Would you be impressed with this in an interview?

[foresterr]

I interviewed for a newly qualified position and there was a man there who was super nervous. So nervous in fact he gave short bursts of answers. Not coherent sentences. You could tell from the detail in his answers that he did have some good knowledge of the subject area but he was just a nervous mess. His skills and experience answer lasted literally 3 minutes and he left out most of what is written in his CV.

After answering all the questions he apologised for his previous answers and explained that he was nervous and asked if he could re answer the skills and experience question. We said yes and he did so with real determination. You could see he was still nervous but he fought through it and gave quite a good answer in the end.

There were however, candidates who gave stronger answers overall. But I'm so impressed .

Would you be impressed? Does anyone here interview and what would you make of this? AIBU to choose him over candidates who got it right first time.

Agree with believe

I"d think about interviewing again. It might be he's nervous in almost any situation where you need to talk about technical areas, are you going to spend too long prepping him for presentations/ meetings etc?

We've interviewed lots of people who are technically competent but we were not convinced they could get their knowledge across to others in a coherent manner for whatever reason

Yes, I would give him the chance.

It shows he is committed to getting it right, and it takes real courage to ask if he could do his answers again.

I would be impressed by him. He recognised he hadn't came across well and asked for a chance to remedy it.

Not everybody is good at interviews, it wouldn't put me off an otherwise strong candidate.

Aw I would give him the job I love a underdog. He sounds like he wanted it. Dh works with and hired someone who who has certain traits, has no awareness of personal space and is hopeless at reading social cues. However he is extremely bright and good at his job I love that dh gave him a chance.

"Cold and hostile" sounds awful! Someone like that isn't going to be engaging to their colleagues or customers.

That is the other interviewer not the candidate.

Sorry I meant the other person doing the interviews with me was cold and hostile. She made no eye contact, never smiles she was simply awful.

She was nice to people who were doing well but very very negative towards this man as soon as she saw him start to get nervous.

Foresterr I think from what you've told us, Id give him the job. I don't interview well because of nerves but also because I find it hard to sell myself , whereas I see others full of themselves and over confident yet I know they don't have as much experience or as many qualifications as me. I think this partly the way one is brought up. In my family what was viewed as conceitedness was a sin.

The other person interviewing was really really cold and hostile in manner.

Sorry I meant the other person doing the interviews with me was cold and hostile.

Which is what you said. It's only very recently people have started saying 'I'm interviewing for a temporary job tomorrow' meaning 'I have an interview for a temporary job tomorrow' rather than 'I'm interviewing candidates for a temporary job tomorrow'. I don't know why this new usage has crept in, because it's confusing.

Anyway, back to the main point. I'd give him a chance. How did he do in the other assessment relative to the other candidates?

I go by my gut instinct and it has only let me down once (and I do a lot of recruitment). Agree with the second interview - I dress it up as an informal chat to meet the team, and see how it goes.

He got the best marks on the assessment section. I'm going to give him the job. Thanks everyone :-)

So pleased

Yay I'm so glad. I believe I am very good at what I do, but I fall to pieces in the interview. It's almost that I've studied to hard that I forget to do and say what comes naturally. Please take a chance on him and follow your gut :)

I hate interviews and totally go to pieces. I don't know how my manager offered me my job. I am however bloody good at it.
I have worked a lot in sales and can sell anything except myself- I hate sounding boastful and play the good stuff down while talking at will about my weaknesses!

I think it's great that you've used the interview to try to see the person and how he will fit into your team.

Good choice OP

I suck at interviews but I work great under pressure at the job I'm good at. Interviews are a different kettle of fish!

That's great news OP

I had an interview where it was required to give a sales presentation. I was up second out of ten people. I blurted out what should have taken 5 minutes in around 30 seconds I managed to collect myself after I'd had time to calm down and asked if I could do it again.
I figured that I had nothing to lose. I was allowed to present again.
I thought there was no way I would get the job but I did and I did it very well.

Good decision
This is why we have probationary periods - if he doesn't work out then it's not the end of the world. But you might just have found yourself a star.

Mumsnet loves an underdog

I know you have made your decision now, so my post is irrelevant but I will share anyway.

Some people are just rubbish with interviews, end of year reviews etc because they absolutely loath having to talk about themselves.

I can do customer service, customer calls (I work in a complains team), presentations, I speak up in meetings, I voice my opinions etc with no issues whatsoever but I clam up when I have to talk about myself. I see it as boastful and unpleasant when people talk about how wonderful they are. I always have done. The whole month leading up to end of year review I feel ill and find the whole process pretty pointless. The company can see what I do / have done so it's really just a time wasting exercise in my opinion.

Interviews are obviously different because the people interviewing don't know you so I do get that. Still doesn't make them any less unpleasant.

Second interview for him and one or two of the other strongest candidates