pro_junior Report This Comment Date: April 11, 2012 01:17PM
fuckin a...I had a job interview yesterday with one of these douchebags
him: please describe your self using five words.
me: I don't answer bullshit questions.
I don't think I'm getting the job...
Mrkim Report This Comment Date: April 11, 2012 02:04PM
I heard that PJ
I've been interviewing both in person and online for a number of positions
lately and man, what a gamut of bullshit. The really fun ones are the psyche
eval/psycho babble ones, sometimes I have fun with 'em and at others I just try
to fuck with
THEIR heads
Like my most revered mechanical mentor used to quip "You gotta be smartern
what you're workin on"
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: April 11, 2012 02:18PM
The psycho-babble tests are one of the worst things ever. Most ask you the same
ten questions over and over phrased and worded differently.
Mrkim Report This Comment Date: April 11, 2012 02:31PM
Yep, those are the ones that really piss me off. I find them intellectually
insulting.
On a side note, I've never been one good at being on time for work, though when
I show up I'll be there as long as is required. Anyway, one job I had when I'd
finally drag in 15 minutes to an hour late my foreman would come up and say
"Ok, so why were you late today Kim?"
I'd always ask him if he wanted the truth or a good one? Some days he wanted the
truth and got it. Other days when he wanted a bit of humor he'd ask for a good
one and always got that too .... which usually involved aliens, car jackings,
tales of drunken adventures the night before or a good hot babe tale
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: April 11, 2012 02:57PM
They ARE intellectually insulting. I don't think they want to hire smart
people, they want to hire professional slaves.
quasi Report This Comment Date: April 11, 2012 03:54PM
The prevailing thing in raising kids these days seems to be telling the kids to
just be themselves, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, and you are
valuable no matter who you are. I think those things are true but somehow when
one gets into the real world that stuff just doesn't apply if you want to
continue to eat and have a shelter to sleep in. And then there's the war on
bullying, again a worthwhile thing until one gets to the workplace and wishes to
continue receiving a paycheck. In over 30 years of working for a living I was
fired only one time after being at that job for over ten years for refusing to
further assist a bullying customer after patiently listening to his bullshit for
several minutes. The disparity between what we should be teaching our kids and
how things really work when you're an adult is frightening.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: April 11, 2012 04:09PM
Boy, I hear you loud and clear on that Q. There is a vast disparity between the
values we teach our children and the lack of moral equity in the workplace.
Frightening indeed, and disgusting. I was taught to be honest and tell the truth
as a child only to be forced to lie and cheat if I wanted to keep a job as an
adult.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: April 11, 2012 07:32PM
BTW it is illegal for employers to ask any questions that might conceivably
betray your age, yet they all persist in doing so. How may job apps have anyone
seen that did not ask when you graduated high school? Or College? Or times of
service in the military? Or how many years of experience you have where ever,
what ever? Those are all questions that if answered could give an employer an
idea of your age range and I have yet to see an application that doesn't ask
them.
GAK67 Report This Comment Date: April 11, 2012 09:27PM
In defence of the 'psycho babble' questions, they are not designed to test your
intelligence, they are designed to test your personality/attitude, and the
reason they ask the same thing over and over is that people like you guys try
and get around them and "fuck with their heads". Repeating the
questions ensures they can get a measure of consistency. There is also a lot of
evidence that they are effective, provided you know in advance what
personality/attitude is going to work best for you.
As somebody that has done a lot of employing of staff over the years I have
learnt from experience that a vigorous interview process is going to give you a
higher chance for a better outcome. People can interview well and be terrible
employees, so there is no guarantee though.
As for employees turning up late, I had a staff member that used to rock up to
the office about 8:45-9am when the rest of us were there from either 8am or
8:30. One of the other managers used to complain about her being late and my
response was always that I didn't care, providing she was putting in the hours
and getting the work done. She was always there later than the rest of the
employees. It would be a different story if it was a role that meant her not
being there affected the level of service customers received, but it wasn't.
pro_junior Report This Comment Date: April 11, 2012 10:51PM
my favorite excuse for being late...I couldn't find a bag to put my lunch in
Mrkim Report This Comment Date: April 12, 2012 01:57AM
GAK, I sure waddn alluding to any concept that the psychobabble line of
questioning had any intentions of testing my intelligence, nor do I believe in
the slightest that's their intent. The seeming intention of this tactic is as
you stated to achieve some sense of overarching consistency in an interview
process.
That having been said, if a lair is of any decent caliber, these methods are
meaningless and only trip up those too intellectually challenged to try and pull
such stuff off in the 1st place.
An interviewer worth his salt should be well versed enough in body language,
tonal inflection in the voice as well as the words and phrases the interviewee
chooses in answering the interviewers queries to determine if they're being lied
to.
It seems to me that the whole psyche-fuck concept in hiring relates more to HR
peoples need to justify their position than it is in finding some greater truth
or getting the best candidates for their companies continued success from the
interviews they give
woberto Report This Comment Date: April 12, 2012 02:26AM
HR is up there with Astrology.
