4 ms·
I think getting drunk prior to going for an interview is an obvious no-hire. It shows piss poor judgement. On the other hand, if you're looking to work at an e
by steverb 13y ago
I think getting drunk prior to going for an interview is an obvious no-hire. It shows piss poor judgement.
On the other hand, if you're looking to work at an employer that doesn't mind how much alcohol is in your bloodstream while at the office, it might be a good way to filter out places you don't want to work at.
- vehementi 13y agoWhat if the person in fact has amazing judgment and there were circumstances you weren't aware of and that e.g. there was good reason for him to get drunk at that conference (networking, other opportunities, etc.)? Would you be ready to admit your deductive reasoning ability is seriously flawed?
- bcbrown 13y agoUnder what possible circumstances could it be a good reason to get drunk before a phone interview? Either don't schedule a phone interview after an event where you will be drinking, or don't drink at the event. That doesn't seem so hard.
- hackinthebochs 13y agoI love how everything is so black and white with some people. If he performed just fine on the phone interview, why should you give a flying fuck? No really, please answer that. And it doesn't show "poor judgement" if there were no adverse consequences. >Either don't schedule a phone interview Perhaps he didn't have the option. >or don't drink at the event. As others have said, networking opportunities may have presented themselves. Who are you to judge his situation with absolutely no information? Judge him on how well he conducted the phone interview. That's all that matters at this stage. What I see are people who are obsessed with irrelevant information when it comes to hiring. Its modern-day tea-leave-reading and it has no place in what should be a rational business decision.
- rwallace 13y agoI've seen a lot of people say they get nervous and freeze up in an interview, performing far less well than they do on a job. Perhaps for some people this also applies to phone interviews, and perhaps a moderate amount of alcohol might help them avoid freezing up. To some extent I'm playing devil's advocate, but you did ask for possible circumstances. I suppose in the employer's shoes I'd pretend I hadn't read the Twitter post and go ahead and carry out the interview. If he aces it, great. If he muffs it, I wouldn't make allowances for him being drunk, because he would have demonstrated showing up drunk was lousy judgment on his part.
- nawitus 13y agoInteresting social phenomenon: nicotine and caffeine are allowed drugs on the job, but alcohol is not.
- chrisdevereux 13y agoI'm sure if you consumed enough nicotine/caffeine on the job to seriously impair your judgement, it'd cause you HR problems.
- pekk 13y agoBut nobody said "enough alcohol to seriously impair your judgement," rather we were talking about any alcohol at all.
- foobarbazqux 13y agoThat's not what I understood. steverb said, "an employer that doesn't mind how much alcohol is in your bloodstream"
- noarchy 13y agoI've seen a number of people over the years who would take smoke breaks nearly every hour of the day. That doesn't necessarily impair judgment, but it may have an impact on performance. In theory this is something on which you can crackdown, but it doesn't always happen.
- rwallace 13y agoActually it significantly boosts my performance, which is why I do it the first place. (Obviously if you were hiring e.g. a surgeon, whose job requires several hours entirely without interruption, that would be a different story, but few IT jobs have that requirement.)
- beachstartup 13y agoi've worked at and seen plenty of places where they drink beer at work. usually it starts around 3 or 4 though, not in the morning. this is both california and the east coast.