4 ms·

I had a company try to do this for job interview. I did not go through with it.

by NaturalPhallacy 4y ago

NullPrefix 4y ago
Was it amazon?
- NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
  No, their red flag is an up front technical screen before you talk to anyone to find out if you want the job.
JohnFen 4y ago
If they do this at the interview, can you imagine what a total nightmare working for them would have been?
- NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
  I was barely able to maintain a professional response to this request. If you've worked at one before, it should come as no surprise that it was a financial firm.
- nomel 4y ago
  I do a few interviews a month for our group. I get cheaters every once in a while. Most of them use a second window to look up answers. This is pretty obvious, from watching them in the webcam, and where they pause. This is also easy to detect, since they'll fail with more abstract questions that don't have an answer you can just look up. For example, tell them to go deep into a project that they have on their resume. Nearly every time, they eventually say, directly or not, that their part was minimal. I don't think anyone has to worry about these people. But, recently, one person almost made it all the way through, before getting to me. From what I can guess, they had someone in a separate video call, watching the screen and listening to the interview, giving them the answers. I think a language barrier, for the person giving the answers, was the only reason they eventually fell flat. This is a problem that worries me. How do you filter these people, if firing is extremely frowned upon in your org? The only real initial hint that I had was the abysmal typing speed vs claimed experience, which is not a reason that you can write down, for why you failed someone, without looking like some sort of elitist. I think this will eventually become a real problem, with remote interviews. I think in person, or monitoring, is the only way to catch something like this. But, how do you do an in person interview with a remote team? You either make your requirements even more impossible, or you change the culture of your org to accept that new people may have to be let go, without it being the hiring managers fault (not going to happen).
  - JohnFen 4y ago
    > How do you filter these people, if firing is extremely frowned upon in your org? Most places I've worked for had a 3-6 month probationary period for new employees, where the new hire is evaluated and can be let go with ease. Full benefits of the job don't begin until the end of the probationary period. Your organization doesn't do that? It should.
    - nomel 4y ago
      > Most places I've worked for had a 3-6 month probationary period This would be incredible, but I'm on the hardware side of things, so maybe the context is a bit different. No company I've worked for did this, with two startups, and two being in the top 5 (at the time). All hardware centric. I brought this up with my org and was told that it just acts as a filter, since top talent is already well employed, doesn't want the risk, and would never consider a relocation without permanence. Being hardware, physical presence is required, so relocation is necessary more often than it's not. I can agree with this since it matches my own experience. I didn't considered temporary positions any time I was looking, for the same reasons.
      - JohnFen 4y ago
        I've worked with a number of hardware companies (doing embedded systems programming), and the did the probationary period thing as well. I honestly thought this was a universal practice. I learned something new today! > since top talent is already well employed, doesn't want the risk I've never seen top talent balk at this. They know that they'll perform well during the probationary period, so there is no risk.
        nomel 4y ago
        I didn't know probationary periods existed in hardware! I'm jealous! This was all in Silicon Valley, btw.
        JohnFen 4y ago
gnicholas 4y ago
Did you pull the plug mid-interview, or did they let you know in advance that they'd be asking to look around your room?

I had a company try to do this for job interview. I did not go through with it.

NullPrefix 4y ago

Was it amazon?

NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
No, their red flag is an up front technical screen before you talk to anyone to find out if you want the job.

JohnFen 4y ago

If they do this at the interview, can you imagine what a total nightmare working for them would have been?

NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
I was barely able to maintain a professional response to this request. If you've worked at one before, it should come as no surprise that it was a financial firm.
nomel 4y ago
I do a few interviews a month for our group. I get cheaters every once in a while. Most of them use a second window to look up answers. This is pretty obvious, from watching them in the webcam, and where they pause. This is also easy to detect, since they'll fail with more abstract questions that don't have an answer you can just look up. For example, tell them to go deep into a project that they have on their resume. Nearly every time, they eventually say, directly or not, that their part was minimal. I don't think anyone has to worry about these people. But, recently, one person almost made it all the way through, before getting to me. From what I can guess, they had someone in a separate video call, watching the screen and listening to the interview, giving them the answers. I think a language barrier, for the person giving the answers, was the only reason they eventually fell flat. This is a problem that worries me. How do you filter these people, if firing is extremely frowned upon in your org? The only real initial hint that I had was the abysmal typing speed vs claimed experience, which is not a reason that you can write down, for why you failed someone, without looking like some sort of elitist. I think this will eventually become a real problem, with remote interviews. I think in person, or monitoring, is the only way to catch something like this. But, how do you do an in person interview with a remote team? You either make your requirements even more impossible, or you change the culture of your org to accept that new people may have to be let go, without it being the hiring managers fault (not going to happen).
- JohnFen 4y ago
  > How do you filter these people, if firing is extremely frowned upon in your org? Most places I've worked for had a 3-6 month probationary period for new employees, where the new hire is evaluated and can be let go with ease. Full benefits of the job don't begin until the end of the probationary period. Your organization doesn't do that? It should.
  - nomel 4y ago
    > Most places I've worked for had a 3-6 month probationary period This would be incredible, but I'm on the hardware side of things, so maybe the context is a bit different. No company I've worked for did this, with two startups, and two being in the top 5 (at the time). All hardware centric. I brought this up with my org and was told that it just acts as a filter, since top talent is already well employed, doesn't want the risk, and would never consider a relocation without permanence. Being hardware, physical presence is required, so relocation is necessary more often than it's not. I can agree with this since it matches my own experience. I didn't considered temporary positions any time I was looking, for the same reasons.
    - JohnFen 4y ago
      I've worked with a number of hardware companies (doing embedded systems programming), and the did the probationary period thing as well. I honestly thought this was a universal practice. I learned something new today! > since top talent is already well employed, doesn't want the risk I've never seen top talent balk at this. They know that they'll perform well during the probationary period, so there is no risk.
      - nomel 4y ago
        I didn't know probationary periods existed in hardware! I'm jealous! This was all in Silicon Valley, btw.
        JohnFen 4y ago

gnicholas 4y ago

Did you pull the plug mid-interview, or did they let you know in advance that they'd be asking to look around your room?