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> No one is going to tell you in an interview that they are going to be unreliable, abusive, pompous, or never show up to meetings on time. People might claim t

by chown 5y ago

> No one is going to tell you in an interview that they are going to be unreliable, abusive, pompous, or never show up to meetings on time. People might claim they have “signals” for these things… I had a great interview with one of the FAANG companies. The technical interviews, 6 of them in a row!, felt more like they were wanting to see me fail spectacularly rather than focus on my approach of solving whiteboard problems. Still, I did more than average to get "pass" from them. But HR dropped me because she didn't like the answer to "what's your weakness?" question along the lines of - "I focus too much on job at hand to an extent that I struggle with work-life-balance and working on it. If I can overcome that and learn how to take breaks timely I might be more productive.". HR didn't like it because it was not one of the canned responses she was expecting ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

xyzelement 5y ago
>> I struggle with work-life-balance and working on it. If I can overcome that and learn how to take breaks timely I might be more productive.". .. HR didn't like it because it was not one of the canned responses she was expecting ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Just curious, how do you know that (a) you failed in HR (b) that it was this question and (c) for this reason? I ask because it's unlikely that this was literally the feedback given you. Also, "I work too hard" does sound a bit canned. >> The technical interviews, 6 of them in a row!, felt more like they were wanting to see me fail spectacularly rather than focus on my approach of solving whiteboard problems. I do think this is more "in your head" that real. Nobody shows up to an interview wanting the other person to fail, but "how they solve whiteboard problems" isn't the goal either. It's more about - how does the person, think, collaborate, make tradeoffs and drives to an outcome - the goal being specifically to translate that outside the whiteboard space.
- skrtskrt 5y ago
  Yeah even if the person came to this answer of their own independent thought process, this answer to the weakness question either comes off as: 1. "I work too hard" which is one of those classic canned answers to avoid that makes you sound like a suckup or 2. "I can't manage my time to the point where I am in danger of tanking my own productivity or burning out or both", which even if true (plenty of us suffer from this), it is obviously not a great answer to give in a hiring process.
- hnlmorg 5y ago
  > I do think this is more "in your head" that real. Nobody shows up to an interview wanting the other person to fail You say that but I've known interviewers who have taken delight in putting pressure on candidates and then showing off how clever they are in comparison. These types of interviews definitely aren't the norm but sadly it does happen from time to time.
- chown 5y ago
  > (a) you failed in HR (b) that it was this question and (c) for this reason? A very close friend on the same team (the one who referred me but he didn’t do the interview, obviously) but yes according to him that’s exactly why I failed. The recruiter told me exactly the same thing when he gave me the “bad news”. > “in your head” Maybe but almost all of them were being very condescending. And I have been on the both sides of interviews a few times so I’d know.
hnlmorg 5y ago
I remember recruiting one junior and the HR representative asked that "What is your weakness" question. Personally I hate it because it almost never returns an interesting answer. However on this one occasion the junior did proceed to list off several genuine weaknesses. After about the 3rd point he listed I had to stop him from talking. Ironically it was his honesty in that interview that won me over. For a junior role I'd rather than a rough diamond who I can shape than someone who already thinks they're perfect. And he turned out to be an incredibly good hire too. Despite being a hiring manager for many years, I still dread getting asked this question myself. It is easily my least favourite interview question. Even the "Explain an occasion when you disagreed with your manager" question is much more favourable than being asking "what is your worst quality".

by chown 5y ago

xyzelement 5y ago

>> I struggle with work-life-balance and working on it. If I can overcome that and learn how to take breaks timely I might be more productive.". .. HR didn't like it because it was not one of the canned responses she was expecting ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Just curious, how do you know that (a) you failed in HR (b) that it was this question and (c) for this reason? I ask because it's unlikely that this was literally the feedback given you. Also, "I work too hard" does sound a bit canned. >> The technical interviews, 6 of them in a row!, felt more like they were wanting to see me fail spectacularly rather than focus on my approach of solving whiteboard problems. I do think this is more "in your head" that real. Nobody shows up to an interview wanting the other person to fail, but "how they solve whiteboard problems" isn't the goal either. It's more about - how does the person, think, collaborate, make tradeoffs and drives to an outcome - the goal being specifically to translate that outside the whiteboard space.

skrtskrt 5y ago
Yeah even if the person came to this answer of their own independent thought process, this answer to the weakness question either comes off as: 1. "I work too hard" which is one of those classic canned answers to avoid that makes you sound like a suckup or 2. "I can't manage my time to the point where I am in danger of tanking my own productivity or burning out or both", which even if true (plenty of us suffer from this), it is obviously not a great answer to give in a hiring process.
hnlmorg 5y ago
> I do think this is more "in your head" that real. Nobody shows up to an interview wanting the other person to fail You say that but I've known interviewers who have taken delight in putting pressure on candidates and then showing off how clever they are in comparison. These types of interviews definitely aren't the norm but sadly it does happen from time to time.
chown 5y ago
> (a) you failed in HR (b) that it was this question and (c) for this reason? A very close friend on the same team (the one who referred me but he didn’t do the interview, obviously) but yes according to him that’s exactly why I failed. The recruiter told me exactly the same thing when he gave me the “bad news”. > “in your head” Maybe but almost all of them were being very condescending. And I have been on the both sides of interviews a few times so I’d know.

hnlmorg 5y ago

I remember recruiting one junior and the HR representative asked that "What is your weakness" question. Personally I hate it because it almost never returns an interesting answer. However on this one occasion the junior did proceed to list off several genuine weaknesses. After about the 3rd point he listed I had to stop him from talking. Ironically it was his honesty in that interview that won me over. For a junior role I'd rather than a rough diamond who I can shape than someone who already thinks they're perfect. And he turned out to be an incredibly good hire too. Despite being a hiring manager for many years, I still dread getting asked this question myself. It is easily my least favourite interview question. Even the "Explain an occasion when you disagreed with your manager" question is much more favourable than being asking "what is your worst quality".