To find the interview process fake and pointless?

[Tropicana46]

Of course I know interviews aren't pointless - I understand they want to meet you and go over your CV. But I feel like it's just a test of who can bullshit the best. All the "Name a time when you did xyz" (I could just make something up), not being able to say the real reason you're leaving your job or having to answer why you love their company so much, like you didn't apply for 20 other jobs on Indeed in the same night.

They know you're bullshitting and I don't understand how encouraging fakery benefits them. They know fine well you applied for the job to earn money and because you think you have applicable skills, not because you're in love with their organisation. If I'm hired of course I will give it my all but I just hate all the pretence.

Or maybe I'm just bitter because I suck at interviews 😂

YANBU. I can’t do them at all 😣

I've done hundreds of interviews, and I'm assessing you, not whether you can verbatim tell me about the company. I won't ask you any questions about the company. I want to know if you're a dick, if you'll fit in with my team, if you're up your own arse or arrogant, I want to see if your confident, if you can handle questions, if you can think on your feet. How do you represent your experience? How will you be in front of stakeholders?

Name a time when you did xyz" (I could just make something up), If you do, then I'll pick up on it because I'll ask probing questions, I'll come back to something you said 4 questions ago when asking another question.

not being able to say the real reason you're leaving your job or
I want to know if it was a toxic environment, how did you deal with it, what did you learn.

having to answer why you love their company so much, like you didn't apply for 20 other jobs on Indeed in the same night. idgaf what you've rehearsed or learnt about the company, i won't ask

They know you're bullshitting If you are, I won't hire you.

and I don't understand how encouraging fakery benefits them. It doesnt

They know fine well you applied for the job to earn money and because you think you have applicable skills, yep, the interview is to see how you come across. are you meek, will you be able to deal with the stakeholders, how can you handle the idiot ones, how do you handle the ones who don't deliver...

I've conducted hundreds of interviews, and each one was looking for different skillsets. Its not a one size fits all, the interview is also for you to look at them... can you work in their midst, will you get fed up of how the manager is, does yous characters clash? do their values hold fast to yours?

I’m a bit of a weirdo who enjoys interviews! I’m also a seasoned interviewer. I’m inclined to agree with you OP. The interview process is very artificial and not conducive to authenticity. It is a bit of a tick box exercise, just to ensure that the person is competent and does indeed meet the person spec. I work for the NHS though so the process is quite different to other industries.

You sound like a good interviewer but I've had some weird experiences where I left thinking "Wtf just happened". Also had some where the interviewers were very nice.

I've heard that you shouldn't say anything bad about current/previous employers or colleagues as the interviewer will think you're disloyal.

I hate interviews and am terrible at them, they favour people who can talk the talk above people who could actually do the job, and the STAR format is so awkward constantly saying I did this when in reality virtually everything is a team effort. If you are going for a promotion, the level of the examples you provide have to be at that level - so you effectively have to be already be doing the job to get the job.

Why did you leave your last job....they got rid of me because they didn't have enough work for me and a long term employee and I was visibly bored sorry but I don't do well in an environment where I don't have work to do

It doesn't go down well in interviews sadly

I’ve interviewed many. My main goal is to check there’s no bullshitting in the CV. Anyone can use buzz words in a CV but I’ll drill down to find out if you know your stuff.

the interview as @toomuchfaff says is also for you to interview them and for me to get an idea of you’re a good fit at the company within my team.

Those bad interviews you use as closure to say no thank you! Go with your gut, especially if it's who you'd be working with.

As for the bad stuff, try and represent anything for what you took from a bad situation and how you grew and used it to learn and progress. Dealt with a bad manager? you learnt to do something differently, you gained skills you've not realised, perhaps you always presented solutions not problems, you became self sufficient- always a way to spin a negative into a positive!

Chin up, looking for work can be an uphill battle, but you're doing it for a good reason. Good luck

Totally agree.

And then found out a job has gone to someone internal

The spin on this is that you weren't challenged in your role, there wasn't opportunity for progression.

Hate them
I can handle a customer yelling at me, a till breakdown, running out of stock, tight turn arounds.. all of which are high pressure and me under stress. But put me in an interview panel and I'll be a bit of a nervous wreck because I don't like selling myself like that

Going through a few interviews at the moment and I totally agree, completely fake.
I understand what another poster said about assessing you but you could do that in just a casual conversation about their current role etc.
I'm terrible at selling myself and being asked what my greatest achievement is, I work in basic admin/reception, I'm not sure I even have an achievement

Same! I turn into a gibbering wreck.

Sane here. My experience is in admin/customer service and I find it weird having to act like I saved the world every working day 😂

but it's a two way process, you are interviewing them too. I have cut interviews short when it was clear (to me) that i would never ever want to work in that company.

Why did you leave your last job? There are plenty of reasons you can give that are truthful from "they fired me for slapping the secretaries on the arse every morning" to "I didn't feel comfortable there because the marketing manager slapped me on the arse every morning" to "i want to try something different" or "it wasn't quite what i expected" to "I'm not using all my skills & experience" or even "i want to develop professionally but there isn't scope for that in my current role". Why do you want to leave, anyway?

"tell us how you handled x type of thing" just gives you the opportunity to start talking about yourself and how good you are, and gives them the opportunity to ask about things that they might want you to do etc etc

It's not a perfect process, but what do you suggest instead? pulling CVs out of a hat?

Excellent advice. The majority of interviews are run in a structured way so the different candidates can be evaluated on a like for like basis. Read the job posting and the candidate profile / job description and start to underline the hot words. The interview will try to evaluate how well you measure against these qualities and competencies. Be informed about the company and the business sector. Interviewers value honesty (they pick up when you are being dishonest - trust me, they can tell) and interviewers like candidates that are clear and have a straight forward approach. Sometimes a difficult truth can be turned into a superpower, admitting to mistakes demonstrates integrity and insight if you have learned from the situation and know what you ought to have done. Thank the interviewer for inviting you and if you don't succeed, do ask for feedback to help in your job search.

most of modern 21st century “work” is not actually work. it’s BS bureaucracy that creates jobs for people who got a 2:2 in sociology and have no imagination or ambition. Might as well give up on what you actually do, and get an MBA in making meaningless presentations out of pointless spreadsheet data, as the world needs more people like that. apparently.

Yes it's a load of bull, OP. 'Can you tell me about a time when you had to handle a challenging situation'? Honestly, no I can't. Not one that's worth bringing up in an interview.

I'm 53 and back in the day I thoroughly enjoyed interviews, had a good chat, always got offered the job, was left feeling really positive and got to know a bit more about the people and company I'd applied to. In the last 5 years or so, I have been shocked by the process and how much it's changed. I completely agree that it's about spouting self congratulatory bullshit that follows the forced STAR analysis, making you think up examples in that moment, which are very likely to not be your best example but just the first one you thought of, and not getting the true picture of applicants at all. It's really disheartening and frustrating.

We only ran a small business, employing 2 full timers and 1 part timer at weekends. One of the main things we were looking for was will they get on with the other staff and me, if I am with them for 8 hours?. We had a very low turnover, the full timers had been with us over 20 years each, so we must have done something right.