

Top Ways to Blow a Job Interview - cwan
http://www.fins.com/Finance/Articles/SB129416698193872447/Top-Ten-Ways-to-Blow-a-Job-Interview?Type=4

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jrockway
The first few things don't bother me. Running late? Who cares? Wearing a
T-Shirt? Excellent, so am I. Your cell phone rings? Hit decline and move on.
(Or hey, maybe your kid is dying. Take the call.)

The only thing that's ever bothered me is when someone doesn't know the answer
to a technical question, and then aggressively bullshits me.

Example: we ask, "so, you've used Perl OO before, can you write us an example
class on the board". He does, and instead of "my $self = shift" or "my ($self)
= @_" in the methods, he writes "my $self = $_". Easy thing to miss on a
whiteboard, no big deal. We ask, "are you sure it's my $self = $_?" he
replies, "yes definitely". We mention that it would be $_[0] or @_ or shift,
but he starts yelling about how $_ and $_[0] are the same thing.

They're not. No hire.

(And if he had said something like, "oh, it's so weird looking on the
whiteboard, I'm not really sure", that would have been fine. Next question,
plenty of time to redeem yourself. But if you are going to yell about a
trivial mistake... well, I'm glad we caught this in the interview. Not only do
you not know Perl, you aren't even nice.)

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bioh42_2
I have never sent a thank you note. Not for any job I've ever had. Not for
those who really wanted me and fought for me and made me great offers, never.
Perhaps I am rude, or perhaps companies looking to make money are not looking
for "polite" developers?

And cellphones are rude, but it is not rude if you can not or forgot to turn
yours off and it rings. It is not rude to apologize and briefly take the call
if only to explain why you can't talk on the phone now. It is not even rude to
strongly apologize further if the call turns out to be important and you have
to take <5 minutes to deal with it. This applies equally to both sides.

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varjag
Interesting, but

> 4\. Wait a week to send a thank you note. Or don't send one at all.

got me thinking. Is it an American thing? What are you thanking them for
anyway?

~~~
dougb
I've never sent a thank you note. I've received maybe 1 from the ~200
interviews I've conducted in 15 years. ( The candidate that sent it was
awful.) Is anyone offended if they don't receive one ?

~~~
bartonfink
I can't say it would really make a big difference to get a "thank you" and
I've never sent more than cursory thanks.

One thing I have done, though, when interviewing for a job, is to not ask all
my ?'s when the interview enters the "what do you have to ask about us?"
phase. I try to keep one in reserve and send that to someone in my interview
loop after the fact. I feel that it shows continued interest in the position
and I have never gotten a negative reaction from anyone for asking a follow-up
?.

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pluies
> And if you really don't want the job: "Take a call during the interview from
> a girl you just started dating and sweet-talk her."

Priorities, priorities... :)

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edw519
Top Ways for a Company to Blow a Job Interview

1\. Make me wait in the waiting room past our appointment time. My time is as
valuable as yours.

2\. Make me meet with Human Resources first. My time is as valuable as yours.

3\. Make me fill out forms. This can be done in advance. There's this thing
call "the internet".

4\. Don't shake my hand. (I have no idea why this happens, but it does.)

5\. Begin the conversation with anything other than, "Hello," or "Nice to meet
you." Again, why would the first words of any interview be, "How would you
handle mass emails?"

6\. Don't give me your business card. As a job applicant, I'm just as
important as any vendor or business associate. This is a good chance to
demonstate it.

7\. Criticize my job history. Here is the reason I've had 9 jobs in the past 5
years: Because there were poorly run businesses, assholes, and mismatches. The
reason I'm here is to try to fix all that. Move along.

8\. Expect me to have 10 years experience in every possible technology your
entire enterprise uses. I can learn what I need. Promise.

9\. Ask me how many gas stations are in the United States, how many ping pong
balls fit in a bus, or why manhole covers are round. Frankly, I don't give a
shit. There, now you have the results for both your I.Q. test and your
personality test.

10\. Don't follow up. I know that I'm probably not the only person your
interviewing and this may take some time. Extend me the same courtesy you
would the window washers. Don't make me email you every week.

~~~
mellery451
Well said. #8 really resonates with me. There has never been a time when I
haven't been able to get up to speed on a new stack/toolset within a few days
(weeks at most). Why, oh, why can't companies just focus on hiring
smart/curious/motivated problem solvers? I happen to think it comes down to
lazyness - it's too hard to find those people, so companies resort to keyword
soup.

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kenkeiter
... Did anyone else read the title and do a double-take?

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gcaprio
yyyup......Thought HN was being taken over.

