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also once i had a phone interview and i was asked a question about access and i FORGOT WHAT A TABLE WAS. it was just a weird thing where my mind went blank because of nerves and i forgot what the term meant. which is kind of like forgetting what data is! phone interviews make me much more nervous than in person ones, for some reason. i recovered from it, corrected myself and moved on in the process, but gah!
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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In an interview candidates are trying to sell themselves, and must convince the interviewers that they are the person best suited to that position. I'm looking for them to tell me what sets them apart from the other candidates. Obviously they don't know anything about their competition in most cases, but if they don't feel they are the best candidate they should not have applied.
i think that's ridiculous. i understand you have to sell yourself, but i don't think it should be to the point where you have to pretend to know things you can't know. there are lots of questions you can ask people about what makes them stand out or makes them particularly qualified for the job that doesn't require them to either be delusional or a liar.
there can always be someone out there who's better than you at ANYTHING, has more relevant experience, more relevant education, whatever. that doesn't mean you're not an excellent candidate or even the best in the running. but there's no way to know that and i would question anyone who thought they knew that. i am very confident in my abilities and a know i can excel at any job i apply for. but thinking i'm the BEST? that's unknowable.
i think that's ridiculous. i understand you have to sell yourself, but i don't think it should be to the point where you have to pretend to know things you can't know. there are lots of questions you can ask people about what makes them stand out or makes them particularly qualified for the job that doesn't require them to either be delusional or a liar.
there can always be someone out there who's better than you at ANYTHING, has more relevant experience, more relevant education, whatever. that doesn't mean you're not an excellent candidate or even the best in the running. but there's no way to know that and i would question anyone who thought they knew that. i am very confident in my abilities and a know i can excel at any job i apply for. but thinking i'm the BEST? that's unknowable.
Every candidate pretends. It's up to the hiring manager to see through that.
You don't need to be the best. You just need to be better than all the other candidates the hiring manager has interviewed.
why would you ask someone if they're the best person for the job? if they're going to be honest, they don't know who the other candidates are so they have no idea if they're "the best". or do you mean the best person in the whole world? again, how would someone know that? do you want them to just lie and say yes, they are the absolute best person in the world for this particular job? or do you want someone with such a big ego that they'd honestly believe that? i can say with assurance that i would do a great job at any position i apply for, but if you asked me if i was the best person it would give me pause. i don't like to lie in interviews but questions like this sort of demand it.
i think that's ridiculous. i understand you have to sell yourself, but i don't think it should be to the point where you have to pretend to know things you can't know. there are lots of questions you can ask people about what makes them stand out or makes them particularly qualified for the job that doesn't require them to either be delusional or a liar.
there can always be someone out there who's better than you at ANYTHING, has more relevant experience, more relevant education, whatever. that doesn't mean you're not an excellent candidate or even the best in the running. but there's no way to know that and i would question anyone who thought they knew that. i am very confident in my abilities and a know i can excel at any job i apply for. but thinking i'm the BEST? that's unknowable.
It's pretty sad that so many interviewers value a brazen willingness and ability to "sell yourself" over honesty and basic analytical skills.
Every candidate pretends. It's up to the hiring manager to see through that.
You don't need to be the best. You just need to be better than all the other candidates the hiring manager has interviewed.
I would change that last sentence to say that you only to be perceived to be better than all other candidates. Hiring managers seldom know who is actually qualfied based on the interview; they only think they know who is best qualified.
I have literally interviewed hundreds of people, and probably 90% of them show signs of being nervous, that's normal, and we understand that. Some of them may be able to get through and turn out to be poor employees, but most of the time there are clues to their personality that come out in the interview. For me it's important to see a real positive attitude toward working at our company, as opposed to just wanting a job. You can get an idea of the person's frustration level and even anger management with carefully crafted questions. Most of those eliminated by the interview are those that claim to have experience in something but then in a follow-up question cannot answer what should be a simple question of they really did it. Surprisingly, I have even had people when asked if they were the best person for the job, answer that they probably were not. I suppose I should appreciate the honesty, but if they are not the best person for the job why would I hire them?
Even though I am skeptical about the predictive ability of job interviews, if I were a hiring manager, I probably would ask candidates (after a skills test, of course) if they thought they were the best candidate or why should I hired them over anyone else. Except I would not want someone to immediately say "I am the best" as that would indicate dishonesty and being full of themselves beyond all reason, as well as a possible lack of analytical skills. Rather I would hire an individual who said like they couldn't possibly know whether or not they were the most qualified because they didn't know the other candidates.
Last edited by Just_the_facts; 04-25-2013 at 11:31 AM..
I've seen first hand that the interview is a terrible way to chose technical peronnel. Interviewing is all about sales skills. Not everyone has either the aptitude nor inclination to do sales. The best way is to focus the interview on job related questions and scenarios.
It is also difficult to always get a good feel for people's true personalites at an interview. Many sociopaths are experts at deception and can appear very charming. On the other hand many people are highly stressed and guarded at the interview. No matter how much you try to put them at ease they have the feeling of a police interrogation and that if they say just one suboptimal thing they blow it. This is compounded by the common attidue that people are trying to screen you out, look for reason's not to hire you so it can often seem like the people there are attacking you, trying to tear you down.
Also all these HR gimicks like personality profiles, and behavioral interview sound simple but behavioral profiling is very dubious even when practiced by experts at the FBI with multiple graduate degrees and years of experience. Many people have wound up being victimized by crude attempts such as Richard Jewel. Heck my brother is a detective who has won many rewards and promotions and when he first started interviewing many years ago he failed the first two psche profile exams until he learned how to give the anwsers they want.
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