Interview questions

[StagLefty]

I was too pissed to post this a few weeks ago but I went through an interview process recently that took about 2 hours. Job was to manage a facilities team. Interview was going well - I thought-until I was asked if I spoke Spanish. That is a requirement for this position I was told. My response was why wasn't this on the job posting or at least why wasn't it brought up during phone conversation. I was pissed to say the least. I had just wasted 2 hours and I pretty much lost it with the interviewer. I'm an American in my own homeland so why should I have to speak Spanish ? I don't respond to jobs that say being bi-lingual is a plus because I'm not and have no intention of becoming bi-lingual. WTF

[Irving]

I was working on becoming bi-lingual a while ago, but fell off the bandwagon (have to do Rosetta Stone every single day and it wears on you). I totally agree that they should have posted up immediately that the position required you to be bi-lingual. They wasted a lot of both of your time.

[funkfool]

River answer...
Forget about the river...
Just forget about it...


He didn't notice for ten minutes... had to go back ten minutes...
20 minutes total....
so...
1km in 1/3 of an hour.
1*3=3
The rate of change of position, or v = 3km per hour.


Displacement over time.
The river is a distraction from the equation...
You start thinking about the river and all the implications - when they specifically state: "the river flows at a constant rate".
Ignore it.

[Zundfolge]

I was asked if I spoke Spanish. That is a requirement for this position I was told. My response was why wasn't this on the job posting or at least why wasn't it brought up during phone conversation.

I wonder if HR people get some sort of bonus for wasting peoples' time.

I recently replied to a help wanted ad with my resume and salary history/requirements (just like the ad requested).

Well after a long drawn out interview (full of the latest corporate psychobabble "behavioral interviewing" crap) at the end I caught a glimpse at the HR lady's info sheet on the position and I noticed the top figure on the pay range was a hair over half of what I make now. I didn't say anything at the time but got a nice "thanks but no-thanks" letter a few days latter. Apparently they decided not to offer me the job because they couldn't come close to my salary requirements.

[Byte Stryke]

I love it when they have a Bilingual requirement.
I apply and when they call me for an interview if I'm not doing anything that day I go.

"Was Meinst du dep? I kann Einfluss auf Deutsche Gesprächen. möglicherweise meine Grammatik ist nicht perfekt, aber ich kann Deutsche Sprechen.

Verdammten Rassist.

Ausländer RAUS!"

[Irving]

As far as the miss-communication about salary and bi-lingual and crap, I've noticed that many companies have become very "Hands Off" with a lot of stuff that they do now. What happens is they hire a "talent acquisition consultant," and that person goes through all the resumes, picks people they think fit, schedules all the interviews, and just tells the managers when the interviews will be held. This means that the person doing the interview has no clue who you are, and probably just realized that they were going to interview you earlier that week. I've seen, and experienced first hand, how easily this can screw up all kinds of communication. With that middle man in there, hardly anyone has a 100% idea of what is going on.

At the last place I worked, they got rid of the in office HR representatives, and now all HR complaints go to the "home office" half way across the country. I guess the idea is that no one knows anyone, so it's easier to avoid picking sides. Personally, I think it'd be better to have someone in the office all the time to be familiar with the people who might make potential complaints. Anyone who has problems "picking sides" should be relieved of duty.

Combine those two elements of "hands off" and this is what recently happened at the company I used to work for.

There was a job opening in the commercial lines department, and several people from the personal lines department applied. The job was posted both to the public and for internal promotions. Everyone submitted their applications and started waiting. After a while, one girl got an email saying that her interview was scheduled for that Friday. The problem was that the commercial managers had not yet spoken to her manager, as per usual. On Tuesday, this girl went directly to the commercial lines department to confirm with the commercial managers about the interview. They had no idea what she was talking about and told her that they would see what was going on. Turns out, the "talent acquisition consultant" had scheduled the interview, but neglected to tell the commercial department. In the mean time some one else decided to close the position altogether, so by the time the commercial department found out about the interview for Friday, there was no longer a position. So what did they do? They went and grabbed the guy who USED to be the HR guy (he no longer does anything related to HR) and told him to go explain to the girl who had been told that her interview was Friday, that "they" changed their mind altogether about the position, and now no one was getting any interviews. This girl went back to her desk crying, and then told the rest of the applicants from the department that everyone wasted their time because the opening was closed. Who knows if they even bothered to tell the people who were applying from the general public. I feel the worst for the HR guy. I'm sure he wanted to remind him that he isn't HR anymore and to clean up their own mess.

Soooooooooo, all these attempts to "stream line" office flow can lead to some MAJOR fuck ups. Don't even get me started on the new method of customer service surveys (that are outsourced to a call center in another country) and are 50% of employee's performance review.


Any way, you guys have had some good input and I would love to see a few more tonight before I manage to derail the thread any further.

Thanks for the input so far.

[Zundfolge]

Stuart, thanks for reminding me why I work for a small company.

The problems I have with HR folk are usually compounded by the fact that I'm a Creative and we just do not speak the same language.

[Irving]

I really like that HR guy that I spoke of; he was always fair to everyone. He was such a great HR guy apparently, that they still make him do that position sometimes, only for free now.

[Byte Stryke]

I really like that HR guy that I spoke of; he was always fair to everyone. He was such a great HR guy apparently, that they still make him do that position sometimes, only for free now.

Ahem, in the Post-Tarp era we call that a "Supplemental Tasking"
Let's not have anymore literary infractions, shall we?

/sarcasm

[TFOGGER]

I love it when they have a Bilingual requirement.
I apply and when they call me for an interview if I'm not doing anything that day I go.

"Was Meinst du dep? I kann Einfluss auf Deutsche Gesprächen. möglicherweise meine Grammatik ist nicht perfekt, aber ich kann Deutsche Sprechen.

Verdammten Rassist.

Ausländer RAUS!"

How about Klingon (it's a lot like German).....