To think that introverts are given a hard time by recruiters/potential employers?

[Rhine]

I've been looking for another job for a while now and I feel like I'm hitting my head against a brick wall. The modern recruitment process seems to be designed to favour extroverted people, placing introverts into situations that they will naturally struggle and feel uncomfortable in.

Gone are the days where you just popped off a CV or application form and if you were lucky then got a one to one interview with the manager, now before you even get to one one one you have these group interviews with bloody "role play" situations and "ice breakers" where you have to stand up and "sell yourself". FFS I'm an introvert, It's just not in my nature to sell myself and I find the role playing stuff stupid and awkward.

If it was a sales job I was going for I'd say fair enough, but you even have to do these silly "recruitment centres" for a job stacking the shelves in Tesco now, and that's only if you get past those awful aptitude tests that they make you do online which are always the kiss of death for introverts! It's like being on the fucking Krypton Factor!

I just wish employers would give introverts a chance and go back to the old methods of a face to face interviews. I know I've lost out on jobs that I KNOW I can do.

It's not fair, is it?

The entire recruiting system is insane.

Role play a ludicrus situation that will never happen, to get a job selling fags or something.

Aptitude tests - pointless

Role play - ok for a job with a high level of complaints from customers I suppose

Ice breakers - to a load of people you will never see again, pointless

Sell yourself - jesus, I don't even know where to start with that one.

Then if you are lucky enough you get to answer daft questions like "If you were a choclate bar, which one would you be and why?" WTF? "Where do you see yourself if 5 years time?" err...in front of the mirror or window as they are the two main places I will see myself.

Bloody stupid.

It should be.

Look at cv
call references
interview
trial run
hire them.

It's really not that hard, why make it so complicated?

Actually I can see why role playing would be important to someone stacking shelves in Tesco.

I think YABU as I haven't had to do an assessment centre type interview since I left uni 15 years ago - they can't be that common now surely? Also, there are very few jobs where you don't interact with other people - an employer must think seeing how you do this is important if they're including it in part of the recruitment process. It does seem very 90s though!

Can you be more specific about the experiences you've had where you think it was unwarranted?

and that's only if you get past those awful aptitude tests that they make you do online which are always the kiss of death for introverts!

I don't get why online aptitude tests would not be good for introverts?

I do have a funny story about the last assessment centre I attended though...involving a train journey home with one unsuccessful candidate and 3 of us who'd been successful. The unsuccesful person had been an aboslute nightmare - really overbearing and cocky. They spent the entire train journey telling us 3 how the job was rubbish anyway and they were glad they hadn't go through as they'd have felt awkward turning it down

I agree it's unfair - have a watch of this TED talk on introverts, quite illuminating:

www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts

I think yanbu.

Just because someone is bubbly and outgoing doesn't mean they will be better at the job. I got this with a lot of teaching interviews. Quiet people can still make fabulous teachers.

In Dp's line of work getting the job had nothing to do with how introvert or extrovert you are, interviews are purely based on whether you can do the job and your qualifications.

overmydeadbody
Just because someone is bubbly and outgoing doesn't mean they will be better at the job

That's not all they'll be looking for though. They'll be looking for problem solving skills, leadership qualities, time management etc - they're all reasonably identifiable from giving a set problem and asking groups to work on and present a solution.

i have a perfect job for interview haters, one of the most important part is the technical test, which i can do easy peasy :)

YANBU! I am incredibly introverted but what I am not is shy. My introversion enables me to be highly reflective and not rush in all guns blazing annoying people (I annoy my colleagues anyway but that's another story) which some of the more extroverted people I work with have a tendancy to do. I do come across well in interviews though, this I do know, so I'm doing something right.

I had an interview in the NHS once that also included some sort of testing. I was highly qualified for the role, but absolutely behond rubbish at exams. I have no doubt I failed the test (or didn't give the 'right' answers).

I think introverts have a hard time everywhere to be honest. I was labelled as shy from the age of 5 and that stuck with my throughout my school career. I'm not! I just wanted to listen and learn, rather than always be sticking up my hand to answer the questions. There's a huge difference, and I wish people could differentiate.

I do think aptitude tests are a good thing though, and make no difference if you are introvert or extrovert for this.

What's the point in group problem solving when you'll be working on your own?

Team work is bloody highly overestimated most of the time. How many times have we all been in a group task at school, uni or work and there's the ones that do all the work, the ones who do nothing adn the ones who take over not listening to anyone else - and yet the entire group get's the credit? I don't get it.

Give me a problema nd I will solve it. Ask me to work in a group solving the same problem and it will take twice as much time and expense.

Just thinking actually...I haven't had to do an assessment centre since uni and I assumed that was because they were fashionable then, but thinking about it, I suppose if you have 30 candidates all with a 2:1 degree and no work experience, the assessment centres are a quick way of differentiating.

not overestimated...what's the word I'm looking for?

overratted! That's the one.

YADNBU

Yanbu. How is an introvert going to compete with extroverts in role playing situations and group activities that won't function like a natural group situation? In a work place, the group is more likely to work together and introverts to feel comfortable to contribute. In an interview, it's every man for himself and introverts can be talked over.

It's very common, staryy. Even asda does them now for shelf stacking etc.

Smilesandpiles
What's the point in group problem solving when you'll be working on your own?

Granted, but they will be looking at how you work. The assessors will watch the whole process, not just the bit at the end, so they will see the gobby one who keeps talking over everyone, the one who works away quietly in the background but makes the most valid points, the one who sits there blankly staring into the distance etc.

As someone who cannot do exams, I don't think "aptitude tests" are necessary at all. I've yet to apply for a job where the person spec requires anything other than qualifications, experiences and some vague personal qualities. Never, ever have I been asked to explain how to sell myself, demonstrate exactly how I behave in a team as opposed to noting on the form that I can do team work and how. It might have something to do with the field in which I work, but my abilities to potentially do a job are determined by the application form, and an interview, not, as what happened to me in the NHS, indicate my comprehension skills from pages of management-speak.

SiennaBlake
In an interview, it's every man for himself and introverts can be talked over

Aha, but then someone with good leadership skills notices this, says to the rest of the group "hold on, let's just take stock a minute before deciding - what do you think person x?" and person x then comes out with something amazxingly insightful so both of them get loads of brownie points and the rest of the group who've been gobbing off look daft

Bullshit - that never, ever happens.

I kept on 'just missing out' on jobs because I'm not that confident. Apparently they all like me, but there was a but.

The irony was my last job. It was down to two of us. They gave us both trials and I freaked out a bit but could do the job, whereas the other candidate was more outgoing. There was a 50:50 split on who should get the job.

I didn't get it.

She lasted a week.

They all said what a blessing it was, as I proved to be so good and took on so much more than I was supposed to.

I don't actually know why I'm defending assessment centres - I used to find them really cringey!

Do you honestly need leadership or teamwork skills to stack shelves in Tesco? Or any other low paid job. Let's get this into proportion the op is not applying for a high flying graduate training scheme.

Our ecomony is f@cked by excessive unskilled immigration. Tesco have no idea how to sort all the applications.

I always feel an interview is a sales process and you are the product. The only way for the potential employer to find out how great you are is for you to tell them.

And that happens how often? If it did, and person x said something insightful, they've still got to fight against the fact they had to let someone else take control and open up the floor for them. They stayed quiet until then and that goes against them as they had to be rescued by another extrovert.

Smilesandpiles
Bullshit - that never, ever happens

It must do though - maybe not exactly like that, but in the last assessment centre I attended, 12 of us got taken on together and we were a real mixed bag - there's no way they were just looking for bubbly/confident people.

SiennaBlake

And that happens how often? If it did, and person x said something insightful, they've still got to fight against the fact they had to let someone else take control and open up the floor for them. They stayed quiet until then and that goes against them as they had to be rescued by another extrovert

Well in that case, the employer isn't losing much by not employing them - why would you employ someone who knows the solutions but doesn't offer them? Surely it's just like being on time for an interiew or wearing a suit? You do what's expected no matter how unnatural it feels?