The tough interview questions.
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I have a smattering of many languages, so I am not too bad, but I was in Greece and overheard an English couple asking for the toilet. The Bar Owner, who did speak some English, pointed to a sign and said it was "Over there". Their response? "Well, that sign that says Toilet doesn't look right, I know it is in foreign gibberish, but it has too many letters to even stand for TOILET" I hid my head in shame and apologised for my countrymen as I left!
------------------------------------ In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms. Stephen J Gould
When I was vising Amsterdam, I watched a New Yorker pull out a picture and explain that it was a picture of sky scrapers which are really tall buildings that they have where he lives. :doh:
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
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I find that is the most embarrassing thing about being British. Those Brits that go abroad, only eat English food, and moan when the locals don't speak English. :sigh:
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs." ~ Anon "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" ~ Albert Einstein Just finished reading: 'The Greatest Show on Earth', by Richard Dawkins; superb book.
I visited Scotland last year and met up with some (English, Irish and Scottish) friends. All they wanted to eat was Chinese Buffet and Indian (curry). The only native food I had was some really crap (soggy) fish and chips and the "Traditional" Scottish Brekkie I had at the Port Inn. Breakfast wasn't bad eggs, toast, ham, bacon, haggis!! All delish. The Irish guy wouldn't even eat the black pudding. He says I don't like my black pudding rare. :omg: Honestly it was really thick and if you pressed it with your fork it weeped blood! :wtf: X| The whisky and the :beer: was great though!:thumbsup:
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I wanted to explain this, but he (the English fellow) was a big bugger. At 6'1" I am fairly tall, but he was much bigger than me, so I figured pointing out his immense thickness was probably not a good idea!
------------------------------------ In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms. Stephen J Gould
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After being asked some very basic stuff about C# and SQL Server, even some basic C++ stuff, they hit me with tough ones, like, "What drives you?", "Are you a people's person? Help me understand why you said yes.", etc. My last three, sparse, interviews were more technical grillings, which I find easy. I supposed I'm just not used to this.
Brady Kelly wrote:
"What drives you?"
Money. What drives your company?
Brady Kelly wrote:
"Are you a people's person?"
Depends on the people.
Brady Kelly wrote:
"Help me understand why you said yes."
Refresh my memory, what was the question I said yes to? Actually I hate it when they start playing those games, so I usually do a pre-emptive strike. Somewhere at the beginning I ask why, since they've already seen my qualifications, do they think I should consider working for them. If they can't give me a good answer, there's no point in going much further.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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I find that is the most embarrassing thing about being British. Those Brits that go abroad, only eat English food, and moan when the locals don't speak English. :sigh:
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs." ~ Anon "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" ~ Albert Einstein Just finished reading: 'The Greatest Show on Earth', by Richard Dawkins; superb book.
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I visited Scotland last year and met up with some (English, Irish and Scottish) friends. All they wanted to eat was Chinese Buffet and Indian (curry). The only native food I had was some really crap (soggy) fish and chips and the "Traditional" Scottish Brekkie I had at the Port Inn. Breakfast wasn't bad eggs, toast, ham, bacon, haggis!! All delish. The Irish guy wouldn't even eat the black pudding. He says I don't like my black pudding rare. :omg: Honestly it was really thick and if you pressed it with your fork it weeped blood! :wtf: X| The whisky and the :beer: was great though!:thumbsup:
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After being asked some very basic stuff about C# and SQL Server, even some basic C++ stuff, they hit me with tough ones, like, "What drives you?", "Are you a people's person? Help me understand why you said yes.", etc. My last three, sparse, interviews were more technical grillings, which I find easy. I supposed I'm just not used to this.
Brady Kelly wrote:
"What drives you?"
My wife. Duh. You think I drive myself anywhere? That's her job, oh and being pregnant and barefoot. That and the unstoppable homicidal rage quietly evaluating everyone I meet to see if they meet a high enough standard for me to think they deserve to live. Usually HR people are right below rats. I poison rats.
Brady Kelly wrote:
"Are you a people's person?
No, given the opportunity I much prefer the company of chain saws, bone saws and exsanguination machines. Though usually I do want people to be around for this. hmmm... Alright, I am a people's person. They just have to be bound in saran wrap and in a plastic lined room on the table. So what are you doing at, oh, say , seven tonight?
Brady Kelly wrote:
Help me understand why you said yes
Because if I said no you wouldn't give me the job, dolt. Yeesh, you act like you don't do this song and dance with every person and they don't jump through hoops answering how they THINK you want them to so they can get 3 meals a day and a roof over their head. Have you been out there Mr./Ms. HR Person? The market sucks, people are willing to take anything and if this paid well enough I would be willing to chop people into manageable bits for a meat packing plant. Wait, I like doing that. Well, it'd be a bonus. So, you never answered me on what you are doing at seven...
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Ah, probably a good call then. I hear people don't really like you coming up to them and pointing out their stupidity.
- Rob
Happens in the VB Forum all the time! :)
------------------------------------ In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms. Stephen J Gould
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Joe Simes wrote:
English, Irish and Scottish
Am I the only one who read that as the start to a joke? :D Might just be an English thing as the Englishman always comes out on top in the ones I've heard :D
- Rob
The start of the joke was when this American stepped off the plane in Edinburgh and my Irish friend met me at the gate with a Starbucks coffee in hand. I had a red eye flight from Boston/New York to Auld Reekie and I couldn't sleep on the plane. I believe that Starbucks was the only non-alcoholic liquid to pass my lips the whole three days!! 15 minutes later we were in Leith at the Port Inn drinking Strong Bow because it was before noon! ;)
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Dalek Dave wrote:
loudly and slowly
In the same tone, as an Englishman, you use abroad if you are talking to someone and they have the cheek not to have learnt English?
- Rob
It is coincidentally a UK based company, Johnson Matthey.
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Brady Kelly wrote:
"What drives you?"
Challenge, change, the ability to make a difference in the company, ...
Brady Kelly wrote:
"Are you a people's person?"
Are you easey to get along with, what do your colleagues say? If your not that easy, don't worry, most people that are not easy just have a special way of how they like being handled, find out what yours is.
V.
Stop smoking so you can: Enjoy longer the money you save. Moviereview ArchiveI understood the questions. :doh: They're just difficult to answer, because I seldom need to describe and quantify things that 'are just me'.
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Brady Kelly wrote:
"What drives you?"
Money. What drives your company?
Brady Kelly wrote:
"Are you a people's person?"
Depends on the people.
Brady Kelly wrote:
"Help me understand why you said yes."
Refresh my memory, what was the question I said yes to? Actually I hate it when they start playing those games, so I usually do a pre-emptive strike. Somewhere at the beginning I ask why, since they've already seen my qualifications, do they think I should consider working for them. If they can't give me a good answer, there's no point in going much further.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
Walt Fair, Jr. wrote:
since they've already seen my qualifications
Maybe this was the right time to cut them some slack. They had a pro-forma CV drafted by the recruiter, on which I was very surprised to learn that I had begun reading for a BCom Informatics, and stopped at some point. I confidently told them I am only currently (resuming next year) with an LLB, and with my Datametrics (ridiculous name, CS and IS) diploma I require no further education in the IT field. I demonstrated this by giving close-on-textbook answers when asked to describe a queue and a binary tree. I also felt quite chuffed when the bird asked when does one use indexing. Every time you have a primary key of course.
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Brady Kelly wrote:
"What drives you?"
My wife. Duh. You think I drive myself anywhere? That's her job, oh and being pregnant and barefoot. That and the unstoppable homicidal rage quietly evaluating everyone I meet to see if they meet a high enough standard for me to think they deserve to live. Usually HR people are right below rats. I poison rats.
Brady Kelly wrote:
"Are you a people's person?
No, given the opportunity I much prefer the company of chain saws, bone saws and exsanguination machines. Though usually I do want people to be around for this. hmmm... Alright, I am a people's person. They just have to be bound in saran wrap and in a plastic lined room on the table. So what are you doing at, oh, say , seven tonight?
Brady Kelly wrote:
Help me understand why you said yes
Because if I said no you wouldn't give me the job, dolt. Yeesh, you act like you don't do this song and dance with every person and they don't jump through hoops answering how they THINK you want them to so they can get 3 meals a day and a roof over their head. Have you been out there Mr./Ms. HR Person? The market sucks, people are willing to take anything and if this paid well enough I would be willing to chop people into manageable bits for a meat packing plant. Wait, I like doing that. Well, it'd be a bonus. So, you never answered me on what you are doing at seven...
ragnaroknrol wrote:
The market sucks
The market here is quite alive and well and signing placement commissions at quite a rate.
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After being asked some very basic stuff about C# and SQL Server, even some basic C++ stuff, they hit me with tough ones, like, "What drives you?", "Are you a people's person? Help me understand why you said yes.", etc. My last three, sparse, interviews were more technical grillings, which I find easy. I supposed I'm just not used to this.
Brady Kelly wrote:
they hit me with tough ones, like, "What drives you?", "Are you a people's person? Help me understand why you said yes.", etc.
Just reply: "Sorry, I thought this was a development position, I have no experience in HR."
xacc.ide
IronScheme - 1.0 RC 1 - out now!
((λ (x) `(,x ',x)) '(λ (x) `(,x ',x))) The Scheme Programming Language – Fourth Edition -
After being asked some very basic stuff about C# and SQL Server, even some basic C++ stuff, they hit me with tough ones, like, "What drives you?", "Are you a people's person? Help me understand why you said yes.", etc. My last three, sparse, interviews were more technical grillings, which I find easy. I supposed I'm just not used to this.
Brady Kelly wrote:
What drives you?
The voices in my head.
Gary Kirkham Forever Forgiven and Alive in the Spirit The men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen." Me blog, You read
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After being asked some very basic stuff about C# and SQL Server, even some basic C++ stuff, they hit me with tough ones, like, "What drives you?", "Are you a people's person? Help me understand why you said yes.", etc. My last three, sparse, interviews were more technical grillings, which I find easy. I supposed I'm just not used to this.
Brady Kelly wrote:
"What drives you?",
"Nothing drives me, however I usually drive my car." :-D
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles] -
I find that is the most embarrassing thing about being British. Those Brits that go abroad, only eat English food, and moan when the locals don't speak English. :sigh:
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs." ~ Anon "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" ~ Albert Einstein Just finished reading: 'The Greatest Show on Earth', by Richard Dawkins; superb book.
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After being asked some very basic stuff about C# and SQL Server, even some basic C++ stuff, they hit me with tough ones, like, "What drives you?", "Are you a people's person? Help me understand why you said yes.", etc. My last three, sparse, interviews were more technical grillings, which I find easy. I supposed I'm just not used to this.
I did one interview and it was all questions like: tell us about a conflict you had at work, and, if you get told to do something a certain way, and you know a better way, what do you do ? I figured they failed the interview.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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After being asked some very basic stuff about C# and SQL Server, even some basic C++ stuff, they hit me with tough ones, like, "What drives you?", "Are you a people's person? Help me understand why you said yes.", etc. My last three, sparse, interviews were more technical grillings, which I find easy. I supposed I'm just not used to this.
They're probing to see if you will bend over for all their wishes, including unpaid overtime every week.
-- Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit
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I understood the questions. :doh: They're just difficult to answer, because I seldom need to describe and quantify things that 'are just me'.
I agree. I find it uncomfortable talking about myself (the real me) with someone I have just said "Hello, can I work for you?" to. It's not like the employer and employee is going to marry and build a family.
-- Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit