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  3. I hate phone interviews

I hate phone interviews

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  • N Nagy Vilmos

    I fully understand the time and cost perspective, but my gripe is that the phone-interviews are getting longer and more in-depth. I think they should use the phone call to make the decision if the candidate is suitable, and then a face-to-face to decide on the personality fit.

    Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

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    Rob Philpott
    wrote on last edited by
    #8

    That is what it is for the most part in my experience. StringBuilder - tick. Garbage Collection - tick. IDisposable - tick. Value vs. Reference type - tick. Wow, you really know your stuff let's do a face to face.

    Regards, Rob Philpott.

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    • R Rob Philpott

      That is what it is for the most part in my experience. StringBuilder - tick. Garbage Collection - tick. IDisposable - tick. Value vs. Reference type - tick. Wow, you really know your stuff let's do a face to face.

      Regards, Rob Philpott.

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      Nagy Vilmos
      wrote on last edited by
      #9

      This is as a deelopment/project mananger, So it'll be "Sprint, Burndown, Backlog, Review" - "Wow! You really know Agile!" Bow locks.

      Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

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      • R Rob Philpott

        That is what it is for the most part in my experience. StringBuilder - tick. Garbage Collection - tick. IDisposable - tick. Value vs. Reference type - tick. Wow, you really know your stuff let's do a face to face.

        Regards, Rob Philpott.

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        Lost User
        wrote on last edited by
        #10

        Rob Philpott wrote:

        Value vs. Reference type - tick.

        And then ask about pass-by-reference :)

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        • N Nagy Vilmos

          I have a phone interview this afternoon for a job. They're a good well known company and I think my skills are what they're looking for. The job is reasonably local, a 20 minute, and offers flexible hours. What I don't like is this tendency to have big interviews by phone because you can't fully judge the other person[s] reaction. Both from their perspective and mine, the body language is lost and so only the voice can give a clue of the under currents. Don't misunderstand me, having a 20 minute call to check suitability is fine, but then I really think the interviews should be face to face. In this case one interviewer is overseas, but Shirley I could go and have the interview with one at their office and have the other call in. Anyway, I am diligently researching their product line and trying to read between the lines on the job specification. Fun, fun, fun.

          Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

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          Septimus Hedgehog
          wrote on last edited by
          #11

          I did one of those about two years ago. After it finished, I did some further research on the firm and came across a photo of one of the directors who according to the firms website describes him "as the legendary programmer". I'm glad it was by phone because when I saw his photo I couldn't help but laugh so a one-to-one might have distracted me. He was, to use the acronym some doctor's have used in their patient's notes, an FLK (Funny Looking Kid). Good luck on yours. Why would you want to take Shirley to the interview? ;)

          If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.

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          • N Nagy Vilmos

            I have a phone interview this afternoon for a job. They're a good well known company and I think my skills are what they're looking for. The job is reasonably local, a 20 minute, and offers flexible hours. What I don't like is this tendency to have big interviews by phone because you can't fully judge the other person[s] reaction. Both from their perspective and mine, the body language is lost and so only the voice can give a clue of the under currents. Don't misunderstand me, having a 20 minute call to check suitability is fine, but then I really think the interviews should be face to face. In this case one interviewer is overseas, but Shirley I could go and have the interview with one at their office and have the other call in. Anyway, I am diligently researching their product line and trying to read between the lines on the job specification. Fun, fun, fun.

            Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

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            Tim Carmichael
            wrote on last edited by
            #12

            For the last two positions I've held, both were obtained with phone interviews. The first one, I was living in Canada, position was in the U.S. - two hour interview; one hour with developers at the site; one hour with the recruiting firm. Stayed at that position for almost 13 years. Current position, 30 minute interview (company was local to me so it could have been onsite, but phone suited all of our needs). Interview was technical in nature: in depth knowledge of the product suite to be used. Have been here for almost 2 years. So, they can have value and have worked well for me. Tim

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            • R Ranjan D

              Yep you are right.. the phone interview should be short not more than 30min to understand the candidate and see whether she/he gets suited for their requirement. Thanks,

              Ranjan.D

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              Septimus Hedgehog
              wrote on last edited by
              #13

              Ranjan.D wrote:

              short not more than 30min

              Should be, but often isn't. One agency arranged one for me that took about 90 minutes on the dog-and-bone and I was only 15km from the office. Why the goons didn't tell me to go there I don't know. After the interview the pratt wanted to see some code samples so I sent some. I didn't get the job so I emailed the firm asking them to please delete them. The agency called me back saying the firm was not impressed with the email. It wasn't unreasonable as the code samples did have IP value so it was reasonable they shouldn't benefit from my time spent on them.

              If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.

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              • N Nagy Vilmos

                I have a phone interview this afternoon for a job. They're a good well known company and I think my skills are what they're looking for. The job is reasonably local, a 20 minute, and offers flexible hours. What I don't like is this tendency to have big interviews by phone because you can't fully judge the other person[s] reaction. Both from their perspective and mine, the body language is lost and so only the voice can give a clue of the under currents. Don't misunderstand me, having a 20 minute call to check suitability is fine, but then I really think the interviews should be face to face. In this case one interviewer is overseas, but Shirley I could go and have the interview with one at their office and have the other call in. Anyway, I am diligently researching their product line and trying to read between the lines on the job specification. Fun, fun, fun.

                Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

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                M Offline
                Mark_Wallace
                wrote on last edited by
                #14

                It all stems from that BBC thing a few years ago, where they "proved" that it's easier to tell if someone's lying, over the phone. HR types obviously think they're too good at lying for anyone to catch them out.

                I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

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                • R Ranjan D

                  Not sure about your case but what I have seen so far with phone interviews is , If one sounds technically good , the interviewer will look forward to have a face to face round and that will be scheduled next. No company would like to spend time in face to face discussion unless they get pleased in phone interview. Thanks,

                  Ranjan.D

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                  Lost User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #15

                  Ranjan.D wrote:

                  No company would like to spend time in face to face discussion unless they get pleased in phone interview.

                  I've worked for more than five companies, in over ten years. Never, never did I do a telephone interview.

                  Ranjan.D wrote:

                  If one sounds technically good , the interviewer will look forward to have a face to face round and that will be scheduled next.

                  Aw, fes, that simply means that the interviewer didn't prepare, didn't do his homework - and that's where the interview ends. If he did his homework, he would know whether or not it'd be worth the time to do a f2f-conversation. Not only is there a resume and previous work that can be judged, but his work is even easier nowadays thanks to internet.

                  Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

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                  • N Nagy Vilmos

                    I have a phone interview this afternoon for a job. They're a good well known company and I think my skills are what they're looking for. The job is reasonably local, a 20 minute, and offers flexible hours. What I don't like is this tendency to have big interviews by phone because you can't fully judge the other person[s] reaction. Both from their perspective and mine, the body language is lost and so only the voice can give a clue of the under currents. Don't misunderstand me, having a 20 minute call to check suitability is fine, but then I really think the interviews should be face to face. In this case one interviewer is overseas, but Shirley I could go and have the interview with one at their office and have the other call in. Anyway, I am diligently researching their product line and trying to read between the lines on the job specification. Fun, fun, fun.

                    Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

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                    ednrg
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #16

                    I do phone interviews to get a general feel for a candidate. The reason being that I have wasted a ton of time in face to face interviews with people that I wondered if they knew how to turn on a PC, let alone do any programming. If the short phone screen goes well, we bring the candidate in for a face to face interview. It has saved me about 15 scheduled face to face interviews, by eliminating the people that bloat their resumes and have no substance to back it up.

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                    • N Nagy Vilmos

                      I have a phone interview this afternoon for a job. They're a good well known company and I think my skills are what they're looking for. The job is reasonably local, a 20 minute, and offers flexible hours. What I don't like is this tendency to have big interviews by phone because you can't fully judge the other person[s] reaction. Both from their perspective and mine, the body language is lost and so only the voice can give a clue of the under currents. Don't misunderstand me, having a 20 minute call to check suitability is fine, but then I really think the interviews should be face to face. In this case one interviewer is overseas, but Shirley I could go and have the interview with one at their office and have the other call in. Anyway, I am diligently researching their product line and trying to read between the lines on the job specification. Fun, fun, fun.

                      Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

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                      SoMad
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #17

                      During my recent unemployment phase, I interviewed with five companies (and engaged countless recruiters). Four of the companies initiated the process with a Skype interview and the fifth company had me doing two phone interviews the first day. I don't mind the Skype interviews, but straight phone interviews are not my bag either. :^) Soren Madsen

                      "When you don't know what you're doing it's best to do it quickly" - Jase #DuckDynasty

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