My HR proffessor a few years ago gave me an EXCELLENT tip. She said that the person interviewing you has definitely been through at least one HR course. Every single person who is hiring another person mentally connects two things to the hiring process: "organizational behavior" and "organizational culture". She said that if that person specializes in HR, you've hit the pot of gold. You talk about those two things, and it stays with them. They will like you and they will call you back. If the person does not specialize but knows what he/she is doing, they will enjoy talking about it. If the person isn't knowledgeable on the topic, they will be impressed. The point here is, when it's your turn to talk, always try to mention one of the two terms "Organizational culture" and "organizational behavior". Good luck.
I always wanted to know if it is OK to take notes in a interview. I know it looks good to be prppared w/ pen & paper. What are your thoughts and experience?
If you genuinely want to and feel that you need to take notes, then do it. Personalyl, I wouldn't want to run the risk of the interviewer thinkin I'm putting up an act. Nor do I want to leave with a piece of paper on which I've written stuff that a 4-yr old can remember.
I've had to interview a few new hires at my firm. I'm not specially qualified for it, but actually in fact I prob. less qualified but my superiors think I make some interviewees uncomfortable in the questions I ask. Anyways, an example of a question I ask of new hires is this question: "When you go to the restroom to take a piss, do you wash your hands before or after you go to the restroom?" If they answer, "before", I would give them positive marks for being an unconventional thinker, and if they said "after" I would give them less marks for traditional thinking. One guy, after about a full minute of thinking (which was awkward) answered "both before and after." I laughed and said, "that is the correct answer." He ended up being a new hire during that year of hiring. I need to credit legendary financier Barton Biggs for helping me think of that question.
Here's a question for those that have done it... Tomorrow, I am going for an interview for a different position but it is still with the company I am working for now. In other words, I am an internal candidate for this job. The dress code at my company is business casual and it has gotten to the point where none of the male non-managers wear a tie anymore (one of the more important managers never wears a tie). My question is this - should I "dress up" for this internal interview tomorrow? In other words, should I wear a tie and even a coat? Would it really make that much of a difference since I already have a job with the company but wanting to transfer to a different department?
maybe in fantasy world. i've been asking that question for a year now and don't have a job, with about 8 interviews in that time. the only thing these ****ers seem to care about is experience. my interviews seem to go well, and i had basically a 4.0 gpa in undergrad and 3.83 in grad school from the #1 petroleum grad school in the country but it doesn't matter. apparently a 3 month summer internship at any point in time bestows upon one a level of knowledge, expertise, and genius that no mere mortal could ever hope to achieve without having had one and not having one means you could never hope to catch up to someone who was basically shown the ropes for 3 months. it's hard for me to comprehend how important they seem to think this is when i hear about all my friends talk about working at their jobs and all the stupid people they work with (who probably got the job because they had an internship even if they're a moron). the thing that really pisses me off is somehow i couldn't get an intership during school with a 4.0 gpa. how does that work? it was like i needed a previous internship to get the next one despite the fact that it's basically a trial period for people who seem qualified (i.e. gpa). whatever, **** these guys. scholarships got me money i still have and i can sleep in however long i want and have been able to for the past 8 months or so. so **** them. now what was the question again?
We had the same thing happen recently. We hired a guy from another department and another who had been doing contract work with us. Both went in knowing that the jobs were theirs to lose. Both wore a coat and tie (in a plant environment where no one wears a tie). I would say that if your interviewer is wearing a tie, coat and tie is mandatory. If not, it's still a pretty good idea.
1) What do you say when they ask you why you dont have prior experience? Word for word. 2) Come to Dubai. Get paid like a king. Live like a king.
This is what you say when they ask you if you have any questions: "Yes, just one. If you're in a car traveling at the speed of light and you turn your headlights on, does anything happen?" If they say they can't answer that, then say: "Sorry, but I couldn't work for you then." (thank you Steven Wright)
i've ALWAYS heard to dress up 1 notch. if the people in the position you are applying for wear jeans and t-shirt, wear some khakis and a polo. if they are wearing khakis and a polo, you should wear some slacks and a tie.
I was going to answer along those lines: basically it would be far worse to underdress than overdress.
Just thought I'd make the point that I've been interviewing a few people lately (first time they've had me do this definitely).. and I'm definitely less qualified than the rest of the people who are doing the interviewing. But I don't think I'd particularly care one way or another about those 2 terms. I think that def. depends on the industry the company is in and the individual who is doing the interviewing.
I was interviewed on a Friday so I thought people would be wearing casual so I decided not to wear a tie. Worked well. it turned out that the guy who was going to interview me was wearing jeans and a polo shirt but looked very very untidy. When I first saw him I thought he was the building janitor. About your question, same thing happened in our company. my friend, the applicant, was dressed like an executive. he didn't get the job. If I was in his shoes, I'm never going to wear dress up for that. If I get rejected because of my attire, that's just too shallow. I think it would depend also on the job you're applying for.
Don't be silly. Who takes off their favorite Rocket jersey unless its in danger of getting ruined somehow?
Is the interviewer a Rockets fan, or better yet frequents this message board? It could be our secret code like the Freemasons or something.
I just had an interview recently too. On Monday. I wore a nice shirt and a nice dress pants. I figured for most work environments that was more than enough. I can't remember the last time I wore a suit to an interview. I don't think I've actually ever had, now that I think of it. I studied all weekend thinking it was going to be a technical interview. Or rather I was just being paranoid cause it likely wasn't. And I was right, it wasn't technical at all. It was just a personality check. As far as asking questions, I just asked what type of projects they had coming up and what type of technologies I would be playing with.
