# Job hunt/application/interview bullshit **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 17, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303 "2011-07-17T01:28:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/21 "2011-07-17T20:53:09Z")
> [@fluiddruid](#): > > I once got called in for four interviews with a company (3 different positions) and didn’t get hired. “Oh, you look so great, you’re a perfect fit, but we had an internal candidate in mind. We could really use someone like you here, though! I’ll tell so-and-so though, they’re hiring too…” I’m sure it would have continued, but I bombed the last interview because the HR person described it as a completely different position in terms of responsibilities, so I looked like a rube when answering why I was interested and what made me a good applicant. They even asked me to cancel a vacation for interview #2 (I didn’t). > > Companies that interview you when you have zero chance for the job should have to pay you for your time. What horseshit. > . I would have made a decent chunk of cash by now if this were true. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/22 "2011-07-17T22:51:36Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Then the interviewer seemed shocked that I did not recognize a medical acronym that she quoted to me. (There are thousands of medical acronyms, so sue me for not knowing this one off the bat.) And many of them vary from place to place and institution to institution, which is what makes medical acronyms so dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/23 "2011-07-18T01:48:20Z")
I was working at a job through a temp agency and they wanted to hire me directly. Now, I had been doing the job awesomely for months, which is why they wanted to hire me, but they put me through this ridiculous hiring process. It wasn’t big enough of a company that there were immovable hoops to jump through. Someone could have just said “Sure, let’s drop all this other stuff.” But no. For some reason, coming in through a temp agency made me more suspect than people coming in off the street. I had to take some sort of aptitude/intelligence test. I scored nearly perfect, but I had to convince the HR manager that I was worthy of a job because I scored TOO well. She had it in her head that I wouldn’t like the job and would be bored by it… the same job I had been doing for months, and knew quite well what I was getting into. It wasn’t like other people were desperate for my job. No one had lasted more than a year and I had been ordered from the temp agency because the person they originally hired quit after ONE DAY. Then they repeatedly called and harassed my references. It was bizarre. I stayed there for several years and I never saw them put anyone else through such hassles. If I hadn’t known I was a good fit for the job, like if I had been treated like that as a stranger off the street, I would have withdrawn my application. It got even funnier later when I was laid off. A few months later, they tried to hire me back. I wasn’t worth hiring, then I wasn’t worth keeping, but then I was too important to not have back. Insanity. As for this market, I basically gave up even looking for work. I went back to school. I’d love something part-time, but it’s very discouraging out there. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/24 "2011-07-18T08:06:02Z")
I went to interview at one place last winter… a company that was very proud of their federal contract. I’d answered an ad for an Arabic to English translator. Which is my forte. Got there all prepared for an Arabic to English translation test. Instead I got Arabic conversation and composition tests. That was a WTF 😕 moment. I passed the tests, but professionally I don’t translate into, speak in, or write in Arabic because my skills there, while adequate, are not professional level. The woman I interviewed with first told me that only a small part of the job would be Arabic to English translation. Another 😕 WTF. Then they brought the boss to interview me. He said actually there will be no translation in this job at all. Just reading Arabic sources and writing analyses in Arabic. The biggest WTF 😕 of all. The whole interview and all the preparation I did for it was a waste of time. Mine and theirs. How many more people’s time did they waste that way? Whoever writes the job announcement obviously has not been in communication with the actual work unit. Morons. Either that, or new management took over, completely replaced the old work plan with a new one, but neglected to update the job listings. Morons. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/25 "2011-07-18T13:45:59Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Whoever writes the job announcement obviously has not been in communication with the actual work unit. Morons. This is common in my field because companies hire through recruiters, and it annoys the hell out of me. It’s very rare for a company to communicate a correct, up-to-date position description to a recruiter. So the recruiter passes incorrect, out-of-date position descriptions on to me, and I have to decide whether to interview (and prepare for the interview) on that basis. Then I get in the interview and it’s a bait-and-switch where they really want something else. Asswipes. Fortunately I’m already employed so I can tell them to piss off. In mid-interview. Which is fun. But still a waste of time. ---
**Author:** ![Shecky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shecky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shecky)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/26 "2011-07-18T14:44:36Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > I just got a job by contacting the CEO of a company and sending him over 20 errors on his website. He asked if I was free to do copy editing, then after I said yes and sent him my resume, he didn’t respond for over a week. So I sent him a snarky email telling him that if he wasn’t serious about offering a paying job, he should at least hire an intern, because he seriously needed someone, to which he immediately responded with a firm offer. I don’t recommend this approach, however. I’m still embarrassed by my unprofessional behavior. > > Wishing you luck! You’re my new hero. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/27 "2011-07-18T15:12:38Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I went into an interview believing that my security experience, though residential, was extremely high-end and probably better than the commercial security the job called for. The interviewer, the guy who called me in, apparently only began reading my resume when I walked in the room and I bailed after three minutes because I didn’t care for more abuse like, “This isn’t commercial. Why are you wasting my time with residential?” > > Bro, my residential experience includes ballistic doors and floors, gun safes, and man traps with potentially lethal gas. My experience involves keeping out Al Quaeda kidnappers. Access control and networked CCTV are child’s play. You’ve done Evil Overlord grade home security?! Wow man, that’s awesome. I’d LOVE to see you do an Ask The… thread, just to hear about your work. The interviewer only saw “residential” and didn’t bother asking about the deadly gas? They should be thrown into one of your man traps. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/28 "2011-07-18T18:41:12Z")
> [@Shecky](#): > > You’re my new hero. LOL I still can’t believe I did that. :eek: Might be some new/different opportunities listed here to check out: [http://govinthelab.com/job-listings-2/](http://govinthelab.com/job-listings-2/) ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/29 "2011-07-19T09:00:37Z")
I’ve been trying to find graduate work in my degree field for over a year now, and besides the usual Catch-22 of being “Overqualified” for entry-level stuff and “Not experienced enough\*” or “not being familiar enough with [organisation’s] processes” for anything at the level people with my qualifications might reasonably be expected to be suitable for for, I got a rejection letter (from a recruitment company I’d made enquiries to) earlier this week _for a job I didn’t even apply for_. What’s also interesting that most of my colleagues from Uni are in the same position- they’re still working their “Uni Jobs” because they can’t get a graduate job, which was why they went to Uni in the first place… Except I have plenty of practical experience ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/30 "2011-07-19T12:33:34Z")
What’s your degree field Martini? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/31 "2011-07-20T13:00:16Z")
My degree is in Journalism/Mass Communication, which (besides working in the rapidly shrinking media) overlaps into Corporate Communication, PR, Marketing, and so on. In theory, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/32 "2011-07-20T13:06:36Z")
I think you’ve just missed the graduate intakes for most of the APS departments for next year. I know I saw ours kicking around recently, don’t know when they close though. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/33 "2011-07-20T13:14:22Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > I think you’ve just missed the graduate intakes for most of the APS departments for next year. I know I saw ours kicking around recently, don’t know when they close though. I’ve applied and been rejected for a few already, and I’m waiting to be rejected from one in the near future. 😛 The problem with the APS Graduate Programmes is that there’s often quite literally 2,000 people applying for maybe 25 positions, and whilst it’s edifying to be candidate (say) 28 out of those 2,000 people, it still doesn’t get you a job, even when the people who do make it but turn the job down are taken into account. Ah well, I keep applying anyway… I figure something will turn up eventually. Still, if you find the info and your organisation is still looking for Communications people, I’d be grateful for a PM with the details. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/34 "2011-07-20T16:12:36Z")
I apply online for a lot of editing and proofreading positions. I can also do medical proofreading as well as med transcription, and I am studying coding now. I have 20+ years of experience teaching and tutoring English, and I have three college degrees. _Sigh._ ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/35 "2011-07-20T16:50:14Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > This is common in my field because companies hire through recruiters, and it annoys the hell out of me. It’s very rare for a company to communicate a correct, up-to-date position description to a recruiter. It’s even worse at the corporation I work at, where the actual managers write the descriptions. You’d think they would have a vested interest in seeing that the job descriptions were correct, but after looking at several hundred in-house job openings, I can’t understand exactly what the damned job _is_. Eighty percent of the description consists of acronyms and corporate buzzwords. It’s like they use a generic job description template or something. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/36 "2011-07-20T19:45:38Z")
Lifetime, my batting average is about 1 in 20 for interviews where I at least meet the job reqs. It’s a silly game that you can’t take personally. The ones that grind my gears the most are the ones that clearly have not read your resume, ask questions that could clearly be answered by reading the very resume in front of them, and decide on the basis of that resume content. Those managers/HR people are a total waste of oxygen. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/37 "2011-07-20T22:51:50Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Lifetime, my batting average is about 1 in 20 for interviews where I at least meet the job reqs. It’s a silly game that you can’t take personally. The ones that grind my gears the most are the ones that clearly have not read your resume, ask questions that could clearly be answered by reading the very resume in front of them, and decide on the basis of that resume content. Those managers/HR people are a total waste of oxygen. Agreed. I had one of those, as I mentioned in the OP. Bitch owes me $ for wasting my time and gasoline. However, I did not mind driving much farther for a better interview with a better person who had read the resume and was actively taking notes on the back of it. At least he was “with it.” I don’t even resent him for not hiring me. Just a couple more rants for now… What really bugs me at my current workplace is that a number of people who were hired later than I was and who are younger than I am have gotten the FT jobs, whereas I have become uninterviewable. It also confounds me that they still insist on seeing my freaking college transcripts. I finished my final degree in 1991. What relevance could these documents possibly have now? ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/38 "2011-07-20T23:11:17Z")
It’s an easy way to see how old you are, without having to ask how old you are or what your birthdate is. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/39 "2011-07-21T00:21:06Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > It’s an easy way to see how old you are, without having to ask how old you are or what your birthdate is. Heh, fooled them. I got my bachelor’s at 34. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303/40 "2011-07-21T02:37:47Z")
I’m on the other side of the table now, and it’s interesting. Sometimes, I’ll interview a dozen people and think “wtf, you have got to be kidding” and then there have been times when I’ve interviewed a dozen people and thought 6 or 8 would all be perfect, but we could only hire 2. And, no, I don’t get to decide to hire more - I’m not that important. But being in a spot when you have to decline someone who is clearly qualified also sucks ass - although, obviously, much more so for them. Nothing fun about it though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hunt-application-interview-bullshit/589303.md?page=3)