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.
Judge Dredd said:in 90% of the cases the recruiter will not tell you the real reason why you have not been selected.
Ultimately, it's always the same - it's that slippery thing they call 'fit'. It defies logic and can rest on very trivial things.
I've been on both sides of the interview process and 'fit' will get you every time. There is no justice in 'fit' so I have fought it when I've had the power to do so, sometimes successfully. The best person for the job should be the one who best meets the job spec, but very often it isn't that person who gets selected in my experience.
Sometimes 'Fit' works in your favour when you're trying to get a job, sometimes it doesn't.
Pegg said:Ultimately, it's always the same - it's that slippery thing they call 'fit'. It defies logic and can rest on very trivial things.
That is actually a very easy thing to know - so long as you are neurotypical.
It is us autists that cannot see the expected social dynamics and who suffer as a consequence. To my knowledge there is no "cure" other than learning more about how these things work in social groups and mask up to fit in as best you can.
It is exhausting for me and from what I read, for most others on the spectrum.
There are some good books on the subject:
The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships - Decoding Social Mysteries Through the Unique Perspectives of Autism - Temple Grandin, Sean Barron (2005)ISBN: 9781941765388
And for the day to day chit-chat with your colleagues:
Stress-Free Small Talk - How to Master the Art of Conversation and Take Control of Your Social Anxiety - Gallagher LMFT, Richard S (2020)ISBN 1641528958
Knowledge and its application were the way I dealt with it, but once you get into the management layers you get a whole different bunch of social rules because they are kept at arms lengths by their underlings and often have a lot of power hungry, mal adjusted people who sought power over others. This was not a nice field to work in my experience.