job interviews

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.

going into a job interview for a job you don't want guarantees an offer 95% of the time IME.

Can you try to convinve yourself you don't want this job then?

.. because it's a crummy job and they desperate for people?

win-win situation: two job interviews, either would do but the second one is *TheOne*.

Int1= relaxed, I'll worry about job 2.
Int2= relaxed, int1 went well, so even if I don't get job2, job1 is in bag..

I had an interview which basically *frightened* me once - the woman interviewing me (it was a TL position for a helpdesk) banged on and on about how young the team were and how half of them were "a bit uncontrollable" and that "discipline is a problem" and I was like "oh god, Ive never even BEEN a helpdesk TL before, I dont need a team of 19 year old dorks who would rather be playing God of War than listening to me" and I got up and walked out and was SO reliveed when I didnt get the job.

I once applied for a job as a junior archivist (or sth similar to that, can't recall exactly) with the heritage park in one of my old cities. When I went to the interview, they instead interviewed me for the position of 'interpreter', ie the people who dress up all old-timey and role-play all day to show kids how people churned butter and ran hospitals or schools back in the olden days. I had to do things in the interview like 'tell a story about a time you did something new or different' and answer the question 'do you like children?' I am NOT good at improv/storytelling and I dislike kids.

They must've been p desperate for people because they offered me the job a few days later. I did not take them up on the offer.

LOL, you should have said in the interview, "I am NOT good at improv/storytelling and I dislike kids"... still might have got the job tho

I might as well have said those things!

One time I was investigating a move back upnorth, and had an interview for a job.

Interview one went really well, so far so god. Interview 2 was obviously with their 'beat-down' guy, who promptly decided that I was uncommitted, and reduced the salary offer *and* the role to 'looking after legacy systems' without any committment to training on the new platform.

So, I said no when they sent their final offer.

Two things happened: I got a nice contract role in't city which ran for 18 months, and by the time that job concluded I noticed that the firm up north had gone bust and closed.

good, not god. ALthough I was pretty good...

It's over. I'm a nervous wreck and I'm sweating more than Josef Fritzl on MTV Cribs.

"und here ist where das magic happens..."

A few years ago I went for an interview for a research position that was lower paid and a bit more junior than I was doing. It was near home, in a new industry and I was desperate to leave my job. I thought the interview went okay, I answered all of their questions and gave solid examples. Then one of the interviewers went 'So, what do you do in your spare time?' and I kind of fell apart. I hadn't really prepared that one and didn't want to say 'pub' & 'record shops' so I paused for a bit said "y'know, just normal.. stuff." and they looked at me like I'd confessed to be a serial killer.

The next day later the agent called, she was furious. She said the feedback was "he could do the job but didn't seem that bothered, so we're not going to offer." Since then I have found that a lot of interviewers are jobsworths and want you to praise their company and tell them how you've wanted to work for the company since you were five. This may be particularly finance companies.

want you to praise their company and tell them how you've wanted to work for the company since you were five

... they all do this, don't they? I thought every one knew this?

I guess they do all want this, but I wish some places would acknowledge that it's nobody's lifelong dream to work there. Plus there are plenty places where they don't even tell you enough about the role for you to have a decent answer prepped for that.

An int recently asked "Any Questions?" as their introductory question.

"Not at this stage, no" I replied. They seemed spectacularly underprepared, and I was less than impressed.

It's just as much a process of Them impressing you as much as you impressing them.

My experience since has taught me that the individuals that over play the corporate line and want you to be in awe of the organisation and all that it represents are just putting on a show. Once you're two weeks in to the job you can find them in the pub on a Friday evening bitching and moaning, ruing the day they joined the company. I just don't know why they do it. When I've interviewed people I just tried to gauge their motivations, at the particular stage in their career, to want the job. If they are going work in sales & marketing then they should have at least some understanding of the business aims and positioning and to have affinity them. The rest of the BS is just unnecessary.

Is it now a thing that employers do not even bother to call you back after an interview to let you know you did not get the job? Pretty used to never hearing from 90% of the places I apply to now, but it seems a bit rich to not let someone know after they have taken the time to come and talk to you, perhaps even prepared a presentation (as I have on some occasions), and then ignore them when they email to ask if the position has been filled.

Actually, people in general do not seem to feel obligated to reply to email requests anymore.

Sing of the times?

haha

I can't keep going for interviews for jobs that I can do well and be gripped by so much fear that I turn into a jibbering idiot.

job interviews are basically voodoo to me by this point

doesn't help tht I'm looking in a sector that is struggling & so flooded w/talent. still, getting interviews, so that's a plus

I don't like job interviews

How are you all preparing?

I had an assessment & interview on Monday for a job I really wanted. Breezed through the assessment, got called back for the afternoon interviews and blew it. "Too quiet" and didn't sell myself, apparently.

interviews are really stressful to prepare for and a bad interview completely and utterly sucks. but a good interview can be really fun

how do you tell the good and bad apart?

you just know?

Good interview is like a conversation

Bad interview is like bad sex with a woman while her father is watching you

A lot of it is down to the interviewers - I've had lots that just didn't really know what they were doing.
A good one tends to be more like an actual discussion imo.
Having only been on an interviewing panel once, I'd say be enthusiastic. As a kind of serious and reserved person it made me think about how I present myself at interviews.

lol xp