Job Interviewing Makes My Head Hurt

[Retail's Bitch]

Interview #1.

Total call centre geek. I bet he prayed to Yoda as his lord and saviour. He sat there and stonewalled all my questions and danced around them. Easy questions like. "Can you give me an example of a time that you..." or "Can you give me an example of a time when you dealt with a customer who did..." Even when I spoon-fed the answer to him, he looked at me like I had antlers.

Interview #2.

Same as interview one... Almost to the t... Except when he got up to leave and I was standing by the front entrance and filling out the last of the paperwork, he walks over to chairs... And starts talking to a kid sitting down there... Turns out he BROUGHT HIS KID TO THE INTERVIEW! Okay so not only are you the owner of a brain made of sponge - but you brought your kid to a job interview. *head desk*

Interview #3.

She wasn't a booked appointment for interview - but I'd run into her in the walmart as she was handing out resumes. Turned out she was a photo journalism student at the local college. Then it turned out she was from my hometown. She interviewed great!! I wanted to hire her on the spot, but she didn't have her sin number handy or all of her reference numbers.

So I told her to phone them in. She phoned in the references and I called them the next morning.

Reference A: Hardworker, covers shifts easily, reasonably punctual, independent, and we'd hire her back in a heart-beat! Anything to add? Well she got written up for uniform infractions a couple times. Ohh.. And she has a problem with authority. And was caught drinking on the job , final written warning for that, oh and I told her that the only reason I hadn't fired her was because we were short staffed and needed the warm body.

Okay... After that I was a little confused and curious so I phoned the other reference listed.

Reference B: Hard worker, pleasant to work with. Why are you phoning me? She hasn't worked here in 7 years. I fired her because she rarely showed up to work.

My head hurts... and I have 2 more interviews on Saturday and one on Sunday. I had one applicant call me back about setting up an interview. I told her I was interviewing Saturday and Sunday.

"Oh well I can't do that... Got anything else?"

Then I told her - clenched teeth, that I had Monday open as well.

"Well I don't get my schedule for next week yet. Aren't you here any other time this week? (this was Tuesday)"

"Well, I'm the hiring manager here and I'm only doing interviews this weekend."

"Oh..."

"Tell ya what! You figure out your schedule. I'm doing interviews this weekend. The latest I can do them is Monday. When you figure it out, get back to me. Thanks."

I think I was more than polite...

I am so not looking forward to Saturday...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Same as interview one... Almost to the t... Except when he got up to leave and I was standing by the front entrance and filling out the last of the paperwork, he walks over to chairs... And starts talking to a kid sitting down there... Turns out he BROUGHT HIS KID TO THE INTERVIEW! Okay so not only are you the owner of a brain made of sponge - but you brought your kid to a job interview. *head desk*

At least he didn't pull a Jeff Foxworthy and bring a BEER to a job interview

[Rapscallion]

I'm astounded that you followed up references. So many places don't.

Rapscallion

[XCashier]

I'm astounded that you followed up references. So many places don't.

I think that's what the interviewee was counting on...

[lordlundar]

At least he didn't pull a Jeff Foxworthy and bring a BEER to a job interview

I thought that to a funeral. No wait, that Bill Engval and it was his uncle.

[Gurndigarn]

I'm astounded that you followed up references. So many places don't.

Rapscallion

And it's their poor choice. A few minutes on the phone, or a bunch of headaches down the road. Hmmmm....

[Customer Beating Robot]

Interview #1.

Total call centre geek. I bet he prayed to Yoda as his lord and saviour. He sat there and stonewalled all my questions and danced around them. Easy questions like. "Can you give me an example of a time that you..." or "Can you give me an example of a time when you dealt with a customer who did..." Even when I spoon-fed the answer to him, he looked at me like I had antlers.

Okay, I get asked that question a lot and I usually have an answer ready with an example of what the customer did and how I responded. But what exactly are you looking for with that question? Are you looking for just a quick answer to judge how fast the person can think on their feet? Are you looking for some magical keyword such as "I have never had that situation" which shows that perhaps they are good at avoiding the problem getting that far? Are you looking to know if they followed procedures?

I have never been able to figure out what the interviewer gets out of that question. I don't think it helps you to know how I handle a situation at the tire place I worked out, when I am interviewing for a food service job. True they both deal with the public, but in different capacities, with different bosses, and different policies. How I handled a customer with a bad tire under one company's policies, doesn't really help you understand how I will handl a pissed off customer under your companies policies. Policy at the tire place may have been to bend over backwards for the customer every time. If your company's policy is to never bend over, you might wrong think "Okay, this guy is a push over. He won't work out here." But the interviewee is just following procedure. He will follow your company's procedures as well as the last.

[Retail's Bitch]

Okay, I get asked that question a lot and I usually have an answer ready with an example of what the customer did and how I responded. But what exactly are you looking for with that question? Are you looking for just a quick answer to judge how fast the person can think on their feet? Are you looking for some magical keyword such as "I have never had that situation" which shows that perhaps they are good at avoiding the problem getting that far? Are you looking to know if they followed procedures?

I have never been able to figure out what the interviewer gets out of that question. I don't think it helps you to know how I handle a situation at the tire place I worked out, when I am interviewing for a food service job. True they both deal with the public, but in different capacities, with different bosses, and different policies. How I handled a customer with a bad tire under one company's policies, doesn't really help you understand how I will handl a pissed off customer under your companies policies. Policy at the tire place may have been to bend over backwards for the customer every time. If your company's policy is to never bend over, you might wrong think "Okay, this guy is a push over. He won't work out here." But the interviewee is just following procedure. He will follow your company's procedures as well as the last.

Just want to know if A: you can follow directions.. and B: How you deal under pressure. C: How you deal with customers..

Most applicants say. "Oh well there was this one time where I had a customer who was upset and did xyz..." Everyone has a story like that...

These two nimnuts looked at me and say. "Well I get lots of customers who get upset and..." Give me a cookie cutter answer about providing 'good customer service' without actually giving me a real answer.

I want a story. an EXAMPLE... Not a broad generalization. for instance when you're interviewing for my company the question is. "Can you give me an example of a time where you were verbally assaulted? Can you tell me how you dealt with that and how you reacted?"

Most applicants tell me about angry customers - some tell me about arguments they've had with friends. I just want an example of how you'd diffuse a situation like that. And these guys - neither of them could come up with a specific example for ANY of the questions I asked. It was ridiculous.

It'd be different if the question was 'How do you deal with customers?" but it's not. it's "Give me an example of ..."