• Visitors can check out the Forum FAQ by clicking this link. You have to register before you can post: click the REGISTER link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. View our Forum Privacy Policy.
  • Want to receive the latest contracting news and advice straight to your inbox? Sign up to the ContractorUK newsletter here. Every sign up will also be entered into a draw to WIN £100 Amazon vouchers!

Interview red flags

Collapse
X
  •  
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #31
    Not answering the OP's question but I was interviewing somebody for a graduate scheme years ago and we were trying to work out his motivation for a career in IT. When we asked "Why do you want a job in IT" his answer was, "When I'm at home I like to play with myself". I think he meant he enjoys exploring computing concepts in his own time. It must have taken a good 40 seconds for the HR girl to be able to respond with the next question. I was done, I couldn't speak for the rest of the interview I was laughing so hard. We offered him the job but he didnt accept the offer.

    Comment


      #32
      Originally posted by ResistanceFighter View Post
      I had a young kid interview me a few years ago and his first question was "so why are you a contractor?"
      When interviewing for a perm role once, I was asked why I wasn't.
      ⭐️ Gold Star Contractor

      Comment


        #33
        Originally posted by BolshieBastard View Post

        the TM was absolutely hopeless at management........ The TM had been on long term sick and just come back to work, hence the delay with the interview.

        He apologised and said the TM had just got back to work after a nervous breakdown. I said he's going to have another because he hasnt a clue what he's doing!
        What's a TM in this context?

        Comment


          #34
          Originally posted by Peoplesoft bloke View Post

          What's a TM in this context?
          Test Manager, as in couldnt manage her own time and workload never mind overall management and delivery of an area of system functionality.

          She even had a old Landie yet couldnt make it into work when a few inches of snow fell one morning. Everyone else on the team made it in despite only having 2 wheel drives.
          I couldn't give two fornicators! Yes, really!

          Comment


            #35
            Had a serious meeting booked with a Change Manager in one gig, to look into and hopefully sort out the whole process. Drove many miles to get to her, only to discover she wasn't there. So drove all the way back again having achieved precisely nothing.

            Turned out the following day, when having a moan to her line manager, about me losing a day's productive work, that she was booked on a Time Management course...
            Blog? What blog...?

            Comment


              #36
              I always ask explicitly about the expectations for unpaid overtime (as a permie). Had one recently tell me "Expectations are high" before letting slip about being on call over weekends and working over Christmas. Another guy with the same company said "our contract says 37 hours, but pffffft, whatever!" PM me for details if you want to be worked to death for a famous boot company.

              Comment


                #37
                Originally posted by hairymouse View Post
                I always ask explicitly about the expectations for unpaid overtime (as a permie). Had one recently tell me "Expectations are high" before letting slip about being on call over weekends and working over Christmas. Another guy with the same company said "our contract says 37 hours, but pffffft, whatever!" PM me for details if you want to be worked to death for a famous boot company.
                Some companies really do do it to themselves.

                Ask them the standard "Why is this role available?"

                And they come back with the person you are replacing left because they wanted to spend more time with their family.

                Then every few months every year for the next decade you see the role advertised.
                "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

                Comment


                  #38
                  Originally posted by SueEllen View Post

                  Some companies really do do it to themselves.

                  Ask them the standard "Why is this role available?"

                  And they come back with the person you are replacing left because they wanted to spend more time with their family.

                  Then every few months every year for the next decade you see the role advertised.
                  There's nothing like the sinking feeling that another guys spent a few months working on the same project you've been given before quiting. It comes out in drips and drabs, a name dropped here and there, some random stored procedures that are just like the one you need to write, etc. Worst is when they give you his laptop and his profile is still there!

                  Comment


                    #39
                    Originally posted by hairymouse View Post

                    There's nothing like the sinking feeling that another guys spent a few months working on the same project you've been given before quiting. It comes out in drips and drabs, a name dropped here and there, some random stored procedures that are just like the one you need to write, etc. Worst is when they give you his laptop and his profile is still there!
                    Many years ago I wrote some scripts for a customer that trawled the metadata tables of their proprietary ETL tool and various databases, and unloaded the relevant information in different formats; e.g. generating source to target mapping spreadsheets for them to use for documentation purposes. There were a few transformations and nuances that I couldn't get to unload perfectly, and I left a comment in the code saying "Can't get X to work" with my initials.

                    Fast forward 3 years, and I'm working for another consultancy, and come across similar scripts (greatly enhanced to be fair).

                    Curious, I navigate to one of the areas I struggled with, and my original comment is still there.

                    Followed immediately after by a fresh section of code, and another comment - "I can't get it to work either".
                    ‘His body, his mind and his soul are his capital, and his task in life is to invest it favourably to make a profit of himself.’ (Erich Fromm, ‘The Sane Society’, Routledge, 1991, p.138)

                    Comment


                      #40
                      Originally posted by hairymouse View Post

                      There's nothing like the sinking feeling that another guys spent a few months working on the same project you've been given before quiting. It comes out in drips and drabs, a name dropped here and there, some random stored procedures that are just like the one you need to write, etc. Worst is when they give you his laptop and his profile is still there!
                      I prefer to think of the ski holday and nice things the other guy is probably enjoying...

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X