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How to Screw Up an On-Site Interview

artima.com

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Re: How to Screw Up an On-Site Interview

#11

Post by paulgb »

fogus wrote: post #6

I would love to read stories of interviewees who've decided to call it quits on the interviewers. It must happen right?

If they did so with any semblance of professionalism, the stories wouldn't be very interesting.

I once interviewed with a company where it was apparent 10 minutes in that it wasn't work I was interested in (they were a stealth mode startup, so my preparatory research didn't tell me much). I made my interests clear when describing myself, and it was apparent on both sides that there wasn't a good fit. We mutually agreed to cut the interview short. Not a very interesting story, but no bridges were burned and nobody's time was wasted. I'd expect that most such stories are similar.

Re: How to Screw Up an On-Site Interview

#12

Post by j_baker »

You know, I always hear employers talking about how important it is for employees to be passionate and to show they want to work for them. But they forget that it goes both ways too. The end result is an interview where employers expect me to show them how absolutely thrilled I am at the prospect of working for them, but they make little effort to convince me that I'm anything more than an inconvenience to them.

When you have an interview where an employer does want you and shows it, it makes all the difference in the world.

Re: How to Screw Up an On-Site Interview

#13

Post by j_baker »

fogus wrote: post #6

I would love to read stories of interviewees who've decided to call it quits on the interviewers. It must happen right?

You know, based on reading thedailywtf[1] for a while, I've concluded that it happens very infrequently even under the most absurd circumstances. Most of the time, the interviewee says something like "This was bizarre, but I figured I should just stick the interview out". I'm curious why that is.

[1] http://thedailywtf.com/Series/Tales_from_the_Interview.aspx

Re: How to Screw Up an On-Site Interview

#14

Post by mootothemax »

fogus wrote: post #6

I would love to read stories of interviewees who've decided to call it quits on the interviewers. It must happen right?

10 years ago, the dot com I was working for went out of business. Even better, I was a PHP developer with all of a couple of years of experience. The dot-com crash was not a good time to be interviewing.

The recruitment agent I was using must have been equally desperate. He sent me along to an interview for the position of in-house developer (yup, the only one) with a company based in central London.

The interview went well at first, but after the first 15 minutes, I sensed something was amiss. The damned recruitment agent had edited my CV to say that I was a Perl developer with 5 years experience. I explained this to the 5 people interviewing me, and to be honest, they were lovely about it.

In fact... a bit too nice about it. They wanted me to inherit their complex Perl-based system, despite me not having a clue about the language. I explained at length why I wouldn't be a good hire, but still they wouldn't end the interview. In desperation I wrote down the phone number of a friend who DID have some Perl knowledge, and practically ran out of the place.

It was nice, and I realise that non-techies might not make a distinction, but my they were insistent that I not leave!

Re: How to Screw Up an On-Site Interview

#16

Post by nlavezzo »

techdmn wrote: post #15
d_r wrote: post #8

One of the last sentences: "This is not a true story but similar things have all happened to me or to my colleagues. "

I found this to be a let down. The story was structured as a first person narrative, I didn't expect it to be fiction.

Agreed

Re: How to Screw Up an On-Site Interview

#17

Post by tomjen3 »

j_baker wrote: post #13
fogus wrote: post #6

I would love to read stories of interviewees who've decided to call it quits on the interviewers. It must happen right?

You know, based on reading thedailywtf[1] for a while, I've concluded that it happens very infrequently even under the most absurd circumstances. Most of the time, the interviewee says something like "This was bizarre, but I figured I should just stick the interview out". I'm curious why that is. [1] http://thedailywtf.com/Series/Tales_from_the_Interview.aspx

It is properly the same reason people don't walk out of the movie theater when the movie they where going to see was really crappy.

Re: How to Screw Up an On-Site Interview

#18

Post by tomjen3 »

j_baker wrote: post #12

You know, I always hear employers talking about how important it is for employees to be passionate and to show they want to work for them. But they forget that it goes both ways too. The end result is an interview where employers expect me to show them how absolutely thrilled I am at the prospect of working for them, but they make little effort to convince me that I'm anything more than an inconvenience to them. When…

True, but most employeers have the idea that they are doing their employee a favor by giving them a job and therefore expect them to be thankful that they would do this, totally forgetting that it is an exchange of values (your expertise versus their money) and that both parties are equal in the exchange.

It doesn't help that there is a subconscious social belief about this in society too.

Re: How to Screw Up an On-Site Interview

#20

Post by ax0n »

I have been known to bail from an interview as soon as it became evident we were wasting one another's time. I'm not sure why the author put himself through all that. As it stands, it really reads like someone who's bummed they didn't get hired.
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