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Like I previously posted in another thread, our jobs are not being outsourced to other people because of their pleasing personalities or how they blend in with American corporate culture... none of that matters. Jobs like Nurses, Computer Technicians, Call centers, not factory jobs.
Many companies are actually paying to bring them to the states on work Visas.
Even "Made in U.S." clothing are made by newly arrived chinese immigrants.
Only thing that matters is they have the technical expertise to do the job and and a compulsive work ethic... and they're willing to work for lower salaries.
How they blend in socially with the existing workforce doesn't matter at all.
It's ironic when Americans with those same traits are denied jobs because of personality conflicts with judgmental interviewers outside the depts they're applying to. Too many Americans are being coached to talk & dress their way into a job which turns the hiring process into a popularity contest.
And I agree that it was unfair that they resented you for asking if you could help. My boss, who is also the President of the company, comes out of his office all the time and asks us if there is anything that we need help with. It is a genuine offer and nothing negative is meant by it. Why can't you do that?
Jealousy. Seriously. Some people get jealous when you come in and work and get your work done while they don't "seem to have enough time in the day" to do theirs. It was a cruise line. We all had one ship except the "team leader" (a step below the Supervisor), who had two ships. She was looked upon as this great person because she had two ships.
So I come in, hi everyone, get to work, get done and ask if anyone needs help and they can't believe it! WHAT? Only the team leader can work that fast!
Then I got another ship...just like the team leader. How well do you think that went down?
Jealousy. That's all it was. What they didn't learn is that if they quit f-en around at work all day, surfing the internet for new clothes, sending multiple joke emails and chain emails, talking about their foolish antics from the weekend and being the most indecisive people I've ever met when it comes to eating something, they, too, could have had their work done.
I never tried to show them up, I never try to show anyone up. My work ethic is to come in and do my work. Goof off time comes later but at work, I work. So when I'm done and BORED, what better way to fill the time than help someone else?
I can only imagine how well the 2 ships thing went over.
And I do not understand how people surf the internet at work. I sit at a desk in front of a computer. I usually check my email at lunch, but that's it.
I can only imagine how well the 2 ships thing went over.
And I do not understand how people surf the internet at work. I sit at a desk in front of a computer. I usually check my email at lunch, but that's it.
The only sites i checked at work was tv news or espn or my email
I once had an interview with a woman who yawned the entire time she was interviewing me. I finally said, "you seem tired". She said, "I always feel so sleepy after lunch". It was obvious that they had a candidate selected (it was an internal interview within the company for which I already worked) and she was just going through the motions. I finally stood up and said, "Well, I guess I should be going now," or something similar and she just continued yawning. Idiot.
I cringe at the fact that, most of the time this has happened, it's with Fortune 500 companies and major industry players NOT some small, insignificant company.
Asking "tell me about yourself" and "what is your greatest weakness" is not an interview, it is a hack job. Every single interview I had for professional jobs was like that. A properly constructed interview goes over elements of the resume one finds most interesting addressing pluses/concerns, etc. You use an interview to elaborate on objective criteria instead of asking idiotic behavioral questions for what is essentially a document rat position.
If I posted an ad for a staff accountant position and one person sent a resume with big4 credentials, another with a stellar BS in Accounting GPA but no relevant work experience, and a third one several years of experience but no college degree, I would use the interview to find out why person A was leaving big 4, whether person B could pick up necessary skills quickly and whether person C's experience was merely moving along instead of being an active participant. I would never ask any behavioral questions as they are completely useless here.
"Tell me about yourself" is a great question to ask. I always ask that question during my interview. You may think it's a hack job but it surely has helped me to understand each candidate, particularly on their background, passion and career goal.
Case to point, an candidate started saying "I really like legal stuff. I am planning to go back to school next year to get my paralegal ..." Well, I looked my job description which said we were hiring for a technical support position having nothing to do with legal. Why should I hire this person who had not even a short term plan to stay in the profession we needed?
This question is really simple to answer. It should be a brief summary of your profession and your career goal, which needs to be in line with the position you are interviewing for.
If you think you are so great, why can't you get what you want? A good interviewee should be able to nail 2 jobs out of every 3 interviews. What did you get? Why other people like those I coached and including myself can get great jobs?
If you want to work for someone, you don't get to define the rules - by the way, I haven't seen any of you come up with any brilliant idea to revolutionize our recruiting process. At workplace, I hate complainers. Every time someone complains, my response is: how would you suggest us to improve? Yes, that's called being proactive.
So what does that tell me?
I have to disagree with this. There are times you go in an interview, have all the right answers, are qualified and dressed appropriately. However there may be other factors that apply (already listed)
You don't fit into the culture
Once you start interviewing you or the interviewer realizes you are not the right fit for the company
The position is either eliminated, or never exisited in the first place
Lots of reasons. But as I stated before, I know when I have blown an interview.
It was 100% my fault
The job description wasn't enough to give the candidate the correct information
9 out of 10, the problem is YOU. Yes, the problem is you.
I have been doing a lot of hiring lately. I really wish most of them have gone through some interview training. Most would have been hired if they learn how to say the right thing and know to keep the mouth shut.
When you are called to an interview, the employer WANTS to hire you!!! You, on the other hand, just keep screwing it up. :-(
1) If you're attempting to assign the blame game then the technical number would be 10/10. If someone isn't hired it's because they didn't gain the right experience, weren't the right race, weren't the right sexual orientation, weren't the right age, weren't good looking enough, weren't giving off the right feel for a specific second, or weren't etc. In sum, failure to be hired despite various identifiable and known factors that disqualify (and likewise create competition) fall on the owness of the individual. Put more succinctly, someone crying for failing only has themselves to blame no matter what. ~That's a worldview ripe with problems.!
1.1) I'm assuming you object to the above because I included a few characteristics a person is born with and cannot change. Here, I believe most people agree that such characteristic cannot by themselves be proper indicators of character, or whatever one wishes to say defines a good employee. In any case, the reason I bring this is up is because "good personality" insofar much as it relates to differentiating one from relative good sameness, isn't really that easy compared to "born with stuff." Even individuals who specializes in behavioural psychology admit to limit on predictive power for matters far more obvious than could be revealed in a single interview.
1.2) By "good sameness" I mean someone who goes to an interview enthusiastic planning to ask questions, polite, knowledgeable, and who follows all the standard "social basics" of good. People not meeting those basics, which is higher than some may wish to give credit, will not be hired barring exceptional circumstances. Still, I doubt those types of people make up anymore than 20% of candidates. As far as I'm concerned, when it comes down to the grind at a high-enough level with equally qualified people on paper, the dice is simply rolled. Every single one of those people might have put up sixes, but there simply wasn't enough room. Someone gets picked. Often that person is picked due to being "liked" or accepted more...and this goes even for experience gaps. The winner didn't necessarily give the best interview. Maybe they just had the most je ne ses quoi. Maybe...maybe...maybe...
1.3) Of course the above does essentially agree with the notion that anyone not hired is at fault for not being hired. However, whereas you seem only to stress the interview (as though it is an a nigh infallible tool in the ways in which it is mot often applied in large corporate enviroments), I acknowledge other factors. It's not solely the interviewee.
1.4) Most company cultures aren't too dissimilar. Saying someone doesn't fit the company culture is often a bit of a cop-out. In particular, someone can force themselves to fit a culture in a quick period of time anyway. I mean, if we're talking extremes I guess not though...
even for getting hired at McDonalds or a Grocery store?
The problem is that job hunting is much like finding a girlfriend/boyfriend. The same methods do not work for everyone. Applying to jobs online is much like online dating for men. By that, I mean the game is slated heavily in favor of employers. Similarly, with online dating, the game is slated in favor of women because there are exponentially more single men looking for women via dating sites than women looking for men. Often regardless of looks or income, women get dozens to hundreds of emails from interested men on online dating sites. Even thousands of successful, good looking decent men are overlooked in the shuffle. It is the same way with applying for jobs online where a single job posting paying only $8-10 an hour can generate dozens to hundreds of email resumes. Applying for online jobs is like online dating as a man in the fact that it is hit or miss 90% of the time and you are guaranteed to face tons of rejection. Some guys get extremely lucky and meet the woman of their dreams in a short period of time. But the majority of men face constant rejection on these websites for months or maybe even years at a time. It is the same way with the online job hunt.
But back to the original analogy. A huge percentage of people meet their significant other through their circle of friends. This is similar to how networking to find a job works. Some people may find a job with through their former classmates from college, their circle of friends or their local church group.
But here is the game changer. Some people ditch the online application game and get out there and sell themselves. Why struggle to find a date online when you can flirt with that cute girl you locked eyes with at the grocery store? What do you have to lose by approaching someone and pitching yourself? Meet people in person and put yourself out there. That is how my brother got his job at Safeway. He is in his late 20's and had been out of work for over four years. He went to the local Safeway many times in person and demanded to talk to the manager about a job. Every time, he was rejected and told that the store wasn't hiring. He described it as demoralizing and discouraging. Until one day, he came to the same Safeway and chatted up a different manager. They eventually hired him a couple months ago and he has been working since.
This will not work for everyone. Much like finding a date, not the same techniques work for everyone. It's a gamble.
The problem is that job hunting is much like finding a girlfriend/boyfriend. The same methods do not work for everyone. Applying to jobs online is much like online dating for men. By that, I mean the game is slated heavily in favor of employers. Similarly, with online dating, the game is slated in favor of women because there are exponentially more single men looking for women via dating sites than women looking for men. Often regardless of looks or income, women get dozens to hundreds of emails from interested men on online dating sites. Even thousands of successful, good looking decent men are overlooked in the shuffle. It is the same way with applying for jobs online where a single job posting paying only $8-10 an hour can generate dozens to hundreds of email resumes. Applying for online jobs is like online dating as a man in the fact that it is hit or miss 90% of the time and you are guaranteed to face tons of rejection. Some guys get extremely lucky and meet the woman of their dreams in a short period of time. But the majority of men face constant rejection on these websites. It is the same way with the online job hunt.
But back to the original analogy. A huge percentage of people meet their significant other through their circle of friends. This is similar to how networking to find a job works. Some people may find a job with through their former classmates from college, their circle of friends or their local church group.
But here is the game changer. Some people ditch the online application game and get out there and sell themselves. Why struggle to find a date online when you can flirt with that cute girl you locked eyes with at the grocery store? Meet people in person and put yourself out there. That is how my brother got his job at Safeway. He is in his late 20's and had been out of work for over four years. He went to the local Safeway many times in person and demanded to talk to the manager about a job. Every time, he was rejected and told that the store wasn't hiring. He described it as demoralizing and discouraging. Until one day, he came to the same Safeway and chatted up a different manager. They eventually hired him a couple months ago and he has been working since.
This will not work for everyone. Much like finding a date, not the same techniques work for everyone. It's a gamble.
I discovered that applying to jobs at 9pm works out really well
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