Idiots in job interviews - Page 3

Some people in academia, despite extensive education/qualifications, seem to have a disconcerting ivory tower concept of the world. These are quite literally trust fund babies who grew up with multiple vacation homes and cannot understand that a nice car, rather than a must-have, is a rather bad investment and quite a bit down on the list of priorities.

Was this candidate coming straight from undergrad to grad school and then to a PhD program? This might explain the lack of awareness of just what 'normal people' do with their money.

It may also help explain the complete lack of social mores that one would have developed quickly if they had worked before.

I've had a couple of funny ones -

this one guy, he interviewed well, and then I asked our HR woman to come in and ask a few questions and within a few questions he started talking about his religious beliefs and trying to get us to embrace them. it was weird, like a fast trigger and he just exploded into craziness

recently I interviewed some people in a hotel lobby at an airport. everyone knew that I was intervewing more than one person. at 10 am, I was still with my 9 am and didn't see the 10 am guy. I stand up, walk around the lobby, nobody makes eye contact with me, I go back to my 9 am and we keep talking. I do the same after about 10 minutes, then again 10 minutes later. at 1040 I say goodbye to my 9 am (who I ended up hiring) and walk ouf of the hotel with my bags and head to the attached airport, check in and go through passport control and security. at 11:30 the 10 am guy calls me, he was in the lobby the whole time but dind't want to interupt me. he saw me leave and still didn't want to interupt me. this is for a sales managment position.


my sister is horrible with this shit - she is in dire straights, a while back she was invited for a job interview on the day of her wedding anniversary and she had already made plans with her husband to celebrate so she told the interviewer she couldn't come in that day. he told her that he would then schdule somebody else, but that they had decided to make an offer to the first person that they liked, and she never got called back for the interview. another interview called her in (for an education position) and after a short interview they asked her to go to the different classrooms and talk to the teachers and get impressions of what was going on to discuss. the lack fo structure pissed her off so she walked around and didn't interact with anybody, and then said something more or less like "what was the point of that?" to the guy who had planned the interview.

Passingtime has some very good points. If you bad mouth your former employers and/or supervisors what do your perspective employers and supervisors think you're going to say about them in the future? If you do not know what my organization does, why I am hiring you, there is no reason to hire you. If you do not show up on time, are not dressed well, and do not know how to act in an interview why should I expect you to show up for your job on time, well dressed, and able to act appropriately on the job?

If I introduce myself as, say, Robert, then don't call me Bob throughout the interview. It's rude, and I won't hire you.

I don't actually know the answer to that question. I do think it's interesting, though, how much our social and economic classes of origin shape our spontaneous responses to situations. I grew up in a very poor, rural family, for example. When I got out into the wider world, I was talking with someone who was complaining that the city we were in lacked good museums. I was genuinely confused: I honestly had no idea that people would spend money to see paintings and historical artifacts. That money had to be saved for things like rent and groceries!

This kind of thing never ceases to amaze me. The job market in my line of work is brutal. (Not unique to my line of work, of course.) The people I'm interviewing almost certainly need the job very badly. And yet I see them getting all judgmental about us and our interview process, as if we really need them and not vice versa. My rule of thumb is that if you can't get through the 50 minutes of the interview without being an ass, there's no way you'll get through years of being my colleague without being an ass.

There is a similar attitude in the Aviation World; You're only cut out to be a Pilot when I can sit next to you for 10 hours then still want to grab a beer at the bar with you.

As somebody living in (well, near) DC, people pay money for museums?

+1

my sister graduated from grad school 12 years ago, she's had 4 or 5 jobs in a field where you are supposed to have jobs for no less than 5 years each, and she still doesn't get that she has an attitude problem. fuck it, I am going to be supporting her for the rest of my life....

Some people in finance, despite extensive education/qualifications, seem to have a disconcerting ivory tower concept of the world. These are quite literally trust fund babies who grew up with multiple vacation homes and cannot understand that a nice car, rather than a must-have, is a rather bad investment and quite a bit down on the list of priorities.
Was this candidate coming straight from undergrad to mba and then to an investment bank? This might explain the lack of awareness of just what 'normal people' do with their money.
It may also help explain the complete lack of social mores that one would have developed quickly if they had worked before.

Some people in law, despite extensive education/qualifications, seem to have a disconcerting ivory tower concept of the world. These are quite literally trust fund babies who grew up with multiple vacation homes and cannot understand that a nice car, rather than a must-have, is a rather bad investment and quite a bit down on the list of priorities.
Was this candidate coming straight from undergrad to law and then to a white shoe firm? This might explain the lack of awareness of just what 'normal people' do with their money.
It may also help explain the complete lack of social mores that one would have developed quickly if they had worked before.

etc.

Looks like I hit a nerve there.

The main point was that, despite academia promoting a 'pure' image where making money is less important than intellectual capability and doing what you love, many are quite sheltered and don't seem to notice that their meager salaries would never be able to support a sportscar or vacation homes unless they also moonlighted on the side. This is perhaps a result of a privileged upbringing and little exposure to people outside their socioeconomic status in their twenties.

Dw, people in industry know exactly how much they can afford on their salary and what general salary levels are for different firms and different positions. I wouldn't blink an eye at one of my interviewers driving a Honda Civic if I was going for a job at a startup, for example.

+1. It will be deleted within seconds. Dont send me thank you emails. I dont think it has ever changed anyone's mind. In fact, I know within about 30 seconds of the interview starting whether this guy is a no. Once I decide no, the rest of the interview is just to be polite.

Waste of paper. Waste of stamps. I dont think I have looked at my (physical) mailbox in 2 months.


Kind of agree. This thread is for the unemployed.

Your point is both unsupported and dumb. Why would more people be "sheltered" in academia than in Law or editing or ballet? You offer no reason and no argument for it. In fact I'd be curious as to what constitutes "sheltered" according to you. FYI generic statements like this one are pretty much obviously false: "people in industry know exactly how much they can afford on their salary and what general salary levels are for different firms and different positions."

Your moronic bias shows through so often I am not even sure it is worth it to discuss the point with you...

the issue with many educated candidates is that they think their prospective employer is going to be so amazed at how smart they are; what they fail to realize is that most of the time they are not being paid to be smart - they are being paid to work. i work in hr and want to slap every candidate who flaunts their degree like its something other than the price of admission.

this is pretty industry-specific, of course - if you're going to be paid for being smart, then disregard what i said.

If they weren't smart would you still pay them for their work?