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http://hitsdailydouble.com/news/newsPage.cgi?news09107m01

Click on the link above and scroll down to the last item - "Gripe Of The Week".

Have we actually got people that believe they should get the questions to a job interview in advance?!!!

MT says interviewing is an artificial reality designed to keep people out, and when I read stuff like this I just think "The system works".

 

 

bbrown's picture

 That's also an illustration of why you can't just assume competence or knowledge by someone's achieving a particular degree. Yikes!

mfinc1fmt's picture

Two things come to mind.

1) when I graduated my professor said: "Congrats, you have completed your Engineering degree and now know 20% of what you need to know to succeed"

2) Same professor said: "Getting your degree only means you can pass the exams/tests. While you finished in the top half of the class, the ones in the bottom half also got the same degree". That was the shock! Yikes! I then had the urge to find out in which city some of my classmates were going to work. (and make sure I never lived close to that operating plant). LOL

In my history, I challenged my bosses to let me ensure my team is a mix of people. My rationale is that if I hire all people with Degree X (eg. Charter Accountants) they would all "think" the same way and never be able to analyze problems in different ways. So far its worked and my teams have out performed their expectations.

For staff, I challenge them to ask "why", especially for staff that have been doing the same job for 5 to 10 years. If the response is "thats because how we do it" I respond with "thats not an answer, its a cop-out"

Remember ASSUME = ASS  of    U   and   ME

 

duplicate_account_MarkAus's picture

accidently doubled post

duplicate_account_MarkAus's picture

I was just thinking that she truly has no idea how the world works - most managers don't prepare enough to give interview questions well in advance, so she's stuck either way!

(Manager Tools Managers excluded of course)

 

ProcReg's picture

It would've been nice to have the questions the night before the exam, also.

Why complain about this in public? 

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." - Theodore Roosevelt

"Public opinion is a weak tyrant to that of private thought." HD Thoreau Walden

RoMaJo's picture

Years ago I participated in a group interview where all of us knew what the questions would be.

The week before we had been given the questions that the interviewers would ask, and we knew we would be listening to each others' answers.

It was a good experience in a group interview, and I think it would be fine for an individual interview as well. In either case, I would not rely on it as the only interview.

RoMaJo

P.S. Someone else got the job, as they should have. I was glad to have gone through the process!

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

You think you've seen it all, and then... BOOM.

The reason people complain in public is to look for like minds, because they believe their point is valid.  

I encourage ALL my competitors to give ALL their candidates ALL their questions in advance.  

Then, at some point in the future, I'll encourage ALL of my competitors to give ALL of their answers in advance too.

Mark 

mdave's picture

Although perhaps atmospherically silly, about two years ago, I experimented with providing each interviewee one question (the same one) in advance. The reason was that being able to give prepared presentations to the public is a critical aspect of the position et al. They were told that their repsonse needed to be between 3-5 minutes in length and what the topic was (I believe that it was to discuss an accomplishment that they were most proud of and how it directly impacted the success of thier division or organization. Or something like that.) I have since learned that being able to do this ANYHOW is an MT interviewing no-brainer, but I digress.

The results were fascinating -- long before the interveiews even started. My admin set them up and kept a tally. Some canddiates had never heard of this and wanted to know why it was being done (never mind the part  "..... an important part of this position is...:") Others were pretty indignant or argumentative. It was an interesting social experiment on who treated my admin how.

The interview results were stunning. For some candidates their response to the "prepared" question was no different than the other questions. Some did not meet the timeframe (duh). In general, I was really suprised at how few really took advantage of the opportunity.

And yeah, the one who was polite during scheduling, asked for clarification to ensure that he understood the parameters, and nailed it in the interview as also the guy who seemed most prepared overall --- and who had been outstanding in the role and is on the short list for future developmental assignments.

I don't know if I would do it again (certainly not with more than one question!!!), but I was suprised that so few really took it -- and the opportunity -- seriously.

FWIW.

 

duplicate_account_MarkAus's picture

I think a small test or demonstration is certainly a different beast than asking for interview Qs in advance.   There's definitely scenarios where that can be a good tool, particularly if the role is entry level and the candidate has no direct experience.

When I was managing creatives and hiring for entry level positions, I would occasionaly give them a simple brief and ask them to write me a 30 second script within 48 hours.  I did this after they "passed" the first interview, and only if they had no direct experience, but I could see that they had potential to excel with some training.

I didn't expect them to be particularly good, but you can certainly judge the way people approach their work from what you get back.   (First thing to notice: did they answer the brief - amazing how many didn't!)

To your point MDAVE - I don't think asking for a 3 minute presentation on a subject they should already know intimately, when the role requires presentations, is unreasonable or silly.   Like my example, it gave you a chance to not only see what they do but how they do it.  

 

dan west's picture
Licensee BadgeTraining Badge

It would save me and the team some time prepping and interviewing, because I'd end they wouldn't make it to a face to face meeting. 

I do think whoever posted that gripe is in bad shape. They need help or they will be stuck. While I think it's a monumentally dumb question to ask, I also remember students asking teachers "Is that going to be on the test?" If you've grown up being coddled, I'm not at all surprised when people expect the same behavior in the workplace.