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What you're saying is true, a boring answer probably won't disqualify an applicant outright. However, the three or four people that gave answers like "looking f
by akoumjian 11y ago
What you're saying is true, a boring answer probably won't disqualify an applicant outright. However, the three or four people that gave answers like "looking for a new challenge" this week certainly didn't make a good positive impression on me. If your objective is to not get disqualified, then it's sound advice. If your objective is to find a job at a company whose culture and expectation match your own, the OP will have better odds with their honest answer.
- tptacek 11y agoHold on. I'm not saying candidates shouldn't qualify culture before accepting jobs. I'm saying they should do that after the job offer, when they have the most leverage and the least to lose.
- akoumjian 11y agoThey don't get the job offer if their answers to questions lack depth and personality. In other words, optimizing for not being disqualified is not the same for optimizing for first choice for a position.
- tptacek 11y agoYes, I understand this to be your argument, but I simply do not believe most hiring managers (really: any hiring managers) seriously gauge "depth" and "personality" from the answer to this one question. That's what makes the question such a trap for candidates: it's intrinsically unimportant (the data you pretend it collects simply isn't present for most candidates), but the "wrong" answer can be very harmful. Candidates should simply dodge this question. The more I've thought about this thread, the more cut-and-dried my judgement on this is.