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AKA, But What Can You Do for ME?
My first candidate for the research assistant position was Gabe (a fake name, of course), a guy in his mid-20s who lives 70 miles away. He showed up 45 minutes early for the interview. I'm all for punctuality, but that just annoyed me.
So I ask him how long it took him to get here and he tells me it's about a 90-minute commute. I ask if that's a commute he's willing to make twice a day, especially when rush hour traffic will make it longer, and Gabe says:
"I'm not sure yet. I'm really just here to check out the company to see if I'd like to work here."
ALRIGHTY THEN!
I wanted to end the interview right there. And I should have, because it would have spared me wasting another 30 minutes on the guy.
But I sally forth. The next unsettling thing I learn is that Gabe thinks my company is an architecture firm. Well, no. Not even close. I ask him if he knows ANYTHING about this company (thanks, Eric!), and he says, "I didn't have time to do any research."
Gotcha! You didn't have time to do any RESEARCH on the company where you're applying for the RESEARCH assistant position (thanks for pointing out the irony, Raps!).
Blah blah blah, he doesn't really know what he wants to do, blah blah, how soon will he be getting a raise, blah blah I don't have any questions about the job or the company, blah.
He's not getting a callback.
Hopefully the candidates will get better; otherwise, I'm in for a long damn interviewing process.
Posted by Highwaygirl on March 30, 2005 03:45 PM to the category WorkI just realized how appropriate today's Sloan song is, given the lacklusterness of this interview.
Posted by: Highwaygirl at March 30, 2005 03:54 PMWow. I've never had a candidate like that. I'm a little jealous.
Posted by: Teem at March 30, 2005 06:11 PMOhhh, keep the awful interviews coming, Hwg. Anything that gives the rest of us confidence is a good thing. Hopwfully we won't be identifying with your future interviewees.
Posted by: lifeonhold at March 30, 2005 07:20 PMWelcome to half the interviewees of my life. "I've wanted to practice in family law my whole life, that's the only area I've ever been interested in." Huh. Maybe if you'd spent two minutes at our website, you'd notice we don't do any family law. Now I have another twenty-five minutes I need to spend talking to you, even though I know it is a complete waste of time. Argh.
Posted by: jird at March 31, 2005 12:16 PM