Saturday, January 23, 2010

What does a job interview really say about you?

I don't understand how asking someone a bunch of simple, standard questions (that the person already assumes they are going to ask, so they prep for them) allows an HR person to get to know the real you. I think it is interesting that by law you aren't allowed to ask the questions that would really help to show the true character of a person.

For example:

"Do you beat your wife and kids?"
"Are you or have you ever been an alcoholic?"
"Do you currently have a drug addiction you are trying to get over?"
"Have you ever worked as a prostitute?"
"Do any of the following apply to you: Kleptomaniac, Pyromaniac, Nymphomaniac?"

Don't you think a person who had to answer these question would be showing a lot more of their true nature than someone who tells you what their "greatest strengths" are?

Yet, we can't ask these personal types of questions because it is against the law and could be taken as offensive. However, you could still hire the crazy guy who does beat his wife and kids because he prepared ahead for the questions about how he uses "time management" and what "three words others would use to describe him." It is fascinating to me that we can't be more specific in job interviews. I have met some true crazies that HR has hired, and if they had been allowed to ask some of the above they would have saved themselves a lot of time and money.

BTW...this crazy person could just as easily be a woman who beats her husband and kids, but for my example I went with a man.

1 comment:

Cari said...

I agree but as I've participated in the interviewing process for prospective employees on my unit you'd be surprised at the number of people that have ridiculous answers for the standard interview questions. So you can ween some people out very quickly when they can't even come up with decent answers to the scripted questions they should be expecting to answer. Good luck with any upcoming interviews!