Bad Interviews

I apologise in advance but I need to vent. Those of a delicate nature look away now.

Why is it that some people can't be bothered to take the time to make an interview original, interesting..........anything except trudge out the same old rubbish that they endured twenty or thirty years ago when they first joined the company? No, no, no you're wrong. I haven't just failed to get a job, I'm one of the lucky ones who is employed. I have, though, just heard from someone who experienced an interview that was everything an interview shouldn't be.

Now I've dabbled a little in the recruitment game over the years and I think it's safe to say that the art of getting the best out of someone in less than an hour is a tricky one. Often the interviewee will be unemployed so can ill afford the cost of being there. They'll likely have sweated, fretted and lain awake at night ever since the interview was booked and if they're any good they'll have spent days revising and studying. Is it too much then to ask the interviewer to show a little respect? Not pick their nose, scratch intimate crevices and generally try to look like they want to be there? Well apparently it is.

A friend and ex-colleague of mine told me today about an interview she just attended. She can do the job standing on her head. She's smart, conscientous, dilligent.......all the things you're supposed to tell that nosepicking officebody the other side of the desk you are on the day. She also has almost two decades of looking after royalty, government ministers, celebrities, the works. Had the interviewer bothered to read her CV they'd have all bothered to show up and maybe granted her some respect. Instead she go only half the interview panel ("Sorry, they're busy") and a half hour delay because the remainder was late followed by:

"So what would you say is your worst attribute?" (I think I'm going to vomit)

"How would people who know you describe you?" (Uh oh, here comes another load)

"Where do you see yourself in five years?" (I have diced carrot dripping from my nose)

"Tell me something that you did well recently" (Did you think that one up all by yourself?)

And finally, the piece de resistance............................(drum roll)

"What would you most like to change about yourself?" (That's it. Stay there, I'm getting the bread knife.)

Some people should just stay in bed in the mornings.