|
I got rejected from a graduate meteorologist job after the phone interview. I'm quite sure where I went wrong with the interview, in the end they apparently only called back 3 graduates from each state (Australia) out of the 50 or so that made it to the phone interview.
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 08:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 07:33 |
|
|
Crosspost from the resume/interview megathread: I am expecting a call at an unspecified time from an interviewer for a phonescreen. Is there ANY reason at all that I should NOT just deflect it, say it's a bad time (with some reasonable explanation) and reschedule it for a couple hours ahead of time? This is for a contract-to-hire position and ordinarily things would be scheduled through the contracting agency but the particular manager likes to do it directly. I can't think of any reason this guy would be doing this specific thing besides trying to catch candidates a little off guard to see how they handle it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 15:36
|
|
|
Pointblank` posted: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. It's probably fine. I bought a webcam for like $40 before I had a Skype interview. My image quality was way better than theirs and they apologized for their lovely webcam. As long as you get the iPad setup really well ahead of time there should be now way they could tell or care, but make sure it's setup really well and stable so you don't have to fumble around with it mid-interview.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 15:50
|
|
|
Thanks, guys. I sent the email and 10 minutes later got a rejection letter back from HR. Best part is, it started off "Although you were not invited to a face-to-face interview..."  So they couldn't even send me the right form letter. Nice.Not giving up, though. Gonna use the tips in this thread and be even better prepared next time.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 16:44
|
|
|
Shugojin posted:Crosspost from the resume/interview megathread: I am expecting a call at an unspecified time from an interviewer for a phonescreen. Is there ANY reason at all that I should NOT just deflect it, say it's a bad time (with some reasonable explanation) and reschedule it for a couple hours ahead of time? This is for a contract-to-hire position and ordinarily things would be scheduled through the contracting agency but the particular manager likes to do it directly. It won't hurt you, but if you're already expecting it and it isn't a bad time, I don't see any reason not to just answer the questions.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 17:28
|
|
|
Xandu posted:It won't hurt you, but if you're already expecting it and it isn't a bad time, I don't see any reason not to just answer the questions. Well the main thing is I have a problem with anxiety that can make me totally flub an interview question and would prefer to take the drat half milligram of xanax like 30 minutes to an hour beforehand. I would also not prefer to be drugging myself up for hours on end just because something MIGHT happen, y'know? It's general test anxiety, used the stuff in school to help my thought process slow down during exams. Which got a lot less important later on mind, once the classes were about 20 people and the professor graded everything and could tell you only got the wrong answer because of an arithmetic mistake. It's quite refreshing to get to the point where the guy just candidly admits that he'd have difficulty with these integrals or whatever because outside of contrived class examples nobody in physics is really dealing with tidily solvable figures anymore so he's out of practice. Multiple choice 500+ students' worth of intro-class exams were not very kind to my general or in-major GPA 
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 18:35
|
|
|
Yeah I get it, just say you're busy at work or out and that it'd be great if he could call you back at x o'clock.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 19:29
|
|
|
I've had a variety of screening calls lately, and the best one I've had was when the director called me directly and just talked to me. She was knowledgeable and I clicked with her right away because we both do the same work. The worst ones I've had were HR people calling me and asking me pre-recorded questions. I answered and they obviously didn't really know what I was talking about, so they responded with stuff like, "Yeah, that sounds like an important thing to do." These are the hardest to do well on because you can't really feed off anything they say. You just have to answer the question in a chunk and hope that whatever notes the HR person is taking make you sound good. You also can't ask any specific questions that help you sound interested and engaged, because the HR person will just say they don't really know. The middle ground was having to use Hirevue and talk into an iPad. I thought this would be the worst, but it was preferable than talking to HR people because at least those watching the video hear you speaking and there is no dead weight middleman getting between you and the person you're trying to get to hire you.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 19:54
|
|
|
Another cross-post... I saw a job posting the other day that I am very interested in and would like to apply for. Problem is, I'm committed to my current position until the end of next January. Full disclosure, I guess, as that may lend better advice – it's for a non-profit in the city where my girlfriend and I are planning/hoping to move next year after we finish our service terms with AmeriCorps VISTA (national service program). My question is: how (un?)advisable is it to send an e-mail in regards to this position with my resume attached explaining I am interested, qualified and would be a great hire, but am committed to my current position until next January, and then go on to ask if they might have openings then, and what might be some ways I can make myself more attractive to them in the meanwhile? Or something like that? Six months go by quick, and with a location in mind, I really want to have a job there waiting before I'm done with VISTA. Any advice welcome. Thanks. So I'm looking to do that in the next day or two. Any suggestions on what kind of tone to take, or how to phrase the e-mail? Haven't done anything like this with potential employers and want to be as effective as possible/not come the wrong way. Would this be a good situation to ask for an informational interview?
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2014 23:00
|
|
|
When writing a cover letter, about how much of it should be "These are my experiences and they fit your position here" and how much should be "I am excited to work at Company for reasons." And about how detailed should the first be? I'd like to expand on a few things that are on my resume, but I don't want to go overboard, either. As long as I keep it at one page, am I generally okay? Also, bullet points or written paragraphs? Personally, I think bullet points look tacky and well written paragraphs are more professional, but I'm not an HR manager.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2014 15:51
|
|
|
HisMajestyBOB posted:When writing a cover letter, about how much of it should be "These are my experiences and they fit your position here" and how much should be "I am excited to work at Company for reasons." And about how detailed should the first be? I'd like to expand on a few things that are on my resume, but I don't want to go overboard, either. As long as I keep it at one page, am I generally okay? This would go better in the Resume and Interview thread. Probably. There's a lot of cover letter advice in the OP there. Also, it's a weird loving feeling when you're in a group interview and at some point realize you're the only one who's been answering "Tell me about a time when..." with an actual time when.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2014 17:51
|
|
|
HOLY poo poo! I got an interview tomorrow morning! THe guy called me about a half hour ago to set it up!  Small problem, It's for a AT&T Store and I don't think I know THAT much about cell phones and such. Can anyone here give me a hand? What are some of the important poo poo I should know?
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2014 03:09
|
|
|
BigRed0427 posted:HOLY poo poo! I got an interview tomorrow morning! THe guy called me about a half hour ago to set it up! Unless it's a technical position, they're not going to care so much about your knowledge of cell phone. More about your customer service and sales skills.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2014 03:10
|
|
|
Once again, I'm applying to the exact same job title I have now, but in a different department. And unlike the last time, this is a different department within the same sector of the university, so I cannot talk about how I want to do more work with undergrad students, or work in a clinical department, or other stuff that makes the other department radically different from the one where I work now. I don't know what to say in my cover letter, much less in an interview, where past experience has taught me I am definitely going to be asked why I'm leaving my current job. I know what you're going to say, but be serious...I can't blather about how I am so excited! for new opportunities! for an hour.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2014 17:16
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:I can't blather about how I am so excited! for new opportunities! for an hour. Start practising. Why are you leaving your current job anyway?
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2014 18:08
|
|
|
The primary reason is that my pay is terrible. I'm the lowest-paid person on the admin team, by far, the lowest paid person with my job title in the company, by far, and one of the lowest-paid admin people in the company. This tends to exacerbate my frustration with things I dislike about my work culture, some of which I would probably take in stride if my pay was at least average for the department. I'm not looking to vent about my job, but since you asked, maybe you will see something here that you can advise me on spinning into a desire for growth. I'm the chairman's assistant. When the department hired a new chairman, they moved my desk and made me the receptionist in addition to my previous duties. I hate being a receptionist. I'm the youngest person in the office by far, and I'm not always treated like a peer. I shared a project with a senior employee who now seems to be taking it back because I didn't handle it to his liking. I also have some issues with how administrative work is assigned, which I believe is down to 2 factors: first, our eldest admin assistants seem very resistant to change or taking on more work, and second, as the chairman's assistant I'm the point of contact whenever people don't know who to ask or where to assign work. To give some examples, another assistant and I were recently both making arrangements for faculty candidates. She is much more experienced (and much better-paid), but I had to handle the flight, hotel, and dinner reservations for her candidates because she doesn't feel she's familiar enough with it. Also, I handle departmental meeting minutes, so when a faculty leader decided to keep minutes for his meetings, this fell to me instead of to his own full-time assistant. Generally, my issue is not that I'm averse to helping out, but that there's no logic regarding how and why simple projects get split between multiple people, or some assistants get to refuse work. I have talked to HR about adjusting my pay band, but now I regard that as a last resort--I would much rather move to a better-paid position in another department than to lobby for better pay to handle a mixture of sensitive projects and entry-level work, while being treated like an entry-level employee. I have been studying and practicing how to interview, but I'm still lost on how to be honest (or engaging and convincing, at least) without committing the mortal sins of trash-talking my current workplace and admitting to grubbing for more money. The only solid talking point I have is that I want to develop new skills. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Jul 28, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2014 19:14
|
|
|
Thanks in part to this thread, I had extra confidence and a few more tips at my disposal for an interview at 7 this morning at my current employer. This would be for a position very related to my degree, in a field in which I have no professional experience. My current position is much lower paying, "seasonal part-time" 40 hours a week with no benefits, and only indirectly related to my degree. I walked out feeling like I did alright, but wasn't quite prepared for the job offer that I was given three hours later! The offer is for 50% more than I currently make plus profit sharing and PTO and benefits and such, and competitive for this type of position as an entry level candidate. I haven't accepted yet, but told them I will have an answer by tomorrow at 10am. Of course, I got an email from another company setting up a phone interview at 11am, one hour after I said I would give an answer to my first offer... I told the second company that I was just extended an offer, but would still be interested in talking to them. What should I say to my current employer regarding this? How should I treat the interview with the second company? I think it's highly unlikely that I will get an offer extended from this second company, but I don't want to slam that door closed. E: dumb autocorrect The Science Goy fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Jul 29, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2014 23:40
|
|
|
Say yes to the first gig and go to the second interview anyway. You should always keep looking, applying and interviewing at least until you've signed a contract, and even then if it's a tempting proposition.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2014 00:11
|
|
|
I'm being flown out for a 10am-4pm "full-day" interview. I've had quite a few interviews in the past several months, but this is the first time it's been longer than an hour and the first time they are paying for my flight and hotel. I did go to one interview where I paid for my own flight ticket. They definitely do not have a giant budget to throw money around like this, so would it be a reasonable assumption that they are only flying one person out, interviewing, then deciding if they should fly another out or just hire me? I like the idea of a full-day interview because it gives me a chance to be myself rather than having to cram in a bunch of relevant "tell me about a time..." type stories into a single hour. I'd be grateful if anyone who has experience with this kind of interview could share some general advice. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2014 19:14
|
|
|
I've done several of these and found that they usually do it when they have narrowed things down to one or two choices - it's usually the "sanity check" before pulling the trigger. The biggest thing you need to be aware of at a full day interview is your energy level. You will be "on" the entire time you're there and I personally find after about three hours of that I'm exhausted. Make sure you eat at lunch, drink plenty of water, and have some caffeine pick-me-ups to keep your mind sharp and your energy level high. Also, make sure when you're working with the travel agency you give yourself plenty of time to get to your hotel, completely unpack, check over all your clothes, unwind, review your materials, then spin down for a full night's sleep. Do not accept a flight that gets you there at 10pm. Ideally you want to arrive around noon if at all possible. This also gives you time to deal with any issues that arise during your travel (I've dealt with cancelled flights and missing hotel rooms before!). Overpack as well. Bring two sets of interview clothing just in case you missed a stain or something on your clothes, you're not going to have a lot of options on interview day when you're far away from home and your dry cleaner. Also some of the nicer hotels will polish your shoes for you - take them up on it. Eat a hearty breakfast - this goes back to the energy level thing. I've had companies lose track of me in the scheduling shuffle and not feed me for an entire 8 hours of interviewing. It's worse then it sounds typed out. Good luck! You're going to do great 
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2014 21:02
|
|
|
Thanks for the great advice. Having to "be on" all day is something that I have thought about. They booked my flight and unfortunately it arrives at 11pm the day before  This isn't a company but rather a small unit of a university, so I hope I don't need to worry about them losing track of me.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2014 21:09
|
|
|
I have an exploratory interview scheduled next week, with a company that I'm pretty sure isn't hiring at the moment (they just completed a fairly large round of hiring). Anyone has clues as to what to expect? I'm not especially keen on travelling out of pocket for an exploratory, but hey, an interview's an interview and it's not that far.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2014 08:04
|
|
|
I have an interview coming up for a managerial role at a midsize tech startup. From the team photos on their site it looks like most people dress in jeans/collared shirt (some tucked some untucked) with a couple of people in chinos/slacks. Am I right in thinking that chinos, open-necked shirt, and some nice oxfords is probably the way to go in the interview? If I was interviewing for a technical role I would probably rock up in jeans but I'm thinking a management position demands a bit more formality. FrozenVent posted:I have an exploratory interview scheduled next week, with a company that I'm pretty sure isn't hiring at the moment (they just completed a fairly large round of hiring). Anyone has clues as to what to expect? Soy Division fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Aug 15, 2014 |
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2014 05:09
|
|
|
It's not a high growth company, the HR rep was completely unprepared, they don't have any jobs for the foreseeable future. It was a complete waste of time, and I was pretty insulted. Seriously they asked if I'd consider an internship. I have over five years of experience. I got a job somewhere else in the meantime. Ironically enough it's a job that the above HR rep said I was woefully unqualified for.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2014 05:38
|
|
|
systran posted:I'm being flown out for a 10am-4pm "full-day" interview. I've had quite a few interviews in the past several months, but this is the first time it's been longer than an hour and the first time they are paying for my flight and hotel. I did go to one interview where I paid for my own flight ticket. We did that with a few professors who were applying to a tenure track job. The best advice our chair mentioned was that the interview is going on the entire time you are with someone. If you have a dinner scheduled with them, only have one drink. They may get drunk, but you are still essentially interviewing until you drive away to the airport, so its best to keep yourself in check. Essentially, you and the very small number of people also getting that interview are hire-able in their eyes, and you will probably be thrown in front of a lot of different people. I had one like that last year with about 6 different meetings and a presentation. Everyone wants to get eyes on you at that point. Max fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Aug 19, 2014 |
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2014 04:43
|
|
|
I had an interview for a police officer position last week with the chief of the department and several other officers. According to the advice here, I believe I answered every question with a 4 or 5 point answer (in my opinion.) Yesterday I got the job offer, and start as soon as I pass my background investigation and psych eval. I wanted to thank everybody in this thread for the awesome advice, especially FAN OF NICKELBACK. To everybody else, if you study this stuff, you'll go into the interview as confident as you can be, and with answers already fleshed out in your mind. Remember to use a personal experience for EVERY question, as I was told that was what landed me the job.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2014 14:54
|
|
|
I wanted to send a thank you email after an interview but, the only email I have is the person who set up time and greeted me. I actually interviewed with two other people. Would it be ok to email the person who set up the interview and address all three of them?
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2014 01:33
|
|
|
My dad has an interview with a health insurance provider on Monday, for a janitor position. The thing is that he worked at a phone company for the past 30 years or so, and he's now almost 49 and companies don't seem too eager to hire someone at that age. If it helps, he didn't get fired from his last job, but he's basically quitting because they transferred him from "go to people's houses to set up/repair their phones" to customer service (basically call-center work with better pay) a few years ago, which really frustrated him and eventually caused some depression/burn out, so he's been on sick leave for a few weeks now. He really likes working with his hands, fixing things etc., and is quite good at it, but so is his 25-year-old competition, presumably. Does anyone have any advice for him? I get to practice with him this weekend because he hasn't had a job interview since that phone company first hired him in the 80s.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2014 18:05
|
|
|
Bombtrack posted:I wanted to send a thank you email after an interview but, the only email I have is the person who set up time and greeted me. I actually interviewed with two other people. Would it be ok to email the person who set up the interview and address all three of them? This should be in a FAQ or something. Email the person who set it up and ask them to pass it on to the people that interviewed you.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2014 04:30
|
|
|
Have a second interview on Friday for a compliance/anti-money laundering position at a local bank. It's an hour having coffee with three senior reps from the department, followed by 30 minutes with the two people who interviewed with me. First interview I thought was decent, but not amazing. Was kind of surprised at the lack of "what do you know about X part of compliance questions," but I know enough to be able to answer that if it comes up. Where I think I stumbled, and might stumble more if it comes up again was "How do you do in a less structured work environment? Have you been in charge of projects before?" For the past 7 years, I've been in varying degrees of call center work. It IS very structured work. Even my current dept, which only has me on the phone for 60% of the day, has a certain structure you have to follow. The first call center really didn't have employees do any kind of special projects. Ever. It was just "answer the phones," which is part of what made it so miserable. In my current job, they give the employees more leeway. My first team put me in charge of keeping track of client sat, giving a quarterly presentation on how we did compared to other teams, and passing around a trophy as an award for the best person on the team. My second team had my be a line of credit subject matter expert, so I did additional training on lines of credit and disseminated new info about it to the teams. Plus, my manager HATED writing, so if there was some kind of write up that needed to be done for a complicated procedure or an award (we won best client service in the company twice while I was there, requiring a write up for an internal site on how we do it), he'd have me handle it. The current team uses me as late day admin. Basically, if it's near the end of the day and you have reviews due that day that you can't finish, I move them to people who work late shifts that can finish them. The people who handle the main assigning of records leave 2 hours before I do, so this keeps new account records that are due from not being worked. I can also point to my 8 months as a customer service manager of a computer store as well. It's on my resume, but I consider it a minor black mark. I juggled employees problem, customer complaints, ran audits to catch front end issues, helped with merchandising, etc. I kind of hate talking about that job, though. It was 8 years back, the company died a deserved death, and I don't think I was great at it anyway. I think I might just be thinking aloud and may already have the answer but any advice as to how to answer the question of "how do I think I'd handle a less structured work environment?"
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2014 15:12
|
|
|
I interviewed somewhere two weeks ago and they called three of my references and spoke to all of them for over 30 minutes last Thursday and Friday. They said there are two openings but five applicants, but that all applicants were amazing and I was still being very much considered as a finalist. I was almost positive that they would call me by today, but I still haven't heard and there are ~3 hours left in which I could hear back. This morning I got an email from another place I applied, which I would be just as happy to work for, saying they want to pay to fly me in for an interview next Friday. I feel that I need to reply to the second place by this afternoon to at least say, "I will get back to you by x day with confirmation." If I am offered the job at the first place I will inform the second place that I already have accepted a position elsewhere. My worry is that I will end up booking a flight for the second job, then get offered the first job shortly after. I don't want to waste the second job's time/money/effort, but I also don't want to tell them, "I'm waiting to hear back from another place so I'll let you know when," as it shows they are "second choice" and could kill my chances there if I don't get the first job. Even though it's a really lovely thing to do, I feel like I might want to just tell the second job that I will let them know by Wednesday afternoon, then hope I hear back in time, and if not just set up the interview to hedge my bets. For what it's worth, the second job was my first choice, but they delayed a lot on getting the interview going, and at this point I am not willing to turn down a good offer since I really liked the people I interviewed with and think I would be very happy there. Can anyone think of a better solution to this?
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2014 20:09
|
|
|
Any reason that you can't call the first place and ask for their input? I imagine that they have probably made their decision.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2014 20:43
|
|
|
I'm not thrilled about rushing them, and if for some reason they haven't yet decided I will make it sound like I have other options and maybe they wouldn't feel as bad picking someone else over me. I think I will email the second job now and say that I will let her know by Wednesday. When it really comes down to the wire I may have to call the first job and see what they say before committing to the flight.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2014 21:40
|
|
|
systran posted:I'm not thrilled about rushing them, and if for some reason they haven't yet decided I will make it sound like I have other options and maybe they wouldn't feel as bad picking someone else over me. I think I will email the second job now and say that I will let her know by Wednesday. When it really comes down to the wire I may have to call the first job and see what they say before committing to the flight. If anything, having other options available is going to make you more attractive as a candidate. They know you're job searching. Have they given you a deadline for an offer? If not, it's not rude to ask when they will have their decision.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2014 03:42
|
|
|
systran posted:Can anyone think of a better solution to this? Think about it from their perspective. They're still going to spend the money to fly you out even if you're their number two candidate. They'll (rightfully) justify it by saying that they're hedging their bets in case the number one guy declines their offer. Why would you act any differently?
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2014 04:43
|
|
|
Just accept and fly off. Candidates sometimes reject offers of employment for whatever reason. They know this, you should know this, just interview anyway. Who knows, maybe you'll actually decide you like company B after interviewing/seeing their stuff. Anything could happen.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2014 13:24
|
|
|
Thanks guys, it makes me feel a lot better about it hearing that. My co-worker said the same thing. I'm going to book the flight tomorrow if I don't hear back from the first job today.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2014 15:49
|
|
|
Anoulie posted:My dad has an interview with a health insurance provider on Monday, for a janitor position. When Mondale came after Reagan for his age, Reagan countered with the classic "I want you to know also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience.” Your dad has life experience and, if he emphasizes his lifetime of experience, fixing things, etc, there's not a ton of work required to imagine an older janitor as opposed to a young one.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2014 16:40
|
|
|
So I was supposed to have a phone interview with the hiring managers from USAA but they didn't call. This is the second time this happened where I was scheduled for a time and date and they did not call. I emailed the HR recruiter about it and was wondering if I should just give up on this company. I'm really frustrated that this happened again with the same company.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2014 18:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 07:33 |
|
|
.
Diet Conan Doyle fucked around with this message at 19:11 on Apr 9, 2016 |
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2014 19:21
|
|
