job interviews

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Yes, well I can't mention that I got a First too often. I got a First you know. (This is undermined somewhat if I add that this was from De Montfort University, which is far from the strongest university around academically.) I do realise that there are unlikely to be a lot of people here impressed by this - we have some genuinely brilliant people here, after all. Actually, I feel easier about mentioning it now that I've been here a while, because if I went on about it when I first turned up it would look like (and probably be!) a desperate and feeble attempt to impress, whereas by now people have decided what they think of me, for better or worse, and whether I had a double First from Cambridge or an O level in metalwork will make little or no difference.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 9 September 2002 20:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

shut up, I was kidding. I'm well impressed.

david h (david h), Monday, 9 September 2002 20:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ha Martin, my weakness is always, "I'm a perfectionist."

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 9 September 2002 20:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

i used to say that, dan, but i had to stop because i started to feel like a real plonker when i said it. *and* it's not true anyway (mind you, honesty is far from the best policy where interviews are concerned)

rener, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 09:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

"my failing is that i'm a brilliant brilliant liar and manipulative to a completely unacceptable degree"

mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 09:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

my weakness is asking questions about holidays.

jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

I still haven't heard any feedback from mine, but my agency person has thoughtfully gone on holiday.

It seemed to go quite well though

chris (chris), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

My atandard answer to the weakness question is to tell the truth ie that I'm lazy and easily bored. Oddly enough, this has never prevented me from getting a job I was really interested in. Maybe they both seem like such horrendous qualities in a worker that the HR people think I'm joking.

RickyT (RickyT), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh my this thread is now urgent and key as your favourite "shite in interviews" person has another interview on the 17th! CRIKEY! A 45 minute interview?! Dear dear me I am starting to get the ph34r now.

*scans through copy of application form she sent off to remember what arse she said she could do*

HAHAHA oh god if anyone has a computer with web editing proper programmes please could I borrow them to re-familiarise myself with them as I said I have used them - YES but can I remember ANYTHING about them hahahaha.

Oh god I'm nervous. I need lunch. WHERE IS ECWM?????

Sarah (starry), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sarah, 45 minutes is absolutely nowt.

chris (chris), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's longer than any interview I've had before (and worse paid, actually)!

Sarah (starry), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

You're getting paid to have interviews?

N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

Should you ask for your travel expenses?

good luck to sarah and chris.

jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

45 minutes can seem like an eternity when your sat in the waiting room. Fingers crossed Sarah and Chris.

stevo (stevo), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

Just when I thought I'd lose hope, someone finally responded to my resume! Whoot!

mandee, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 15:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

What exactly is a First? Is it like an A or something much more impressive and high-falutin' like it sounds?

Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 16:01 (twenty-one years ago) link


It's half as good as what David Baddiel's got.

the pinefox, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 16:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's exactly what David Baddiel's got.

RickyT (RickyT), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 16:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

!!!!!

I am still panicking!

Sarah (starry), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 16:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

Quick! Think of Kate! And Pikachu! And Moomins!

RickyT (RickyT), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 16:29 (twenty-one years ago) link


RT: I know: but interviews used to say he has a Double First, which sounds impressive.

the pinefox, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 16:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

photocopying certificates shouldn't be allowed to count.

jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 16:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

My biggest failing in interviews is that I have a tendency to over-answer questions. I start babbling, and initially have a point to make, but end up losing it. There's nothing more galling than saying "um, what was I talking about?". So yes, give them the info they want, but don't dig a grave for yourself if you have a predilection to bang on and on.

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?

Mark C (Mark C), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 17:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

In the UK, your first degree gets a classification. First is the top grade. How it relates to American grading I don't know - it's pretty hard to be sure exactly what it means in this country, except they don't hand out too many. A First at De Montfort is vastly easier to get than at Cambridge (I went to Cambridge Uni years before but dropped out, so I am in a very unusual position of being able to directly compare our #1 uni (possibly) with a fair-to-middling former Polytechnic).

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 18:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

My biggest failing in interviews is that I have a tendency to over-answer questions.

I do this too. I always start relaying personal anecdotes. "Your question reminds me of this one time when I ..." But then I've noticed a lot of interviewer's get really bored of the standard answers. In one of my last interviews, for a paralegal job, the person was most interested in my expeirence as a college DJ.

bnw (bnw), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 19:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

Maybe first is like graduating magna cum laude? Second is summa cum laude. Third is cum laude. Are there fourths and fifths? When do you fail?

Do you get firsts in A-levels too?

Who is this David Baddiel?

Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 19:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

A Levels get grades, of which A-E are passes. To put what I said earlier in context, a median student at Cambridge might have two As and a B (I think in my day about 40% had straight As), whereas at De Montfort a typical student might have a C and a D.

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.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 19:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

at my uni if you averaged over 70% you got a first (an A was 70%), I think I averaged 67% so I got a 2:1. How it works at Oxbridge and all that, I dunno.

jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 20:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

our #1 uni (possibly)

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.

Rebecca (reb), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 20:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

oh and for my MA you just needed to get 40% to pass. No other grading system.

jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 20:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

Cambridge ranked top, last I looked, for the A-level grades of its intake, and I think it's ranked top for research, and quite a lot of other things. I think it probably has the best claim, if you have to pick a #1.

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!

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 20:13 (twenty-one years ago) link

(I was kidding, though I concede knowing when I'm kidding probably depends on knowing me better than anyone here could be expected to, even the people who've actually met me. Then again you probably guessed from the gratingly jovial plethora of smileys, so, er, um, as you were.)

Rebecca (reb), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 20:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

one year passes...
I have a job interview tomorrow! Rah and all that! It's in the City for some trade financial magazine that I am almost certainly ideologically repelled by, but I suppose it's not worth writing the thing off without even having gone in to look.

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?

Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 15:19 (twenty years ago) link

Funeral?

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 15:22 (twenty years ago) link

Tell them you have a 3 o'clock with "fuck you" and after that you need to get your shoes shined at "up yours," but after that, if traffic is light on the "suck a dog's dick" expressway, you'll be back in time to shave your boss's back.
That should buy you some free time.

Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 15:37 (twenty years ago) link

I've got changed in a toilet many a time for this very reason

MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 16:48 (twenty years ago) link

I have changed out of my fancy interview clothes into my business-casual working clothes (and vice versa) in my car so as not to arouse suspicion.

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.

quincie, Wednesday, 26 November 2003 16:55 (twenty years ago) link

three years pass...
I'm really, really bad at job interviews and always have been, despite having had several hundred in my life. Are there courses you can go on to improve your technique, and if so are they worth the money?

braveclub, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 09:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Is that a no, then?

I'm starting to think there's no point applying for things any more if I'm just going to fuck up the interview like I always do. :(

braveclub, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 11:33 (seventeen years ago) link

a russian friend who just had her first job interview within the us: "i should have talked to you about these beforehand. i had no idea it'd be like that. they asked me questions i'd expect from a psychologist." haha

i wonder how different the ritual is in other countries?

modestmickey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 12:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Some (but, I think a very few) interviews are conducted with the purpose of the interviewers working out wehether the interviewee can do that job.

I think this is probably true but, unfortunately, my experience during the dark days of 2001-02 before Moyes replaced Smith when I was unemployed was actually being sent for interviews by recruitment agencies for positions where I was clearly out of my depth. I may have been able to impress them on a personal level but, technically, I just wasn't up to scratch for most of those roles so the whole thing was a bit of a grilling. There wasn't much around at the time that really matched my CV (and I was trying to change anyway), so I was never in the comfort zone of knowing the job and just being able to sell myself in some other way.

I fear I will have to go through something like this again soon (this time the urge to move on has less to do with fancying a change than needing to survive financially).

Michael Jones, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 12:51 (seventeen years ago) link

But I genuinely don't know how to 'sell myself', even when I am super-confident I can do the job standing on one leg. I can say I'm great etc but something in my manner always makes me, and the interviewer, look nervous and uncomfortable. What can I do?

braveclub, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:03 (seventeen years ago) link

i am getting so good at job interviews its ridiculous. i thought i did just OKAY yesterday but then on my way home they called me back and want me to come back ASAP. anyway, i think if you apply for jobs you are actually a good match for and just being confident will take you far.

homosexual II, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Thanks for that.

braveclub, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:25 (seventeen years ago) link

always makes me, and the interviewer, look nervous and uncomfortable. What can I do?


Take a klonpin.

Also what Mandee said. Whenever interviews have gone bad for me it's b/c it was not the right job.

Ms Misery, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:33 (seventeen years ago) link

congrats, mandee

modestmickey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:38 (seventeen years ago) link

Actually my two most successful interviews to date have been under the influence of Benylin and whisky, but I can't go to all of them looking like I've been sedated! What if I'm expected to be really on the ball?

braveclub, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:45 (seventeen years ago) link

i've only had one or two job interviews ever, and none of the jobs i've ever had have come via them. there are loads of books on interview techniques though...just browse around in the careers section at waterstone's if you haven't already? i hate interviews too.

lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Braveclub, do you have any idea where you're going wrong? Has anyone given you any feedback? I've never heard of any courses but it might well be the sort of thing a good acting coach or CBT practitioner might be able to help you with.

This has all been said upthread, but finding ways to prevent yourself being too nervous is a good start.

Having been on both sides (and this has been said too) the thing that really strkes me about interviews is that an interview is not an interrogation; it's a two-way process, and it's your best opportunity to find out whether this is the right job for you. It can be hard to put yourself in the right frame of mind if you're desperate for a job, but bear in mind that employers are quite like dates - desperation is not attractive. I used to interview quite a lot in my old job, and one of the most off-putting things an interviewee could do was fail to ask questions or only ask questions like 'what would my training and promotion opportunities be'. You need to understand what the daily grind of that job will be like - research it beforehand as much as possible and make sure you come out of the interview with an understanding of whether or not it's the right job for you. You and the interviewer are equals in that respect - you both want the 'best fit'.

xposts

Zora, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:56 (seventeen years ago) link

It sounds like you are just tense. Try breathing exercises? I used to have a big problem with not breathing properly when speaking in public; I'd get more and more tense and breathless and my voice would get squeakier, making me appear nervous even though I didn't actually feel nervous and I knew my stuff. Voice coaching from an acting tutor, which revolved around breathing exercises, really sorted that out.

Zora, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Hmmm, I just had an interview go really well for a job I don't really want but I really need any job. Hoping I can have a similarly good interview for a job I'd be more down to actually do before I'm called on to take this one. Meh.

The Reverend, Friday, 4 October 2013 19:17 (ten years ago) link

I didn't even apply for this. My roommate did and they called him yesterday and he was like "I already took a job but my roomie's here and he's looking for work" and handed off the phone.

The Reverend, Friday, 4 October 2013 19:20 (ten years ago) link

I'd say take it up and give it yr best shot because whether or not you like it depends on things that won't be apparent until you've worked there a while

cardamon, Friday, 4 October 2013 21:43 (ten years ago) link

Well, it's doing janitorial work for $11/hr late nights with a 27 mile commute, so I can't exactly see myself growing to appreciate it, but I'm fairly desperate and can't afford to pass on work at the moment.

The Reverend, Friday, 4 October 2013 22:35 (ten years ago) link

I figure if nothing else, I might do it for a couple pay periods and bail when I can pull down something else.

The Reverend, Friday, 4 October 2013 22:35 (ten years ago) link

yeah, that sounds like a good plan.

JEFF 22 (Matt P), Friday, 4 October 2013 22:50 (ten years ago) link

four years pass...

anyone ever withdrawn from an application when they've been offered an interview? just not sure I cba doing all the prep (company research, working up answers to the competency qs etc) and my current job is... fine I guess

||||||||, Monday, 20 November 2017 19:18 (six years ago) link

Loads of times

fake pato is kind of racist, dude (darraghmac), Monday, 20 November 2017 19:33 (six years ago) link

did it. kinda regret doing it now. inevitable

||||||||, Thursday, 23 November 2017 16:49 (six years ago) link

said it was bad timing (financial year end) and hadn't had time to properly prepare and didn't want to waste everyone's time. can I say to something along the lines 'if you're still interviewing in dec/jan, let me know. it's the ideal role but was just very unfortunate with the timing'

||||||||, Thursday, 23 November 2017 16:53 (six years ago) link

two months pass...

have heard from several people that the application is about the past, the interview is about the future

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 25 January 2018 13:51 (six years ago) link

but i live in the now

j., Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:21 (six years ago) link

the application is about the misery your past employment bestowed upon you, the interview is about the horrors which lie ahead

your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:22 (six years ago) link

Tend to agree with bizarro.

Application is partially about the future tho - a cover page can make clear how your values align with the company and how you can see yourself fitting in there. Hopefully that's not too literal

kolakube (Ross), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:30 (six years ago) link

make sure your cover letter stands out by using an eye-catching font, like comic sans, in a colour which reflects your personality, like lavender

your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:33 (six years ago) link

you can also add visual interest by breaking up the text with clip art of businesspeople doing business things, eg

https://openclipart.org/download/236805/Businessman-Pointing-To-Graph-On-Monitor.svg

your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:34 (six years ago) link

All of my application is in the past for sure

i,CloudiOS (darraghmac), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:41 (six years ago) link

the interview should also be about the past, the idea is that you provide specific examples of how you've demonstrated the competencies required for the position

the word dog doesn't bark (anagram), Thursday, 25 January 2018 16:09 (six years ago) link

so I 99% completed an application for a post but did not submit it....... & I have been invited for an interview....
-\..o../-

||||||||, Saturday, 27 January 2018 23:36 (six years ago) link

nine months pass...

I made it to the third and final stage of a job interview, which is a “chemistry meet” where I’ll meet the five people I’m going to manage and my co-managers.

I’ve done one of these before, as a team member not a candidate, and it was excruciating. I consider myself quite sociable and chatty but I can turn into an overpleasing dingbat when conversation gets awkward.

Any hints/experience? Definitely more nervous about this than the two other interviews...

Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 15 November 2018 15:25 (five years ago) link

Breathe
Relax
Less is more

calstars, Thursday, 15 November 2018 15:36 (five years ago) link

think of some cool orders to give them, to show them how fun it will be to do your bidding

j., Friday, 16 November 2018 03:29 (five years ago) link

one year passes...

I have been jobhunting.

Note: I don't, strictly speaking, need to, because I already have a job. I just want a different one, and there are a bunch out there (for my particular niche type of work). I know this is a ridiculously privileged situation to be in.

That said, it IS a bit surreal - not just because everything is phones and zooms and teams and stuff, but because basically no one knows what tf is happening, so a lot of things are tentative. Thoughts in no particular order:

1. Almost every company has an online application; some are better than others.
- Sometimes you upload your resume and that's pretty much it. A+.
- Sometimes you upload your resume and the tool parses it successfully. B+.
- Sometimes you upload your resume and the tool parses it middlingly well - you still have to go in and correct/edit to correspond with reality. C.
- Sometimes you upload your resume and then you STILL have to manually enter every fricking thing. D-.

2. I have told a LOT of companies about my gender, race/ethnicity, disability status, and veteran-ness. This is fine and I understand why they collect the data but it's pretty repetitive and I find myself wishing for a way to do it all with one button.

3. I have talked to a LOT of initial screener interviewers (generally, recruiters or other HR types). These conversations generally go well. But the second phase (of talking to a person who actually understands the work) is usually slow to materialize. Because people are busy having, y'know, jobs.

4. Every potential calculation of whether/when to say yes is fraught. If I accept the first offer I will forever wonder whether I should have held out longer. If I reject an offer I will forever wonder if I should have taken it.

I bless Bad Brains down in Africa (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 22 May 2020 20:27 (three years ago) link

Friend just got a new gig, depends on the industry I guess

calstars, Friday, 22 May 2020 22:02 (three years ago) link


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