Job Prospect need input

slinuxuzer

I am 24 years old, I currently make 48k. I work in the auto manufacturing industry and my job title is loosly network administrator. I work nights wich is a downer.

I have been dealing with another company in the same industry for about the same type of position, but this new position will pay 60k a year. Where I live the median income for a family is 43k.

I have done two phone interviews with the global IT manager of this company, an onsite interview with the Global IT Manager, plant manager, and the guy I believe I would be replacing (he is being moved up)

After the onsite interview I was told they would try and get in touch with me within two weeks, I heard back from the global IT manager a few months later no biggie. He had me go back through the motions of re-applying, filling out a questionnaire answering normal questions about compensation skill set etc. Now the recruiter calls me back and discusses salary with me somewhat informally, and during this conversation said that I come very highly recommended from the global IT manager, She wanted to surmise my interest at 55k and I said that I would have to consider salary once I had a better Idea of the entire package, benefits, education reimbursement, training etc. (I have all of thise at my current job and its pretty good).

Finally after all she has me setup for a phone interview now with the Hiring manager, wich leads me to my question, I am always nervous with these and tend not be as articulate as I could be, so how normal is this for a hiring process? and what kind of question can I expect from a hiring manager?

Seriously any input from the more experienced people here is appreciated, I want this job, its more money, no more night shift and its about 20 miles closer commute.

royal

One of the things I have always found is that I feel a lot more confident during the interview if I research the company. When I applied for my current position, I researched the company, read the goals of the company, their current profit, their culture, how many employees they had, knew the name of the Founder, Chairman, CEO, etc....

It gave us something to talk about during the interview. I talked about how I liked the website, how I loved the culture and how they empower employees and how I believed that employees work very hard to keep their empowerment, etc... I also discussed that I like that the company has been growing x% per year and what I can offer them to ensure that % continues to grow.

For my technical interview, I spent most of the night before researching the heck out of a specific topic and bringing this topic into the discussion. As soon as I brought it up, he told me to discuss the topic some more. That went very well since that was what I was hoping for.

Also, there are a plethora of sites on the internet that discuss potential questions that an interviewer will ask. I would spend quite a bit of time researching these questions because it will help you land the job by helping you be more knowledgeable about what is asked as well as provide you with the confidence to ensure you are more articulate due to the added confidence.

One question that is always tricky is, "What do you not like about yourself." Always try to say something bad but put a positive twist to it such as a goal you have set to improve it.

So the jist of it, is research the company so the company sees you really are interested, know a technical topic they are looking for very well so you can bring it up in the interview, and research online sites about Questions and Answers that are asked during interviews.

Hope that helps and keep us updated!

rwtodd2007

I was just at an interview yesterday, for a help desk analyst II position. The interview with the senior help desk person went great. The hiring manager (his boss) through a question at me I hadn't heard of in all the interviews Ive been on in my lifetime. The question was - Tell me about a time you tried something and failed?

Good one to think about it if ever comes up.

eMeS

rwtodd2007 wrote:

I was just at an interview yesterday, for a help desk analyst II position. The interview with the senior help desk person went great. The hiring manager (his boss) through a question at me I hadn't heard of in all the interviews Ive been on in my lifetime. The question was - Tell me about a time you tried something and failed?

Good one to think about it if ever comes up.

This is just IMO, but that type of question is fairly pointless in an interview. In fact, what it really encourages is for the interviewee to come up with a witty answer rather than a truthful description of an event....I guess if witty is the characteristic they're looking for, then this is a good question....

I was once asked to answer the following question in an interview:

"What is your biggest shortcoming?"

I said, "My biggest shortcoming is that I work too hard."

In this case, when asked about a time I tried something and failed, the answer that I might give is "I just tried to think of a time that I failed, and I failed to think of a good example."

MS

GT-Rob

I used to do interviews for a computer repair position.

I would ask that question "what do you see as your greatest weakness" or something along those lines.

If I ever got "I work to hard", or "I am a perfectionist", or any of the lame weakness thats really a strength, I rarely hired them.


As far as I am concerned, you are a liar.. How many people actually think deep down that their greatest fault is that they work too hard? Give me a break. Maybe thats what HR likes to hear but anyone with half a brain is not going to be impressed with that answer.

GT-Rob

And just to add, I think its a good question. It forces the person to really think about what to answer, and shows a lot about their personality.

I never cared what their weakness was. Thats not why I asked. I cared to see how they would answer the question. Either BS me or give me something real.

sir_creamy_

GT-Rob wrote:

How many people actually think deep down that their greatest fault is that they work too hard?

I work too hard. And I care too much. And a part of my anatomy is made entirely of platinum.

HeroPsycho

Mine is made of pure goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooold!

Part of an unfortunate schmelting accident!

HeroPsycho

GT-Rob wrote:

I used to do interviews for a computer repair position.

I would ask that question "what do you see as your greatest weakness" or something along those lines.

If I ever got "I work to hard", or "I am a perfectionist", or any of the lame weakness thats really a strength, I rarely hired them.


As far as I am concerned, you are a liar.. How many people actually think deep down that their greatest fault is that they work too hard? Give me a break. Maybe thats what HR likes to hear but anyone with half a brain is not going to be impressed with that answer.

If I were honest, working too hard is my weakness. Being a perfectionist is my weakness. Those actually are weaknesses. It increases stress in your life and eventually takes its toll in unnecessary sick days, a project maybe taking longer than it needs to so that everything is perfect, etc. Would it make you more likely to hire them if they said, "I drink too much," because they're "being honest"?

Bottom line, asking these types of questions is good only to judge personality usually. If someone is stupid enough to say, "I have no weaknesses," then they're a hot head and have absolutely no tact, and you may not necessarily want them in your organization. If they stammer, etc., they may have bad communication skills.

And people need to understand that giving a politically correct statement has merit and value, even if it's BS. I've met many an "honest" technical professional who don't "BS" who would honestly tell an end user at some point they're stupid, ignorant, clueless, etc. if it's the truth the user is. That's why those questions exist. To say you don't want a "liar" is either stupidity or "BS". The fact is you don't want someone who "tells it like it is" 100% of the time. Watch what happens when that "straight shooter" decides he/she is "keepin' it real" with a VIP who is causing his or her own problems.

That's why those questions exist.