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Crotch Fruit posted:Hypotethically, would it have been better for me to answer that question by saying that I am not proud of my accomplishments? Something like "Yes I graduated high school and college, but I feel those are just achievements that normal people should do. They are not accomplishments I am proud of because they have not benefited me or improved my life and career. What I do feel most proud of, is a small accomplishment, in that I have held my last job for six years, and I am very good at the work I perform. My employer does not offer many awards for recognition, however I know they recognize me. That last time that I was sick and could not work, when I called to let them know, my boss said 'wow, you must be really sick, you have never called in'." To answer your first question, before your next interview you need to look back over your professional work to date and construct a compelling answer to that question through actual experiences that you've had. Being proud isn't something reserved for awards and official recognition. In fact, I would be less impressed with someone who answered that question by bragging about some award they got (because I know how ridiculous and nepotistic corporate awards are) and more impressed with someone who told me about some spark of initiative that they took to improve something based on their own intellectual curiosity and passion for their work. As we've discussed in this thread, the key to good interviewing is taking things that have happened in your career and turning them into pertinent answers to questions.
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Apr 18, 2014 16:59
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FrozenVent posted:It's a very, very, very, very rare employer that will judge you negatively for wearing a suit to a job interview, and if this was one of them you'd know. I wore just a nice shirt, pants, and shoes combo with a tie at my last interview. I was way overdressed. Field biologists 
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Apr 20, 2014 17:31
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Crotch Fruit posted:Hypotethically, would it have been better for me to answer that question by saying that I am not proud of my accomplishments? Something like "Yes I graduated high school and college, but I feel those are just achievements that normal people should do. They are not accomplishments I am proud of because they have not benefited me or improved my life and career. What I do feel most proud of, is a small accomplishment, in that I have held my last job for six years, and I am very good at the work I perform. My employer does not offer many awards for recognition, however I know they recognize me. That last time that I was sick and could not work, when I called to let them know, my boss said 'wow, you must be really sick, you have never called in'." You seriously don't have anything that you're proud of? Never learned a skill, volunteered for an organization or anything like that?
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May 2, 2014 21:45
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Crotch Fruit posted:Hypotethically, would it have been better for me to answer that question by saying that I am not proud of my accomplishments? Something like "Yes I graduated high school and college, but I feel those are just achievements that normal people should do. They are not accomplishments I am proud of because they have not benefited me or improved my life and career. What I do feel most proud of, is a small accomplishment, in that I have held my last job for six years, and I am very good at the work I perform. My employer does not offer many awards for recognition, however I know they recognize me. That last time that I was sick and could not work, when I called to let them know, my boss said 'wow, you must be really sick, you have never called in'." That's a pretty unoriginal interview question; make sure you have an answer ready for the next one. If you haven't read 30 Seconds and You're Hired (Is it in the OP? It should be in the OP), you should. Best investment I've ever made.
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May 2, 2014 21:54
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Sorry if this question was already asked, I skimmed the entire thread last night but wasn't sure if I saw this one. How do you answer the "Why did you choose this company" question? I have a phone interview on Friday and the reason I am applying at this particular company is because (1) I'm moving out of state and my current company only has offers in the new location that are upper management and technology positions and (2) I like working in banking but I don't like working in sales and this is an analyst position at a bank; I meet all of the qualifications and then some. Are those reasons good or too honest? Every time I Google this interview question I get a lot of answers that involve gushing about the company and while I respect what the company does and want to be a part of it, I don't want to sound too desperate. I've been looking for a job out of town since the beginning of April, this is the first bite I've had, and I really don't want to screw this opportunity up.
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May 8, 2014 13:49
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Kate Hate posted:Sorry if this question was already asked, I skimmed the entire thread last night but wasn't sure if I saw this one. 1. Absolutely not, you can talk about location and how you're moving to the area, but don't say "I'd rather be staying with my current company.' 2. Yes, but don't mention sales. Focus on what you like about banking and analytical position. Those people aren't wrong, focus on the industry if you have to, but the more you can specify about why that particular company would be a good fit, then do so.
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May 8, 2014 13:52
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I recently had an interview and the information in the thread/OP helped me a lot as far as my mindset. I bombed horribly having not practiced enough, but I feel like I did much better than I have in previous interviews. At the very least, I'm much more aware of how to conduct myself in an interview, and that's a good start.
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May 14, 2014 17:36
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I'm interviewing soon for a company that apparently does a lot of behavioral questions, judging from glassdoor. I am trying to prepare for these kinds of questions but I am seriously drawing a blank. It's for a software engineering internship, and the only work experience I have, really, is doing search engine "analysis" from home (lionbridge) and now I work on an ipad app, working with InDesign to prepare the files. Thing is, the work is pretty hum drum, a lot of busy work, and its a small, small company. There hasn't really been any conflicts or anything worth taking about. Also with school, I'm in a master's program which is online, and I haven't done any team projects yet. So I really can't even think of experiences to prepare to tell them about. Any idea how to go about this?
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May 15, 2014 22:56
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edit
Busy Bee fucked around with this message at 10:55 on May 16, 2014 |
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May 16, 2014 01:47
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Doghouse posted:I'm interviewing soon for a company that apparently does a lot of behavioral questions, judging from glassdoor. I am trying to prepare for these kinds of questions but I am seriously drawing a blank. You didn't complete any team projects in undergrad or even in your current side job?
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May 18, 2014 09:23
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My phone interview from a few weeks ago went well, and I was called in for an in person interview last Monday. I drove 5 hours south to meet with two managers and I had not heard back so I logged on to the company's job page and saw "not selected for position" under my submission.  I emailed the managers I interviewed with, thanked them for their time, and asked for feedback on what I could improve on for future interview experiences. What drives me nuts was all the positive body language and the manager straight up telling me that it was a great interview. It all went really well, I guess I just wasn't the right person for the job but I had such a good feeling about it.So my REAL question is regarding what address to use when I am posting for positions. I'm relocating to another state and I have been listing my actual current mailing address on all of my applications, resumes, and cover letters. I could use my boyfriend's mailing address, which is located near the jobs I'm applying for, but will it throw up any sort of red flag if I get a call back and have to explain that I need to drive 5 hours to conduct an interview? Will listing a New Jersey address but having a New York license hurt me in any way? I know it's not really an interview question but I wasn't sure where else to ask this.
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May 28, 2014 03:00
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Kate Hate posted:My phone interview from a few weeks ago went well, and I was called in for an in person interview last Monday. I drove 5 hours south to meet with two managers and I had not heard back so I logged on to the company's job page and saw "not selected for position" under my submission. I had the same predicament - I was 4500KM's away from where I was applying for jobs. I put something of the effect "I am seeking to relocate at x date", if there was an appropriate start date. Having said that, if the job was an immediate start, I put the address that I was going to be living at - I think this is a better idea in general to do anyway, that way it's less  and confusion.If they ask when you're available for an interview, just factor in enough time to get there, it's not really a major issue and they'll likely never know (nor do you have to tell them), this goes doubly so for jobs that have "must be [insert city] local".
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May 28, 2014 11:18
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Worst interview I ever had was for a private insurance company's call center paying minimum wage. Guy held a mirror in my face and said "On a scale of 1-10, how do you rate yourself?". I was like "I'd say 9 because there's always room for improvement" while desperately trying not to laugh. He was very bitter that Geico existed and stole all his workers.
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May 28, 2014 16:25
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I've had a couple of interviews before and I didn't do well on either of them (as evidenced) by the fact that I still don't have a job, so hopefully the advice in this thread will help out a bit.
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Jun 18, 2014 14:02
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I'd like some advice regarding the "what's your greatest achievement" or "what are you most proud of" question. I don't know if it's appropriate for me to say what I really do consider my greatest achievement, or think of something else. Years ago, I suffered from crippling depression. It's all sorted out now, completely, but overcoming it without a support network - while still doing well at school despite it - is something I am extremely proud of. Since then I have been helping lots of acquaintances (that I met later) cope, and I'm quite good at that. I feel this is a nearly perfect feel-good story, just that it could be interpreted as inappropriate or get people uncomfortable.
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Jun 22, 2014 19:30
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Yeah, don't even think about mentioning depression. It's a red flag. Talk about a professional or school achievement and bullshit if you have to.
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Jun 22, 2014 20:08
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That's what I thought. Thanks for clearing it up. Would something like "I am most proud of how I managed to persevere, develop and get to be where I am today despite medical issues I suffered years ago. They have been resolved now, and I believe I benefited from the experience" also be a red flag? Zeppelin Insanity fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Jun 22, 2014 |
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Jun 22, 2014 21:31
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Honestly yes, medical issues, especially when vague and potentially non-physical, are red flags. It's a good story, but interviewers won't likely react well.
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Jun 22, 2014 21:40
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Instead of defining yourself and your successes through overcoming a negative, can you think of a specific instance in which the skills you gained in conquering depression helped turn a good or not bad situation into a better one? For clarification, not a dig on your being proud of your personal successes over depression, hold on to that. Professional life simply has a different focus, not a better or more important one.
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Jun 26, 2014 03:39
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I just had a Skype interview where I felt it was going quite well. I tried to put the "fuzzy epilogue" into a lot of my answers and followed a lot of the advice in the OP. I was giving clear answers with stories and not stalling or getting lost, trailing off, etc. It was me being interviewed by 10-12 people, all co-workers and bosses I would have. I had planned to take the advice from the OP and not ask questions just to ask questions, and I was going to simply ask when I would need to start if selected. I ended up having a question based on something they didn't clarify during the interview, so I asked it when it came time for me to ask questions. Right before that they had asked me when I'd be able to start if selected, so that question was gone. After they answered the first question, one of the people said, "And what else would you like to ask us...that can't be all." The "...that can't be all" was thrown in at the last second and threw me for some reason. I had planned to close with just restating concisely that I was very interested in the job and that I felt I would be a great fit, but I got thrown off and ended up stalling a bit while I decided if I should ask another question. I realized I didn't want to ask some forced question, so I transitioned into saying I felt comfortable the job would be a good fit and that they had answered all my questions, but I'm sure it came off as unsure. During all this, I had thought the interview had been going on for an hour and eight minutes, but it had actually only been 38 minutes. They told me earlier that the interview would be "about an hour, but could go longer." Do you think I totally screwed up by not asking more questions? Does it seem like they expected me to spend 30 minutes asking them random stuff? I had read their website extensively and also had asked some questions during the interview, so I really didn't find it necessary to ask questions for the sake of doing so. Since I am fairly sure I did well until the end, I'm hoping they just remember the good parts and don't mind that I ended the interview earlier than anticipated. It also seems like they didn't have enough questions planned out for the interview to actually be an hour, as I gave fairly long answers to many questions that involved telling stories of specific things I had done in x and y situations, yet answering their questions only took 30 minutes.
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Jun 26, 2014 21:42
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10-12 people interviewing you sounds like a situation where they all wanted to judge how you would fit into their office environment, so you probably should have asked them questions since they all took time out of their day to conduct the interview I'm guessing this was for a tech job or something - normal one-on-one interview rules don't apply there
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Jun 26, 2014 23:46
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It wasn't a tech job... it was for a job at a public university (immigration advising). I will have to wait 1-2 weeks to hear back from them. I'm disappointed that I feel I messed something up like this; it makes waiting to hear back a lot worse.
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Jun 26, 2014 23:58
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I've now had two interviews with the same department. I've never done two rounds of interviews where each round included a professor who looked like he was geared up for a Jimmy Buffett concert. Ah, baby boomers.
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Jun 27, 2014 01:18
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systran posted:I just had a Skype interview where I felt it was going quite well. I tried to put the "fuzzy epilogue" into a lot of my answers and followed a lot of the advice in the OP. I've found that, from the other side of the table, that only about 1 in 10 candidates have enough questions. They can be really generic; I don't really care. Most of it is to see how well the candidate does in conversation.
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Jun 27, 2014 12:47
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A 10-15 person interviews sounds like terribly inefficient management. Hey let's spend upward of 15 man hours on a single interview! Don't anguish while you wait to hear back, keep applying to other places. Never stop applying (until you get an offer in writing.)
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Jun 27, 2014 12:56
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I'm definitely still applying to other places. I think since it was on Skype it felt really odd to try to interact with so many people. They couldn't all fit on the screen, and sometimes they had to turn the camera when people off screen were asking me questions. For an in person interview it feels a lot more natural to ask questions and have a conversation. I did talk back and forth with people throughout the part where I was answering questions; it's not as if I was just giving my answers and not speaking back and forth to anyone. I feel like they should have probably prepared more questions for me given how awkward Skype was, but I really should have confirmed what time it was and seen that only 38 minutes had elapsed when I said I had no further questions. Even if it was bad management etc. on their end, I should have been smart and aware enough to realize that the interview was going shorter than intended and take that as a sign that they really wanted me to ask more questions, if only to give them more time to get a sense of my personality.
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Jun 27, 2014 14:03
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I'm applying for positions in the field of Child Services within my county. Would it considered kosher to mention personal life experiences when answering questions? Or would it be best to stick to professional anecdotes? For instance, if I was to be asked about why this position interests me, would it make sense to mention the fact that I have a child within the age range of whom I would be assisting which I feel gives me added experience and incentive to pursue said job? Or should I just say that I am interested in the position because it aligns with my future goals (working within the county, preferably with children) and will allow me to utilize my college degree (in Family Studies)?
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Jun 29, 2014 16:42
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I had a screening call that went well a couple of weeks ago. They called me back and set up a phone interview for today with the hiring manager. I've researched the company, and made notes on what questions to ask and to be prepared to answer. However, I currently have a job that is underpaying me. I think they would raise my salary if I was able to get an offer from another company. What is the best way to approach this sort of situation? How would I ask my current employer for a raise in the most tactful way possible?
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Jul 1, 2014 15:48
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LLJKSiLk posted:I had a screening call that went well a couple of weeks ago. They called me back and set up a phone interview for today with the hiring manager. I've researched the company, and made notes on what questions to ask and to be prepared to answer. Wait until you have another offer in hand before you try to do any sort of negotiation. When you have a competitive offer, simply go to your boss and tell him that while you enjoy working at your company, you believe that another company can provide you better compensation for the same level of work. They'll make an offer if they want to retain you. To have any leverage in this situation, you have to be ready to walk away from your current job.
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Jul 1, 2014 15:57
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IAmNotYourRealDad posted:I'm applying for positions in the field of Child Services within my county. Would it considered kosher to mention personal life experiences when answering questions? Or would it be best to stick to professional anecdotes? For instance, if I was to be asked about why this position interests me, would it make sense to mention the fact that I have a child within the age range of whom I would be assisting which I feel gives me added experience and incentive to pursue said job? Or should I just say that I am interested in the position because it aligns with my future goals (working within the county, preferably with children) and will allow me to utilize my college degree (in Family Studies)? I'd stick to the professional anecdotes. I dated a social worker of some sort for a few years, and my understanding is that they'd rather not have people who'll get too emotionally invested in their clients.
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Jul 2, 2014 00:42
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I've found that, from the other side of the table, that only about 1 in 10 candidates have enough questions. They can be really generic; I don't really care. Most of it is to see how well the candidate does in conversation. So question about asking questions in an interview - is asking the interviewer how long they've worked for the company and why they've stuck around that long good questions?
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Jul 2, 2014 05:58
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I wouldn't phrase it as "why they've stuck around that long," but I don't think it's inappropriate to ask what they like about the company. You can get some interesting information based on what they choose to focus on. You should have some questions on the company and/or job itself prepared, though.
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Jul 2, 2014 06:00
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Bobsedgws posted:So question about asking questions in an interview - is asking the interviewer how long they've worked for the company and why they've stuck around that long good questions? Good questions: 1. Asking how long someone's been there - gives context to answers 2. Asking what roles/projects the person has worked on - gives you the ability to follow up with relevant questions which may be related to your potential role
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Jul 14, 2014 12:49
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This is a great thread, which I would have stumbled across it sooner! I had a face-to-face interview 13 days ago at a great company for a position that fits my skillset perfectly. This was the 2nd interview (first one was over the phone), and overall I feel like I did pretty well. At the end of the interview, the hiring manager told me it might take 2 weeks ("but hopefully a lot sooner than that") for them to decide, but that I would hear back no matter the outcome. So, tomorrow will be 2 weeks exactly and I haven't heard anything. Should I send a follow-up email tomorrow, or will it come across as desperate/annoying?
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Jul 14, 2014 18:53
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I'm not sure if this is the right thread for talk about giving interviews. My apologies if it isn't. I just had to interview some job candidates on my own (I had sat in on other interviews) for the first time in a while and I think I kind of made a mess of it. In one of them I completely forgot about the "do you have any questions for us" part which made the ending rather awkward when he reminded me. I think I also forgot a bunch of the pro forma questions: tell me about yourself, why are you looking to change jobs, etc. What I did do, that I thought was really helpful at seeing who really knew what they were talking about, was ask some open ended, job related process questions. Someone asks you to build us the capability to do X, how would you go about that? Your resume doesn't mention any experience with Y, if you needed to learn Y, how would you go about it? I'm curious what people's thoughts on that approach are. Nobody seemed terribly put off by the questions but they likely had their poker faces on. Is there any reason why questions like that are a bad idea? They might be a little susceptible to BSing, but I think I'd rather have someone who said, "I'd look on Google" than "I have no idea."
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Jul 14, 2014 21:14
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electricHyena posted:This is a great thread, which I would have stumbled across it sooner! Really, the best thing would be to have another offer from another employer with a firm deadline, since that gives you an excuse to make contact again. But I don't think it's overly pushy. I might hold off for a day or two just to give them a buffer, but I don't think it would hurt your chances to ask about the process.
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Jul 14, 2014 22:25
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electricHyena posted:This is a great thread, which I would have stumbled across it sooner! Once their timeline runs out, feel free to ping them again. "Hi, EH here - still very excited about working for Chocolate Teapots, Inc. Can you let me know if you have an updated timeline for next steps?"
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Jul 14, 2014 23:06
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KernelSlanders posted:I'm not sure if this is the right thread for talk about giving interviews. My apologies if it isn't. I used to be part of a team that interviewed entrly level test engineers at my old job, at that type of questioning was my bread and butter. I stole it from when I was interviewed for a business analyst position. I got the job so I thought my answer was 'right' , but asking an open ended question actually gives you a lot of insight into the way the candidate approaches the problem. Much more than must right or wrong. I used to ask "if I had a building in the middle of downtown that was 200' x 200' and 10 stories tall, how many elevators would I need to have installed to handle all the people?" It was interesting to see where people derived their answers. I had some people take a purely mathematical approach, another guy got hung up on safety standards and regulations, and a few folks just said 'I don't know where to start'. So questions like these, while not exactly relevant to the job, can find insight if you want to see how they think...
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Jul 14, 2014 23:37
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I have a interview over skype tomorrow. My laptop does not have a webcam, but I have later generation iPad. Is it considered acceptable to do the skype interview using the iPad if I prop it up so that it looks level? I do not think they would be able to tell a difference, but wasn't sure if this was frowned upon.
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Jul 15, 2014 02:03
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Alright so I want to contact this friend of an acquaintance for an informational interview and I have absolutely no idea where to begin with this. Do I basically just email him and straight-up say "Yo let's grab lunch" or what? What should I wear or bring? What should I ask him about?
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Jul 15, 2014 02:12
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