Published on 12, July, 2020
There has been quite a bit of chat on here in recent weeks about job interviews so I thought I would put together a topic on interview questions to generate some discussion, education and enlightenmnet for those who are job hunting or considering it.I have spent a lot of the last 10 years consulting for companies who had issues with their IT support / service teams and have conducted hundreds of interviews to get the right sort of staff in to fix the issues the teams were having. I've also been interviewed for lots of positions due to the project based nature of this work meaning it lasted 6-12 months at a time.I've also mentored and coached other inexperienced managers in techniques with this and attended numerous training courses on the subject so can offer insights from a range of perspectives.So think of what you want to ask and I'll be as candid as I can be.Your starter for 10 comes from an article I read today:https://www.ladbible.com/community/matt-higgins-ceo-question-never-ask-job-interview-693297-20230813 there's one question you should 'never ever' ask at a job interviewIn summary:You should always have a relevant question to ask towards the end of the interview when the interviewer asks "do you have any questions for us?"."If you’re a job seeker, here’s a piece of advice you likely won’t hear from anyone else: Never ever ask an employer what their remote work policy is during the job interview."I know as autists most of us want to know about this option, but be aware this will not go down well. This is a question best saved for when you actually have the job and assume you will be 100% office based.If you want to know what questions will be received well, have a look at:www.indeed.com/.../questions-to-ask-in-an-interviewRemember to write these down - best to print them so it looks more professional than a handwritten note, although it is good practice to scribble down any questions you have about what is disclosed in the interview (eg they may talk about other offices and you want to know if you have to travel to them). We often forget in the heat / pressure of the interview so this will help earn points towards getting the job.My favourite is "Ask the interviewer about their experiences with the company". For example "how did you find it during the covid crisis with regards to companies approach to flexible working?". You see how you can get an insight into the remote working question without actually asking it?
It also gives the interviewer a chance to talk about their personal experiences so you can get a feel for them as a person rather than as an interrigator.
I always have a feel for whether I like the job, and will get the job, in-interview. Once I have figured out that it’s a lost-cause, by observe autonomous-nodding, or infantile-remarks, I shift to figuring out why I have a bad-feeling.
So I’ll ask ‘what traits have you observed that make me suitable?’ Or ‘how should an expect to see my role develop over the next 6 months?’ Or ‘how you expect to see the team develop over the next 2 years?’.
Usually I’ll understand the role, the company, their thoughts, and their intentions; by the time I’m done. A good experiment has been to ask them similar questions, after I’ve been ‘unfortunately’d’, and the answers will be totally different: -“try again soon”,-or “it’s not you it’s me”,-or “I can’t see why you won’t be accepted by someone else” . -or “clearly you have ideal qualities for something”, -or “what?! I can’t believe we didn’t hire you! Sent your CV!” (Never hears from them again)..
I’ve been doing this for 10 years now, and it’s just the luck of the draw, I feel. I’ve had a-hundred people ‘look-at’ my CV and call it perfect and call me perfect. They say “there’s no reason you couldn’t get a job”, I say “Great! Give me a job..”, they say ”erm.. no we mean bacon-packing, there’s no reason we can’t get you off our books”. I say “I’m not suited to bacon-packing, I have an honours-degree, am smartish, and have volunteered for you successfully for a year, and you have a vacancy”. They say “look you have to get ‘a job’, then get transferable skills, then continue to do what you’re doing now for less-money and more-stress and less-time, don’t be selfish!”..
I going off the rails here.. but you get the gist.. there is some invisible-blockade I feel, whatever that may be political or prejudicial, it’s completely out of my hands..
Im not economically viable.. it would seem..
Mate, in 90% of the cases the recruiter will not tell you the real reason why you have not been selected. Everyone is deathly afraid of a discrimination lawsuit, so they just say some "acceptable" excuse, send out a standard rejection letter or flat out ignore you. Nobody will tell you "we do not hire aspies, get lost", especially if that is the real reason. Just keep trying and hope to find somebody willing to give you a chance (good luck). I was lucky, the hiring manager that hired me went in retirement three months later. Probably he did not gave a damn and just needed a warm body to man the desk during the late shift.
Haha.. good for you man, I had a great manager that loved my loyalty to him, he got fired for ‘hate’ a year later and I wasn’t far behind him due to the circling wolves..
I suspect you are right about the liabilities, so I’ll take all the luck I can get, a favourable-manager is always the dream..
lol he is retired now. My current manager does not even dare to talk to me without a witness.