New Weekly "off Topic" Topic (30/04/12)

[Ludwig Venter]

This week we’ll be talking about job interviews…… I was part of a panel who recently interviewed a group of prospective employees……

One of the candidates previously worked for me and I knew he was an above average performer…… however…… in interview he came across very insecure and pathetic….. When we finally had to make our choice, I could not convince the rest of the panel that this is the guy we should take…… They all went for the guy who was well rehearsed and had the gift of the gab, so I was outvoted….

Now, barely 3 months down the line….. their guy lays of sick, performs pathetic and is deffo not a team member….

The question is….. is the interview sufficient to help you select a new employee??

 

[coldcazzie]

Hmm. I think that if someone performs badly in an interview then it's only fair to ask them why. It could be that their confidence has been knocked by someone/something, and at least then you're giving them chance to explain why perhaps they're not at their best. I guess because the interview is usually the only chance you have to show why you're awesome, and sometimes it just doesn't work like that. I'd have a lot more insight into someone if I said "look you seem a bit insecure, what's going on" and they said "oh my neighbour just died so I'm feeling blue" or "this is the 20th interview I've been to this month so I'm feeling a bit under-appreciated", than if I just assumed they were bad at interviewing and ruled them out on that basis.

There's actually a thing that people do, called the FAE, or fundamental attribution error, which is to do with attributing the cause of things to either internal or external factors. Basically, if you do something well, you tend to attribute it internally (ie, I'm good at it) whereas if you do it badly then you attribute it externally (ie, having a bad day). It works the other way round when you look at other people: they do something well its cuz they're lucky, whereas if they do something badly then its because they're not very good at it. In an interviewing situation that translates to assuming the interviewee is unsuited to the job or bad at interviewing, when it could simply be that they nearly got hit by a bus while crossing the road, or their grandma is in hospital.

That doesn't answer your question at all it was also much longer than I intended, sorry!

 

[Akasha72]

personally I've always hated interviews .. I get so stressed and fumble my words and come across as a right numpty lol

Thankfully I've always done manual work (until I got sick and had to give up that kind of work) so my skills on a sewing machine was what got me the jobs - not my ramblings in the initial interview!!

I think peoples personalities come out more in stressful situations. If you're a confident person and a bit cocky you can come across like the guy you mentioned Ludwig. Shy types often get mistaken for insecure when in reality if they were given more opportunities to 'come out of themselves' they'd eventually become more confident.

Anyway, rambling now

what's going to happen to the guy they employed and the one that got away? It would be good if they called him back in and gave him the job and sacked the over confident ****