Job Interviews

[Hero]

Shame I live too far away to work for your company, Paul. MediaKids is the kind of venture I can see myself involved in.

===KEN

[Hero]

I'd like to know more about that.

===KEN

[The Doctor]

A request for those of you involved in recruitment. If requesting application forms be returned electronically, please correctly format the documents so the candidate can easily complete them tidily without the form going all over the place, ie words going over boxes, bits of text being imprinted all over other pages. It adds a lot of stress to the candidate and makes it more difficult for them to present themselves clearly. Sometimes it even stops a candidate from being able to complete the form at all.

I've noticed that most companies do not correctly format their applications for ease of use. It is infuriating.

Thanks.

-Ralph

[Cullen]

Funny you sould mention that but we have the same problem with our internal review forms. HR produce documents that look pretty when printed out (but with nothing filled in) but don't actually test what its like to fill them in electronically. Invariably boxes and text end up going all over the place.

[dyrl]

Thought I'd share a funny story (and some happy news). I managed to get a small...well...you can't even really call it a "job" in the full sense, but I manage to get a gig teaching english to somebody's kid. Hopefully this'll be the first of many to come. I haven't taught english for about two years, but with the economy so bad, I have to go back to doing it to suppliment income. And it's always better to be a private tutor than to work at a school - well, at least better for me, since I get along well with students but not with bosses ...

Anyways, what makes this note worthy is that during my "job interview" (aka talk with the girl's mom), I landed the job, negotiated the rate and discussed the girl's needs all in...FRENCH!

See, usually when I see an ad in the papers asking for english teachers, I call up in english. I figure that's natural. Sometimes the people on the other end don't speak english, and then I can switch to Polish. But in this case, the lady was like "my english is bad, I only speak French and a little Polish."

Well...I haven't spoken French since...dag...since 2001 when I lived in Michigan and picked up three hot French chicks in Kalamazoo when the FAA grounded all air traffic after 9/11 ... and they were stuck there ...I took them to dinner and we talked in French the whole time (to my surprise)...

Anyways...I started babbling something in French to this lady and...managed to get through the whole conversation with only one or two problems here and there.

I'm by no means a good French speaker - but it always makes me feel a bit proud when I "achieve" things in French

And in this particular case, I think it's wonderfully ironic that I got a job teaching english by... speaking French

Anyhow...yay.

A nice bedtime/evening story

Pete

[Dave]

That's...wow. Well done.

I know what you mean about feeling proud. Last time I went France I was surprised how much I knew and was chuffed to bits that I coped reasonably well.

[Nigel]

LOL!

Once, a Manpower advert was published with an incorrect phone number, so the company I was working for kept getting phone calls from drivers looking for work. My colleague was getting quite annoyed with it, so I phoned up pretending to be looking for Manpower.

[The Doctor]

What I've found common amongst many interviews I've attended over the past couple of years is that many interviewers have no conception of the inherant power balance of the situation and also in making any attempt whatsover to sell the job/company to the applicant and give them a sense as to why it's a great job/place to work. Fairly fundamental, you would think, but sadly not. The difference between those interviewers and those who properly engage with the process are rather striking.

What I do find rather alarming are interviews where due to HR policies and general paranoia about making the process 'fair', literally whole interviews can pass with no eye contact as they spend the entire time frantically writing down every word you say and so they're hearing but not really listening. In such cases it's literally pointless being in the room and the process could be conducted equally effectively via a telephone call.

Bizarre as it sounds, even when I don't get the job, if I get a sense that a group of people are both trying to sell the job to me as much as I'm trying to sell my skills to them and that there is a sense of an actual conversation rather than rote questions from The Big Book Of HR Procedures then I actually enjoy them! OK, I can become terribly stressed thereafter when I find out I'm still unemployed but during the meeting I can get quite a buzz out of it and I at least get the feeling that the interview was genuinely fair and thorough. I remember going through the interview process for a company a few years which literally took all day. I didn't get the job but I was so impressed with how the company carried out their recruitment procedure that I wasn't too bothered as I knew I'd had a fair and impartial hearing and would consider applying again if I saw they had a job going I thought I might be suitable for.

One word of constructive advice for those of you involved in recruitment. Never tell an applicant in an interview that you will call them on a certain day/date regarding the outcome then not bother to do so. I've had this happen several times and believe me, hanging around waiting for a phone call that never comes is a terribly demeaning and distressful experience. It's also a guarantee that I'll never apply to your company again as it gives a dreadful impression of how you may treat people/your employees.

-Ralph

[Deleted]

Oct 4, 2009 17:00:07 GMT Nigel said:

LOL!

Once, a Manpower advert was published with an incorrect phone number, so the company I was working for kept getting phone calls from drivers looking for work. My colleague was getting quite annoyed with it, so I phoned up pretending to be looking for Manpower.

if I was you, I would have answered and just pretended to be the other company :3 that way you can deal with the customers and you get a cheap laugh