Shortest interview? (employee, applying, secretary, job interview)

[fierce_flawless]

My son had a job interview today. He is sixteen and this will be his first 'real' job ever (aside from babysitting his siblings for pay and mowing lawns)...

He was interviewed for 5 minutes, tops, and yes, he got the job.

He's soooo happy and nervous. Ahhh, youth. He'll be working as a CSR for a pizza place, just phone work, part time.

I may be applying there next if I don't find something soon. It's minimum wage but I'm getting THAT desperate!

Anyway, anyone ever have such short interviews that resulted in hiring? I know for his job they need warm bodies and hire a LOT of teens so it makes a little bit of sense, but what about other types of jobs?

[TazmanianDevil]

Most interview's I've been to, it's always been 5 minutes or less.

Bigger chains tend to have more in depth interviews lasting upwards to an hour. They want to hire the right people, therefore, they have a series of "tests" from MY experience.

Not always, but some.

As for looking for ANY job, I didn't mind doing the overnight stock at Walmart back when I was a teen. I survived on that for a good 2 years.

[killer2021]

Seems like most of my interviews are about 15 minutes. Right now I work at a dead end job but I want to start working in my field of study (accounting). I got about 4 months before I get my AA in accounting and then I go to the big old four year. I keep running into the, "You don't have enough experience for this position." Oh, and yes I am applying for entry-level work that pays in the 10-15$ range. I am not even qualified for internships!!!!! That is how bad it is for me.

It is a really bad time to be looking for work in Ca!!!!!

[fierce_flawless]

Wow.

I guess maybe *I* talk too much because my interviews are always 30 minutes, some have been an hour! The hour long one was grueling... I hated it.. and I didn't get the job but I got one of those "It was very close!" comments later from the employer.

I was kind of hoping that my son's first interview would have been a bit more in depth just so he'd know the anxiety of all that. It's not meanness on my part; I just think it's a life experience everyone must go through, and if it's super easy and only 5 min. or less then he hasn't yet experienced the suckiness that interviews can be. Whatever, I'm happy for him.... and he's thrilled that it's a place where he can wear whatever he wants and have his hair crazy and all that. They seem to hire 80% (or more) teens.

[christina0001]

I think it all depends on the type of position/job. In my field, if the interview was ended after 5 minutes, I would be quite sure I was not getting the job!

[gardener34]

I once got a job because I fit the uniform... seriously, they only had one uniform left and I happened to be a size 8 and the uniform was too.... unbelievable.

Fastest interview I had was last week - drove 45 minutes each way - to be interviewed for about 5 minutes. The guy looked at my resume like he had never seen it before. He probably didn't, the secretary called in the candidates and set things up. Didn't even talk more than 2 sentences to me. Truly inconsiderate.

[annika08]

I think most part-time, minimum-wage job interviews tend to be fairly short. The interviewer/manager is probably just seeing that the prospective employee seems competent and alert enough for the job. You can usually get a generalized idea of what a person is like within the first few minutes of talking with them, IMO. At least, this was always my experiance when I worked in places like pizzerias and retail establishments. I think the higher up you go, the longer and more in-depth interviews tend to be. I could be wrong...

And hey, there's nothing wrong with working in a pizza place (the place I worked at, however, rarely hired teenagers). I did it for years (though happy to say I moved on). You do what you gotta do. A job's a job. It's a common misconception that it's only a job for sixteen year old kids. Good luck to you and your son!

[gizmobizmo]

For jobs that are predominently filled by teens and very young adults, the interview will be pretty short. Places like fast-food joints see such a high turnover and pay so little that they expect mostly teens to apply to them. Also, most teens will not have much, if any, job experience so there isn't as much for the interviewer to talk to the applicant about.

[gardener34]

Yeah - pretty much they just ask you about your recent experience, ask you if you can do this job or if you have had any experience doing the tasks required, you say yes, I want the job - if you can't hack it - they fire you.

Which is how it SHOULD BE - instead of all this b.s. second interview cr*p they make you go through these days for a measly $9 an hour desk job.

freaking ridiculous now....

[KevK]

Originally Posted by fierce_flawless

My son had a job interview today. He is sixteen and this will be his first 'real' job ever (aside from babysitting his siblings for pay and mowing lawns)...

He was interviewed for 5 minutes, tops, and yes, he got the job.

He's soooo happy and nervous. Ahhh, youth. He'll be working as a CSR for a pizza place, just phone work, part time.

I may be applying there next if I don't find something soon. It's minimum wage but I'm getting THAT desperate!

Anyway, anyone ever have such short interviews that resulted in hiring? I know for his job they need warm bodies and hire a LOT of teens so it makes a little bit of sense, but what about other types of jobs?

It is kinf like that here too, Many teens are having trouble finding jobs because adults are competing for the min wage gigs here now. A lot of difference. Only a year ago, major hotels here were offering $12 an hour for experienced Housekeepers and laundry people. And they were offering $9-$10 for trainees with no experience. Now all the ads I see are offering $7 to $8 with one year experience and a HS diploma or GED. And no trainees are being hired anymore.