4 ms·

This. I have done hundreds of interviews, and I used to do a very easy, basic comp sci test. The last question I would ask was, "Tell me about a book, cd or mo

This. I have done hundreds of interviews, and I used to do a very easy, basic comp sci test. The last question I would ask was, "Tell me about a book, cd or movie that you've read/listened to/watched that was interesting or excited you." The point was to see if the person was engaging with the universe, not to judge their taste or anything else. You'd be surprised how many people get tripped up by this. The worst answer I ever got was a guy who said the last album he bought was "Free Bird" (which is not an album), and was 40 years old at the time of that utterance. This person could honestly not think of one thing that excited him since then. He also ranted about Object Oriented Programming like it was a brand new thing. The best answer I ever got, was a gentleman who was not the strongest candidate but was clearly intelligent. His answer was, "I know this is not a recent author, but I love Bukowski." And he spoke at length about his novels and poetry, and even was aware that our office was only a few blocks from where one of the pivotal scenes in one of his novels was set, and that after the interview he had actually scheduled some time away from his job to go there. perfect answer In my report to HR, I mentioned that he probably needed to study a little but was quite intelligent, but had fantastic enthusiasm for literature and that he was very engaging. Of course, HR put an immediate stop to the thing with the reasoning that someone could say that their favorite book was the bible, and that could form the basis for a religious discrimination case. After that, I declined to do interviews anymore.

rchaud 7y ago
This scenario of an interviewee answering with the name of a religious text is an interesting point; transparency in interviewing is a two-way street. In a way, I can understand why people get tripped up on the "casual/lifestyle" question. Interviewees may not think of it as a casual question, but rather another question to weed out the desirables from the undesirables. So people may censor themselves or their honest beliefs because they want the job. Which is a position I totally understand.
justforyou 7y ago
So now that person likely thinks that the reason they did not get hired was because of talking about Bukowski. Also, why did you even mention the enthusiasm for literature bit to HR?
orangecat 7y ago
The point was to see if the person was engaging with the universe, not to judge their taste or anything else. You'd be surprised how many people get tripped up by this. Not surprised at all. You know your motivation; they don't. It probably causes lots of candidates to mildly panic as they try to decide what they can say that won't make them come across as too weird/boring/old/etc.
- oceanghost 7y ago
  That's fair. Is it, inequitable of me, to expect someone to describe something that excites them?
reificator 7y ago
> Tell me about a book, cd or movie that you've read/listened to/watched that was interesting or excited you. [...] You'd be surprised how many people get tripped up by this. Yeah, because they'd rather be shown to freeze up rather than have the conversation go like this: Them: I actually really liked the album Mouth Moods. It's an album full of remixed songs and mash-ups, kind of like what Weird Al does. You: Oh? I've never heard of that. Tell me about your favorite song on that album. Them: Oh... uh.... it's a song called Bustin. You: Bustin? Them: Yeah it's... well, it's the song from Ghostbusters but chopped up and remixed. You: So it's about busting ghosts? Them: Uh... well... no. It's about how bustin... makes me feel good. You: I'm sorry? What are you busting that makes you feel good? Them: Never mind, forget I said anything.
throwaway070220 7y ago
Throwaway here, for obvious reasons, but I have to ask: is this a pisstake? I've read this comment about half a dozen times over the past 12 hours or so and I just can't get over it. Did you seriously grade whether people were "engaging with the universe" (WTF?) based on what their favourite book/CD/movie is and how much they enjoyed it? Did you seriously dock points from a candidate who obviously didn't care about CDs, movies or books - because he couldn't remember the name of the last record he bought? Has the thought ever crossed your mind that maybe he engaged with the world in other ways? Perhaps he would hike, or take his kids to soccer, or even play pool and darts on the pub on a Friday. Did you even bother to ask before dismissing this guy as some sort of sub-human degenerate? Did you actually go home that night and Google Free Bird to see whether or not it was, in fact, an album, and felt a smug sense of superiority when you found out it was actually a longer-than-average single? More importantly, did you seriously try to convince HR to hire a candidate who was, by your own admission, "not the strongest", because he had "fantastic enthusiasm for literature" and was "quite intelligent" (I'm guessing you based this assertion off of the fact that he read the poetry of Charles Bukowski, and therefore must, like you, be an intellectual). Mate, I've got some news for you: the reason HR wanted you to stop asking that question most likely had nothing do with the possibility of a religious discrimination case - they either wanted you to stop basing your hiring decisions on batshit insane notions, or stop you making hiring decisions altogether.
- oceanghost 7y ago
  I'm sorry mister or miss throwaway. You have (purposefully?) misinterpreted almost everything I've said in the weird, most twisted and evil way possible. You've made wild accusations without any knowledge of the situation and as such, this shall be our last interaction.

rchaud 7y ago

This scenario of an interviewee answering with the name of a religious text is an interesting point; transparency in interviewing is a two-way street. In a way, I can understand why people get tripped up on the "casual/lifestyle" question. Interviewees may not think of it as a casual question, but rather another question to weed out the desirables from the undesirables. So people may censor themselves or their honest beliefs because they want the job. Which is a position I totally understand.

justforyou 7y ago

So now that person likely thinks that the reason they did not get hired was because of talking about Bukowski. Also, why did you even mention the enthusiasm for literature bit to HR?

orangecat 7y ago

The point was to see if the person was engaging with the universe, not to judge their taste or anything else. You'd be surprised how many people get tripped up by this. Not surprised at all. You know your motivation; they don't. It probably causes lots of candidates to mildly panic as they try to decide what they can say that won't make them come across as too weird/boring/old/etc.

oceanghost 7y ago
That's fair. Is it, inequitable of me, to expect someone to describe something that excites them?

reificator 7y ago

> Tell me about a book, cd or movie that you've read/listened to/watched that was interesting or excited you. [...] You'd be surprised how many people get tripped up by this. Yeah, because they'd rather be shown to freeze up rather than have the conversation go like this: Them: I actually really liked the album Mouth Moods. It's an album full of remixed songs and mash-ups, kind of like what Weird Al does. You: Oh? I've never heard of that. Tell me about your favorite song on that album. Them: Oh... uh.... it's a song called Bustin. You: Bustin? Them: Yeah it's... well, it's the song from Ghostbusters but chopped up and remixed. You: So it's about busting ghosts? Them: Uh... well... no. It's about how bustin... makes me feel good. You: I'm sorry? What are you busting that makes you feel good? Them: Never mind, forget I said anything.

throwaway070220 7y ago

Throwaway here, for obvious reasons, but I have to ask: is this a pisstake? I've read this comment about half a dozen times over the past 12 hours or so and I just can't get over it. Did you seriously grade whether people were "engaging with the universe" (WTF?) based on what their favourite book/CD/movie is and how much they enjoyed it? Did you seriously dock points from a candidate who obviously didn't care about CDs, movies or books - because he couldn't remember the name of the last record he bought? Has the thought ever crossed your mind that maybe he engaged with the world in other ways? Perhaps he would hike, or take his kids to soccer, or even play pool and darts on the pub on a Friday. Did you even bother to ask before dismissing this guy as some sort of sub-human degenerate? Did you actually go home that night and Google Free Bird to see whether or not it was, in fact, an album, and felt a smug sense of superiority when you found out it was actually a longer-than-average single? More importantly, did you seriously try to convince HR to hire a candidate who was, by your own admission, "not the strongest", because he had "fantastic enthusiasm for literature" and was "quite intelligent" (I'm guessing you based this assertion off of the fact that he read the poetry of Charles Bukowski, and therefore must, like you, be an intellectual). Mate, I've got some news for you: the reason HR wanted you to stop asking that question most likely had nothing do with the possibility of a religious discrimination case - they either wanted you to stop basing your hiring decisions on batshit insane notions, or stop you making hiring decisions altogether.

oceanghost 7y ago
I'm sorry mister or miss throwaway. You have (purposefully?) misinterpreted almost everything I've said in the weird, most twisted and evil way possible. You've made wild accusations without any knowledge of the situation and as such, this shall be our last interaction.