Made the CTO laugh in an interview

Most hated question must be 'where do you see yourself in 5 years'. I always think it shows the guy doesn't know what to say / ask, hence the text book question.

Anyway, didn't take this one too serious to begin with as I am not REALLY looking for a new job but had a stab at it as an agency contacted me.

Anyway, I always thought I am prepared to answer this nonsense question but for some reason didn't expect it.

So I thought probably too long about it. He then asked me whether I understood the question.

I didntthink for some reason and said something along the lines of 'Sorry, I'd say I want to own my own island and retire'.

I felt immediately sick and tried to breathe when he started laughing saying 'at least you are honest'. Then he asked me to give him another answer he can relay to HR

Meeting HR today so we'll see how it goes lol

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Comments

pizzaboy

Reading that response made me laugh, laughed even louder when I saw the comment about you trying to breathe. Its always good when you can make the interviewer laugh in a good way.

StussyNz

Always best to be honest

Who wouldn't like to own their own Islands and retire! - Maybe even throw in Win the lottery!

MAC_Addy

For my current job, the Vice President asked what are my likes and dislikes. I said jokingly said that my likes were chocolate biscuits (the british kind) with a hot tea and my dislikes were people that don't respect others in a work environment.

Though, keep in mind that I thought I had bombed this interview since I didn't have much experience in a specific area. I just wanted to let myself go and see how he reacted. He then proceeded to talk about salary and offered me a job. I was completely shocked. From then we had a very good business relationship. He had mentioned that many people would clam up when they heard he was the VP and get a very 'scared' look on their face.

StussyNz wrote: »

Who wouldn't like to own their own Islands and retire! - Maybe even throw in Win the lottery!

I believe that person would be me. Stay with me on this... Now, we're talking about an island, and probably a tropical one, too, right? So, you'll probably experience some type of tropical storm or worst, a hurricane. You'd have to leave your island and worry about what was happening to your beautiful home.

For me, I'd rather live deep in a forest away from all people and roads. Now, that sounds like a dream to me. I'm a very outdoorsy type of person and love to go hiking through forests, mountains and just pretty much anywhere.

MickQ

MAC_Addy wrote: »

For me, I'd rather live deep in a forest away from all people and roads. Now, that sounds like a dream to me. I'm a very outdoorsy type of person and love to go hiking through forests, mountains and just pretty much anywhere.

That's me, here. But then consider the poor quality of broadband!
I think I'd just settle for having the money for the island and retiring house.

WiseWun

Good share, I'll probably throw in something similiar. Honesty is the best policy. IMO, soft skills weight more than technical skills in the long run.

CodeBlox

Yeah, what happens if you say this and the interviewer doesn't think it's funny...

Lamplight

lol. I would've laughed too.

Zartanasaurus

Humor is always a good thing. Some people have a knack for it (and when it's appropriate) and some don't. I think the best laugh I ever got was in response to a "how do you handle being yelled at by a customer?" type question. My response was along the lines of "My mom yelled at me for 18 years, I think I can handle a customer".

jibbajabba

Got the job ... now I got a difficult decision to make ... difficult because I like my current job, but the new job offers more oportunities ... They even wait for my silly notice (3 months).

Nice position to be in though ...

Concerned Water

Congrats!!

jamesp1983

Congrats and great story.

pizzaboy

Congrats. What type of position is it?

jibbajabba

pizzaboy wrote: »

Congrats. What type of position is it?

Thanks ... Mmmm... I think they call it Infrastructure Analyst ... basically VMware monkey (mainly design / implementation)

Titles are such a nonsense lol - I think I never ever had simply "System Administrator" anywhere in my title ..

pizzaboy

Cool, well hope you have a blast!!

Patel128

Maybe it's because I am a full time student and my only job was in retail, but is a 3 month notice to quit your job normal for most companies?

Jasiono

Awesome dude!

I went out for the job I currently have and HR asked me the question "Why should I hire you over other candidates," I looked at her and said "because I am a very amazing man."

At the time I though it would kill all my opportunities but I got it. In the 5 years I've been with this company I have proven myself to be one of the best workers there.

In my current role I actually became a senior within 3 months, which is unheard of since it usually takes at least a year, and I am the subject matter expert for my team, 6 months after being hired.

I mentor people who have been there for twice the amount of time I have been there.

I agree with some people here in regards to lightening up the interview process. I think it shows a great characteristic of yours and companies don't want stuck up and self centered people working for them.

JustFred

3 months notice? Thats pretty long, mine is 6 weeks it was originally 2 months but i got them to meet me half way.

Congrats on the new job

Everyone

Congrats!

I answered the "What are your 3 greatest weaknesses?" question with "Pizza, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and Dr Pepper" once... got a good laugh out of it, then gave a more serious answer.

Got that job too.

jibbajabba

3 months notice is normal here for management and higher up technical jobs (I see this in Public Service, Hosting and Finance).

What IS unusual is that companies wait for you - only ever happens if they REALLY want you specifically *smug*

Most jobs I had 4 weeks plus a further week for every year I was employed (after year 5 onwards).

But the three months suits both sides - if they want to boot you then you might end up leaving immediately but get paid for three months (unless of course they have a legal reason to dismiss you immediately).

Legally the worst thing that could happen (if you walk out instead of working your notice) is that they sue you for me notice - so if you walk out on a three month notice, they can sue you for three months wages.

Hardly happens though. I even had a contract once when I was working in London / UK, which stated that I wasn't just allowed to work for a competitor for 6 months after leaving, but also not allowed to work for a competitor in a 10 mile radius for 12 months (which pretty much covers all London and surrounding area).

Is any of it enforceable or legal binding / reasonable? Unlikely ...

MickQ

Congrats on getting the job!

whatthehell

Congratz and best of luck!

UnixGuy

jibbajabba wrote: »

3 months notice is normal here for management and higher up technical jobs (I see this in Public Service, Hosting and Finance).

What IS unusual is that companies wait for you - only ever happens if they REALLY want you specifically *smug*

...

Congratulations! I know exactly how you feel because my notice period is 3 months and nobody is willing to wait! I lost job opportunities because of this, yet some were willing to wait.

jibbajabba

The worst thing with the three months notice is that you need to resign pretty much after bonus time (here once a year) otherwise you will always be just before the bonus

In my case I'd be leaving 6 weeks before a £15k bonus but sometimes you have to go with your gut rather than money ..

UnixGuy

jibbajabba wrote: »

The worst thing with the three months notice is that you need to resign pretty much after bonus time (here once a year) otherwise you will always be just before the bonus

..

Well I'm luckier than you in this case; I enjoy the perk of not getting any bonus at all

jibbajabba

UnixGuy wrote: »

Well I'm luckier than you in this case; I enjoy the perk of not getting any bonus at all

Bonus is a nice to have and I made the mistake a few times to take this into consideration when talking about job offers. The problem usually is, you need to wait a year to make full use of it - in a year - a lot can happen, and usually the market situation is rubbish and bonuses need to be cut - so all I care nowadays is my base salary ... if I am getting a bonus - fine - its a bonus ...

UnixGuy

jibbajabba wrote: »

- so all I care nowadays is my base salary ... if I am getting a bonus - fine - its a bonus ...

Me too, but if I managed to get other perks it's nice.

atorven

Wow, that's quite abit of money to be walking away from, if you don't mind me asking, what's your current title(what do you do and how long have you been doing it)?

jibbajabba

I feel like sitting in an interview all over again

"projected" money - bonus is just that - hope / desire / promises ... what comes out will be on your payslip and might not even reflect any of it .... which is why I don't care ....

Post #14 shows my title but titles are irrelevant really. I had at least 4 different title for doing basically the same job

Systems Engineer
Infrastructure Engineer
Systems Analyst
Technical engineer

and I am sure there are more ... but I was pretty much "SysAdmin" ...

Bottom line - the time where you have a specific title, where your role never changes, and you do the same job day in and out, are over. Long over. In most companies I worked for I started doing a, went on doing b, ended up doing c and contract was never adjusted.

And I am in my current job for 4 or 5 years, don't remember actually ..

jibbajabba

Now I am confused-dot-com .. got my contract through with a Senior title and more money instead .. not that I am complaining, but that is just odd

lantech

I'm lucky. It worked out that my two weeks notice ends a week after the bonus is paid.

Course with my luck they will push the bonus being paid back 2 weeks just so they don't have to pay me.