#job interviews

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

#talkin #tik tok #job interviews #capitalism

[sweaterkittensahoy]

As Long as I'm Thinking about Job Interview Stuff

Here's my general pattern for answering the "Tell us about time you failed / dealt with a bad co-worker / had to struggle to complete something /etc."

These questions are asked to suss out if you're an asshole. The reason there's more than one of them is to see if you have a shit talking problem that can take a little time to show itself. Basically, interviewers are trying to get a sense of if you're gonna be a fucking problem once you're comfortable at a new workplace.

I literally once watched myself lose a job because the managers asked, "How do you deal with people who might be temperamental at times?" It was a software company, so I figured they meant "At least one of our engineers is a huge asshole, but we think he's worth keeping around even if he yells at people." And so I said, "Look, we all have our moments, and I do my best to be understanding if someone's having a tough time. I think it's important to remember we're all working together and trying to make something succeed. That being said, if the problem is I'm getting yelled at because someone else is being unprofessional, I'm not going to stand there and allow that abuse. I will be talking to HR, at a minimum, and if that doesn't resolve it, I will take care of it myself."

And, let me be clear, the moment any positive vibes left the room was when I said, "I'm not gonna stand there and allow that abuse." Which told me EXACTLY how they were handling the situation currently.

Anyway, sorry for the recipe blog wander. Back to the point. Here's how I handle the questions where they want you to discuss something negative.

I take a moment to think. Yes, I know the question is coming and already have a few options picked for an answer, but taking a moment to think before answering means I'm not gonna stumble over my words when I start.

Start with the negative. If the question is, "Tell us about dealing with a difficult co-worker," Start at the problem. "Well, I remember once I worked with someone who really didn't like answering questions via email."

Explain why it made the job difficult. "Given that what I do is focused on getting things written down, I prefer sending questions via email whenever possible so I always have a clear starting point on the information I use, even if the information changes a lot through conversation."

Restate the problem as the beginning of the solution. "But, this person didn't like to answer questions in writing, so I started going over to his desk and asking him the questions."

Say something nice about the problem. "He was great face-to-face. Always happy to help."

Explain the solution. "And it turned out he was happy to read anything I would print out and hand him. So, I'd go ask him the questions, go back to my desk and do a first draft based on what he'd said, and then give him a physical copy to mark up."

Stamp a positive final remark on it. "Once I realized how to best communicate with him, he was very open to helping. If I walked over with a first draft, he'd just look at it right then so I could make updates as quickly as possible. And he started letting me know if there were any major design changes on the way and explaining it to me earlier in the process, which made it easier to make updates."

That's my technique. The biggest thing of it, I think, is to make sure your answer is sincere. Don't use a situation where you still want to shove someone into traffic. Pick a situation where you feel like it actually turned out well in the end.

#job interviews #job hunting #employment #interview questions #interview tactics

[luidilovins]

been applying on indeed for the last week

#free to use #vent art #job interviews #my art #my post #my shitpost #luidilovins

[thatbadadvice]

Help! A Grown-Ass Man Didn’t Do A Thing He Wasn’t Obligated To Do

Alison Green, Inc.com, 19 October 2022:

A candidate hasn't attend his job interview, even though we called him to choose an interview time and then sent a confirmation email including time and location. I was wondering if I can send him an email in which I discipline him for not attending, because it cost me time and money for reserving the location, and inform him that he's been blacklisted from our organization.

I’m sorry -- you set up one entire job interview with a man, an incredible favor that speaks to your thoughtfulness, generosity, and good spirit, a thing you did for him out of the sheer goodness of your own heart, out of no interest of your own, entirely altruistically, and this is the thanks you get? The ungrateful boor cannot be allowed to disrespect you and the deep investment you made in him -- my goodness, you sent him a confirmation email for Pete’s sake! There is only one reason for a person not to show up to a job interview, and that reason is because they are a cruel, ungracious churl whose sole delight in this world is making your life more difficult, like you personally and specifically. No one ever gets sick or in a terrible car accident or has to care for a loved one or gets wrapped up in a community emergency requiring them to prioritize literally anything over spending a half-hour telling another stranger about how their greatest weakness is being the world’s biggest perfectionist.

If this lout is not turned into a shell of his former self by the merciless punishment you personally mete out to him in the service of preserving your good name, you run the risk of it getting around the 2728 North Highway 16 Commercial Park that you are some sort of employer looking for employees with whom to engage in a business relationship, to wit: the exchange of labor for compensation. If this great shame is made public, your reputation might never recover.

What did you have in mind? One worries that someone as kind and considerate as you (a confirmation email! one cannot get over it!) might be reticent to deliver the full thrust of discipline required to ensure that this man never forgets the horrible mistake he made the day he didn’t do a thing he wasn’t obligated to do, with someone who has no power over him whatsoever and to whom he owes absolutely nothing. Certainly calling him some mean names in an email is a place to start, but have you considered: also sending some rude texts? He will really rue the day he failed to discover all the wondrous benefits of hitching his economic apple wagon to your shining star! Spend some time brainstorming other options -- a little light flaying might do this guy a world of good.

At the very least, this man needs to be informed in no uncertain terms that you, the people who set up an interview to which he entirely fucking ghosted, are really the ones who didn’t want to work with him, and that actually you don’t even care if he works there or not, he can absolutely sit and spin as far as you are concerned, you hope he falls off the face of the earth, you barely have even given him a second thought, he is entirely meaningless to you and no person in the entire universe could possibly interest you less. 

(Any chance this no-show good-for-nothing is an entitled Millennial or lazy Gen-Z-er? The younger generations really have no understanding of workplace norms at all!)

#bad advice #workplace #job interviews #job search #careers #career advice #bad bosses #workplace drama #i wish a mf would #advice

[mysteriouseggsbenedict]

I don't have a therapist right now so Tumblr is getting all of my thoughts...

I just got hired for what honestly feels like a dream summer position, and it's a big deal for me because I have struggled majorly with employment in the past. Getting through a job interview while autistic is pretty much a special form of hell. So now that I've succeeded I'm really proud of myself for working hard at getting better at something that's difficult for me. It feels like I won at this game finally.

But it also is kind of, like, still shitty. So I struggled in a system that is unaccommodating to me, failed multiple times and took some big hits to my self confidence, but after working really hard I overcame those difficulties to Win At Capitalism? Is that really something to celebrate?

It's like the "disabled person is so determined and inspirational that they navigate inaccessible environments through the force of their will" narrative.

There's just something that rubs me the wrong way about congratulating myself for succeeding in a job interview, as opposed to, you know, living a life that's free of the need to participate in job interviews. In a world that is actually ideal, we wouldn't need to kill ourselves developing interview skills just to survive in our society's economic system.

I did utilize accommodations for my interviews that made a huge, huge impact in my success. So I guess my own argument isn't perfect, because I did modify the situation in some ways, instead of muscling through the completely traditional interview format.

Asking for the questions in advance changed the game for me. So far, I have asked for questions in advance prior to three job interviews, and none of the employers questioned me or refused to send them. So I was able to prepare answers to the questions before the interview and even practice speaking through them out loud. I can get tongue-tied if I'm trying to speak off-the-cuff, so doing this basically allowed me to articulate an accurate impression of my skills.

In the interview for the job that I got hired for, they told me that I'm able to use visual aids if I want, so I actually prepared a slideshow to screenshare during the interview. I had my qualifications on the slides so there was no way I'd mess up telling the employer about them. It was great to have an aid on the screen for me to follow along with as I talked, and it also demonstrated that I had prepared for the interview.

Since most of my mutuals on here are also neurodivergent, I'm curious if you have thoughts. Have you figured out ways to succeed at interviews? Or not? What has helped you the most? What's your mindset around conforming to expectations and trying to train yourself to perform well? (I'm also a little bit curious just because I'm finishing up a research project about this exact topic, because I always end up centering my research around the stuff that is bothering me in my real life, lol).

#frances's thoughts #employment #job interviews #autism #sigh..... #but i'm so excited for the job not even gonna lie

[ceevee5]

#job interviews #weaknesses #listening

[thepowerisyouth]

In freshman year in college, in 2018-- I was taking the introductory Business minor class. The person teaching this class was the head of the department, very experienced in the corporate consulting world, and insisted on only teaching this one class at the beginning of the degree plan.

Specifically my 'role' as a student in that class ended up being--

1) chatting after each lecture with the bored, old professor about the 'good ol' days' when he was a 60s hippie protesting the war. (what I was doing is called "kissing ass", specifically)

2) telling the professor that he needed to "get with the times, old man"; because he was teaching about "generational workplace issues" and thought the majority of his students were millenials still.

3) I'm sure I'll think of more funny stories from the first semester I sat in that class and add later

---------

He invited me to come back as a TA the next semester.

Undergrad TA job paid $10.25 per hour I sat in class, plus some self-reported prep time; I took it as a 2nd job as my other job on campus paid something like $9/hr.

(He 'got back at me' for that generational workplace comment in this semester with a wonderful class on Gen Z during that learning unit. He said something like "you're just now entering the workforce in the wake of millenials, who got a lot of crap. So far the world knows you as a generation that stands up for itself". He showed slides of the "March for Our Rights" movement. This would be early 2019 at the time.)

-------

I had a variety of roles in that class even as an undergraduate TA, which was cool albiet a little intimidating at times as a young student.

1. Setting up the video cameras for students' in-class presentations and projects; & helping professor oldie when his fancy USB pointer wasnt working right

1.5. Watching for more places that I could tell my professor to keep up-to-date in his lectures (he didnt tell me to do this, I just wanted to do it again)

2. Smoking joints out in my car before class and walking in 'loud and proud'-- because I was a TA-- who cares?

3. Walking around assisting students during the group project time (lots of projects)-- this included stuff like resume building, job interviews, consulting presentations, persuasive speeches, and "crisis communications" (which is a fun one)

4. Will finish later

--------

I ended up being a TA for 2 semesters, after which I was booted from Rice on bad grades. I've reached out to chat with Professor occasionally. He ended up retiring during COVID as he said his lectures weren't very popular over the video format (common problem in 2020s academia)

#business #college #business school #stories #job interviews #gen z #gen z culture

[high-quality-tiktoks]

Job Interviews, In America Versus England!

#video #tiktok #tiktoks #funny #lmao #wtf #relatable #mood #usa #united states #united states of america #england #britain #uk #united kingdom #job #jobs #job interview #job interviews #work #mrthomasenglish

[scarefox]

But love the new generation of bosses or management folks in job interviews when they ask something and tell you right from the start "this no test or secret investigation tactic, no worries".

Because damn yes, this shit needs to be gone. As a neurodivergent person masking your way through it, this shit sucks. And is the main reason why I fail in job interviews even if my skills are good to even perfect (like i was once in the top5 from 100 where they even paid me to come to the interview but yea .... sit me infront of a big committee of 10 managers and team leads and ask tricky questions. I am outvoted so fast)

#neurodivergent #anxiety disoder #job interviews

[alliswyattonthewesternfront]

i hate being in upper management roles because pretending to care about a company really curls my teeth, but unfortunately, i am extremely good at hiring people. sadly no company will let you just do interviews/on-boarding unless you drink the corporate Kool-Aid.

at my last job, i started every interview telling the candidate exactly what their day to day would be like. which parts sucked, which were tolerable, and which were perks. i did not use corp speak at all, was very realistic about the kind of environment they would be in, and did not try and convince them to take the job at all. because i figured it didn't make sense to trick someone into accepting a position that would make them miserable - they'll just quit and then i'd be back in the same boat!

i'd end every interview by telling them exactly what the range of pay was for the role, and tell them that if an offer was extended to always ask for $1-2 more, because our HR department was pre-authorized to approve higher starting pay within a certain limit. a surprising amount of office type jobs actually follow this model because they outsource HR, and nobody knows what anyone else is doing. i digress.

there's no point to this, really. i'm just remembering that roughly 60% of my staff excelled to the point they promoted out of my department, and i got in trouble because i apparently wasn't supposed to train/develop my staff THAT well. lmao. most of the folks who left said they would have gladly stayed in the department under me for just slightly more pay, so you'd think the obvious choice would be to pay my top performers more. but oh well.

in closing, if you get asked about "strengths and weaknesses" during an interview, that person is a shitty manager. they googled "interview questions" 10min before your interview and printed off the first result. anyone making you come back for multiple interviews (with a few exceptions) is a shitty manager. don't send follow-up or thank you emails, and always, ALWAYS, ask for more money

#blog #sorry for the incoherent post i'm sleep deprived #job interviews

[junkieboyfriend]

Me usually: God!! I suck so much!! Why can't I do anything?!?!

Me applying for jobs: I'm so productive and I have great time management. My team working skills? Top of the line, of course. I aim to please and my customer service skills are very developed!!

#job applications #job interviews #unemployed #depression #anxiety

[enidsinclesbian]

following up with an interview i had and they replied back saying they hired another candidate with IT skills. MIND YOU they didnt even MENTION about having iT skills in MY interview so fuck you and fuck all of these companies for gatekeeping their standards. I’d be perfectly fine with them saying I didnt get it but to tell me a I didnt get it based on a skill you didnt even MENTION? fuck you

#its a MESS out here and i dont even want to work jfc #personal #job interviews #job hunting #you literally withheld information from me to not allow me to get the job #i am PISSED

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I've applied to probably 60 or 70 jobs since I moved on September 1st. Most of them requiered me to make one-off applicant profiles on the company website, but 20 were directly through Indeed. Of those, 15 haven't even been looked at. 4 have been looked at, but they never did anything with them. 1 and only 1 had the courtesy to actually reject me instead of ghosting me entirely...

I really need my art to take off so I can make money independently. I don't think I'm cut out for full time employment...

#job search #job applications #job interviews #fuck my life

[softgaycontent]

Really cool that So Many people liked the interview advice I added to that post a while back. I check the notes sometimes for nice comments. :)

Occasionally I will see a well-meaning comment that suggests that you use the interview to grill them BACK and see if the job/company is good for YOU. 

My counter-advice: You can QUIT any job you like, at any time. 

In order to actually get the job, use the interview to suck up to them and seem like the perfect, uninformed employee. Once you’re hired, that’s when you establish your boundaries - clear and realistic deadlines, that working late should not be the norm, etc. 

Unless you are leaving a job you really like, or you have to Move to work for this new company, there is no harm in agreeing to a job and seeing if you like it when you get there. Just consider it a trial run, and keep applying/interviewing on the side. If you get another job offer 1 day into this new job that you like better... QUIT! You owe them nothing. (I’d only not advise this if you’d like to work for this same company again in the future.)

(Obviously in a perfect world you should be able to establish your rights in the interview, but 1. you can always quit, and 2. you’re much more likely to be Not Hired for establishing boundaries in an interview than you are to be Fired after you start.)

P.S. Salary/Pay is the one thing you do really need to clear up in the interview, but always make THEM give you a number first. That’s a whole other post, though.

#should I start a tag or something #job interviews #work advice #I'll go add those to the other post

[superlinguo]

Doing your own Linguistics Job Interviews

After eight years and over 80 interviews, the monthly Superlinguo Linguistics Job Interviews series will wrap up at the end of 2022. You can see the full list linking to the interviews here. I have learnt so much from the stories of people who have gone on to a wide range of jobs and careers, and who make use of their linguistic knowledge in their jobs. Thanks to Martha Tsutsui Billins, who has been running the interviews in 2022, I’ve enjoyed reading them as an audience member!

While it is the end of regular scheduled interviews, this is far from the last I will have to say about linguistics and its use in different workplaces and careers. There will be some updates in 2023, which I’m looking forward to sharing with you. I also want to encourage you to do your own interviews!

Why interview people about linguistics and jobs?

There are any number of good reasons to do them. Perhaps:

1. You studied linguistics and now you use those skills, insights and experiences in your current job, career, or life. Maybe it was a whole PhD? Or perhaps just one specific course/subject that shaped your understanding of language? You can follow the Linguistics Job Interviews process and share your experiences with your social media networks! I did this for the Superlinguo series and enjoyed the opportunity to reflect.

2. You are a student or worker who is thinking about jobs and careers and you want to talk to people to learn about different jobs and careers. You can do this for your own information, as an informal coffee chat, or maybe you want to publish and share what you’ve learnt for other students where you study, or other people online. This is why I did the Superlinguo series for the first four or five years, as I navigated study and then precarious employment.

3. You work in a linguistics program at a university or college and want to check in with your former students. Perhaps you want to ask them to share their experiences with your current students, or maybe you want to do some planning around the structure and content of your program. I’ve made use of the Superlinguo series for the last few years for both of these reasons.

As you can see, I have run the Superlinguo Linguistics Jobs Interview series for all three of these reasons at different times!

How to do interviews

I started doing interviews using my own networks, and those of my friends and teachers at my university. I have always run them as email interviews, because I was most interested in giving people the time and space to write answers they were happy with. If you are doing interviews for your own career planning you might find that asking someone for coffee or a phone chat that can go on different tangents is more useful.

You can also “cold” contact people. Sometimes people on twitter or linkedin will say they’re happy to be contacted about their careers. When you contact someone, even if they’re happy to be messaged, remember they’re doing you a favour and may not always have time. People often don’t get back to you, it’s nothing personal, people are busy with their own jobs and colleagues. This is why often an existing personal connection is so useful.

Always make sure that you know what you want to do with the interview, and that you make that clear to people when you contact them. If you just want an informal short chat, that’s very different to asking if you can share in the print magazine of your college or posting something to the internet.

These kind of interviews, where you ask someone about their experiences, are known as Informational Interviews. The Linguistics Jobs Resources slide set (bit.ly/ling-jobs) has lots of information and links to other resources about how you can run your own informational interviews, either for yourself, a careers fair at your institution or for sharing online.

What I put into my interviews

As I said above, I always conducted interviews by email. This was mostly because I wasn’t doing informational interviews for my own career planning.

I always ask the same set of questions. I appreciate the very different responses I would get from people in different jobs and different stages of their careers. Below I have bolded the bits I kept in the published interview, and which bits were there are prompts for the person being interviewed:

What is your job title? (used to title the interview and write the intro)

What did you study at university? (What was your degree? What linguistics did you study? What else?)

What is your job? (Fancy title? What do you do day-to-day?)

How does your linguistics training help you in your job? (Or, does it help at all?)

What was the transition from university to work like for you? (both in general terms and in terms of applying your linguistics in a workplace)

Do you have any advice you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?

Any other thoughts or comments? (Also, is there anything I should be asking that I'm not?)

I added question five about the transition from uni to work only a couple of years ago, when I realised that was a gap in the interviews that provided useful information. You don’t have to use these questions specifically, but I have found they provide a good starting point.

Let me know if you do any public interviews so I can share them too!

If you share your own job experience on public social media, or if you interview people online about their linguistics job experience, please do tag me on twitter or email (superlinguo æ gmail dot com). I plan to keep sharing and aggregating job resources.

Resources

The Linguistics Jobs Resources slide set (bit.ly/ling-jobs) 

Superlinguo Linguist Job Interviews full list

#linguistics #Job Interviews #lingjobs #careers #study #interviews #informational interviews

[deliriousdisquisitions]

Never have I felt more like useless trash than when I have to recommend myself to an audience/ institution (:

#deliriousdisquisitions #delirious disquisitions #studyblr #bookblr #gradblr #international students #daily journal #college applications #cover letter #job interviews #literature major #lit major #social anxiety #academia #dark academia #journal entry #interviews #academic validation #chaotic academia