Monday, September 04, 2006

Interviews

The problem with Seth’s idea about getting candidates to try a job before getting hired is that most people are already employed and even getting the time to attend an interview can be tricky (not considering their contractual issues). Another approach is to find out if a candidate can supply references or endorsements. Formal employer references are often overlooked, as no company wants to risk giving a bad reference; they simply confirm the historical facts. Open personal endorsements (i.e. on Linkedin) can seem one sided, as they are always positive however they could provide a valuable insight by looking carefully at who has been prepared to say something, or perhaps what’s not said.

I mentioned in my earlier post: Is short the new long? How contract work was more honest and upfront, and certainly I’m in favour of contract work evolving to permanent positions, if appropriate – but the candidate first needs to accept the nature of contract employment, not for many.

Showing a corporate video or getting the experienced tour guide probably won’t cover the specific role of the hiring team, particularly if the organisation is large. As an interviewee I am sure the authenticity of the less than polished pitch from the hiring manager gives a more honest view of the team you are thinking of joining. Perhaps a video podcast on the careers page of the corporate website would help in preparation; it could even be required before attending an interview.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seth's idea is good, but it won't work in normal world with its constraints.

Michael Drips said...

As a computer consultant, I've been on "interviews" where people actually said "We've been stuck on this problem for a while, can you please sit down here and fix it?"

Hell no! Same thing with Seth's idea of hiring someone for a day, you might be solving some problem for Seth's company on the cheap for a job that actually doesn't exist.

That's a bad idea that just opens the door to exploiting people that are honestly searching for a job.

Dennis Howlett said...

Seth doesn't have comments at his place so I'll say it here. Claptrap.

Isn't that why we have labour laws that allow for what amount to trial or probationary periods?

I've heard there's an entire industry in America dedicated to coaching ofr interviews. If Seth's view is indicative of what's going on then call it as it is - candidates lie and employers buy it.

Anonymous said...

Finding the hours just to attend interviews can be a problem. Some time back I went to two interviews with a large telco equipment supplier. I thought it was going quite well until the HR person said that the norm was to attend five interviews before a decision was made. At that point I had to bow out, since you can't keep getting 2 to 3 hours off for endless interviews, life is too short.

Anonymous said...

One day there will be a better system, until then keep practicing!
http://www.mockquestions.com

joan said...

Here is another site with some practice questions. Good luck all! Thanks for the information.

www.practiceinterviewquestions.org

Anonymous said...

there is an interesting book about the subject "job interview made easy", it can be found at www.amzn.com/2917260041

Veronica Mcking said...

Self confidence is the key for a sucessful job interview. Just be honest and cool.applying for jobs in america

Travis said...

Seth's ideas are always good

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