Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Why is a personality so important? I've worked with people who were so skilled, so intelligent, so good at what they did, but were not spotlights with the small talk.
Personality shouldn't be important.
As long as you and the person you're interviewing can get along on a professional level and get the job done, does it really matter if they're a good match with your personality?
As long as you and the person you're interviewing can get along on a professional level and get the job done, does it really matter if they're a good match with your personality?
Not with mine but with their future coworkers, with the team. It depends on the job but remember that one person can sabitage the entire team. I can improve someines skillset , give him training but cant change personality. Donr need someone aleays depressed, dont need a procrastinator. I would even let the team membets talk to the apolicant to make sure he/she is a good fit.
Not with mine but with their future coworkers, with the team. It depends on the job but remember that one person can sabitage the entire team. I can improve someines skillset , give him training but cant change personality. Donr need someone aleays depressed, dont need a procrastinator. I would even let the team membets talk to the apolicant to make sure he/she is a good fit.
A little bit about you and your personality. Why is that such simple question seems to be so hard? What do you have to hide?
Resumes are very formal and dont tell anything about your personality, one of the factors determining your value to the employer.
Are you trying to date the candidate or are you trying to hire someone?
What I will tell you is, whenever that question is asked, there's a good chance you're not getting the job.
I mean, think about it, why would they ask you to "tell me about yourself" when everything they need to know is listed in your cover letter and resume?
Translated, they basically want to know why the hell are you wasting their time when you're not hardly qualified for this position?
It may depend upon the personality of the interviewer.
I am now retired, but in the past was in a position to hire people varying from office clerks and typists to lower level management.
And I did sometimes use the "tell me about yourself," question or similar ones. If everything your need to know were "listed in your cover letter and resume," get real - it wouldn't even be necessary to do interviews, would it?
None of the positions I interviewed people for (with two exceptions) were ones in which the person would work alone. Thus, I was interested in finding out about more than job skills. If there are two feisty nuts in a work unit, and the interviewee is going to fill position #3, she or he will not survive unless they have a pretty strong personality - and hopefully something in common with the two nuts I'm stuck with in that unit. I actually had this situation once with two long-term staff members. And I found a guy with a great background, and the social skills of a Godzilla in the making. I hired him. He ate those two guys up alive, but they became an incredible trio and the level of their work increased remarkably. But Mike was so reserved during the interview that I never would have hired him if I hadn't asked him "about himself," and then found out that he obviously did not suffer fools gladly.
I can remember interviewing one guy with great skills, and a really good personality, but he was going to be working for a female whose office MO was to behave like an absolute sh*t to her staff because she thought this demonstrated that she could managed like all the tough guys she admired. After the "tell me about yourself" talk with this guy, I knew he would hate this person and be miserable working for her. I levelled with him, said he would be hired if he wanted the job, but that he would be working for a total pig and he might rather want to keep on looking until he found a better work environment. He took the tip, and later called me back to my surprise to say he had found a wonderful job with agreeable people.
I did hire people who struck a wrong note with me when using the "tell me about yourself" approach, in spite of how I felt.....thinking I really had found nothing tangible to give me second thoughts. A couple were real doozies of a mistake. Really awful employees...who got fired eventually.
As an ex-hirer, I'm all for the "tell me about yourself" approach. Obviously, it should already be established that the interviewee has the job experience and skills required before going in this direction.
And I did sometimes use the "tell me about yourself," question or similar ones. If everything your need to know were "listed in your cover letter and resume," get real - it wouldn't even be necessary to do interviews, would it?
You're absolutely right with the bolded.
In fact, there WAS a time when an "interview" would be to simply see if the person was dressed decently, and standing/walking/breathing normally they came in to fill out an application. If they met the aforementioned "qualifications", they were hired for a wage good enough to support their families.
In Detroit, until the 1980s, it was perfectly normal for a person to leave high school, walk down the street to a factory, and start working the same day making excellent money.
These 2nd/3rd/4th interviews, personality tests, etc. for jobs that don't even pay particularly well are very recent additions to the hiring process.
Firing back with "well didn't you read my resume?" might actually be your best bet because they can see you're on your toes and actually get the interviewer interested when they clearly werent to begin with.
No, telling the Interviewer that its on your resume ISNT going to sit well. The Interviewer wants to hear from the Prospective Employee describe his/her work background , interests, and achievements -- anyone can put anything down on a resume so the Interviewer wants to determine the resumes credibility and thus the Persons integrity and honesty.
But I do like an answer someone provided earlier in this thread, which was simply asking the interviewer "What exactly do you want to know about me?"
It helps you figure out specifically want they want to hear (plus gives you time to think of a good way to tell them) and it throws the ball back into their court.
But I do like an answer someone provided earlier in this thread, which was simply asking the interviewer "What exactly do you want to know about me?"
It helps you figure out specifically want they want to hear (plus gives you time to think of a good way to tell them) and it throws the ball back into their court.
A sharp non-intimidated Interviewer would respond to that by saying 'Tell me anything you like about yourself' , so, it behooves the Person being interviewed to anticipate THAT question and to cogently respond to it thru preparation beforehand with emphasis on listing qualities that would be seen as very conducive to the job available.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
