Comments on: Job Interviewing Horror Stories

By: The Financial Blogger | Worst Job Interview

The Financial Blogger | Worst Job Interview — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:59:45 +0000

[...] few weeks ago, I read a funny article about a horror job interview where Thicken My Wallet was the interviewer. That reminded me of a really bad job interview where I [...]

By: The Financial Blogger | Financial Ramblings

The Financial Blogger | Financial Ramblings — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 10:02:39 +0000

[...] My Wallet put a smile on my face with his job interview horror stories. That reminded me of a good one I have to post [...]

By: Gates VP

Gates VP — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:58:17 +0000

Quoted for Truth: “…good questions are easy for the right people and hard for everyone else…”

I’ve done interviews and been interviewed and I’ve blown a few before. This failure is pretty egregious, but sometimes it’s just a bad day.

By: 45free.com

45free.com — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:03:06 +0000

While I have never had the racial slur response I had two interesting interviews on the same day a few years back. While interviewing for a co-op role to do some visual basic coding for a big FI, I asked what is the standard “Why do you want to work here?” question. The first interesting response basically had a second year student explaining how during his work term he was looking forward to assisting with the strategy work in the chairman’s office (Note: I did not work in the chairman’s office). The second interesting response I got was ” I don’t…I am just looking for the interview experience”. Fortunately, that was the last interview of the day and I had my clubs in the car!

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:54:50 +0000

One of my favorite pieces of advice is that good questions are easy for the right people and hard for everyone else – that way it’s easier to see the difference between the candidates. I guess in an unexpected way this question did the trick

By: MoneyGrubbingLawyer

MoneyGrubbingLawyer — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:16:02 +0000

Wow, racial epithets during an interview. That’s classy.

When I’ve been in the position of interviewer, I have always focused on more general questions that allow me to assess the personality and “fit” of a candidate. I can usually garner whether he or she has the technical and vocational skills from the resume, but they key thing I’m looking for (beyond basic competence) is someone who I wouldn’t mind working with for 8 hours a day, 50 weeks a year.

I think you should slip in the Wiggum question next time, just to gauge reaction. I’ve always wanted to ask a candidate to sing a few bars of their favourite song, or ask a question like “Who would win in a fight- a tiger or a bear?” There’s a reason they don’t let me do many interviews…

By: Michael James

Michael James — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:45:45 +0000

I’ve done some interviewing and I find that it’s best to mix in two types of questions: 1) clear questions about the technical aspects of the job, and 2) a couple of open-ended vague questions designed to cause the candidate to start blathering about whatever is on his mind (and maybe is trying not to talk about). Either type of question can cause an answer that eliminates a candidate.

Reporters seem to use a similar strategy. Every so often they’ll say something like “Your teammates seem OK. Can you talk about that?”