What Not To Do At An Interview

[Miss Unleaded]

Yesterday I interviewed someone for a programming position at our company.  Based on that, I would like to give a few tips about what not to do in a job interview:

1.  If you are interviewed by an older man and a younger woman, don't make the assumption that the older man is the one with the authority to hire you. 

2.  Especially don't direct all your responses towards the older man, ignoring the woman.

3.  Really, especially don't speak entirely in Tagalog, when the woman indicated at the beginning of the interview that it would be conducted in Swahili because she is not fluent in Tagalog and ability in Swahili is a requirement for the position.

4.  When the woman indicates that you need to switch to Swahili as 'I won't know whether to give you a job if I can't fully understand your answers', don't then obviously realise just how rude and short sighted you have been and try to make it up by subtly putting the older guy down for being 'only a salesman' and therefore not really understanding how things work.

5.  While honesty is a laudable trait, saying that you aren't particularly interested in the position, or the company is not likely to get you hired. 

[Midnight Kitty]

5.  While honesty is a laudable trait, saying that you aren't particularly interested in the position, or the company is not likely to get you hired. 

Really?!?

Seriously, do people need to be told this?  If they don't figure that all by themselves, then I guess I'm glad they expose their unsuitability for the position in the job interview instead of waiting until they are hired to reveal their shortcomings.

I truly am a "silver lining," "the cup is half full" sort of person 

[Azrail]

What a big fat giant waste of everyone's time!

[Nurvingiel]

What a big fat giant waste of everyone's time!

This. But I agree with Midnight Kitty, better time wasted now then to hire this person and then find out they don't speak Swahili and are generally useless.

[hobish]

5.  While honesty is a laudable trait, saying that you aren't particularly interested in the position, or the company is not likely to get you hired. 

Really?!?

Seriously, do people need to be told this?  If they don't figure that all by themselves, then I guess I'm glad they expose their unsuitability for the position in the job interview instead of waiting until they are hired to reveal their shortcomings.

I truly am a "silver lining," "the cup is half full" sort of person 

That is the one you find objectionable?

I would walk out of that interview saying "I don't speak Swahili, but i would be good at this and that, and the other super cool thing that i know. Thank you for taking the time for this ..."

[Miss Unleaded]

Once he started speaking Swahili, I knew his language skills were adequate.  We need knowledge of Swahili because:

a.  We're an international company and interact with people from many different countries.  
b.  My knowledge of Tagalog is poor so I need employees who understand Swahili so I can give them work to do.
c.  The company language is Swahili and most of our documents and training materials are written in Swahili.

It wasn't his language skills that were the problem, really.  During introductions I spoke Tagalog, but as we sat down to talk I told him that the interview would be in Swahili.  He hesitated a bit and said he would try.  Then before I could start he began a Tagalog conversation with the salesman who was also interviewing.  And kept talking in Tagalog while I obviously waited to begin the interview.

I did think it was rude that he started out by excluding me from the discussion. It was as though by offering him coffee or asking to switch to Swahili or by being a woman I was dismissed from consideration as an important person. Then the salesguy told him we should continue in Swahili, and I said 'yes, we should, or I won't know whether to give you the job.' He got an 'uh-oh!' look on his face and mumbled something like 'Oh, you're the one...'.  At that point I had not had a chance to explain my position is senior programmer instead of the secretary that he seemed to have confused me for.  This candidate was 27 by the way, so old enough to know better.

The fact that he later indicated that he was not especially interested in the work and would be just as happy creating banking or insurance software, or even working with hardware was the final nail in the coffin so to speak.

[Sparkle Star]

5.  While honesty is a laudable trait, saying that you aren't particularly interested in the position, or the company is not likely to get you hired. 

As a school governor, I often sit on interview panels for new staff.
At my daughter's primary school, the head (lovely man but in all honestly I'm glad he's retiring next year as he WILL NOT move with the times!) insists on asking at the end of each interview: "And finally, if we offered you the position, would you accept it?"

The rest of us have tried and tried to persuade him this is a ridiculous question, as what else will somebody say in an interview? However, reading Miss Unleaded's post makes me think that maybe some people would say no!

[hobish]

Ooh, boy. Thank you for elaborating. That does sound like quite the mess.

[hope]

5.  While honesty is a laudable trait, saying that you aren't particularly interested in the position, or the company is not likely to get you hired. 

 

Then you need to prove him right and not hire him. 

[Nurvingiel]

OT, but I love Tagalog. It's a really beautiful language. I kind of wish you were talking about people who actually spoke Tagalog. A friend of mine is Filipina and speaks Tagalog, among other languages.

Swahili is also extremely cool; I really like languages whose origins were for communication between two (or more) groups who spoke different languages - it developped that they would speak a trade language with each other, like Swahili.

</languagejack>

[MyFamily]

5.  While honesty is a laudable trait, saying that you aren't particularly interested in the position, or the company is not likely to get you hired. 

As a school governor, I often sit on interview panels for new staff.
At my daughter's primary school, the head (lovely man but in all honestly I'm glad he's retiring next year as he WILL NOT move with the times!) insists on asking at the end of each interview: "And finally, if we offered you the position, would you accept it?"

The rest of us have tried and tried to persuade him this is a ridiculous question, as what else will somebody say in an interview? However, reading Miss Unleaded's post makes me think that maybe some people would say no!

You know, I'd be nervous about hiring anyone who said "absolutely" to this question - really, without knowing the exact conditions of the job?  What if the job includes doing objectionable task we didn't talk about here but will tell you about when we offer you the job?  What if the benefits, when detailed for you, are not as good as you thought?  What if you get a better offer?

[Midnight Kitty]

5.  While honesty is a laudable trait, saying that you aren't particularly interested in the position, or the company is not likely to get you hired. 

Really?!?

Seriously, do people need to be told this?  If they don't figure that all by themselves, then I guess I'm glad they expose their unsuitability for the position in the job interview instead of waiting until they are hired to reveal their shortcomings.

I truly am a "silver lining," "the cup is half full" sort of person 

That is the one you find objectionable?

Huh?  That's an interesting assumption.  I never said I found only one objectionable?  Please note other posters also found the last one to be the last straw.  If the applicant doesn't want the job, why is s/he wasting everyone's time with an interview?

I would walk out of that interview saying "I don't speak Swahili, but i would be good at this and that, and the other super cool thing that i know. Thank you for taking the time for this ..."

Again, Huh?  Why would you apply for a job that requires Swahili if you don't speak it?  What good would it do you to tell the interviewers the other "super cool things" that you can do when you don't know the most important thing - how to speak the company language?

Honestly, hobish, I am confused by your post. 

[Midnight Kitty]

5.  While honesty is a laudable trait, saying that you aren't particularly interested in the position, or the company is not likely to get you hired.  

As a school governor, I often sit on interview panels for new staff.
At my daughter's primary school, the head (lovely man but in all honestly I'm glad he's retiring next year as he WILL NOT move with the times!) insists on asking at the end of each interview: "And finally, if we offered you the position, would you accept it?"

The rest of us have tried and tried to persuade him this is a ridiculous question, as what else will somebody say in an interview? However, reading Miss Unleaded's post makes me think that maybe some people would say no!

You know, I'd be nervous about hiring anyone who said "absolutely" to this question - really, without knowing the exact conditions of the job?  What if the job includes doing objectionable task we didn't talk about here but will tell you about when we offer you the job?  What if the benefits, when detailed for you, are not as good as you thought?  What if you get a better offer?

Usually this question is asked at the end of the interview.  I've interviewed for dozens of jobs and it is a fairly standard "end of interview" question.  They want to know if the applicant has changed their minds about wanting the position after they have described the position and working conditions.

No one can say in an interview that they won't take the job if they get a better offer.  One would have to be psychic.

[Sirius]

OT, but I love Tagalog. It's a really beautiful language. I kind of wish you were talking about people who actually spoke Tagalog. A friend of mine is Filipina and speaks Tagalog, among other languages.

Swahili is also extremely cool; I really like languages whose origins were for communication between two (or more) groups who spoke different languages - it developed that they would speak a trade language with each other, like Swahili.

</languagejack>

I used to work in a place where most of my co-workers spoke Tagalog.  I also commuted with a Filipina.  She taught me some Tagalog, and although I never got even close to fluent at it I could pick up bits and pieces.  Once two of the others were standing behind where I was working, chatting away in Tagalog.  The only word I understood was the Tagalog word for "cafeteria", so I said, "Oh, going to lunch pretty soon?"  They both looked rather startled that I understood what they were saying.  Technically, I didn't, but the only word I picked up turned out to be a key one.

[Juana la Loca]

At my daughter's primary school, the head (lovely man but in all honestly I'm glad he's retiring next year as he WILL NOT move with the times!) insists on asking at the end of each interview: "And finally, if we offered you the position, would you accept it?"

"Hmmmm ... nah, I don't think so. I just wanted practice interviewing."