Interview

[OwlHoot]

I was asked once during the interview:

"So tell us why you find cable/connector design exciting"

I knew I was out of the game when I could not suppress the big grin coming to the surface, the harder I tried the worse it got. It's like having a full salute during my quantum loop gravity presentation, just what do you do?

I thought loop quantum gravity had hit a brick wall and was going nowhere. Even John Baez, who at one time was a big fan/optimist admitted feeling a bit disillusioned with it now, and fanatical string theorist Lubos Motl never misses an opportunity to scoff at it!

 

[chris79]

I was sent a pre-interview pack, which I have to say is the biggest pre-interview pack I've ever set my eyes on. To properly prepare for it (no exaggeration) was like 4-6 hours work in itself. To be fair the job and company are up there near the top so I guess it was a case of how badly did I want it. I spent about 3 hours preparing last night but I woke up today feeling a bit jaded by it all and just felt I couldn't go in there and put on the show they wanted.

Sitting with the head of IT and another top guy being asked to justify my career so far felt intrusive and undermining. I knew from the first question "what do you know about us" they wanted to check whether I'd done my homework and studied the pack. The way to present myself was left up to me to decide, at one stage they asked me to hurry up on a part I was covering.. this was pretty hard in itself as some of the stuff was like 5-10yrs ago and they wanted intricate details of what, why, who, etc.. I guess equally if I'd not gone into enough detail that would have been the flip-side issue.

Just feeling a bit ****ed off with the whole interview/begging for a job situation right now. I've been doing a small bit of plan-B the past few weeks and starting to get some business in through it, I think I might just start going on this full-time, 2 months of agents/interviews/clients in a saturated market has got me to the point where I just can't be bothered to battle the w**kers anymore.

I'll probably wake up tomorrow and crack on as normal most likely. Having a bad day lol.

 

[BrowneIssue]

Just feeling a bit ****ed off

Seek evidence of there being a god in a few pints of best bitter.

Full of B vitamins, lots of luvverly energy for your tired brain cells, a subtle depressant component to help you stop fretting and a mildly sedative effect to help you sleep.

Beer. It's nature's way of helping you cope with each day.

 

[swamp]

There's a slight irony in that being good at interviews means you have done lots of them, which means you've chopped and changed jobs a lot.

 

[suityou01]

Had an interview today (for a perm job), and it went utterly sh*t.

Can't be bothered going into detail, but half way through my mind just went blank and I was struggling to 'perform' on the questions being asked. I also had to stop the interview and ask for a glass of water 10 mins in as my mouth decided to go dry and I felt like I was about to collapse or walk out (I don't normally suffer from this and was particularly annoyed that my body decided to fail me).

It was one of those interviews where it was pretty much "describe your career and tell us why it links in to the job you are here for" where you have to do 90% of the thinking and talking, and today just wasn't the day for me to do that.

Dude, I take it your still benched? Sorry to hear that mate. This week my mailbox has really hotted up, lots of stuff on the go contract wise. Doesn't matter to me as I started a new gig this Monday, but I just wanted to let you know that I have noticed signs of life in the contract market. You said once before in another thread that you could be flexible about location so I would be suprised if something didn't roll in soon.

Keep uploading your cv to the job sites daily, even if you only change a space. This seems to help with getting calls.

The sites I use are

jobserve
planetrecruit
monster
jobsite
reed

and one other, techrecruit or somesuch.

Most calls come in through monster, as the pimps prefer this as its cheaper for them to find CVs. Most gigs are posted on jobserve though.

Also, I would jobserve throughout the day, and you tended to notice if one original gig was been copied by other pimps, How many .Net developer positions in Reading needing experience of SAP, ASP, VB6 and being a fluent speaker of mandarin can there be?

I would shortlist the jobs that mean the most too you and look the most real. Then create one CV for each one, tailored to the job description. Then submit the CV, and immdediately call the pimp to discuss the role.

BEFORE the put you forward, make sure you have agreed terms on whether you are opted out or not. This is bugging the hell out of me on my new gig.

The pimp did not agree terms, submitted my CV withought seeking permission and is now claiming that as I failed to opt out before he submitted my CV I have opted in by default. Its with my lawyer as we speak.

I know I am preaching to the converted, but after months on the bench standards slip, each day blurs into the next and you can get into a jobseeking rut which does you no favours. Short sharp pulling up of the socks and all will click into place.

Get onto the tek-tips forums and go and lend a hand with some of the code monkeys on there. Rewarding to solve problems for people and keeps your mind razor sharp and skills in use.

All the best mate. 3 gigs will come along soon and the problem will be which one to pick.

 

[shoes]

Sounds like they think a lot of themselves, you're probably better off not working there.

Don't forget as well as them checking you out, you are also there to see if you actually want to work there. An 'interview pack' and an expectation of a performing monkey begging for the honour of making money for them would have me onto the next application immediately without having to waste the petrol going to the site.

 

[chris79]

Sounds like they think a lot of themselves, you're probably better off not working there.

Don't forget as well as them checking you out, you are also there to see if you actually want to work there. An 'interview pack' and an expectation of a performing monkey begging for the honour of making money for them would have me onto the next application immediately without having to waste the petrol going to the site.

Haha, that cheered me up cheers!

To be honest when I got the pack through last week I was very close to just saying "sorry this is a joke" and pulling out. It was my other half who persuaded me not to pass up an opportunity, even if it was just interview experience.

Thanks for all the replies anyway some useful info in there too, I just felt like getting it off my chest and sharing my sad story with you all.

 

[swamp]

Haha, that cheered me up cheers!

To be honest when I got the pack through last week I was very close to just saying "sorry this is a joke" and pulling out. It was my other half who persuaded me not to pass up an opportunity, even if it was just interview experience.

Thanks for all the replies anyway some useful info in there too, I just felt like getting it off my chest and sharing my sad story with you all.

You should have sent them a 'candidate pack'.

 

[chris79]

BEFORE the put you forward, make sure you have agreed terms on whether you are opted out or not. This is bugging the hell out of me on my new gig.

The pimp did not agree terms, submitted my CV withought seeking permission and is now claiming that as I failed to opt out before he submitted my CV I have opted in by default. Its with my lawyer as we speak.

I should really know the answer to this but I don't, but what are the implications of this exactly?

 

[darmstadt]

I was sent a pre-interview pack, which I have to say is the biggest pre-interview pack I've ever set my eyes on.

WTF is a 'pre-interview pack?'

The closest I ever came to anything like what I think it is, is when I was a school leaver and applying to aompanies and they would send you some bumpf about themselves. Wouldn't expect that for a seasoned pro...