Strangest person you have interviewed ?
Discussion
PHs is being funky and throwing up a forbiden message when I try to respond.
In response;
Tim used to be my manager. When he left, I took over and discovered a trail of immoral practices which explained why some fantastic employees were perceived to be failing. Tim was also the trigger for a special training from HR about bonus pay outs.This is because he would give $1 bonuses so you would be insulted with a pay check. The $0 bonus would no have a pay check.. He boasted about this.
Tim called me.........I was hesitant to respond. He told me about the role and he said he would "wine me and dine me. Fly me first class all the way". I offered to drive instead. Well, Tim insisted on flying me but instead of the direct flight which takes no time at all, he had me flying around America to save a couple of Dollars. This meant, I had to get up at the crack of dawn and get home after my kids were in bed.
Tim decided to pick me up from the airport. That was again to save money. The joke being my car was fully expensed so would have been free.
I meet the CEO, he is not the CEO. He is responsible for the Americas and not global. Some companies have CEOs for divisions. A practice I do not agree with but accept. This guy was not that. He was however a monster prick. I had a group interview with the COO, who happens to be the wife of the "CEO". This is not a small company. It is a large Private international company so I have no idea how they were getting away with these games. For the removal of doubt, very soon afterwards his wife was no longer at the company and he first had CEO taken away from him (this may have been due to me sending an email questioning his credentials. It could have been coincidence we may never know) and then he was fired.
The "COO" kept asking me questions about how I treat women. It was odd. I ended up telling her that I was appropriately trained to treat everyone with respect and equality. I had experience with handling difficult and sensitive situations and can help them navigate these challenges.
She walked out. Then the CEO walked out.
I was left with 3-4 people still so I helped them wrap up the group session. After that, I had a final interview with Tim. He presented me with a test about the correct symbols for things like capacitors. I suggested it probably wasn't suited to an executive level interview but he said they all did it. I finished it and he marked it in front of me. That's when he asked
"What is your biggest weakness?"
But, it was the second time I had been asked it that day. Clearly, someone was not listening to me the first time. I made sure it was the last question they asked me as my full response was
"pointing out s
t interview questions that offer no value. I know I am not taking this role so please let me know who you take in the end because I am curious. Lunch?"
Remember though, we knew each other so he chuckled.
After that we went to a Bass Pro shop for the Wine and Dine portion. Bass Pro shop is also the place where you can buy guns, boats and everything else outdoor. The restaurant is attached and has an aquarium the size of the English channel The food is surprisingly good for being attached to an outdoor sports shop. Tim was still trying to sell me on the job at lunch. He told me how we would be in at the start. Ground up. Think of the equity. We could be rich. No Tim, it was a fiercely private company and there was no chance of them sharing any of the money. After lunch he offered to drive me around the area to see what kind of house I could afford. I declined and got dropped off at the airport where I spent nearly as much time waiting for my plane as it would have taken to drive home. I even watched the direct flight take off.
Tim was pushed into another division and has some low rent job now. He checks my LinkedIn profile every now and then.
The greatest part of all this is that I had prepared a presentation. I had made an effort (this still annoys me). I made the mistake of leaving a paper copy with them and soon discovered it as part of their marketing literature on their site.
In response;
Countdown said:
If you knew you weren't going to accept the job why waste your time and theirs in continuing to answer questions (silly or otherwise)? Why not simply say "Thanks for your time. I don't think this is the role I thought it would be"? Or carry on answering in short answers just to be courteous?
I had time......the plane he booked was incredibly inconvenient and meant I was going to get back home very late for no reason other than to save a couple of dollars.Countdown said:
With respect I think the above response risks an equally insulting/arrogant counter response. Whilst you may not have liked that particular role or interviewer you've then pretty much ruled yourself out of any future opportunities with that particular organisation. There's also a risk that in certain industries where people talk to other people and you get ruled out for other opportunities without even knowing why.
I acknowledge, I did not provide any context and it would be impossible to understand the situation I was in. The first critical piece I did not provide is that I knew the interviewer, lets call him "Tim" (because that is his real name). This should have been my first red flag and I should have not picked up the phone when he asked me to meet with the CEO. The opportunity sounded too good to pass up though so I thought I would give it a try.Tim used to be my manager. When he left, I took over and discovered a trail of immoral practices which explained why some fantastic employees were perceived to be failing. Tim was also the trigger for a special training from HR about bonus pay outs.This is because he would give $1 bonuses so you would be insulted with a pay check. The $0 bonus would no have a pay check.. He boasted about this.
Tim called me.........I was hesitant to respond. He told me about the role and he said he would "wine me and dine me. Fly me first class all the way". I offered to drive instead. Well, Tim insisted on flying me but instead of the direct flight which takes no time at all, he had me flying around America to save a couple of Dollars. This meant, I had to get up at the crack of dawn and get home after my kids were in bed.
Tim decided to pick me up from the airport. That was again to save money. The joke being my car was fully expensed so would have been free.
I meet the CEO, he is not the CEO. He is responsible for the Americas and not global. Some companies have CEOs for divisions. A practice I do not agree with but accept. This guy was not that. He was however a monster prick. I had a group interview with the COO, who happens to be the wife of the "CEO". This is not a small company. It is a large Private international company so I have no idea how they were getting away with these games. For the removal of doubt, very soon afterwards his wife was no longer at the company and he first had CEO taken away from him (this may have been due to me sending an email questioning his credentials. It could have been coincidence we may never know) and then he was fired.
The "COO" kept asking me questions about how I treat women. It was odd. I ended up telling her that I was appropriately trained to treat everyone with respect and equality. I had experience with handling difficult and sensitive situations and can help them navigate these challenges.
She walked out. Then the CEO walked out.
I was left with 3-4 people still so I helped them wrap up the group session. After that, I had a final interview with Tim. He presented me with a test about the correct symbols for things like capacitors. I suggested it probably wasn't suited to an executive level interview but he said they all did it. I finished it and he marked it in front of me. That's when he asked
"What is your biggest weakness?"
But, it was the second time I had been asked it that day. Clearly, someone was not listening to me the first time. I made sure it was the last question they asked me as my full response was
"pointing out s
t interview questions that offer no value. I know I am not taking this role so please let me know who you take in the end because I am curious. Lunch?"Remember though, we knew each other so he chuckled.
After that we went to a Bass Pro shop for the Wine and Dine portion. Bass Pro shop is also the place where you can buy guns, boats and everything else outdoor. The restaurant is attached and has an aquarium the size of the English channel The food is surprisingly good for being attached to an outdoor sports shop. Tim was still trying to sell me on the job at lunch. He told me how we would be in at the start. Ground up. Think of the equity. We could be rich. No Tim, it was a fiercely private company and there was no chance of them sharing any of the money. After lunch he offered to drive me around the area to see what kind of house I could afford. I declined and got dropped off at the airport where I spent nearly as much time waiting for my plane as it would have taken to drive home. I even watched the direct flight take off.
Tim was pushed into another division and has some low rent job now. He checks my LinkedIn profile every now and then.
The greatest part of all this is that I had prepared a presentation. I had made an effort (this still annoys me). I made the mistake of leaving a paper copy with them and soon discovered it as part of their marketing literature on their site.
Countdown said:
Interviews shouldn't be dick-swinging contests.
I totally agree. I have invested an lot of time into researching how to interview effectively because I have been submitted to some awful experiences. But, Tim deserved a big F@ck you!
ClaphamGT3 said:
Mrs Clapham used to work in Corporate HR for M&S. Like all M&S grads, she had to start off working in the retail business - albeit doing HR.
She has some truly amazing anecdotes but the weirdest/saddest was the poor woman who keeled over and died during an interview
My wife has worked for M&S for 15 years, according to her that interviewee had a lucky escape. She has some truly amazing anecdotes but the weirdest/saddest was the poor woman who keeled over and died during an interview
Maybe retail work (even if furloughed) requires gallows humour to get through it these days.
mini me said:
h0b0 said:
That’s why I posted the short version originally.
I’m a chemical engineer by education and have my head in the clouds professionally.
Coke producer? I’m a chemical engineer by education and have my head in the clouds professionally.
illmonkey said:
Munter said:
illmonkey said:
I went for a entry level web developer, looking for people interested in starting a job in that industry, no previous experience required etc. After a few questions, he handed me a pencil and some paper and asked me to write a website out by hand. Whilst I had done several basic sites in dreamweaver I was no way able to write from scratch! I can't imagine many professionals could do so either.
Wouldn't they have just wanted something like:<html>
<head>
<title>My Title Text</title>
</head>
<body>
The rest of the page contents
</body>
</html>
E.g. checking you had the vaguest idea of how HTML uses tags.
However if someone had given me, even at the absolute height of my talent, a blank screen and asked me to write from scratch a simple cobol program I would not have been able to do it - I never knew which way round all the Organization and division stuff went, you never start off with a blank screen, you always just grab a previous job and strip out the stuff you don’t want. I’m still the same now with a lot of Java or sql; I often have to look up exact syntax for lesser used stuff.
It was a scenario I always dreaded at interview, but luckily it never happened.
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