"Tell me about the hardest job interview you aced" Wed Jan-10-18 12:20 PM by double negative
I'm trying to get myself hyped for this big one I'm taking on tomorrow. It is a lateral move but its one that would be a nice career boost. (FAANG)
So far the hardest interview was for the job I have now where it was 7 hours straight with 45 min back to back sessions with NO breaks. I had to be ON ON ON ON ON and I aced it.
The second hardest one was with a big bay area tech company and that was 5 hours with a 2 hour white board exercise. Did not get the job but it was solid fucking experience.
1. "Never had an interview go longer than 2 hours" In response to Reply # 0 Wed Jan-10-18 12:33 PM by flipnile
The ones that I "aced" were the conversational ones, when the group of people that I'd be working with all get together in a room. I always ace those, as I'm a pretty talkative and personable dude sometimes.
The worst ones are when interviewing with the younger anti-social, passive-aggressive types. I'm tall, loud, I make assertive eye contact, I assume a leadership role in all situations, etc. They always seem mad uncomfortable around me and literally struggle to talk sometimes. I try to bring the energy, but the personable just seems to make them retreat more. Nothing like interviewing with people that are intimidated by you.
Seems like every interview I've ever had out in the suburbs were the latter, while most of my city interviews were the former.
2. "RE: Tell me about the hardest job interview you aced" In response to Reply # 0
Damn, that's intense. What's your profession? I switched careers to programming last year and I haven't had anything too intense yet, but my only two jobs have been entry level and now mid level.
My best interview story is that I got a phone call from what I thought was a recruiter, then about 10 minutes into the call, I realized that it was the employer and it was a full fledged phone interview (the interview was on my calendar, but I had forgotten about it completely). I had been half assing it because I learned to not take recruiters very seriously, and I realized that I was doing horribly. Then the guy gave me the "That will do it, thank you. You'll hear from our HR regarding the job." So I said wait, I do not believe I have conveyed my experience very well. Would you mind if I elaborated more on some projects I've worked on? He said yeah, go for it. So I did, and the interview went almost another half hour and went great. I got a call a few days later for an in-person interview, but by that time, I had already gotten another job. But it felt damn good to snatch victory from the claws of defeat like that.
>I'm trying to get myself hyped for this big one I'm taking on >tomorrow. >It is a lateral move but its one that would be a nice career >boost. (FAANG) > > >So far the hardest interview was for the job I have now where >it was 7 hours straight with 45 min back to back sessions with >NO breaks. I had to be ON ON ON ON ON and I aced it. > >The second hardest one was with a big bay area tech company >and that was 5 hours with a 2 hour white board exercise. Did >not get the job but it was solid fucking experience. > > >What you got and what was the outcome?
7. "Interviewed with a guy who openly claimed he knew more than the" In response to Reply # 0
originator of the field of study. It was tough to take his bravado seriously and he was an asshole to boot. It got to a point where we were talking very candidly and he asked why I would leave my then stable job to come to his. My reasoning was that I was newly married and that with no changes to the near 80% travel I was on, I wasn't sure I'd be able to stay that way. He told me he wasn't interviewing my wife.
What a dick.
------ “There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus
8. "i telephone interviewed for a govt position this past summer while" In response to Reply # 0
on vacation with my family. the agency was pressed to interview me and couldn't wait for me to return home for an in-person. knocked that shit out the box. my family and I were on our way to a winery following the phone interview. About an hour later, 2 of my references texted me saying the folks had already contacted them.
Took them niggas like 3 months to get my offer out though. I ended up declining the offer bc they weren't trying to meet (or exceed) my current salary
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79621 posts
Wed Jan-10-18 03:08 PM
9. "I had a job interview for a University in NC" In response to Reply # 0
shit was like 4 or 5 hours. I didn't get it. Actually they never filled the position which made me feel a little better.
I really wanted that gig tho because the tuition, time off, and perks were gangster.
The longer it went the more it felt like I wasn't going to get the job. I probably should have stopped and told them thanks but no thanks. Damn near felt like they were just amazed to see a negra created the work they loved.
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
10. "This current job's interview was tough (tech)" In response to Reply # 0
But it was also my nicest interview experience in terms of actually enjoying the shit. I liked it because I left feeling like I had a chance to accurately demo my skills. Whiteboarding, even if I knock the problem out, never makes me feel like that.
Four consecutive 1hr interviews. I think they fucked up and scheduled the 3rd one during the lunch hour so I don't think they intended for me to go without a break
But the interview process from nothing to hired was: - Technical phone screen (30 minutes) - 'Homework' assignment (1 weekend's work) - On site #1 -- 1. Straight technical -- 2. Technical where I had to build on my homework assignment (This was cool as fuck because it was already my code and I knew I was going to murder) -- 3. Technical pair programming (Cool cause it was closer to an actual workday scenario) -- 4. HR/behavior
- On site #2 was 2 more interviews, 1 technical but more conversational (very little whiteboarding) and the other was an HR convo
11. "I interviewed with a firm in Abu Dhabi a few months ago" In response to Reply # 0
That was like the longest stretch of interviews ever. A month of round after round of interviews at 5 and 6am. I blew the doors off them all, and in an off the record conversation, the director who was hiring told me that chances were I'd get the placement so start looking for apartments and getting my affairs in order. Got to the final stage and it was between me and a Brit and they decided to go with them. I know I was prepared and made a good showing, but guess they felt more comfortable with them as opposed to a Black American. It was a great experience though and I had just got hired at my current firm in DC, so I was playing with house money.
14. "i had a job interview where i had to fake a dominican accent" In response to Reply # 0
because it required experience as a bilingual teacher/interpreter, and i used my homies pops community center as a (false) place of employment. the community center basically employed dominican immigrants to help new immigrants integrate and get adjusted.
i had the bilingual part down through school. but i didnt have the job experience that included a necessary skill as a bilingual.