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Its youre job as an interviewer to try to figure out what they really know, and yes, I'd say at least 50% of the people pretty clearly embellish.
It sounds like the people interviewing you didn't do their jobs well. Most places I've worked don't rely on HR to do their screening, or even to check recommendations. The interview is largely about the candidate skillset and their articulation of this skillset, and relevant experience, the rest is fit and culture.
That's what I thought as well but its usually personality and/or greatest strength/weakness crap. Which proves nothing of value but apparently makes the interviewer feel sagacious.
Here are some examples of the behavior of these job applicants that may add some clarity to my concerns:
Appears incoherent or unfocused - offers incomplete thoughts, jumps between ideas, loses track of the conversation
Inarticulate - poor speech or grammar; uses jargon or slang when speaking Incomplete answers - offers simply 'yes' or 'no' to questions requiring thought
Evasive - when asked about background, moves to another topic
Talks too much - probably a sign of a gossip or someone who waists time talking instead of working
Fails to discuss accomplishments - simply reviews job duties Poor listening skills - doesn't pay attention to questions
Never asks questions - shows no interest in the job or the company
For someone who professes to have just recently become part of the interview process, you seem to have quite the laundry list of complaints about prospective employees. No wonder you retired!
That's what I thought as well but its usually personality and/or greatest strength/weakness crap. Which proves nothing of value but apparently makes the interviewer feel sagacious.
The thing it's you are told to pick on a weakness that you already turned into a strength or plan to. None the less, it is a silly trap question to ask. I one answered a weakness that I plan to work on and later said it was also important on the job and the interviewer asked why I listed a weakness as a important trait to the job. I responded, I was looking to improve. I guess he trapped me with that one...
The thing it's you are told to pick on a weakness that you already turned into a strength or plan to. None the less, it is a silly trap question to ask. I one answered a weakness that I plan to work on and later said it was also important on the job and the interviewer asked why I listed a weakness as a important trait to the job. I responded, I was looking to improve. I guess he trapped me with that one...
I hate those questions because there is no correct answer and whatever you respond with will be held against you. I deduced that if you are asked this question you are not going to be hired and that the interviewer is just screwing with your head for kicks.
I hate those questions because there is no correct answer and whatever you respond with will be held against you. I deduced that if you are asked this question you are not going to be hired and that the interviewer is just screwing with your head for kicks.
The problem isn't the question but the shifting of the goal posts, it is one thing to be saying it is a weakness all along, it's anther to say an area that you want to work on and then frame it as a weakness after the fact.
I hate those questions because there is no correct answer and whatever you respond with will be held against you. I deduced that if you are asked this question you are not going to be hired and that the interviewer is just screwing with your head for kicks.
Choose a weakness irrelevant to the job. A good one is "math". But express how you've used it and how you're stronger at it now. Another good one? Current events. "I'm bad with keeping up with the news, but in my last position I made sure to keep up with trends in the industry and so I got more used to watching the news and now I find it interesting to keep up with current events. It's a weakness of mine, non-the-less!" Whatever. BS it, per usual.
Choose a weakness irrelevant to the job. A good one is "math". But express how you've used it and how you're stronger at it now. Another good one? Current events. "I'm bad with keeping up with the news, but in my last position I made sure to keep up with trends in the industry and so I got more used to watching the news and now I find it interesting to keep up with current events. It's a weakness of mine, non-the-less!" Whatever. BS it, per usual.
If they ask you this question they are not even considering hiring you.
LOL that's not true at all. It's a cliche question, but if it's a cliche question then you should be prepared for it and I'd expect you to have a good answer. Some people answer it honestly to a fault, some give valid action items they're working on, and it might sound rehearsed but it's nice to know they at least put an effort into preparing for the interview.
LOL that's not true at all. It's a cliche question, but if it's a cliche question then you should be prepared for it and I'd expect you to have a good answer. Some people answer it honestly to a fault, some give valid action items they're working on, and it might sound rehearsed but it's nice to know they at least put an effort into preparing for the interview.
I think the problem is fracking the question as what is a weakness or an area you want to improve on and shifting the goal posts to it can only be a weakness. Then you have the responses that are canned like I don't have a weakness or I care too much.
I am an engineer. I have only interviewed 3 times since getting out of the military.
I smiled when meeting the panel, but did not smile the rest of the time.
One interview with an Fortune 500 aerospace firm I ended early when they talked about being on call. High paying Plant engineer position.. not worth it. After that I simply told the interview panel that that was not divulged in the job description and had it been I would not have applied so at this point I am wasting your time, thank you for the opportunity, best of luck.
The second interview was with Boeing.... they have a panel of 3 people asking idiotic canned SOAR questions.
"tell me about a time you had an issue using Dassault CATIA software and what you did to solve and prevent the problem."
"One time I couldn't figure out why a poly wasn't matching up so I deleted everything attached to it and rebuilt that section and then it was fine."
They looked at me like "and...?" I responded "that's it."
Now I have scripted generic statements where it's like. One time when I was supervising a team of X on a project worth X dollars it was behind by X weeks or months because <insert software here> had an issue with <random impressive thing software can do but is rarely used> so I worked on my team to come up with a comprehensive solution and we created a macro that can shave of x hours off of x process during the design phase process. The company implemented use of the macro saving x dollars over x time and the project was completed x days a head of schedule and under budget.
I helped a friend with the interview at Boeing and I guess they ate that up, even tough it was completely fabricated.
The job I work at now, there were some tests and the interview was a comprehensive interview which included me sitting at a computer and modeling and controlling the machines it wasn't scripted we just had a conversation. I was never asked anything idiotic about weaknesses and where I wanted to be in 5 years. At the end of the interview he asked when I could start.
In manufacturing, it's best to bring people to the floor and see how they interact with other people and the machines.
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