Tip for Job Seekers

[Rain Man]

Show up at your freakin' interview on time. Seriously. If you show up 45 minutes late to a JOB INTERVIEW, it makes a BAD IMPRESSION. I don't care if you missed your bus or overslept or had other things going on. I don't care at all.

There are no excuses for being late to a job interview. Zero. If you were pulling people out of a burning car en route to the interview, that's great and I commend you for it, but it only takes three minutes to pull people out of a burning car. You should have planned ahead to be within sight of the interview location an hour before your interview. You should still be on time, but with a slight aroma of burning rubber and a great story for me.

I guess possibly if you were on your way to an interview in Holland and you saw a dam breaking, and you put your finger in the dam, and it then took an hour for the dam repairers to show up, then that might be a feasible excuse since you saved countless lives. But I'd still want to see it on the news that evening, and I'd want to know that there were no other people around who could have switched fingers with you.

Here's how you go to a job interview:

1. Drive to the interview with plans to be there an hour early.
2. Walk to the front door of the place an hour early just to be sure you know where it is.
3. Go to the nearest coffee shop and check out the company's web site and come up with some good questions and talking points.
4. Show up 10 minutes early.

Sheesh. Humanity amazes me sometimes.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

Heh, that goes both ways. I had to wait 25 minutes for the guys to show up who were going to interview me when the property I was working at last year was being sold. I took that as a bad sign and ended up finding another job.

Oh, yeah. It goes both ways. There's not much excuse for the interviewer being late, assuming that there's someone else in the company who could stand in if he/she is tied up with a client or some other top-priority thing.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I had an interviewee once for a data analyst position, and she listed on her resume a class project where she had done a data analysis-oriented final project. (This was a new college graduate.) I asked her what software she had used to do the analysis, and she said, "Excel? Or maybe it was Access? I don't remember. It was one of those."

My favorite was a 8 page hand written resume written on Big Chief Tablet. From a former IBM executive. One of my District managers insisted on interviewing him and he showed up drunk

[Dave Lane]

And to my credit I haven't shown up late to apply for a job since 1979.

Of course I haven't applied for one since then.

[MagicHef]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

After a review of the circumstances, I'll add this as an additional exception alongside the "finger in the dam" scenario.

Well, I didn't get either job, so you may be more lenient than they were.

[BigRedChief]

If your in I.T. don't BS on your resume. It just wastes everyones time. There will be questions about the skill set and field that you are applying for. You will not be able to BS your way past the interview. And why bother? You will be expected to perform the job if hired.

[Demonpenz]

The good thing about life is that if you don't get a job there is always the United Way or other places that will help you at-least put food on the table and get you medicine if you need it. That way you can spend more time playing video games or whatever you want to do if working isn't for you.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Oh, yeah. It goes both ways. There's not much excuse for the interviewer being late, assuming that there's someone else in the company who could stand in if he/she is tied up with a client or some other top-priority thing.

They were just coming back from lunch
Posted via Mobile Device

[DeepSouth]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I guess possibly if you were on your way to an interview in Holland and you saw a dam breaking, and you put your finger in the dam, and it then took an hour for the dam repairers to show up, then that might be a feasible excuse since you saved countless lives. But I'd still want to see it on the news that evening, and I'd want to know that there were no other people around who could have switched fingers with you.

I had a lesbian friend who told me a story about her putting her finger in a dike. Since a dike and and a dam are the same, I wonder if she was in Holland?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

They were just coming back from lunch
Posted via Mobile Device

Maybe they stopped to pull someone out of a burning car, but even then it shouldn't take that long. Did they smell like burnt rubber?

[Pepe Silvia]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Don't swear in an interview. Had one guy drop F bombs the entire interview.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall. What kind of job was it? was it a laid back job where he felt he could talk like that or he didn't realize it?

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by PackerinMo

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall. What kind of job was it? was it a laid back job where he felt he could talk like that or he didn't realize it?

It's for an office job without getting into too many specifics.

He didn't swear the entire interview. He was just recalling stories and experiences of when he was an umpire for softball and he had to deal with upset "customers". Dude just came out of nowhere with **** this and **** that.

[Pepe Silvia]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

It's for an office job without getting into too many specifics.

He didn't swear the entire interview. He was just recalling stories and experiences of when he was an umpire for softball and he had to deal with upset "customers". Dude just came out of nowhere with **** this and **** that.

Office Job? Not a smart move.

[Mennonite]

Well-well look. I already told you: I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?

[scho63]

I've interviewed well over 200 people in my lifetime and I always have a simple checklist to start;

1. Be on time or even better, 15 minutes early. Unless you are in a car wreck or had a heart attack I probably won't hire you.

2. Don't have on a ton of cologne or perfume or worse yet, smell like you just played 5 hours of tennis.

3. You better not have monkey breath!

4. Your shoes better be shined and for women you better not have open toed shoes or flats like those ballerina slippers.

5. I don't want to see your bra straps hanging out or your sports jacket hugging you like a sausage casing.

6. I expect you to know a few basic facts about our company and if you find any obscure info about me or our company you get big points for that.

7. If you sit back and cross your legs like you are in a restaurant or lounge relaxing, negative points. I like people who are on the edge of their seat and make great eye contact.

8. Don't ask me stupid questions like "What are your long term goals?" Worse interview question ever and employers always give a bullshit pie-in-the-sky answer that amounts to nothing more than a guess.

9. Ask me a pointed tough question to put me on the defensive like, "How do you plan on growing your business greater than your top competitor ___________?"

10. Don't ask me about how many vacation days you get 10 minutes into the interview.

Those are just the first 10 that come to mind......

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by loochy

Is it? There are plenty of people that are woefully underskilled in that software suite.

I have no need for Excel. But I can do a masterful PP and know word.
But I still best at Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or a Page Layout program. Ya' know the more difficult programs. So why should I be able to know Excel? Beats me!