Wednesday, February 3, 2021

HR And Recruiters Share Job Candidates' Biggest Mistakes


This enlightening AskReddit thread about job candidates' biggest mistakes during the hiring process can basically serve as a guide for anyone going through the hiring process themselves, on what to absolutely avoid at all costs. Trying to lock down a new gig can be a grueling endeavor, and certainly one marked by errors that you don't even know you're making in the first place. So, take some of this knowledge with you for the next time you're trying to get a new job. And if this thread got you going, check out another recent thread we ran about the biggest red flags that people got during the hiring process

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Font - Seemose • 9h 3 1 Award I was interviewing someone who had previously worked at the American embassy in his home country. The language barrier was very difficult and he was having a tough time with the interview. Part way through, he showed me some certificates he received from the embassy job, as awards for good work. The conversation then went like this: Me: Can you tell me the story about some of these awards? Him: Huh? Me: l'd like to know why you received these awards. Maybe you can p

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Font - mkaibear • 10h 2 Awards Friend of a friend (call him Bob for short) got a job despite not being the best "qualified" candidate. Down to the final two for a teaching job, there was Bob who was a solid, unremarkable candidate. Clearly good enough for the role but nothing special about him.as a candidate... and then there was Charlie. Charlie was an absolute rock star teacher. Won awards, young dynamic and driven, outstanding teaching demo, just the nicest guy who had glowing references. The

3.

Font - wivsi • 10h 3 2 Awards Had a guy who was a little rough but was looking quite promising for a design role. He blew it with me by saying "I'll turn this company around in 6 weeks" and a few more comments along those lines with a theme of "you are currently messing it up". This is a small successful company. I wanted him to fit in, not "turn us round". G Reply 1 4.7k 3 ...

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Rectangle - lamstillalice · 11h 1 Award When I worked in a bank as a manager, one internal candidate I interviewed put her finger in front of my face while I was talking and said" I'm gonna stop you right there" . I went with the other person who didn't put their finger to my face G Reply 1 5.4k 3 ...

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Font - nashidau • 11h 3 1 Award So many: making comments about getting into an employees skirt as they walked past (also how to get reported to HR before even getting the job). explaining how they took copies of all the companies code home. explaining how they used to work two jobs at once, pretending to work for one from home • explaining how they program games for their playstation with notepad... While being interviewed by programmers for a sales role •telling the interviewer that the problem

6.

Font - reverendmalerik • 7h Had a guy literally SPRINT out of the building. I wasn't the interviewer, I am a web developer, but as we were trying to hire a second developer I was asked to prepare some basic web development questions. These were not hard. These were absolute bare basics babies first code stuff. This guy came in, started interviewing and was apparently doing okay, not fantastic but enough to keep him in consideration. Then he saw that we had a test and he apparently grabbed his ba

7.

Font - Zem_42 · 10h I worked for a big, well known company and we were recruiting interns straight out of college. The questions are more of a get to know you questions, rather than actual knowledge of the work or experience. The company actually gave us a paper with some example questions, like the one below, that we could ask if we ran out of ideas. So it's going pretty well, very bubbly, chatty girl and I have impression she would fit the team. Until: Me: how do you handle multiple deadlines

8.

Font - Emmyisme · 12h Telling me you obviously know more than me and that's why I need to hire you for a position I am the direct supervisor for in the most condescending tone l've ever heard in my almost 15 years of my career. Knowing more than me was required - l'm only in charge of this position because I know more than my bosses about it, but we were looking for someone who specialized in that role. The attitude of "I'm obviously better than you" was not required, and lost him the second int

9.

Rectangle - Ashilta • 9h A guy turned up where I worked oxne for an interview and started giving the receptionist grief because the interviewer was running late. It clearly wasn't her fault and it was entirely unacceptable. The interviewers didn't even bother, just invited him to leave. G Reply 259 •..

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Rectangle - rusalkarusalka · 13h During my first management gig I was sifting through resumes for an internship program we had and one of the candidates printed her resume on pink glittery paper and sprayed it with perfume. I didn't even look at her resume. To this day they probably still find glitter on that desk.

11.

Font - kplatinum777 · 10h I'm not in HR, but I have conducted many, many interviews. For me, it's when candidates divulge what is clearly sensitive information on the part of their existing/previous employer. Don't tell me about how your company is getting ready to release a disruptive new Saas product, even though it hasn't been announced yet. Have some discretion. It means they're a liability, and would continue to be so under our employ. Likewise, it's a "no" from me when I ask a candidate ab

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Font - Dakatos • 15h 3 1 Award Just straight up writing "shreck" onto the contract he was supposed to sign G Reply 564 ...

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Font - shadow125 · 10h I was interviewing an apparently well qualified Senior Project Manager for a major, full time project. She hadn't worked for six months and while that certainly wasn't a deal breaker, I asked "How come you left your last job without another to go to?" She said "Oh had problems with my Manager..." Tiny red flags waving - I asked her to explain... She said, rolling her eyes, "Well he like wanted me to come to work like EVERY day..." I must've looked shocked because she added

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Font - thriftingretail · 6h For a while, I did "secondary" interviews to help out a new store. They'd do the recruiting for candidates and pass on to me the ones they liked best. I'd get some okay results but ONE supervisor had no idea how to shut down a candidate that wasn't suitable. I coached her over and over but she had too soft of a heart (I miss when I had one, pre-retail). This meant I got all kinds of characters. The worst: a candidate who laughed at me. He didn't have an answer for my

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Font - fannyj · 5h Q: On a scale of 1 to 10 how are your C language skills? A: 10 Q: What does i++ do? A: I don't know. G Reply 48 ... +B

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Font - WaterBuffaloGuy • 7h Interviewing for a technical role: "Tell me about a time you took initiative." "I realised our core system had a flaw that could cause the whole company to collapse" "So what did you do about it?" "I told my boss about it" "And then what happened?" "He told me not to worry about it" "So what did you do?" "Nothing, because my boss told me not to worry about it" G Reply 1 64 3 ...

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Font - Westiria123 · 10h I had one dude submit a resume that was: hand written, on crumpled paper that came from a top bound spiral notebook, with frilly edge and all. that went right in the garbage. Probably the one that makes me want to end the interview right away - candidates who brag about their work ethic and punctuality. The ones who tell you they are never late to work, always are. G Reply 90 ...

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