General / Off-Topic Job interviews

[jasonbarron]

I think he defines 'smilers' as people who do the above, not that people who smile do the above. If not, I do tend to smile a lot...

I think what he wrote warrants a bit more explanation from him. I think what he's saying is that he doesn't trust people who use a smug smile and smarty pants witticisms as a means to deflect from the issue at hand, or as a means to couch sarcasm or self assured put downs which they believe they've delivered so cleverly it's went right over the recipients head. I guess what I would say is that there are a lot of different ways to smile, and to offer a bit of humor in order to break the ice in a tense situation.

 

[GJ51]

... I have difficulty staying professional. Things kinda went off the rail fast.

Not the best strategy if you really want to get hired

 

[starman]

we are employees not slaves

There is just too much surplus labour or not enough demand

The solution is to send the unemployed to work on the moon and mar colony.

When robot take over there will be surplus labour.

When women entered the work force they take jobs from men its as simple as that

Men cant have children.

 

[jasonbarron]

we are employees not slaves

There is just too much surplus labour or not enough demand

The solution is to send the unemployed to work on the moon and mar colony.

When robot take over there will be surplus labour.

When women entered the work force they take jobs from men its as simple as that

Men cant have children.

Oh my. Now this comment has some potential to get things going!

 

[Patrick_68000]

we are employees not slaves

Ah ? I thought the opposite

 

[Ca$hback]

But how are you going to get a sense of a person if you're applying that amount of bias and those sorts of generalisations? On the whole people are individual, saying that all ginger people are lazy would be awful. Look at that anti-smiler list: dishonest, victims, excusers, slackers, deflectors, ant-confrontationists, opportunists, too eager to please. No offence but that says more about you than it does about smilers.

The job itself demands a certain amount of bias called qualifications. If I fail to at least make a concerted attempt to cater to that bias, I fail to find a good employee.
With a process of elimination you're attempting to disqualify a person with every question until you have fewer candidates.
I find your ginger comment offside and suggestive of impetuous prejudice on your part. Dangerously close to putting words in my mouth, as if you're saying I think X people are lazy because they have Y colored hair or Y colored skin or Y branded jackets, because I see certain attitudes being suggestive of certain behaviors that make a person a poor worker. You can do better.
I also think the "anti-smiler" list as you call it does say something about me but not quite what I think you think it does. I don't value those qualities in a person and they are all suggestive of laziness or passing the buck.

 

[lysan]

Ah ? I thought the opposite

The old illusion of being free when you need to work for someone else to make a living.

Unless you’re 100% self sustainable you’re not free.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I hate job interviews. And the whole application process.

You have to find a suitable job.
Then you gotta fill out a form.
Then someone judges you on that form, before you make it to level 2. Or not.
Then you get assessments, which you have to pass. Or don't.
Then you might get shortlisted to an interview. Or not.
Then you get an interview. Or not.

Which is usually nothing more than a series of dumb questions which have nothing to do with if you'd be good at the job or not.

Lol

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[Rob At Work]

Years ago I had to do some induction speed tests for an engineering apprenticeship job.

Write the alphabet in ascending order as many times as you can in 1 minute GO!. Now do the same thing in reverse or order GO!.

Pick a letter and write as many as you can in one minute GO! (I pick R - for Rob). Now write the letter in its mirror image as many times as you can GO!.

I got through to the interview and they asked "can you tell us why you choose to do yours a*rse backwards" - well thats what I thought they said, I said "well most people usually start at the beginning I just approached it from a different angle for a change" the next question took a while to come while they contemplated (with a bemused look on their faces) the previous answer - I didn't get the job - LOL

 

[jasonbarron]

The old illusion of being free when you need to work for someone else to make a living.

Unless you’re 100% self sustainable you’re not free.

The only thing your not "free of" is the necessity to attend to the requirements of your own survival. In a civilized country you are free to seek whatever employment you're capable of in order to ensure those needs are met.

That's literally the opposite of being a slave.

 

[lysan]

The only thing your not "free of" is the necessity to attend to the requirements of your own survival. In a civilized country you are free to seek whatever employment you're capable of in order to ensure those needs are met.

That's literally the opposite of being a slave.

Living by other people’s rules is not being free, as a prisoner can walk around within the walls, yes you’re free to do whatever you like. It’s not freedom, it’s called something else. My dog is free to walk wherever he wants, as long as he don’t leave the lot, he is not free even if he believes he is free.

 

[Hessfire]

Back in the day I managed to find the perfect (for me) answer to the "Describe your dream job" question. After working at Microsoft my wife and I moved back to Michigan as her parents health had taken a turn for the worse, and when asked I would simply reply:

"My dream job was working for Microsoft, but I had that and made the choice to move back to Michigan for my spouse's health and well being. Family comes first, so anyone else is playing for a distant second."

Got the job every time.

 

[jasonbarron]

Living by other people’s rules is not being free, as a prisoner can walk around within the walls, yes you’re free to do whatever you like. It’s not freedom, it’s called something else. My dog is free to walk wherever he wants, as long as he don’t leave the lot, he is not free even if he believes he is free.

Ah, I get it. As long as there are rules, none of us are free.

So describe a system where we can all live together in a society and still be "free" according to your own definition.

 

[MottiKhan]

Ah, I get it. As long as there are rules, none of us are free.

So describe a system where we can all live together in a society and still be "free" according to your own definition.

I think Somalia is in anarchy. Maybe the only free country on Earth by those rules. I bet the jobs still have rules if you can find one.

 

[Jenner]

Yeah, job interview questions like that are a bit daft. That's why I'm never going to leave my current employer. Who needs that kind of aggravation?

 

[starman]

Back in the day I managed to find the perfect (for me) answer to the "Describe your dream job" question. After working at Microsoft my wife and I moved back to Michigan as her parents health had taken a turn for the worse, and when asked I would simply reply:

"My dream job was working for Microsoft, but I had that and made the choice to move back to Michigan for my spouse's health and well being. Family comes first, so anyone else is playing for a distant second."

Got the job every time.

I also 'work' for Microsoft and Frontier as a software beta test. Is that a dream or a nightmare?

Any Facebook users is a digital slave.


Could be worse https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/china-surveillance/552203/

Firewall UK is coming..

 

[znôrt]

HR Managers are idiots.

A dream job is just that a 'Dream'. Is being a HR Manager there dream job?

they gauge how well you fit into the corporate employee mentality, that is, to what extent you match the existing herd in the company. they want talent, but manageable talent: outliers and independent thinkers are usually not welcome. also, usually they don't have a clue about what your job actually involves, so they only seek to match some abstract fitness criteria.

but if you hate hr managers, just wait until they are replaced by machine algorithms, which is already starting to happen. much like facebook and google bubbles, they will just reinforce what is seen as competitive success in the company in terms of promotions and bonuses, i.e. the total butt holes. i have the secret fantasy that this will finally bring quite a few companies near collapse, they can't just run on ambitious pricks only, someone has to actually know stuff and get the work done and those will rarely pass such screening.

in my experience, the only interesting interviews are with other similar grade employees (this is frequent in technical applications). they tend not to get lost in bull and not to lie as much about the company, so you can get a much clearer picture. my experience comes more from interviewing than from being interviewed, though, but there is real communication and exchange going on, and an eloquent face expression or silence between knowledgeable people can be very telling, for both parties.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Ah, I get it. As long as there are rules, none of us are free.

So describe a system where we can all live together in a society and still be "free" according to your own definition.

I think by that definition only anarchy can truly be considered to allow 'real freedom'. And anarchy is, at best, a transition period between two more stable societal structures.

In other news, just got a call. Apparently a new job for the same function opened as someone from the team moved away. They asked if I wanted it. I asked my soon-to-be team leader about my answer to the 'dream job' question. Apparently it made a positive impression, and was written down as 'a creative and humorous answer to a non-question'.

So slave or no slave, I'll be expected to be at the office starting march 1st.

 

[Hell Razor5543]

I think by that definition only anarchy can truly be considered to allow 'real freedom'. And anarchy is, at best, a transition period between two more stable societal structures.

In other news, just got a call. Apparently a new job for the same function opened as someone from the team moved away. They asked if I wanted it. I asked my soon-to-be team leader about my answer to the 'dream job' question. Apparently it made a positive impression, and was written down as 'a creative and humorous answer to a non-question'.

So slave or no slave, I'll be expected to be at the office starting march 1st.

Good luck. It shows that being a person gets better results than being a robot!

 

[znôrt]

I think by that definition only anarchy can truly be considered to allow 'real freedom'. And anarchy is, at best, a transition period between two more stable societal structures.

there is no real freedom, not even in anarchy. freedom it's a fantasy concept. in the homocene it is touted as one of the most fundamental values, but that's just bull. nobody is free.

In other news, just got a call. Apparently a new job for the same function opened as someone from the team moved away. They asked if I wanted it. I asked my soon-to-be team leader about my answer to the 'dream job' question. Apparently it made a positive impression, and was written down as 'a creative and humorous answer to a non-question'.

i would have asked why the other guy left. good luck with your new overlords!