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The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

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Re: The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

#101

Post by AlexTWithBeard »

ALittleLight wrote: post #94
AlexTWithBeard wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because if they told you that you smell, you could counter that being tidy was not in the job description and take them to the court. They'd rather be safe.

"If there's no response to this email, I'll consider that a criticism of my personal hygiene. As you know, hygiene is not part of the job, and therefore I would consider rejection on such grounds legally actionable." If you added this line to every follow up email, that would at least remove the uncertainty about whether or not you would get the offer.

Dear applicant,

Such and such corporation is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate the candidates based on their race, age, gender, veteran status or smell.

Regards, A poor HR guy who now has to send these emails to all candidates.

Re: The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

#102

Post by AlexTWithBeard »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #99
AlexTWithBeard wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because if they told you that you smell, you could counter that being tidy was not in the job description and take them to the court. They'd rather be safe.

That's some upside down logic, in my opinion. Getting a job isn't a right, so there's no violation of your rights, hence, no grounds to pursue support in a courtroom. What am I not getting?

I am no a lawyer, but I think an employer may have an obligation to treat all applicants fairly and equally.

It may be theoretically possible to say that not forewarning a person about certain requirements may put some people in disadvantaged position.

Mostly likely it will be thrown away in the court, but why would you risk?

Re: The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

#103

Post by noitsnot »

rhizome wrote: post #52
brandonmenc wrote: post #47

>"If someone doesn't send a thank you email, don't hire them". I recently went through a short job search for programming work in Austin. I made it all the way to the final, on-site interview at three places before landing an offer. Every time I did not get an offer, I would get an email saying "thank you so much for your time, please reply with your concerns or questions!" And so, each time, I sent and email asking…

After that, I quit playing the ultra polite send-a-thank-you for every single phone call or meeting I was graced with, and sure enough, I got a couple job offers after that. I wouldn't be surprised if deciding not to worry about details with unknowable significance and inconsistent response allowed you to relax a bit more in future interviews.

Confidence is key and they need to be selling themselves as much or more than you. You don't really need the job. If there is a way to swing disinterested interviewers is another story.

Re: The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

#104

Post by space_turtle »

brandonmenc wrote: post #47

>"If someone doesn't send a thank you email, don't hire them". I recently went through a short job search for programming work in Austin. I made it all the way to the final, on-site interview at three places before landing an offer. Every time I did not get an offer, I would get an email saying "thank you so much for your time, please reply with your concerns or questions!" And so, each time, I sent and email asking…

Can confirm. Austin ghosts hard.

Re: The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

#105

Post by chillacy »

Gravityloss wrote: post #68
brandonmenc wrote: post #47

>"If someone doesn't send a thank you email, don't hire them". I recently went through a short job search for programming work in Austin. I made it all the way to the final, on-site interview at three places before landing an offer. Every time I did not get an offer, I would get an email saying "thank you so much for your time, please reply with your concerns or questions!" And so, each time, I sent and email asking…

Aren't there legal reasons why it's unfavorable to the company to really go into too much detail why they didn't hire someone?

Yes so if you’re gonna ask this question ask over phone not email! I’ve successfully gotten feedback by doing this. Not in super detail but very good general feedback.

Re: The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

#106

Post by ezoe »

> "When interviewing, I go for lunch with the candidate. I ask the waiter to subtly get their order wrong. A great test of the interviewee's character!"

I'll silently pass such a company because I cannot stand working with psychopass.

> "We always leave candidates waiting half an hour before calling them in. How do they cope with delays?"

That is a traditional technique for fraud. Getting them tired and lose the decision making ability. If not, the company are horrible at time-keeping. Not worth it.

Re: The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

#107

Post by itronitron »

IshKebab wrote: post #55
overgard wrote: post #48

It's almost not worth complaining about because of the ubiquitous of it, but I absolutely hate and make a point of never doing this if I'm interviewing someone: 1) Puzzle questions not related to the work they'd be doing. It's ok to have a somewhat puzzling geometry puzzle if they're doing, say, 3d work, but for a web dev? Etc. etc. 2) Coding on a white board. Can't you just setup a laptop in a conference room? Or ha…

I write code on a whiteboard, when discussing how to solve a problem with colleagues. Almost exactly like in an interview. Do people really not do this?

I've written code on whiteboards before, especially if I'm discussing an invasive code change with a coworker. It helps as a reminder of conclusions that were reached as the work progresses. One nice thing, maybe the killer feature, of whiteboarding for this use is that there are no distractions.

Re: The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

#108

Post by itronitron »

jimmydddd wrote: post #42
gumby wrote: post #20

> "The whole team thought you were great. You were probably the strongest candidate overall, but we were looking for someone with experience in XYZ." Wow, my GF just related this to me literally last week. She liked the team she interviewed with as well. (I'm relieved actually as she got a job offer in hand for a place much closer to home).

I think sometimes the HR person just makes up a reason. It's counter-productive to read too much into it. One time I was told I was great, but they needed someone with XYZ experience. It was very important. They ended up hiring my friend, who had even less XYZ experience than I did.

Yeah, I could see the HR person just reaching the conclusion on their own that the candidate must not have XYZ since the team chose not to hire them.

Re: The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

#109

Post by brandonmenc »

rhizome wrote: post #52
brandonmenc wrote: post #47

>"If someone doesn't send a thank you email, don't hire them". I recently went through a short job search for programming work in Austin. I made it all the way to the final, on-site interview at three places before landing an offer. Every time I did not get an offer, I would get an email saying "thank you so much for your time, please reply with your concerns or questions!" And so, each time, I sent and email asking…

After that, I quit playing the ultra polite send-a-thank-you for every single phone call or meeting I was graced with, and sure enough, I got a couple job offers after that. I wouldn't be surprised if deciding not to worry about details with unknowable significance and inconsistent response allowed you to relax a bit more in future interviews.

> I wouldn't be surprised if deciding not to worry about details with unknowable significance and inconsistent response allowed you to relax a bit more in future interviews.

Oh, for sure.

I hadn't interviewed for over a decade, and was super keyed up for the first few this time around. After my attitude changed to more of a "meh, I can take this or leave it" they got a whole lot easier.

Re: The Secret Rules For Getting Hired

#110

Post by Grustaf »

thosakwe wrote: post #88
Grustaf wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you even care how they pronounce your name, unless it's an English name? If they mispronounce Jones then sure that would be a red flag for many reasons, but if it's Nguyen? Can anyone outside Vietnam actually pronounce Nguyen? It's virtually impossible to do without practice if your native language is English. Or take Chinese "Qi" or "Xi", or basically any Polish sound. If your language doesn't have nasal v…

Names are important. It’s certainly understandable if someone makes a mistake the first time, though.

Ok so practically speaking, if your name is Przybyszewski and you move to a country like China with a very simple phonetic structure, how could they pronounce your name?

Before you answer, keep in mind that even smart dedicated Chinese people that study English for years have a hard time pronouncing a lot of words, the sound systems are simply too different.

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