Job Interviews
 

I've got one later, it's been a few years since the last. Anyone got any interview tips or techniques they'd like to share?

debase yourself to the psychosis of late capitalist ideology

Among other things, remain honest and be prepared for the question regarding your future aims (jobwise)

And i thought i was trapped in the 90z

remember that you're interviewing them as much as they're interviewing you-- to see if it's a good match. what's the company's culture, what benefits they offer, their various policies, opportunities for advancement/development, etc. figure out if this is a place where you'd like to spend a third of your life in the coming years.

gather up knowledge about the business beforehand, which not only demonstrates your interest but lets you ask better questions too.

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eta

i did a little search and this turned up quickly-- looks like very reasonable advice

http://career-advice.monster.com/job...q/article.aspx

if you wanna take the job, lie.

I say go full punk rock and go wasted.

WWBD?

Have you done that?

ha ha ha ha!

it's true that can work, but only in the short time-- soon after you're stuck in a bad situation with a job that sucks in a company you hate.

e.g. once i was desperate for a job and a friend lied for me to get me a job as a waiter. i played along. here's what happened:

1) my temperament is the wrong one for the job. i'm an introvert and not a faker. when i dislike people i frown at them. and running around all the time made me sweat. who the fuck likes a sweaty waiter. i don't. i sucked. would have made a better kitchen worker.

2) the restaurant sucked too and i hated it. the first day i was there i ate the "pesto" and when asked how it was i said how much i disliked heated up pesto (doh!). i may have been right but the cook got a boner for me as a result. bad move. the way i hated the menu made me a poor salesman at the table. (e.g, the pasta was precooked and people asked for "al dente" and i'd be at a loss to explain)

3) i never made enough money from tips, i was stressed out at work all day, and i got fired a couple of months later after knocking a bitch coworker to the ground (he was trying to punk me and coughed in my face on purpose and i let him have it)

much better to find a good fit from the start. doing a job just for the money is depressing.

How long has your most tenured employee been here?

What is the turnover rate?

As the employer, what would say the employees hate most about this job?

Pimp yourself......

I'm 60, I've been through at least a dozen job interviews in my lifetime, I still interview for prospective jobs, and I still can't get used to them. It's a wonder I'm even reasonably gainfully employed. They unnerve me. I can be prepared as all get out and somehow I still don't get it right.

This morning, in fact, was the most recent example. I prepared for all the wrong kinds of questions. As they read me their list of questions, I thought, yeah, that makes sense. They basically related them directly to the job description.

So my tip is to read the job description very carefully and see if you can come up with 6 questions based just on the description. Come up with full but concise answers to those questions. Rehearse them a little but no so much that you sound scripted.

If they throw questions at you that you don't expect, and it's likely they will, the best thing is to keep your cool, take a deep breath, think, and then answer as best you can.

i ve been doing quite the opposite.

but the way i see things, for what they are that is, the truth coming out of my mouth wont help me get a job. i think. so the other job i applied recently - which is my field's dream job actully and i have been interviewed there before in a previous competition, and spoke too much the truth and i fucked it up, i would be in like 10 persons only got in and i didnt because of that interview, but on purpose that time, thought that i might have to lie if they call me there. or you know, just dont speak my mind that much.

i ve always said to people be yourself etc in interviews, but now if i be myself, i would say stuff no employer would like to hear.

and as things are nowadays, we dont have a choice. we cant choose between jobs. we get what ever is given to us and we lick the dirt of the nails of the ones who offers us the job.



so do you want that job?
is it smth you might like. of course dont lie.. if its smth you want, you dont have to lie. show more interest perhaps and be enough prepared that would help too.
and i wish you all the best with that! :)

I work in Recruitment, hiring Librarians for the Library I work at.

Here is a list of things that the search committees find impressive.

1. detailed familiarity with the Job being applied to. do your research, but make sure to ask specific questions about what your duties will be, and what is expected from the position

2. ENTHUSIASM. The honest desire to do a good job is infectious, and employers love this. You can teach the details of a job but not the enthusiasm to do the job well.

3. Dress WELL. That means, dress as nice as you possibly can, and be as groomed as you possibly can be. Even if you are applying for a position where you would dress casually, wear a suit, or at least, a nice shirt, tie and slacks. How you present yourself can keep you from being booted based on first impressions.

4. when asked questions, such as "Please describe a time when you supervised staff." or "How do you handle disagreements at work?" Take a second, THINK, breathe, and then give a concise answer. Try to imagine beforehand what kind of questions you will be asked and have a few ideas for answers prepped in your head.

5. Be attentive, focus, and LISTEN. Nothing worse than someone who acts like the interviewer's questions and comments are "bothering" them, or who seems unfocused.

Thanks everyone, your advices were good. I'll find out if I get a second round interview later this week.

of course i agree, but this has always baffled me.
you know if its pretending. but sure you have to be presentable.



heh this is where i fucked it up the most.
said at one point: i want to have a good life and corrected it..sorry i meant to do a good job. :o lol

i always do really bad at questions like:
what are your strengths and what your weaknesses?
where do you see yourself 5 years ahead?

never chew gum or mints, they'll think your an alcoholic or bad smoker.

and yes, as said before, showing enthusiasm is most important.
it's hard to fake enthusiasm.

strength (for employer's benefit): very moral person
weakness (not for employer's benefit): dont want to be here



ok seriously i hate this question.. even after painting. i still do.
i would reply: anywhere but in a hospital.



gums: have a whole package and whenever you hear something assholish, stick on at the interviewer's desk.

best question: are you/will you get married- do you/will you have children.
no i ll be forever alone and fuck you.

It is about showing respect to those that are interviewing you and to the "occasion" itself. Dressing your best shows that you are taking shit SERIOUS.

^^ rob knows his stuff!!

back in my grad school days (lol, i used to be smart) i was in a handful of search committees, plus i hired some people directly.

i can easily overlook a loud tie as long as the person tried, but attitude is #1.

once we were interviewing for a dean job and there were 2 finalists. one was pretty deadpan and a little cynical and promised the daily grind. the other was inspiring about where he wasnted to take things. #2 got the job. after things unfolder later maybe it would have been better for the grim workaday cynic to have had the post, but interviewing is SALES.

when i had to hire an assistant, there was one who hwas supersmart & very well put together but struck me as ultimately too self-involved, "what's in it for me" and she sort of took for granted the job would be hers. i went instead for the one with filflops and less self-confidence but who was more, well, how can i put this, wiilling to take orders. every job has different needs and matching them to a person's abilities is a little like an RPG-- different skills get different jobs done.

for my business i've hired contractors and it's the same thing.

one time i had 2 candidates for a job. one was great had all the qualifications and training but interviewed basically saying that he didn't really want the job or something. fuck! another was good just not as great but was supernice and likeable. guess who we hired. the guy who gave the bad interview wrote back later saying that he was sorry that he really wanted the job but i said damn dude the job was yours if you had only asked for it but we already gave it to someone else. the one we hired actually worked out great & later became a friend.

Most interviews I've gone through have been fairly straightforward and sensible. No really weird questions. However, yesterday, I got one that floored me. "How would you rate your proficiency with the English language?"

Huh!? I'm applying for a technical editor job. I have 20 years of experience as a writer and editor for higher education and government.

But more than just kind of being floored at this being a question to ask of someone of my experience, I really was not quite sure what they meant. My proficiency? How would I rate it? Oh, like, 9.8 out of 10?

I really stammered with my response, perhaps betraying that my proficiency is not something to brag about after all. LOL. I basically told them that I consider myself highly proficient in English, thanks to my undergraduate degree in journalism and my minor in English, and that I've been an editor and a writer most of my adult life. I also added that I don't pretend to know it all, that language is always evolving, and that I'm always surprised that there is more to learn about the English language. Something like that. Not quite as clearly as I've put it here.

How would you have answered that?

well yeah know that.
just as -very sort of- is when you go to watch a concert of classical music.



smth not that weird if i think about it.
insurance bosses wanted me badly. badly.
that i am good with people and that i have this vibe of making the other trust me. and some other really good stuff they were telling me to pursuade me.

i really liked the 1st boss... but i cant do sales. even though (both) were trying to tell me its not sales.
i mean i can do it, but i cant make the first move. just like with boys. if the first move -of introduction and if i have a green light that convo is allowed, noone escapes my NET!!!!

In hindsight, it's easy to come up with funny answers, of course. Maybe I could have disarmed them with something like this, affecting a Peter Sellers-like voice from a scene in Lolita: "Well, ya know, that thar is a purty darned good little question, yessiree, it sure is! Per-fish-ency, ya says. Well, now, lemme do some figurin' on that one. Gosh, that's a good one, hee hee, yessir. Well, ya sees, dem ol' English teachers never did learn me nothing no how."

"my profficiency with the english language is the cornerstone of my profession, and i am surprised that after all these years there is always more to learn..." etc.

i actually like your answer a lot but don't be afraid of bragging a little. then again you're in the midwest and they probably don't like people who boast too much. right?

Ah. I wish I would have put it as succinctly as that! That is perfect, really. My problem with interview questions that I'm not prepared for is that they unnerve me, even if it's a relatively easy question. When I'm unnerved, I lose my poise, and I start to stammer and ramble.

Yeah, I probably blew this interview. But I'll know better next time.

These folks were on the east coast, by the way. What it made it more difficult was that it was a phone interview. Those are always difficult for me. I seem to need visual cues to gauge how I'm doing.

I think what threw me was the word "rate." I grasped for some way to rate it.

well you can always make the caveat that you're a writer above all else and check out your work samples. i.e., "i write much better than i speak". or if humor is necessary "my inability to speak articulately is what propelled me to become a writer from a young age" h aha. i don't know, something. (this is easier for me to do in writing as well. if you asked me in person i'd be like "uuhhh.... ummmmm... my.... er... yeah?" ha ha ha)

--

rate: i rate my writing ability much higher than my speaking ability! when i write i'm completely in my element (etc. etc.)

next time they interview you ask for a text chat instead!

--

ps- nabokov only did interviews in writing

Good points. It's something I've been working on my whole life, it seems--becoming more poised and confident when speaking, even conversationally. I've made progress, but it's still tough, partly, I think, because I am extremely introverted and so engaging in conversation takes a lot of energy for me.

I know I'm not alone, among writers and editors this way. Many are very well-spoken, of course. But I've met many that come across as not so well-spoken and even downright inarticulate in conversation.

I really do this: I try to "channel" people I admire for their poise and eloquence. I try to imagine myself in the skin of someone like this, try to physically adjust myself even, take on their characteristics, speech patterns, etc., much as an actor might. Sometimes it works.

lifehacker just posted this:

http://lifehacker.com/job-interviews...que-1702539593

I think this is pretty good, too: http://college.usatoday.com/2015/04/...e-4-questions/

I find out Friday or next Monday if I got this new job here at the University. Out of the Library and into the Graduate School......