' is not too early but a good kind of early. If that makes sense.

RE: Coffee before an interview. I'm more of a hot chocolate man. Very calming.

-Ralph

[Mark_Stevenson]

Finding myself once again in the jobs market, I'm currently trying to get out of the eighth layer of hell (AKA the Jobcentre) as quickly as possible and into interviews. fingers crossed - and for all the other Hubbers on the lookout. I don't really have anything to add to what's already been said, other than keep on keepin' on.

Mx

[Cullen]

We had a CV through today that was riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. The best of which was:

"I play great attention to details."

Obviously not! The guy has 4 A-grade A-levels and a 2:1 degree!(all Maths and Science subjects admittedly)

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Peopel with maths and scince degress are usualy verry pour at speling.

Martian

[Cullen]

Tell my aboot ti.

[grahamthomson]

I heard that being a good speller makes you impotant.

[dyrl]

One person came in absolutely reeking of beer, all red-faced and out of breath. It turned out he was on his way from the pub to the chip shop with his interview in between. We thanked him for his time and said no more about it.

This is the complete opposite of what things look like in Poland. Five years ago, I was almost denied a good job because I was sober. My prospective employer proceeded to take me clubbing and got me so drunk, that when I came into the office the next day, I had to deliberate whether I wanted to puke outside or in the company bathroom. When I texted my then new-boss that maybe I'd better go home because I'm not even hung-over, but rather STILL DRUNK at 9 am, and am afraid I'll screw up my work, he texted me back that he expects me to work in that condition.

I had to drink - and not beer, but VODKA - for about the next three years in order to finally secure a raise.

Now I'm not longer expected to drink, thank goodness and my liver has gotten a break.

Still, it was an ordeal. And I didn't even get to eat chips....

Pete

[grahamthomson]

The job wasn't Chief Vodka Taster was it?

[The Doctor]

Wow! That's quite a story, Pete!

-Ralph

[dyrl]

The job wasn't Chief Vodka Taster was it?

Not possible really, since in general you don't taste vodka - at least not in Poland. You're expected to take the shot down in one setting and pour another and another and another and just keep going.

There are two types of vodka beyond clear vodka which do have some what of a taste though - cherry vodka and something which, if translated literally is called "stomach" vodka, and you usually have a piece of orange to go with it. But then again, chasers are highly no-no in Poland...

Anyways - the only way I managed to survive was by developing a routine. After about ten shots, I'd just go vommit.

Once you vommit it all out, you can drink more. You just have to teach your body to vommit so as not to risk alcohol poisoning or embarassing yourself by passing out.

It's amazing the resiliance that one can build to it after a while - there's this "point" where you can actually start drinking vodka at somewhere around 2 in the afternoon and go on all night and wake up at 12 the next day and do it again...

Then - once you've reached that point, you're basically on the verge of being an alcoholic - you can hold so much alcohol and your body becomes accustomed to never even getting a chance to be hung over - and you're just drunk all day and all night

I can't remember at what point I stopped - but I did stop eventually.

Oh - now I remeber - it was pretty much when I met my current girlfriend, who sobered me up

Been with her four years now and we enjoy having a bottle of wine to dinner sometimes, but neither of us are hardcore drinkers. My then-boss let me stop drinking when he saw I have a relationship with a girl Nowadays I still do work for him, but it's mainly freelance and not on a contract anymore.

Pete

[The Doctor]

Thanks for sharing that, Pete!

-Ralph

[grahamthomson]

Said job in my very first post in this thread is once again available. Two interviews held today, and from all the sweating couldn't tell if the poor chaps were extremely nervous or just too hot.

Advertised with Job Centre Plus again and pleaded with them to vet applications so we don't get a spate of box-tickers. Shouldn't complain, I suppose, since it's free, compared to the £500 the local newspaper wanted for a one-inch square box in the job section.