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Gotcha. I was blown away at my interview for my current role. Im an Accountant/Financial Analyst so I was prepared for a few questions on debits/credits, balance sheets, income statements, making journal entries etc. Instead I got............... personality questions. "Tell me about a time where you...." Umm, are you serious?
I have you beat. I interviewed with a CPA firm for a job as a tax accountant, and I was asked "where is your favorite place to go on vacation?" and "what is your favorite book?" I asked the interviewer why he asked me those questions and his response was "I'm trying to figure out what you want out of life." O-kay.....
Personality questions are fine, but technical questions are very important also.
We just hired someone for an entry level lab position. We work in a tough environment, so while on one hand we need someone technically smart, we ALSO need someone who can handle the environment and get along with others.
So while questions ranged from: how do you make a serial dilution, what do you do if you make a mistake when making a buffer, and so on, we also had questions like "if someone points out that you made a mistake, what do you do?" as well.
Mistakes can be so costly at our lab, I ran a study last week and some moron from marketing tampered with my instrument (without me knowing or telling anyone) and destroyed a $30,000 study... Needless to say the director was pissed (not at me) and anyone who isn't a scientist essentially is forbidden from entering the lab unchaperoned lol.
I have you beat. I interviewed with a CPA firm for a job as a tax accountant, and I was asked "where is your favorite place to go on vacation?" and "what is your favorite book?" I asked the interviewer why he asked me those questions and his response was "I'm trying to figure out what you want out of life." O-kay.....
Employers are pretty arrogant nowadays and I've had a great laugh at how true many of the posts in this thread are.
The behavioral interviews are just asinine. These employers conduct themselves in such a way as to make one think that they're looking to purchase you, rather than hire you to do a job.
I've been tempted a few times to tell them bluntly that I'm not there to have an "Oprah"-like discussion about my feelings and I'm not there to pretend I'm some sort of gregarious, beer-swilling doofus who gets along great with everyone. I know how to get along well enough with people to get the job done and I'm not going to sit at my desk and make faces at people or scream epithets at them. I'm there to do a job and to do it damned well. Nothing else.
As for your experience with the guy who allegedly wanted to know what you wanted out of life, you should have told him you wanted the job you applied for and that anything else was none of his business.
There's a place for personality questions. Hiring managers, understanding that the person their going to be hiring is going to be working with imperfections, need people who can work with the resources they have, rather than whinging about resources and working conditions that are absent.
That said, some people ask meaningless personality questions with absolutely no clue as to why they're asking them. For some they're just part of what they believe is a standard interview.
In a high-skilled situation -- anything to do with the sciences and technology -- I would probably be more inclined to ask technical questions and roll the dice on their personalities. It's the opposite in some fields, though.
In almost all professional jobs SOFT SKILLS are far more important than HARD (TECHNICAL) skills.
Anyone can learn the technical stuff but what really makes the difference between success and failure is the soft skills. The reason most technical types never make it to management is their inability to understand how important soft skills are.
A good part of the interview process is designed to divide the candidates and discover their soft skills. Pretty much everyone who is brought in for an interview can do the technical stuff, but few have the abilng ity to excel in things like:
Time management, working with difficult people, oral communication skills, persuasion, writing skills, ability to inspire confidence, orgaizational savvy, dealing with criticism, following directions and multitasking.
This is true in many jobs, but certainly not in all jobs. In the tech world, very few people have the necessary technical skills, and soft skills are not really that relevant. They don't need to write, inspire confidence or be savvy - they need to do the really hard stuff that most people can't even begin to learn.
Yea when I graduated and started seriously interviewing I was just dumbstruck by how retarded the whole process is with ridiculous psychobabble, unbelievable stupid HR tests and gimicks, especially that behavioral interviewing. It is like they expect Mr. Sociopath to show up and tell them how they like to insult workers and steal their lunches. I'd be interviewing for a scientists/chemist position and they wouldn't ask one bleeping question about what I can do for them and how I could add value.
Needless to say, I've had to clean up after a couple people clearly the product of such hiring. That is why I never have sympathy for companies that make bad hires. You select for BS you get BS.
Like many scientists I find I cannot stand BS. I have a hard time sitting there with a smile and spout off long winded spin and sales pitches. I'd rather head into the lab and demonstrate my skills there. Or I'd rather give long talks about technical challenges and projects I've done. Going to these STAR interviews where they ask you tell me a story where you had a conflict with a coworker I find frankly humiliating and degrading.
I'll be 67 soon and some idiot half my age, with a third of the experience, ask me to "tell a story" and I'd tell him he was an idiot, get up and walk out.
Now at least I partially understand why the majority of your posts are so incredibly bitter. It must not be very nice to live that way - putting on the good face for the sake of it when you're seething with anger inside. It's not healthy either psychologically or physiologically. I hope you can find a way to resolve it one of these days.
This is old and I’m sure he’s not working there anymore, but I was bitter too in the sciences. We are told all our lives that getting a job in the STEM field will ensure you will love comfortably and to find out its far from true. I hope he found something better now.
This is old and I’m sure he’s not working there anymore, but I was bitter too in the sciences. We are told all our lives that getting a job in the STEM field will ensure you will love comfortably and to find out its far from true. I hope he found something better now.
I was able to work in my field and retire with a BA in Biology, but it took a lot of hard work and perseverance. And as competitive as the STEM field is, the supply of STEM majors still exceeds the demand.
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Uugghh
