job interviews

I am still panicking!

Also, don't move too far away from the subject. No matter how much they like you, they don't want to hear about irrelevancies or, another failing of mine (in all walks of life), overly personal stuff.

Sigh. Does anyone want to give me a job too?

Do you get firsts in A-levels too?

Who is this David Baddiel?

The degree starts from a third (you scraped through), the common 2:2, the very good 2:1 (aka lower/upper second) and the first.

David Baddiel is a British comedian. You're not missing much.

GROWL. ;) ;) ;)

First (first class honours): bloody impressive. Second: so common that they were split into two types, 2:1 and 2:2, where the former is better. And then there are thirds. Basically, that's it. I think fourths have died out completely (they were very rare, my great grandfather got one for being, well, not very good but a nice bloke, or thereabouts; cynical people will tell you that they were for thick aristocrats who basically failed but were rich and influential and so had to be given some kind of degree just for turning up, and this may well be partly true, but my greatgrandfather was not rich or particularly posh).

There are also degrees "without honours" for if you don't quite manage to fulfil all the requirements for a proper degree but I don't really know how common they are, I think how often they get given and what they involve varies a lot from place to place. Perhaps I should know more, since being a dropout from a university that's not as good as the one Martin dropped out of (HMPF ;) I spent a while reading the small print to see if there was anything I could do to get a non-honours degree. And there wasn't. Sigh.

As for non-honours degrees, at De Montfort there were a number of students who started on an HND, then transferred to a degree programme after that. For some reason they got non-honours degrees. This is fact, but I don't understand it!

Question - how on earth do you successfully duck out of work for the afternoon without arousing suspicion? I'm usually a scruffy bastard so there's no way I can style out turning up in a suit for a "doctor's appointment". Also, I'm supposed to be training an assistant as the moment so actually taking time off could be difficult. What to do?

It is also my philosophy that if you take a few hours of vacation it is your own damn business why; no explaination required beyond "I need to take a couple of hours off tomorrow -- that o.k.?" The end. I'm uncomfortable lying about sick leave or doctor's appointments.

nothing sadder than seeing the long line of interviewees streaming in and out, followed by the discussions i overhear about their positives and negatives.

nothing worse than realising you have no interest in a job 5 mins into an interview. as i did this morning. pretty much have another job i'm really keen on so was always a case of just seeing if it was somehow miraculous.

it was going really well, i was nailing every answer despite not caring (which may help), then couldn't resist the amazing dry internalol of

"how would you improve our website"

"i haven't looked at it, sorry."

I have the job interview of my life this afternoon. Idiotically, I was up all night preparing for it and now I'm shattered. Nice one Dog Latin, you plonker.

"how would you improve our website"

"by not getting the job"

nothing worse than realising you have no interest in a job 5 mins into an interview.

Well, at that point you can relax and use the rest of the interview as practice.

true

i was nailing every answer despite not caring (which may help)

haha yes this is always the way. some might draw parallels with "pulling" here.

I don't necessarily hate STAR questions but if they're looking for something extremely specific I wish they would tell you ahead of time what the questions might be. I interviewed a lot in 2022-23 and I found that getting "gotcha" questions popped at me was not an effective way to reveal anything except how I would react if rudely confronted. Which is poorly.

The best interview I ever had (and I did not get the job!) was with an NYC city agency and included questions like "How do you like to manage?" and "How do you prefer to BE managed?" and it taught me so much more about myself, how to talk about myself, and how to ascertain the right fit with the culture & expectations of a workplace. No one had ever asked me how I liked to be managed or get feedback--you got whatever your boss did, and by gum you liked it or at least shut up about it. Total game changer.

I change my mind - competency questions are good not bad. (they want to give me the job I interviewed for but think I might actually be a better suit for a more senior position they have open so we’re working through the details on that.)

way to go!

I’ve had some interviews lately, my first since…. 2011 maybe? Everything is different and I suck at it. I’m pretty good in person and people like me. I think. But the zoom and phone interviews are fucking me up and I hate it. Half the time there’s some technical glitch and it totally throws me off.

I had an interview for a library job and the zoom thing didn’t work right at the beginning and then the connection broke right before it ended, so it started and ended on bum notes. And the library is 15 minutes from my house. Everything is stupid.

good stuff ||||||
i took the initial post as just blowing off steam anyhow. these things suck. i'm on the interviewer side for the first time soon and am absolutely dreading it. Very formal format.

Well done barcode.

Had a job interview last Friday, apparently should've known the outcome on Tuesday lol

Last yr I had a gap between initial and final interviews of about 4-6 weeks