Job Search: Interview Disasters Revealed By Employers

<p><pre><code> -- Candidate wore a business suit with flip flops. </code></pre> God, who cares?<p><pre><code> -- Dressing inappropriately - 57 percent </code></pre> If dropping your dress code expectations will increase your potential hire pool by over 50%, that is a serious competitive advantage over more stodgy companies.

We're going through panel interviews right now, and a lot of that article is rubbish, as others have pointed out. But I want to tease out the "don't be negative" because it's got the reasons wrong.<p>"Also, no matter how tempting it is, don't say negative things about a previous employer, regardless of how the job ended - hiring managers may fear that you will say the same things about their organization."<p>That's not why you don't say negative things. You don't say negative things because it means you blame other people or you're a negative person. You say, "I don't like my current job because they don't listen to me," and all I hear is that you don't have very good ideas, you're very bad at explaining those ideas, or your disconnected from the people you work with. And on top of that, you don't understand how to solve interpersonal problems. None of that make me super excited about you.<p>Instead try realizing that you might bear some of the blame for the things you don't like, and realize the other party might have good justification. So instead: "I find myself getting excited about very different opportunities than my current coworkers. They have a real passion for solving the immediate problem whereas I'm far more interested in solving the underlying cause. So while I appreciate their desire to provide a quick solution, and have even learned when that can be appropriate, I'm really looking for an environment that emphasizes long-term thinking while still making sure customer needs are met as quickly as possible."

Pretty clear BigCo corporate bias in these results, as this would likely be a positive in SF/Bay:<p>-- Candidate used Dungeons and Dragons as an example of teamwork.<p>The meeting for drinks also cracked me up, as Linden ended many a job interview with drinks at the end of the day!

I wish there was a way to link to my younger acquaintances just this part:<p><pre><code> -- Dressing inappropriately - 57 percent -- Appearing disinterested - 55 percent -- Speaking negatively about a current or previous employer - 52 percent -- Appearing arrogant - 51 percent -- Answering a cell phone or texting during the interview - 46 percent -- Not providing specific answers - 34 percent -- Not asking good questions - 34 percent </code></pre> Edit: This and not re-reading the CV 3 times before sending it.

This is an excellent summary of the kind of things a company should worry about only if they can't actually measure performance.<p>Though "appearing disinterested" should still be a huge turn-off.

Funny, the most common thing I've seen in candidates getting rejected promptly is not being able to answer basic questions about things they've listed on their resume. Example: listing Java and not understanding what an interface is.

The author made a point about researching the company before the interview. I always thought this was common sense (why are you applying with this company anyways?), but apparently it isn't.

I am curious how many of these became "disasters" for the interviewer because the interviewee had already reached a point where they considered the interviewer/company/etc. a disaster (no longer wished to work there).

<i>-- Candidate used Dungeons and Dragons as an example of teamwork.</i><p>That's a negative? WTF? There's a hell of a lot more interesting in the way of teamwork, management, etc. in role-playing games (especially MMORPGs) than in most corporations.

And at this late stage the realization comes that reciting poetry in interviews was the silent assassin of my career! Just the other day I was asked to explain a concurrent design and I just couldn't help but recite the immortal words of Halyna Krouk:<p><pre><code> Two couplets and a refrain a carousel of non-stop passing at each turn one more door closes before us with a rusty whinny legless horses tear into the prairie – racing two couplets and a refrain eyes gaping two couplets and a refrain catching up from hind to front reach out to me throw me the lasso of a glance who made us so hopelessly distant who conceived us such irreparable losers on this overplayed record – two couplets and a refrain – where even love leaves only scratches</code></pre>