Why do so many people lack basic job interview skills?

Hey OP, get off your interviewer throne and learn to type properly before putting people down.

Not everyone has interview experience, especially those that are fresh out of college. See, college teaches you how to do a certain function that you're interested in rather than teaching you how to survive in the real world.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']Here is a question, has anyone turned the tables during the interview? Like ask the interviewers hard questions?[/QUOTE]

Very slightly.

When a recruiter calls me, I let them know how much I am making and it is a full time position as a company employee with some perks and not a "temp to fire" position. Then, I ask, "Can you do better?" The answer has been no for almost five years.
 
1. Please don't wear jeans to an interview, and at least put a little effort on your clothing.

For about 75% of jobs, I can see this. Although, it varies depending on what you're applying for. If it's for say, Family Video or a mom and pop business. A game tester position shouldn't require tophat and tails either.

3. If you want to use someone as a reference make sure the company exist, and let the person know you are planning to use them as a reference.

Guilty as charged. But if that's where the reference is, it's not my problem that the co. is out of business.

4. When answering questions please give answers that are more than one sentence. "I worked at ____" is not a good enough answer.

Terse questions require terse answers.

6. If you are sending in a resume by email, send it as an attachment otherwise it will be impossible to read.

Also guilty. Cntr + V is easy to use though.

7. Don't bother to apply if you don't fit the minimum requirement.

Guilty as charged too. I've never gotten interview that were over my head though.

9. If you are currently not working try to think of something to fill in the gap

Shouldn't matter. Many people have been out of work for 1.5+ years now.

The reason many people don't know interview skills or etiquete is because most of them are pussies who've had between 1-3 jobs their whole lives.

I'd like to think I have good Interview skills, because I took some career classes and was constantly looking for work and Interviewing in my 20s.
 
4. When answering questions please give answers that are more than one sentence. "I worked at ____" is not a good enough answer.
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Well while I can see your point, but if you are asking a college grad about their past work history and it includes a McDonalds, do they really need to go in depth about what they did at a McDonalds?

5. Please don't take a full minute to think about every question before answering.
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While I agree they should not take a ton of time, some people don't do well under pressures of an interview and they might think out what to say in their head so it comes out good.

6. If you are sending in a resume by email, send it as an attachment otherwise it will be impossible to read.
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I do admit if you are to have a resume and cover letter, then yes it will be important to attachment that resume but you can format an e-mail pretty well if you know what the fuck your doing.

7. Don't bother to apply if you don't fit the minimum requirement.
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This right here is a major problem for me. Being a CS grad I see many jobs with you must have a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k experience and well I or a lot of people don't have all of that experience due to not learning it in school or work. I mean yes on the basics if you for apply for a job you know you can't do any of there is problems but if something asks for like 10 requirements and you can do 7-8 of them due to not having enough experience, then the employer might be asking a bit too much.

8. Please follow direction on the job description. If we ask you to email your resume, don't drop it off at the office.
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From experience, I had better luck by dropping off my resume than just e-mails.

9. If you are currently not working try to think of something to fill in the gap
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In this economy, what the fuck can they do? People will be unemployed and really, what else can they say?

10. Please read the job description before showing up for the interview!!! Look on the company website, or ask someone. Have at least an idea of what you are going to do.
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I had a job interview for a "Web Developer" and when I went into the interview my job would of been something different than a web developer. Also with some degrees like Computer Science, it's hard to know what exactly you would be doing without asking the specifics because a lot of the jobs posted I seen have such a wide variety of different skills needed for the job.
 
I don't agree with the minimum requirements either. Depending on the job, it's something silly and you can have basically the same skills they need just in a different field. That's what I hate, a company that can't look past their structure to see the potential a candidate has. Sometimes you just need to read between the lines.
 
I believe that people just get normally nervous. Personally, I try to do something relaxing right before the interview like play video games, workout, hang out with friends, etc.

And usually your suppose to answer in one sentence if the interviewer starts with "where did you work" or some sort of dead end question.
 
[quote name='SithFran']I don't agree with the minimum requirements either. Depending on the job, it's something silly and you can have basically the same skills they need just in a different field. That's what I hate, a company that can't look past their structure to see the potential a candidate has. Sometimes you just need to read between the lines.[/QUOTE]
A lot of the minimums are copy and paste or just aren't thought out. Entry level positions asking for a ton of experience, requiring more experience in a particular product or language than it has existed for, etc. These are red flags if you're considering multiple job offers.

If the requirements are that iron clad then they're not giving you an interview anyway, so there is no harm in applying.
 
Sounds like a lot of you could have used a class I took at the beginning of this year in college. It was labeled as "Tech Support" and my major is IT Security but this class had nothing to do with Tech Support, it was all job skills, interview skills, creating a resume, learning how to use Word and Excel and Powerpoint, etc.

Long story short, the instructor spoke a lot about how so many people lack these relatively basic skills.

We had to do interviews of our class mates and we made up fictional companies and had managerial positions.

Just based on that 20 to 30 class mates in my class there were quite a few who sucked at interviews, sucked at speaking, sucked at giving presentations, and this class was making or breaking them. This real old guy dropped it because he couldn't hack it and this is probably the easiest class (in my opinion) you could take in college and a lot of people still didn't manage to make an A.

So OP, as Brak so gracefully put it, don't be so quick to toss down your judgements from your ivory tower in the sky that is your interview panel. Instead of interviewing based on a dumbass piece of paper with questions on it, interview the actual person with some leniency as a human being.
 
I agree... seriously don't judge people based on some slackers out there who want high pay, lots of paid vacations, fridays off and only 6 hr work days. There are a lot of highly skilled and talented people out there who have a lot to offer and it's in everyone's interest to give them a chance rather than going the "We you have to know someone in this company to get a job here". There are a lot of bad workers out there who in their position because of that. I've met people who where in their position who don't even have the background education and experience who got the job because they knew someone who hooked them up with that job. In the mean time that person is learning how to do that job while on the job...wasting not only company time and money, but slowing everyone down in the process.

For example the last place I worked at, the HR person "took over" for the last person and she admitted there were things she was still learning because she was new to the position. She had NO education or experience in that field. Most of the time when I had an HR question, I felt like I was talking to a wall. I don't think a background degree in psych or communications will qualify you for a job in HR... it's like my degree in Animation...do you think it's enough to work as an engineer for NASA?
Of course most of these people "wing it" by sucking up to the bosses or wearing low cut shirts/skirts or tight clothes all year long...and next thing you know they get promoted.
 
Had something typed....but the OP just showed with rule #7 why the economy is hurting so bad.

Forget major corporations are outsourcing....and local companies/corporations are just reassigning work to people who normally wouldn't do half the load so they can cut down...

....but if you don't have the min experience, they don't even CARE about you. That stings...because I spent 6 months looking for employment. And jobs in my field...they wanted someone experienced just to do entry-level shit. Now that's fucked up!

People don't wanna train anymore....and they are willing to look over someone who could do the job with a month of training (and possibly at a fraction of the salary) for someone who just happened to be on the job for a few years.
 
[quote name='strongpimphand']Had something typed....but the OP just showed with rule #7 why the economy is hurting so bad.

Forget major corporations are outsourcing....and local companies/corporations are just reassigning work to people who normally wouldn't do half the load so they can cut down...

....but if you don't have the min experience, they don't even CARE about you. That stings...because I spent 6 months looking for employment. And jobs in my field...they wanted someone experienced just to do entry-level shit. Now that's fucked up!

People don't wanna train anymore....and they are willing to look over someone who could do the job with a month of training (and possibly at a fraction of the salary) for someone who just happened to be on the job for a few years.[/QUOTE]

I remembered getting the same excuse... No experience..No Job BS from everywhere I applied to after college. So you know what I did? I busted my ass for years gaining experience in other fields (management/education) and put myself into positions where I would be able to do graphic related things (such as managing the yearbooks, doing it's graphics, doing dvd's for the schools, teaching computer graphics and so on), building a portfolio and getting those letters of recommendations...then coming back and reapplying for those positions..only to find out that other less qualified people got it. Not for a lower pay...but because they knew someone on the inside who "promised" them the job ahead of everyone else.

That's another reason why we are in mess right now. Too many people in the wrong positions and companies/organizations who don't know what the hell they are doing.

So next time you talk to your co-worker...ask them what their background education or what they did before working at the place they are now... bet you 8 out 10 answers will be someone who does not have the educational experience or work experience to the position they are in now.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']I remembered getting the same excuse... No experience..No Job BS from everywhere I applied to after college. So you know what I did? I busted my ass for years gaining experience in other fields (management/education) and put myself into positions where I would be able to do graphic related things (such as managing the yearbooks, doing it's graphics, doing dvd's for the schools, teaching computer graphics and so on), building a portfolio and getting those letters of recommendations...then coming back and reapplying for those positions..only to find out that other less qualified people got it. Not for a lower pay...but because they knew someone on the inside who "promised" them the job ahead of everyone else.

That's another reason why we are in mess right now. Too many people in the wrong positions and companies/organizations who don't know what the hell they are doing.

So next time you talk to your co-worker...ask them what their background education or what they did before working at the place they are now... bet you 8 out 10 answers will be someone who does not have the educational experience or work experience to the position they are in now.[/QUOTE]
You're 100% right...because what I was going to originally type is that I graduated with a MIS degree and wanted to do Business Analyst shit.

My job is help desk....but thankfully there are B.A's here.

So I'm one of those out of place people who probably will never really get a chance to be a B.A unless they get enough money to let me be one...or unless someone retires or dies or leaves (and then they got 2 people ahead of me!)

Sad thing is that I've applied for about 25 B.A positions in my area but they all wanted someone with at least 2 years of experience, and many times 3-4 years, which is a damn shame!
 
I'd once like to see a job posting that was 100 percent honest with the qualifications requirements.. like this:

-Must personally know someone who actually works for us who can valich (sp?)for you.

-If you don't know anyone here..come to the interview wearing a form fitting outfit and expect to wear such outfit all year long.

but then again that's the requirement for hooters and we aren't applying for hooters.
 
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