Published on 12, July, 2020
Does anyone else gets thrown by questions?
Examples for me are, having to come up with something on a course, especially that thing they do sometimes where everyone has to introduce themselves.
Interviews are difficult because I can never think of examples on the spot.
I even was thrown recently when asked in a situation when asked what my favourite song was.
These kind of things make me panic that I have to think of something quickly.
............and sometimes, after you think you've given a good answer, no-one seems to take any notice. Then you're left wondering if it was a good answer; an embarrasingly bad answer; or, indeed, if anyone was even listening!
Ben
Ben said:............and sometimes, after you think you've given a good answer, no-one seems to take any notice. Then you're left wondering if it was a good answer; an embarrasingly bad answer; or, indeed, if anyone was even listening!
As someone with a lot of experience in interviewing candidates for a lot of companies, the hard truth is that quite a few of the interviews are just to meet our legal obligatons (ie we already have been told who is getting the job but have to be seen as being "fair" to the applicants.
For the actually open positions, the "feel" of the candidate is more important that their skills - ie specific technical skills are quickly and easily trained but aptitude cannot..
I've always worked on the basis that you are only goint to be interviewed if your CV ticks the general skills and experience boxes so there will be some probing questions for bull dropping artists but the focus is on how you respond to questions and role play scenarios.
The positions I recruited for were for tech support - entry level helpdesk to management. I would make people talk me through how they would diagnose a problem by giving them a scenario and responses to what they would check for - it they didn't understand the principles then admit it then they were out. No space for liars, but acknowledging your skill gaps was not a deal breaker.
Lasly was the "difficult customer" role play where they had to deal with me acting as a problematic user who had an issue and the candidate had to navigate the situation calmly and effectively. So many people caved on this but i t was an essential skill for the role.
A core consideration for recruitment is how well you will fit into a team that is already present and make it better. Are you one to inspire, to encourage your colleagues, to share technical interests etc. I'm afraid this is where most autists hit the red flags - we are typically not team players so won't get the job.
Going bacl to my point, it could be you had already failed the interview so the interviewer was just going through the motions
Thank you for posting Iain, that was interesting.
So, the chances were that no-one was actually listening.
Happily, I'm now retired and no longer have to navigate the obstacle course of seeking employment, but I know I dropped a couple of clangers in the interview field. And before anyone asks.... NO, I'm not going to reveal them on the forum.