Posted on 03/11/2014 9:38:46 AM PDT by ShadowAce
I’ve seen several FReepers here announce that they are out of work and looking again. I’m hoping this will provide some assistance.
If you’re asked what is 1+1 your answer should be “whatever you want it to be”
And that will ensure a miserable experience on the job. If career satisfaction isn’t important, that’s one thing, but interviews are a two-way street. The applicant should also be assessing whether the position/company is right for him/her.
>>3. What’s your greatest weakness?<<
As an interviewer, I got tired of asking this question relatively quickly, since most people expect it and have canned responses (”I care too much”, “I’m a workaholic”, etc).
Instead, I ask “What are you most often criticized for”. I want to see if the candidate has the ability to self-identify their own faults and shortcomings. No place for egomaniacs who think they’re perfect.
Not a bit surprised. HR is where they bury all of the Affirmative Action hires.
But these questions have been known to come out of the mouths of hiring managers as well.
If some dunce asks what kind of animal I’d like to be the interview ends immediately.
3. What’s your greatest weakness?
Me: (deadpan) Kryptonite.
LOL! Awesome
I can understand that.
That’s only for accounting positions. :)
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
At your desk.
These are actually pretty good, thanks! I saw it on LinkedIn, but figured it was fluff and didn’t click on the linky.
This lady comes off as incredibly full of herself. I wouldn’t take her advice.
Especially telling someone you want to hire you that you are planning to get an MBA and you can’t say what you will want after that.
I hear that as “Please pay me as I am biding my time to jump out of here once I get my new degree.”
Stupidest question I ever got was from some consultant the company pulled in to interview me. To set the stage, I had been re-organized out of an 18 year job. This dolt looks at me with a straight face and said “We all know that life is a series of points. For instance, the big life changes like death of a spouse, divorce or loss of a job is 100 points. How did you fell when you lost your job.”
Having decided right then that I wasn’t interested in working for them after doctor nutcase wanted to psychoanalyze me I said “well, if you must know, I wasn’t suicidal. I went home and put a new roof on my garage. Then I went camping, and just for kicks, I stayed an extra couple days in the woods.”
I had an interview once where the guy asked me essentially the question about my greatest weakness. I looked at him and said .. “Pick up your phone and call my wife, she can tell you a lot better answer than I can”....I did not get the job...haha
My answer to that question lately has been that I stopped making plans that far in advance. While I always believe that I know what I want, life tends to throw me curveballs, and it just doesn’t work out. As a result, this is what I want to do now. I truly desire to be here long-term, but I will not make guarantees I cannot keep.
At one interview they told me “OK there is no right or wrong answers to these next questions” and then asked “if you could be any kind of animal, what would you be?”
I paused looked down and the floor and said “seriously?” And they all started laughing and one goes “That IS The right answer!”
HR is pretty much there only to make sure whatever state and federal laws that are applicable to the company's hires and fires are followed and to ensure the dreaded "diversity" requirements are met.
I've been a hiring manager and the worst part of the job was the pressure HR would put on us to hire their "diversity candidates." I was literally told once I *had* to hire a black girl for an open role because she met two diversity requirements. I refused because she didn't have the qualifications we needed.
The whole incident turned into a big pissing match which resulted in our HR department refusing to further recruit for the role I had open. So I did my own recruiting which was a pain in the ass, but found someone who was qualified in less than 2 weeks. Our HR department spent more than two months prior to that "looking for the right candidate."
When our CEO found out what happened, he fired the entire HR department.
Guess who won that pissing match.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.