“Yeah I googled your company and was like “Holy Crap they’re big!” “

Maybe it’s just da yoof

I would have said the company was massive or possibly jungle! Cos jungle is massive

I’m amazed that folk turn up without knowing the basics of the company they’re applying for. Target sectors, products, revenue, headcount, industry reviews etc.

I had some chap tell me “it’s not important” during an interview 😕

that would at least have made me laugh

Anyone with attitude of trying to be cool is no worth hiring.

We had a guy came for an interview last week.

Q – What do you know about our company.
A – Not a lot to be honest.

Then at the end.

Q – Do you have any questions you’d like to ask us?
A – Is there a shower?

Keen cyclist fair play but come on!

I tasked a candidate with a practical exercise. To write a user guide for a microwave oven, including safety advice, operating instructions and troubleshooting:

He wrote:

WARNING: X rays and gamma rays are hazardous to the human body.

Errr – microwave oven not CT scanner.

Another candidate wrote:

– Do not insert animals into the microwave.

There’s plenty more to tell…unfortunately.

I once had an interview team ask me how I did a problem in my head without the paper they supplied me, I jokingly said I did it in my head. They looked shocked, annoyed, one of the girls smirked aggressively and then they pressed me again as to how I did it, I then just said I was awesome at maths and told them how I did it. Which was hard to explain because my mind sometimes computes maths in weird non-standard ways that tutors used to comment on.

I didn’t get the job. Pompous pricks, glad I didn’t work with them anyway.

We had a guy came for an interview last week.

Q – What do you know about our company.
A – Not a lot to be honest.

Then at the end.

Q – Do you have any questions you’d like to ask us?
A – Is there a shower?

Keen cyclist fair play but come on!

I have done both of those, but I made them work 🙂

Not knowing a lot about the company => Know the basics, but turn it around and get them to sell the company to me.
Is there a shower => I want to know if this is going to be a good fit, and you will probably remember me as ‘that candidate who wanted to ride in to work’.

Got the job btw.

Is it bad that I’ve always struggled with why I need to know about the company (though I make the effort for interviews).. my role will be internal IT, so how will indepth knowledge of the company product be of use to me, or make me more efficient in my position?
(last couple made metal packaging and huge transformers… I found the manufacturing processes interesting but not helpful to my role)

My interview with Asda went something like this a couple of months ago…

Asda: Why do you want to work for Asda.?
Me: Because I have just been made redundant and am going on holiday next week for the best part of a month and would like a job to come back to.

I got the job.! 😯

jimmy – Member
“Yeah I googled your company and was like “Holy Crap they’re big!” “

So….. Did he get the job?

I was punched once (many years ago during a hiring phase) by a Guy who was clearly (to me) not upto the task, he knew it, I knew it, he punched me for not offering him the job.
I laughed.
My MD barged in and floored him.
I laughed.
We laughed.

Once had someone answer a mobile in an interview – “hang on, do you mind if I get this” says she. Oh well thinks I, at least you’ll save me the effort of following a proper interview process. Just wish I had asked her to leave there and then, but being a gentleman I thought I had better follow through – stupid mare.

Always baffled me how some of these idiots thought they were going to get a job the way they interviewed.

Had one guy turn up to our small open plan office where all the desks can be seen from outside including mine and put his tie on in reception but didn’t bother to tuck his shirt in. It was a very short interview as was for a customer facing role.

Another when asked why he wanted to train as a financial advisor just shrugged and looked at his feet. I think his mum had insisted he turn off his x-box and go look for a job!

I never have, but if you offered them the job, I might try it next time. 😀

z1ppy – Member

… my role will be internal IT, so how will indepth knowledge of the company product be of use to me, or make me more efficient in my position?
(last couple made metal packaging and huge transformers…)

To be honest nothing … but if you know the company a bit more it might help you instead.

Rather than for you to blame them at a latter stage. i.e. if I knew I would be lowly IT monkey then I wouldn’t have applied for the job etc … mentality.

Also ..

1. Save time for them to explain to you.
2. Know that you are applying for the right job.
3. Know the direction or opportunity that might present you in future.
4. Know you place. i.e. you know you place …

Knowing a bit about the company is better than nothing …

🙄

an MD of a medium sized company once asked me what my star sign was… I crossed my legs and winked at him and was hired on the spot.

Probably need to distinguish a bit – my comments were aimed at roles in the tech sector for “mid-senior” level.

For any role though, it won’t hurt to have a basic understanding of the company and may even prove beneficial – especially if its a customer facing role 😉

Interviewed for a job coming up to Christmas. All seemed to go well enough. late January asked back, ok second interview. Actually no, re- run of the first interview because it was such a long time ago that they’d forgotten which candidates they liked and the second interviews will be… I never heard the rest because I closed the door behind me.
It’s not just the interviewees.
That said, can I suggest to whoever it was if they’re reading this, that “reading Tom Clancy novels” isn’t worth adding to your hobbies and interests.

Knowing Pretending to be interested a bit about the company is better than nothing .

This possibly belongs in the “stating the bleeding obvious” thread, but before my last interview (for where I work now) the agency rang me to double-check I’d be wearing a suit…

Once had someone answer a mobile in an interview – “hang on, do you mind if I get this” says she.

I have also experienced this.

My favourite was one who myself and a colleague thought was so out there that it must have been an undercover sting looking to sue us for religious discrimination: Candidate turns up nearly half an hour late for an end-of-day interview (i.e. it was already nearly five o’clock, we wanted to go home and he should have been our last candidate at 4:30) and then apologises for being late, says he’s missed his prayer time, needs to pray, and is there anywhere he could do his prayers?

Somewhat gobsmacked, we let him pray, and then interviewed him. It wasn’t a long interview.

Chewkw.. basically it to save everyone time at the interview then, K.
I can live with that, hate interviews.

EDIT: “Pretending to be interested a bit about the company is better than nothing“
My issue is though, shirely they know I’m pretending.. so why bother?

Best stop now, in case any future employee stalks me onto here..

I once worked on a consultation project about disposal of nuclear submarines – they asked for details about it on my CV at a later job interview and I actually said ‘I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you’ – for some reason.

Got the job (it was shite).

I once had an interview team ask me how I did a problem in my head without the paper they supplied me, I jokingly said I did it in my head. They looked shocked, annoyed, one of the girls smirked aggressively and then they pressed me again as to how I did it, I then just said I was awesome at maths and told them how I did it. Which was hard to explain because my mind sometimes computes maths in weird non-standard ways that tutors used to comment on.

I didn’t get the job. Pompous pricks, glad I didn’t work with them anyway.

Hmmm….. not sure who is the pompous one in this scenario.

depends if i wanted the job or not…..

trainspotting springs to mind :d

I once had an interview where the interviewer plainly didn’t like me. I’m sure he had me back for another interview and made me do a presentation just to mess me about.
Obviously I didn’t get the job, but the job I did get requires me to specify equipment like that manufactured by said company. They don’t get any business from me and the rep can’t figure out for the life of him why!

An audio operator who worked under me was leaving. I asked him where he was going and he said he was going to start a landscaping business. I commented on that being a bit of a step across from relaying audio on Disney feature films etc. He said it’s what he did before coming to the current role. I asked how on earth he got a fairly technical job being an audio op from being a landscaper, he replied that he said at interview “Well, how hard can it be!”.

Oddly, he was one of just two audio ops I would trust to either know the answer to any problem or bother to find out if they didn’t.

I’ve always wanted to say “Well, how hard can it be!”, (believing that to be true), but have never had the balls.

Q – Do you have any questions you’d like to ask us?
A – Is there a shower?

Keen cyclist fair play but come on!

Sensible question to ask, surely? If commuting by bike is your only option it’s the public transport equivalent of making sure there’s a train station nearby. You don’t need to ask the company about that though.

Many moons ago I was asked whether I knew UML notation in an interview. Not my finest hour but I responded with “not in detail, I know the basics at the end of the day it’s just stick men, boxes and lines, not exactly rocket science.”

I was offered the job, but feedback was that was probably the worst answer they,d ever had…..nativity of youth 🙂

There’s a fine line between naiive and ballsy. You can have a lot of fun in an interview for a job you’re not too arsed about.

I’ve always thought the “tell us what you know about the company” question was basically just fishing for compliments. Might as well say “tell us how great you think we are.” It’s irrelevant to the majority of employees; so long as the job’s interesting and the pay’s reasonable, and you’re not working with sociopaths, the company could be an international cheese sauce and brass screws manufacturer for the difference it makes.

Many years ago, a friend of mine was asked at interview:

“Tell us about an occasion when you thought you’d made a mistake at work, and what course of action you took to correct it.”

To which he replied:

“Well, when I was doing the summer shutdown at Glaxo, I thought I’d set a fire alarm off by accident.”

“And what did you do next?”

“I ran away.”

He now has a PhD in some sort of hardcore genome research, so he evidently clevered up at some point.

When I was about 17 I went for an interview for a customer services job at one of the roadside rescue companies.

I was interviewed by a couple of managers not much older than me

I was asked if I had any questions at the end of what I thought was a good interview and I asked if there was any scope for building a career and moving ‘up the ladder’ in the future.

The answer was a blunt “no, there are no prospects in this role”.

I never heard anything back so I’m assuming it either didn’t go as well as I thought, or they didn’t want someone with ambition.

Oh, and I’ve also received a CV and then got invited to the interview.

The candidate managed to get hold of my email address and then scheduled his own interview.

I hadn’t even read his CV.

“I ran away.”

😆

I thought the trick to interviewing was a spiders web of lies, deceit, half truths, and more lies.

It’s been my policy anyway. Certainly got me employed.

Oh, and I’ve also received a CV and then got invited to the interview.

The candidate managed to get hold of my email address and then scheduled his own interview.
Love it!

I’ve always thought the “tell us what you know about the company” question was basically just fishing for compliments. Might as well say “tell us how great you think we are.” It’s irrelevant to the majority of employees; so long as the job’s interesting and the pay’s reasonable, and you’re not working with sociopaths, the company could be an international cheese sauce and brass screws manufacturer for the difference it makes.

I ask this in interviews…it’s the first question I ask.

The reason I ask is not to test their knowledge really, but to gauge whether they have made the effort to prepare.

An interviewee is selling themselves, and if they can’t be bothered to spend an hour or so doing a bit of research and have just turned up…why should I buy?

a consultation project about disposal of nuclear submarines

One interview always spring to mind for me:

Partner – “Working for a large firm can often entail working long and sometimes unsociable hours, should it be required. What would your response be if I said to you at 6pm on a Friday “John, I’m going to need you to work this weekend””

John – my response would be “What are you doing in my car?”

Yes had the phone answered in an interview
Her ” yes iam at an interview……other person speaking…yes its going really well they seem nice…them speaking….oh just the usual so far nothing too hard.
Lasted for what seemed like ages but probably only a few minutes

Next question
ME ” do you want to continue the intervies
Her ” yes”
Me ” Why?”

I once got asked if a Jaffa cake was a cake or biscuit
I explaine din great detail the VAT rules associated with cakes and the result of the court case …apparently they wanted a jokey answer !

Oh and what are your weaknesses?

i only have two
1. I find it really difficult to hand over a task as I am a completer finisher and i sometimes struggle to pass it on to people who I dont think will be able to do the job as well as i do
Pause till they were uncomfortable
2. I am prone to outbursts of extreme sarcasm in moments of stress.

one laughed two scowled
Shit question it is just will you lie to me for the next few minutes please I also hate why do you want this job
I have not won the lottery and i like to eat!! Its not really the best opportunity in the world it is all I can get

I had an interview with Outward Bound Ullswater, who having asked me at a weeks notice to cut short family holiday, started the interview with ‘I know you applied for a Senior role at Ullswater, but would you take a junior role I Wales – we have an internal candidate…’ For some reason I was polite and carried on the interview…. Sums up working for OB I think…