Job application advice

[NW2013]

What the hell do people write in response to those really annoying questions on job applications? For instance, these are the questions I have to answer on an application for a job I'm interested in:

1. Please give an example of a time when you have had a number of options and had to make an important decision

2. Please give an example when you planned and carried out an important event

3. Please give an example about a situation where you had to adapt to a change in your workplace over which you had no control

4. Please give me an example of when you have built working relationships with people outside your immediate team

5. Please give an example of a team situation when you have taken the lead to influence or persuade an important outcome


Do people write work related examples on these or just anything from their lives?? It's 1, 2 and 5 I'm struggling to think of anything to write for.

I find these questions so frustrating as its pretty unlikely that the exact same situation (either work or non-work related) is going to arise in your new job so what's the relevance!

[vanpeebles]

What the hell do people write in response to those really annoying questions on job applications? For instance, these are the questions I have to answer on an application for a job I'm interested in:

1. Please give an example of a time when you have had a number of options and had to make an important decision

I'll start the first one for you and the next person can follow.

1. Please give an example of a time when you have had a number of options and had to make an important decision.

Breakfast time. With a full cooked English in front of me. I had to decide on the eternal puzzler of having red sauce or brown sauce. The presence of sausage and egg led to the decision to use brown sauce.

And for a bonus point state the use of red sauce on fried egg is a gentleman's faux pas.

[NW2013]

That's what I mean, do people write ridiculous stuff like that? Do you think they'll be impressed by my choice between Xbox 360 and PS3?

I've got a decent and varied job but there is no need to do the sort of things asked about above and the job I may apply for is not more complex/higher status.

[abigsmurf]

1. Please give an example of a time when you have had a number of options and had to make an important decision

I was desperate for a job and there was a question asking me if I've had to make any hard decisions. I decided that I had a number of options as possible answers and then it occured to me that the question itself was a tough decision. I decided to refer to the question in my answer but unfortunately this got me stuck in a feedback loop and I was unable to answer any other questions.

I absolutely hate pre-set interview questions, they tell you nothing about the person and how good he'd be for the job. Managers would be better just having a casual conversation with the subject.

[importaku]

It might help if you said what the job your applying for is then we can determin weither they want answers from work or non work related situations. They are usually tests to see if you have the skills to make up **** to fill them in lol.

If you can't fill them in with real answers just make some **** up but be careful not to go too OTT as big lies get noticed more. As long as they can't check up on what you write down your safe.

Never ever leave a question blank as thats a one way trip to the rejected bin.

[Brats]

At the risk of sounding big headed, those questions are a piece of piss to answer. I can't believe you've never made a decision in your life when you've had a number of options in front of you.

They don't have to be job related, but it can help a bit with some questions.

These are exactly the type of questions I use in interviews, but I don't give the interviewee the question beforehand (which kind of defeats the point) so you've got a massive advantage here. Anyone who can't give a clear, strong example in answer to those questions isn't worth employing. Asking for a previous example in interviews is much easier to spot bull**** answers to as it's harder to lie about what you have done than what you would do.

I advise against bull****ting, but here's some pointers:

Question 1: You can easily work that into how you had a certain amount of time and a number of tasks to complete, so you prioritised some work over others. Write about how how you came to that decision and how you delat with the other work (or 'managed the pexpectations' of the people waiting for the other work.

Question 2: Ever planned a party, wedding or social event? The larger and more complex the better. Write about how you planned it, what went well and what you would have done differently.

Question 5: Ever been in a meeting where you've put forward a suggestion that has been accepted by the group? How did you pitch your idea and how did you get it noticed. Was there anyone who disagreed and how did you convince them?

I absolutely hate pre-set interview questions, they tell you nothing about the person and how good he'd be for the job. Managers would be better just having a casual conversation with the subject.

As someone with quite a bit of experience with this, that's wrong. The decent people we employ at our firm go through a decent, prepared interview. The managers who just want a 'nice chat' employ perfectly nice numpties half the time.

All the people I've offered jobs to have been of a high quality and stayed with the organisation for a long time, bar one who gave me vague, rubbishy answers, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt because she was so nice and her CV looked good. She lasted two months.

[importaku]

LOL i'd be scared to be interviewed by you Brats, id definately fail

[noobish hat]

yeah, sounds like a bunch of bull**** to me

[endo]

As someone with quite a bit of experience with this, that's wrong. The decent people we employ at our firm go through a decent, prepared interview. The managers who just want a 'nice chat' employ perfectly nice numpties half the time.

All the people I've offered jobs to have been of a high quality and stayed with the organisation for a long time, bar one who gave me vague, rubbishy answers, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt because she was so nice and her CV looked good. She lasted two months.

I agree to an extent but I think it depends on the industry. Having worked in translation for 10 years, it's become very clear that lots of translators are, let's say, 'unorthodox' individuals, who generally don't get on very well with this kind of questioning. The important thing is if they're good linguists.

At my old place I used to quite a bit of interviewing for new translators. We'd usually have a director in on the interview to do the corporate-type stuff but, frankly, it's largely irrelevant for most translator positions so the bulk of the interview was me trying to suss out if they're any good or not (obviously specific tests are involved too- you can't blag specific linguistic ability).

[Brats]

I find these questions so frustrating as its pretty unlikely that the exact same situation (either work or non-work related) is going to arise in your new job so what's the relevance!

Just to pick up on this point, the idea is to get the candidate to demonstrate that they have the skils and experience for the role. It's easy to make CVs sound more impressive than they are and to sound impressive in interviews by telling the interviewer what they want to hear.

From the question's they've asked, they want someone with strong initiative who can think on their feet, and with strong communication skills within a team and a larger environment. I'd guess it's some kind of support role within a medium to large organisation, but not a manager role?

LOL i'd be scared to be interviewed by you Brats, id definately fail

Thing is, an interview is important for both sides. It's bad for the interviewee to be offered a job for which they are not suitable. I believe firms owe a duty to be thorough and make sure the fit is right. What if you gave up your previous job to move to a firm, only to be told after a few months to leave?

If I went for an interview and the firm interviewing me was not thorough with me, what does that say about the firm? If the interview was an unorganised mess, I'd be looking elsewhere.

[noobish hat]

I agree to an extent but I think it depends on the industry. Having worked in translation for 10 years, it's become very clear that lots of translators are, let's say, 'unorthodox' individuals, who generally don't get on very well with this kind of questioning. The important thing is if they're good linguists.

At my old place I used to quite a bit of interviewing for new translators. We'd usually have a director in on the interview to do the corporate-type stuff but, frankly, it's largely irrelevant for most translator positions so the bulk of the interview was me trying to suss out if they're any good or not (obviously specific tests are involved too- you can't blag specific linguistic ability).

Is this for Japanese? I'd love to know what the process is for testing language ability when applying for translation jobs.

[Brats]

I agree to an extent but I think it depends on the industry. Having worked in translation for 10 years, it's become very clear that lots of translators are, let's say, 'unorthodox' individuals, who generally don't get on very well with this kind of questioning. The important thing is if they're good linguists.

At my old place I used to quite a bit of interviewing for new translators. We'd usually have a director in on the interview to do the corporate-type stuff but, frankly, it's largely irrelevant for most translator positions so the bulk of the interview was me trying to suss out if they're any good or not (obviously specific tests are involved too- you can't blag specific linguistic ability).

Clearly if you're looking for a specialist, then the fact they have specialist skills obviously takes priority. However even with a linguist, there are still going to be additional skills that makes one linguist better than another. If you're interviewing a number of people for a position you want to find that out.

And just to be clear, there are ways that you can get anyone comfortable to answer these questions. I don't stick a spotlight in someone's face, I make them comfortable, get them a drink, have a little chat, talk about the company and then ease them into the structured questions in a natural way. I'm well aware many people are nervous in interviews or funny about this kind of thing (the city is full of complete oddballs) and I want to get the best people in my team, so I mak sure that everyone is in a good place before I ask a single question.

The most common response I get is 'that wasn't as bad as I thought'.

[noobish hat]

The most common response I get is 'that wasn't as bad as I thought'.

Just before you hire the other guy?

[Unwell Cat]

I'm starting a new job next week and the whole interview process went as follows:

An inital 45 min telephone interview with the HR and Technical directors

Followed by the following on site consisting of:

1hr 30 min of the type of questions being discussed in the this thread with the HR director with another 1hr 30 mins of questions with the technical director afterwards. Then another more formal chat with both of them lasting another hour.

With the following 3 days later:

1hr 10 mins of Q and A with the MD / CEO

Followed by an online 1hr psychometric test.

I would say interviews are getting tougher.

[endo]

Is this for Japanese? I'd love to know what the process is for testing language ability when applying for translation jobs.

Not for me- I'm a Romance linguist, and Polish/Czech. Testing/qualification requirements are fairly standard throughout the industry though. For in-house positions (of which there are fewer and fewer), the minimum is a specialist MA in translation, unless you have 10 years and upwards of proven industry experience.

Freelance is a little more flexible, but proven industry experience is key. Very few new graduates are prepared for live translation work. It's a common misconception that translation is an ability that naturally comes along with doing a language degree, which just ain't the case.

Interviews aside (not to say they're not important - they are - obviously you don't want a sociopath working for you), anyone wanting to be a translator will be given specific test pieces to examine their languages and claimed areas of specialisation.

Prospective translators most commonly fail on poor English writing skills(unbelievably, but it's true) and beyond that just unrealistic expectations of word counts and quality. Checking test pieces, it's normally possible to spot a translator from a blagger in the first couple of lines.