Hiring
Kodak Vancouver is hiring a Usability Engineer (update: the link now points to the job posting). That means my team is finally growing — doubling in size, even!
Hiring is tricky business and, because this is an important position, we want to make the right choice the first time. At the same time, I know that a candidate’s life is not easy, either.
So, what are your best and worst interview experiences (either has the hiring manager or as the candidate)?
January 19th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Ah, I’ll jump in here. Has nothing to do with this situation, but many, many moons ago I was working for a company that opened a new branch. The VP of the company told the new Branch Manager that he should hire me for branch administrator, a pretty muckity-muck position.
The BM (apropos) decides to interview people, instead. Fine. One day, I’m in my office, sick as a dog, wearing my “fat clothes” because I feel so bloody awful – I’m snotty, sneezy, red-nosed, white as a ghost and generally scary to be around. BM comes in and asks me to pop into his office. ‘Kay. I grab a pad, thinking he’s got things for me to do. I enter his office, sit down, and the bastard starts interviewing me, right then and there. No warning, no notice, and most importantly, NO RESUME.
He chose not to hire me for the position. Instead, I was assigned to his branch to do my same job, he hired someone unbelievably unqualified (we were a computer consulting agency and I had to show the person how to turn on her computer) (oh, and who lied on her resume, because she claimed computer experience) and then ordered me to train her. If I’d had any dignity at all, I would have walked out on him and let *him* figure out how to train this person in a job he had no idea about himself.
Alas, as we all know, I have none.
Hey, congrats on that team growth!
January 20th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
I’m writing on behalf of U. for this one. He had an interview for an audiovisual job at a chiropractic college. After asking him why he wanted the job he gave a standard answer. One of them made the joke,
“So it’s not because you have a bad back?”
U. then made what he thought to an appropriate comeback of, “No, but my girlfriend does.” (I do.)
All of the interviewers then shook their heads and groaned with distaste as though U. had just made a horribly offensive sexual innuendo.
We never could figure out what they thought he mant.