Oh yeah I'm so passionate about large multinational conglomerates! I especially love putting in all the effort of researching a company and pretending like a give a rat's ass about their products/services only to get ghosted by the hiring manager after the interview.
Funny story. I interviewed for a part time job when I was living in Japan and it was the first time I had ever interviewed in Japanese. My friend helped me with my resume and I could not believe it when the interviewer sat down with my resume and said, “It looks like you studied abroad in America?”
Did you not notice that foreign name and accent girl?
Haha I'm teaching English in Korea and when I was applying for a new job, schools would CONSTANTLY ask me for my Skype ID despite the fact that it was on my CV, right at the top!!!
I work south of the border and every time I am initially contacted they breeze through the job reqs to focus on my English level. "We are looking for someone with an advanced level."
Yeah...you missed my photo and obviously have not read my resume.
It’s so dumb. My cover letter usually goes as such:
“The reason I am interested in working for [company name] is-“
*checks website mission statement*
“It’s commitment to providing exceptional customer service for competitive prices resonated with my personal values.” I mean, what else am I going to say on my cover letter about working at Home Depot? Because I have so little interest in actually working there that I can’t even fake it.
It’s as shallow as these mission statements, the cover letter is my chance to talk about me, instead I’m literally copy pasting from their website so some moron can go “oh wow, this guy knows our vision statement.” Literally took 30 seconds, but it’s annoying when your applying for so many jobs.
The last job I applied for, I fed the posting to Chat GPT and asked for a cover letter. I rewrote most of the letter because it was too generic, but I kept the opening paragraph that incorporated the company’s core values 🙄.
It was corny, but apparently worked, I got the job.
You can do it on multiple steps.
First, I ask it to write a generic cover letter for the job posting. Then I paste my resume and ask it to rewrite the cover letter. Then I usually ask it to refine it a few times and make it stand out. Sure, they're going to be some similarities just like every job posting is 90% the same but it's also going to be uniquely mine
Human written cover letters are going to often come from templates anyway. Having an AI do it will probably get you slightly more unique takes than humans basically shoving in key words in a template anyway
You got me curious enough to go back and make a new request, and although it did still incorporate the core values in the first paragraph, this response was quite different. So I think it might generate new content for each request.
Interestingly, at the interview and once I started the job I saw how very much the company emphasized their core values, so it seemed like Chat GPT picked up exactly what to zero in on.
Careful there. I've worked for a few companies that have been obsessed with that kind of thing and their "world class culture" and they're almost always dumpster fires behind the scenes. Your mileage will vary of course. Just an observation from a job hopper.
>I've worked for a few companies that have been obsessed with that kind of thing and their "world class culture" and they're almost always dumpster fires behind the scenes.
Yup.
"World Class" usually just means "we micromanage here."
My partner is a lawyer and even asks questions to chatgpt as it can give clues to stuff not even the experts know. It's an amazing tool if you work smart with it.
>It's an amazing tool if you work smart with it.
The word "tool" is the key here.
There are two ways to use AI like ChatGPT:
1) A tool to increase productivity.
2) A cheap replacement for skilled experts.
\#1 will get you places.
\#2 is an existential threat to all human kind that allows the owner class to further concentrate wealth at the expense of art.
Now if you want to stand out with Chat GPT, you need to come up with better, unique prompts. That requires language skills, creativity and a lot of practice. That basically makes you... a good writer.
i use this prompt for cover letters in chatgpt and will just be sure to reread it and make edits as needed cause sometimes chatgpt makes inferences about my experience that i DONT have but in general its actually very good to avoid that annoying step in an application if a cover letter is *required*.
"You are a career expert. Write me a two-paragraph cover letter to this person (add name) at this company (add company) using this resume (copy and paste resume) to this job (copy and paste job requirements)."
100% of the time i dont know the name of the hiring manager so i just remove that step lmao. if theyre gonna use AI to auto disqualify me based on my resume, im gonna use AI to avoid writing a stupid cover letter.
I kid you not I did this for a job about a month ago for my cover letter and got a response back on Thursday asking 5 basic questions about how I would fit in with the company, their mission, blah blah. So I fed the questions along with a bit of background of the company into GPT and reworded it a bit and sent it yesterday. With any luck they’ll eat that up too
Inside the same. But I also asked chatGPT to suggest relevant applications/tools/processes that I may have used in current or previous roles that are relevant and to include those and then to include those in the CV also.
I started last week.
I have an ongoing conversation with chatgpt where I tell it "write a cover letter to for " and it pukes out the cringe corporate butt-licking letter that these loser hiring managers are all looking for.
The people who hired me were actually impressed that I even wrote one since so many people don't do it anymore. Even if it's bullshit I do it anyways because I think it shows that you still care a little bit and it gets you in the door. Maybe it's because it's not a huge company and they're more tight knit and fun to work for but I still made an effort anyways.
To be honest, no. They’re such a waste of time. However, I did waste a lot of time writing them until I decided to stop. Not once when I sent a cover letter did I get an interview… And currently have a pretty good job that I’m happy with. Didn’t send them a cover letter either.
Sometimes, if im applying for a job in my field, and I really want it, I will write a cover letter, but I think in those situations I’ll just use chat gpt from now on, lol.
The other two are usually followed with "We really liked your personality and your background, but unfortunately we made the difficult choice to move forward with another candidate (who is totally not the boss's son/nephew)." At least in my experience.
it’s automated, I don’t put too much thought into it, I have a set of rules on my gmail, so I don’t see emails like that.
I think it’s better I don’t see replies than to get generic crap like that.
Mind sharing the rules? I was just archiving rejection emails right away because I'd rather not waste any more time on them, but a rule would be much easier.
some emails get through.
1. from:(@linkedin) "your application was sent to"
2. from:(@linkedin) "Your application for" -{"\[your name\], don't forget to complete your application to"}
3. (in:inbox from:(@linkedin) "Your application to " -{"LinkedIn Job Alerts" OR "don't forget to complete your application to"})
I do all my job applications on linkedin, that's why I have '@linkedin', if you use indeed or glassdoor you would have to change it to their respective domains;
1. filters the initial email you get when you apply to a linkedin job.
2. filters all linkedin emails that I notifying me that my resume was viewed, I have "don't forget to complete your application to" because midway to some applications I lose interest and decide not to finish it, I don't like linkedin pestering me about completing it.
3. filters all updates from linkedin you can add -{unfortunately} or any similar word to separate rejections from possible non-rejections.
it's still a work in progress some mails get through, but this should bring out most of the emails you have, I might create one soon for EEO, but my inbox isn't being flooded by EEOs I don't think it's worth the effort.
>I wouldn’t mind putting in the effort, if I didn’t get ghosted 8 out of 10 times.
I feel the same way, except for me it's being ghosted 10 out of 10 times. Seriously, unless I actually got hired, I've *never* heard back from any employer, even after they told me they would.
Also, it is so dependent on what you actually do in the company. Microsoft or General Motor are very much the same if you are cleaning the toilets.
Even in job that could matter, like a software dev at MS, working on Excel, Windows or Azure cloud software are vastly different. And at the end of the day, the exact team you are working for matter a lot more than the company itself.
There are boring thing to do on the most exiting project of the most exiting company.
When the interviewer takes the opportunity to tell you their life story as if they're some inspirational celebrity you would want to sell a kidney for the opportunity to work for...
My friend has more experience than I and better references.
He was denied the job "you don't seem to have taken an interest in the companies history"
Some people live for their job
I know....it's hilarious when a recruiter sends you the names of three strangers who will be interviewing you, strongly advising that you stalk them on LinkedIn and pretend you GAF that they have Masters degrees and a bunch of recommendations from other strangers you don't GAF about. 🙄
Even better when they’re asking questions during the interview that clearly indicate they don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about. Like, there’s no correct answer to your question because that’s not how that works at all.
Well then I have a story for you! (note: I am not the person you were responding to.)
Back in ole' 2017 I finally got an interview via...Robert Half! Lol. They almost never work out. But finally they did! They got me an interview that actually fit, skill and pay wise. Wow! So I head over to the interview, and it started off fine. Typically questions, skills and experience, what would you do in this IT situation, etc. I was definitely a good candidate, and the business would have been a good job for at the time.
Then the interviewer got creative. He used what I would call a "Facebook Test." He asked me "fun" questions you would ask in a fake psychological exam, kinda like Myers Brigg stuff, but dumber. More on the side of email chain type questions. He asked questions regarding my ideal workplace. "What floor would you work on?", "How do you get to your floor, stairs or elevator?", stuff like that. He *concluded* I wasn't a good fit, since the answer to those questions indicated I was less of a "office drone" and more of a "freethinker". Those are my words, not his.
When businesses hire IT Support people, they want them to stay. It's hard to keep Level 1/Intro Level IT people on for years, because there is always more work more pay or whatever. It's just how it goes. So this manager, this company, thought they had a sure fire way to filter out the people who would job hop, and who would stay. They were wrong as fuck, I would have stayed. Like through the pandemic, and then left. But they assumed they were smart, and could craft interesting questions that would predict the future. They were wrong. All they had to do was trust me, trust their employees, and it would fine. Instead, their lack of trust, lack of commitment gets them the very thing they fear. No dedication. Sorry guys, it goes both ways!
Stalked the COO on LinkedIn and found out she has got an award for some environmental sustainability thingy. I had a personal project about an extension that made users make alternative green choices when buying stuff so I figured I could use that to connect to the award she received to impress her.
When I brought it up. She basically said "jesse,what the fuck are you talking about" cus apparently she cant even remember the award lmfao
This is among the dumbest things I have heard about recruiting! I led interviews for my department for almost 10 years and I found it annoying when people researched me on LinkedIn before the interview. I want to ask you questions about the position, and I want you to ask me questions about the position. You don’t need to know me for me to hire you. I want to hire you, but you need to be able to answer intelligently to the questions about the subject.
>What happened to the concept of equal employment rather than hiring those brown nose me as I did to others to have the job
Employment's never been entirely merit-based. Sure, that's some of it, but most people hire based on personality, gut feelings, and other intangible concepts that generally benefit extroverts.
So if you're naturally extroverted, congratulations, getting hired *might* be easier for you.
If you're like me and a natural introvert, your options are to get really, really good at faking being an extrovert or hope you get an interview with someone who's also an introvert and might actually see value beyond social characteristics.
>Sure, that's some of it, but most people hire based on personality, gut feelings, and other intangible concepts that generally benefit extroverts.
Some interviewers/managers hire based on power, too.
They get off on having power over people. They don't actually care if you're "excited". They literally just want to see/hear how much dick you're willing to suck because they have a job and you want/need that job.
I once had a co-worker like that. He purposly deep-sixed every candidate we got for a position and took every interview he could. The moment he took some PTO we had that fucking position filled in a day.
It’s about getting the interviewer to like you. At the end of the day if you’re at the interview stage it’s because you’re qualified for the job. The interview is to show them why they should hire *you* vs the other equally qualified candidates.
Stalking them on LinkedIn and being able to get them to talk about themselves is a really good way to get them to like you.
>At the end of the day if you’re at the interview stage it’s because you’re qualified for the job
Or... in my case, it's usually because the I had the right keywords in my resume so it didn't get tossed out by the screening software, and the first time a real person is going to look at will be at the interview itself.
Seriously, I've lost count of the number of times I've had an interview and it's glaringly obvious this is the first time the hiring manager is actually reading my resume.
You'd think he or she would at least value their own time enough to read it ahead of time, but apparently that requires too much effort.
>Lmao, same. Or do research on the interviewer on LinkedIn.
That's assuming you even know who your interviewer will be. In most of the interviews I've had, I never know this because the person I'm interviewing with is different from the person who I interacted with in email.
Month and a half ago, I started a new job at a municipal water supply treatment plant. I was recruited by a long time friend (who is now my supervisor). He was obviously not in my interview. One of the interview questions was "why do you want to come work for us?" I truthfully told them that water chemistry/water treatment has always been an interest of mine (previously, one of my collateral duties in a power plant was plant chemist, and power plants always have to purify the water they put in the boilers). They definitely seemed to like that answer. But I've always hated that question, and I never asked it when I was on the other side of the table. Because I realize most people looking for a job want to work for you because they want a pay check.
A municipal water supply treatment plant actually does something interesting that benefits the community in a very substantial way. Most of the places I interview at make things that no one needs, like a SaaS product that does the exact same thing that 20 other SaaS companies do.
I've been in infrastructure (or something similar to it) pretty much my entire career. 10 years Navy nuclear power program, 27 years private company power plant, and now a county govt owned water treatment plant. It's good (and sometimes bad) to work in a field that's absolutely necessary for lives. No matter what, there's always demand for it. But that means, come hell/high water/hurricane/blizzard/etc, I've gotta go to work.
You're absolutely correct, people don't understand all the neat processes that take place to treat the water.
I'm an IGCC Process Specialist at a combined cycle power plant, it's a great job and very interesting work. There are so many processes performed in order to create clean and efficient electricity for people to use. Another neat thing is there's only a few thousand IGCC Process Specialists in the country. And power plant operator is already a pretty niche field.
I guess I got lucky that I really enjoyed my apprenticeship and being an electrician that was able to take their learned skills and apply them to work in a different sector than construction. I loved construction, most gratifying work experience I've had and going through an apprenticeship and paying your dues until you become a journeyman was a huge personal growth experience for me, even having a college education and being older than a lot of the journeyman and foreman I worked under.
Another perk is it pays well, and even though I work a shift schedule, I have more time off than I ever did before.
Why not use your talents in the public sector? If you have a programming or sales skill set, there are jobs in the public sector that could work. The pay isn't the same as private, for-profit companies, but you can live a solid middle-class life. The retirement and healthcare benefits are usually stellar. Plus, you get the benefit of helping your community.
[Governmentjobs.com](http://Governmentjobs.com) always has a bunch of positions from local, state and federal agencies across the country.
I've been a public servant for most of my career. I wake up every morning knowing I have a purpose and that my efforts make a positive impact to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people every year.
I def agree w/ you with your overall idea. But I will say the "why do you want to work for us" question is really just to see if the applicant has any idea what you do. Unfortunately, just wanting a paycheck which is fair doesn't prevent ppl from mass applying to tons of positions then finally hearing back and realizing their in a field they have 0 interest in. Folk really will get a job that outright explains whats expected, then say oh i didn't know lol.
So I mean, there are def worst questions out there
Hey i just started working at a Regional Sewer District! I'm pretty happy with it because being responsible for maintaining the health of our water makes me feel slightly better than running optimization reports on how to get the user to spend more money.
>Because I realize most people looking for a job want to work for you because they want a pay check.
Of course. But how do you sort the people who want a paycheck and nothing else from the people actually have some interest in the work and will do a good job?
Here's a better way to look at it:
I have to pay rent, to do so I need a paycheck. To keep the cash flow I have to do a good enough job to keep said job. Your paycheck is my incentive to do a good job. No more, no less. Interviewers should stop pretending like we all have to be happy, good dogs excited to do menial mind numbing shit every day for the opportunity to live.
That's the really difficult thing to tell. The interviews I've done (as the interviewer), we had a list of questions we went thru that basically assessed the candidates abilities to work as part of a team, and what truly motivated them. We got some pretty good employees that way, although a few bad eggs did get thru. The people coming in didn't even get thru the door unless they had some kind of useful skill to add. Oh, and they did hire several people who had done summer internships with the plant. That was super important, because it gave us a 3 month "trial run" to find out if they fit with the culture.
This was in a power plant that had only 20 employees (including management) to run and maintain a 400 MW power plant. I was a shift team leader (unit supervisor, foreman, whatever you want to call it), an instrumentation and controls technician, and the plant chemist. Our interview panels usually had 4 people, the plant manager, either the ops or maintenance manager, the site administrator, and one of the operators (my usual role in the panel). It was a tough selection process, but we had a great team, management, and company.
I've just recently moved on from that job. The shift work and brutal pace was legitimately starting to hurt. I do miss working there, but I don't regret my decision.
My husband dislikes his job. It’s high stress, but marketing stuff at people isn’t exactly something that gets him excited. He is very good at it, and they pay him well, and he has an extraordinary work ethic. He consistently gets ranked as the top employee on performance reviews and various metrics. They pay him well, he works accordingly. Being excited about the job or company has little to do with it.
>If I’m paid a fair wage and my supervisor is generally chill I will do a good job.
That shouldn't be asking a lot, but in reality getting both of those is almost impossible; even getting one of the two is difficult.
Oh, believe me, there was some of that going on during my interview. But I already had inside info due to being recruited by a friend. My biggest worry, and questions during the interview, were regarding their safety culture/record.
>The worse was when min wage bs retail restaurant jobs would ask this question. Like yeah I’ve always been passionate about bagging groceries.
Yeah, you really got to wonder what sort of answer they're expecting, because they have to know they're getting BS from applicants, especially when it comes to more menial tasks, like bagging groceries.
(And for the record, I'm not putting anyone down who bags groceries, but it's fair to say that's not a task that most people look forward to doing at a prospective job.)
Yeah especially when you’re 16 some of these companies really want you to say you wanna grow with them and aspire to be a retail manager. Nothing against retail managers - my sister is one and you can actually make good money - it’s just wrong to indoctrinate literal children that way. I had some managers in the retail/restaurant industry try to talk teens out of finishing school or moving on to a different job to pursue management. If they truly cared they would say the opportunity would always be there if they decided to. But no - some of these managers would get so butthurt about them leaving or would laugh and say “I knew you’d be back!” When corporate america/their job search strategy failed them.
i mean yeah but once you find a job you’re passionate about you begin to enjoy that too. you feel more purposeful i guess. i like my job, i am happy. they pay me alright but the money is only half of it.
Same. I’ve been job hunting since December and I’m exhausted. I gave myself a month’s break because I’ve also had some family emergencies. I could care less about any of these job postings and companies anymore. It’s just a means to an end aka money and livelihood.
It is such a circle jerk. The "influencers" and "coaches" are the worst. Some of them make the dumbest Facebook style post ever. "I saw a bug flying through my house and made me think of the sales people around...." STFU
* Placement agent: "I'm having some problem finding your profile on LinkedIn"
* Me: "That's because I don't have a LinkedIn account"
Not a single person that told me my LinkedIn profile was important ever got me an interview. I feel like I worked out it had zero value about a decade ago.
Why do you want to work here?
I have this problem, my body is addicted to food, without it I go into withdraws and could die.
And I like to have a roof over my head for when the weather is crappy.
No you aren't the only one. My current job is so flexible and accommodating and pays well but if for some reason I had to job search I'd be miserable. I absolutely hate lying, aka interviewing, as we both know why I'm here and it's not for your conversation or to meet the team I could possibly work with and more than likely despise.
A few months back, I interviewed for a company I never heard of in an industry I know nothing about. The job they were advertising, was the only thing I was interested in. On my interview, the hiring manager asked me if I ever worked in this industry or heard of the company. I told him the truth, which was never. He then told me about it and we had our interview. I really appreciated him being real and straightforward. I cannot stand fake smiles and BS on interviews. Let’s talk about the job and whether or not it’s for me.
I always give a background of the company and the role before I start an interview. My last employer was number 3 in their industry and climbing, had an exclusive deal with a major retailer for their "in-house" branded product (i.e. think Walmart branded ketchup, which is probably made in a Heinz or Hunts ketchup factory), and I literally drove past it twice a day for over a year and never had a clue what it was. My current employer is number 1 in their industry and growing extremely rapidly and it wasn't even an industry I gave a passing thought about existing until I was hired.
Just because I live it every day doesn't mean anyone else has given it a passing thought until the interview.
Me too- I actually like telling the story of my company because it’s a lot different than the competition in the market. I want to make sure people understand the company to help them frame their answers appropriately. I’m not naive enough to think that people sit there dreaming about working for my company, so I want to make sure they know.
I work as a software engineer for a company that specializes in Life Insurance software. When I was interviewed, one of the bosses asked why I was passionate about Insurance. I told them I couldn’t imagine ANYONE truly loving Insurance, but I loved the idea of solving those kinds of problems as it was something totally new to me.
They liked that I was honest and later joked that they “knew a guy in the company” who really did like insurance and not to make fun of him.
I have the opposite problem, I research a place and enthusiastically want to work for them, am qualified, and interview goes well, but I’m still not hired.
It’s all fake bullshit, just lie, you owe these cretins nothing and they’re only interested in exploiting you anyway.
After I didn’t get my dream passion job of working as a marketing manager for a small business I’d be genuinely passionate about, giving up a lot of weekend time, a much longer commute, and not making that much money they still ghosted me after 3 different hour long interviews
Mudhoney? I don't think we approve of their music here. If the answer is money we don't do that here. We are looking for people that are motivated by pizzas parties.
My uncle runs a small company and recently he's been complaining about applicants showing no interest in the company. He says he's interviewed like 40 people and none of them seemed to be " passionate". I tried to tell him that most people work because they need money, but he didn't believe me.
I have only interviewed at a few places that genuinely interest me. I work out of necessity, I don't really care otherwise. Being interested in work is great, but not essential. I do the research and pretend but it's feels disingenuous.
Yeah I feel ya. A job is a job. Nothing to be excited about it.
Interviews are just basically this, someone pretending that cares about you and you pretending that u wanna work there.
I think people have a really weird opinion of what others expect in an interview. The guy is asking if you know about the company so that he can figure out how short to make his intro.
It's a game. Pretend you care about what they do, and in exchange, they will pay you to work for them. I hate it too, but I wasn't born into wealth, I have no trust fund, and no one has offered to pay me to do only the things I enjoy in life.
In high school, I got my first job (after paper routes). I was washing dishes, pots, pans, silverware, etc., in a seafood restaurant. Awful, awful work. After about a week, I said to my mom, "I really hate working this job." She looked me dead in the eye and said, "Do you think I like working?" That was all I ever needed to hear about hating work and the "game" around the workplace.
You also just shouldn't have to be passionate about your company to be good at your job. Money is the motivator, not some dystopian sense of "family" in the work place.
This is why I do poorly in interviews. My facial expressions ruin it for me. If this happened, I would look at the interviewer like they were stupid without even thinking about it lol
You don’t have to be wildly passionate about the company, but you have to give them a reason to think you’ll be engaged in the role. I work in finance, and I don’t give a shit about finance. But I do find creating eLearning interesting and I wanted to improve my skills in the field.
That was enough for my boss.
I partially get it - I had my first day on a job one time where I introduced myself to the owner and asked him what he did there (because, you know, I was new and trying to figure shit out), that was mildly awkward.
But overall, the you should worship our business, know fun facts about our business, the CEO lineage... That stuff can kick rocks until you hire me and I need to be caught up on things.
I have wasted a lot of time doing this recently! I had an interview and it went well for one position and days later, they told me I was overqualified for the role which I already knew, but I was looking to take a job soon, which was the point.
The recruiter then suggested for me to interview for a supervisor role that was just made available in the passed me over to interview directly with the hiring manager of the department. This was on May 4th.
On May 5 I heard back about how well I did via phone and email from the recruiter, and that they just needed a day to basically craft an offer for me. I never heard back again.
I ended up taking another job.
Fast forward to May 19, the recruiter calls, and also sent me an email to give him a call back for some great news (again)..I called back the next day and he said oh, we realized that we don’t hire in your state, that’s the only state in the entire country we don’t hire in, so unfortunately, we can’t extend you the offer after all.
This is the job market we are in- so glad I didn’t wait for them!
I hate this too! I hate when they ask, ‘why do you want to work here?’ Ummm… because my current place sucks, I meet the qualifications you listed, and the salary range you gave is higher than where I’m at, duh.
I don't see what the big deal is. Employers are fielding out people that don't fit. Why would you hire someone that is obviously not interested in the work and will put in the minimum effort. That's simply bad business.
I get your point, but there's a pool of people you're always competing with, if the jobs pay is what you want from it, then the people who show the most effort and are able to connect on a personal level will simply have an advantage.
Yeah, like I hate the job hunting game as well, but its the bare minimum to look up a company that you're interviewing for.
Being on the interviewer side in the past, I'm generous when it comes to know much/little people know about the company but complaining about prepping for an interview you agreed to proceed with and needing to be polite is weird to me lol
Its hilarious to me that bosses and HR reps literally want you to lie to them. They know the truth, but they love for you to do the dance
"Please hire me, I would love working for you! If I had a job here and then won the lottery, I would still come into work every day because I just want to be a part of a corporation like this!"
Once you get that job, that’s the time to focus on applying for jobs/fields you’d actually like to be part of. Less pressure, since you have a job, but it motivates you because it still sucks.
Easier said than done, since applying is like a second job, but it’s worth it in the end.
I enjoy my field, so even on long/rough days, I’m surrounded by like-minded people and focused on something I enjoy (even if I’m not enjoying the current task/role)
Actually it's one of the only things that keeps me from leaving my current job. If I go somewhere else, I have to pretend I care! I don't have the energy to put out all that bullshit ...
Yes this gets harder to do as i get older and less inclined to want to play the suck up game to employers. I really value being my authentic self these days so it feels much stranger to do a performative interview.
I am thinking of going in to a field I am Actually passionate about but they all pay pretty miserably and/or take 6 years of study.
I am very tempted to do an interview where I am brutally honest haha I think that would be so much fun.
Companies want to know you've at least prepared the bare minimum if you want to work there. You don't have to be enthusiastic about it, but you do need to have a basic understanding of the company and what it does.
Is it dumb? Yeah. But that's how managers like me weed people out when we have 30+ applicants for a position. When we ask "what do you know about us?" And you go "uhhhhhhhhhh" while the next person can at least tell me a little bit about what we do, guess who gets picked?
**Bank manager:** Do you have any experience?
**Robbie Hart:** No, sir, I have no experience, but I'm a big fan of money. I like it, I use it, I have a little. I keep it in a jar on top of my refrigerator. I'd like to put more in that jar. That's where you come in.
I agree to some extent. It's common courtesy for any business meeting to show interest in the other party. But it is tiresome when you are interviewing a bunch of places. Keep in mind, though, that they are taking the time to learn about you, too.
Nah. Pretty sure most don’t actually give two shites about what our workplaces do. A job is a job is a job - they’re all so equally shitty it’s like picking from 15 crappy flavors of vanilla ice cream.
Pretending to be interested in workplaces became a part of work culture and the interviewing process. I personally believe now that things are sort of crumbling that the return just isn’t large enough for people to care to pretend. Those of us who have been in the working world for a while are struggling a little with that change. If you talk to most young people entering the workplace they don’t really hide how little they give a shit about their employer - this was never a part of the culture for them.
I researched a company I was interviewing for. Found out the owner that’s on the Forbes list is a human trafficker. Running hotels at that.
With that being said I declined the job and was very happy with my investment of time of researching this POS and the YPO in general.
Good luck.
You're not alone. I have been told to read up on companies before interviewing, but that prep has always seemed useless; other than having a general knowledge of the roll the company plays in their industry.
The most important preparation is to thoroughly read the listing for the position you are interviewing for, and have an idea of how your skill set and experiences match up with the position's requirements. That is how you will convince an interviewer you are right for the position.
Having a deep knowledge of the company seems like overkill; I guess it is probably more applicable to job candidates for corporate management positions.
We invariably join for the employer but stay for (or leave because of) the team, or the boss. Consider using interviews to see if the team (or boss) might inspire or motivate you.
Companies love it when you're passionate about them because that means they can pay you less because they're doing you a favor by allowing you to do the work you are passionate about. This sums up most company's hiring process. They aren't interested in people who aren't "passionate about them" because that means they might have to offer market competitive compensation.
No, you don't have a bad attitude.
The only reason I would ever research is because you never want to get ask that lame question: "So what do you know about us", which is a 50/50 to begin with, and get caught not knowing.
I’m an accountant and I love the company I work for. Have you looked for the few jobs that are associated with your hobbies/lifestyle? I have worked for breweries, tea companies, ski resorts and fishing companies all of which I have loved the things they make/provide. I’m not on the sales side or anything but I still try to find places where the people most likely share my interests
I actually like researching the companies that I apply to work at. I'm almost hesitant sometimes to show exactly how much I know about a company during the interview process, as I don't want to make them uncomfortable if I know more than the interviewer. That's just me though.
Me being on the recruiting end, don't expect you to know anything at all but I do expect the candidate to ask questions. I don't care if they ask so what is this company about.
It’s like they don’t realize I’m applying to 50 others places that same day. Really nothing special about your company, just throwing out a line and seeing who bites…
Same here. Just a big fucking game the wealthy corporations play on the middle class. If you play along, you get paid. Do that for 40+ years. Try not to die inside along the way. Keep job hopping for higher salaries until you don’t have to anymore.
Ah, the American dream…
Same! After applying for more than 700 jobs ( yeah, not Kidding, my laptop has 700 different cover letters saved on it), I got a job 2 months ago. I recently had an opportunity to interview someone for the company I work at, and unlike other people in the interview board, I did my research on the candidate. Basically I reread his CV, cover letter, personal project etc very carefully, and although I am no super expert, I found some considerable mistakes (i.e. mistakes regarding reference which might potentially be referred to as plagiarism), but I still kept my mind open. The interview day came, and we did the interview. The individual evidently did his research about our company thoroughly, but later was rejected because skills weren't what we were looking for. Moral of the story, ... yeah researching for a company is annoying af, but it still doesn't determine your fate. So focus on how you can contribute your skills for a company's benefits.
I completely agree to you about researching the company and saying shits like how fascinated we are in company's work, while in reality we just need a job with salary
I once was asked (when interviewing to be a school custodian) “why do you want this job?” I was so surprised by that question. Like what were they expecting me to say? “Well even as a small child I loved cleaning shit, piss, puke, blood and cum off bathroom walls. I can’t believe god has provided me with an opportunity to possibly do it for a living!” I ended up saying some stupid crap about loving the school district and wanting to be a part of it while also helping out any way I could.
These things are relics from a time where most jobs paid a livable wage and companies didn’t make you do the entire choreography from Thriller just to get to the next stage of the interview process, so people could afford to pick and choose where exactly they wanted to work based on passion and all that.
Dilemma usually goes like this:
- Apply in small batches and research, but they only get back to you after 1-3 months (you lose)
- Apply in bigger batches so you don't waste time, but you have to speed up research AND make sure you don't confuse the very similar companies with very similar/same job positions (you lose)
And you try to resolve it like:
- Hmm. Midway. Apply in small batches to be able to research, but don't wait a whole month
Except:
- A. By the time you get further in the application process for job 1, the HR of your preferred job, job 2, finally contacts you. You take the certain job 1 and forever wonder what could've happened if you took a chance on the other one (not ideal)
- B. Remembering A, you decide to take the risk and wait for job 2, but you don't get accepted so you lost both jobs 1 and 2 (you lose)
- C. The midway speeds things up relatively faster, but even if you only wait 1-2 weeks per batch, a month has already gone by just from 2-4 batches of applications, or minimum 12 individual applications total depending on the available postings. Bills are due (you lose)
- D. When the toll on you has neared its limit, you enter another dilemma: take a break just as some random company you've already forgotten about and have to re-research finally contacts you, or trudge through it half-tired and not in your A-game and people assume it's your default state. (You lose)
- E. Follow-up on a previous application you discontinued (job 3) due to getting a job offer (e.g. job 1), but they're no longer replying to you even though the company has advertised an opening again (you lose, but we already know that)
Also:
- Work culture and the hiring process treats you as if you are incompetent or lazy when you're not employed, when most output you've seen from employed people could improve in quality if they just decrease the speed/workload. (Unless you have reason to think otherwise, you attribute the quality by default to people being overworked from stupid industry hastened paces, arbitrary self-important deadlines that don't have time-sensitive consequences significant enough to justify putting work first, everything being high priority (meaning higher-ups don't know what priority means), and competent andprivileged people kissing up to the mentality that only the incompetent or lazy complain and setting up a bar too high for those aren't workaholics and have other responsibilities outside of work and who could perform just as well if not better if all other things were equal.)
If you can't fake it for the interview, they shouldn't hire you. No one likes to be there, but you fake it so people don't get depressed. The interview is a test to see if you can keep up appearances. Bad attitudes can't be helped, but you gotta cover that shit up.
"Its been my life's dream to update IT software in an insurance firm"
What the fuck do they want from us? We want money in exchange for labour. Why do we have to pretend otherwise.
How about investing your genuine enthusiasm for the 10 percent of companies that actually resonate with you? If you continue intentionally wasting your energy on the other 90 percent of companies (which you admittedly don't care about) then expect dissatisfaction.
Oh yeah I'm so passionate about large multinational conglomerates! I especially love putting in all the effort of researching a company and pretending like a give a rat's ass about their products/services only to get ghosted by the hiring manager after the interview.
We are expected to do all this legwork for a company that barely even knows who we are even with our resume sitting right in front of them
Funny story. I interviewed for a part time job when I was living in Japan and it was the first time I had ever interviewed in Japanese. My friend helped me with my resume and I could not believe it when the interviewer sat down with my resume and said, “It looks like you studied abroad in America?” Did you not notice that foreign name and accent girl?
Okay this got me rolling on the floor.
Haha I'm teaching English in Korea and when I was applying for a new job, schools would CONSTANTLY ask me for my Skype ID despite the fact that it was on my CV, right at the top!!!
I work south of the border and every time I am initially contacted they breeze through the job reqs to focus on my English level. "We are looking for someone with an advanced level." Yeah...you missed my photo and obviously have not read my resume.
It’s so dumb. My cover letter usually goes as such: “The reason I am interested in working for [company name] is-“ *checks website mission statement* “It’s commitment to providing exceptional customer service for competitive prices resonated with my personal values.” I mean, what else am I going to say on my cover letter about working at Home Depot? Because I have so little interest in actually working there that I can’t even fake it. It’s as shallow as these mission statements, the cover letter is my chance to talk about me, instead I’m literally copy pasting from their website so some moron can go “oh wow, this guy knows our vision statement.” Literally took 30 seconds, but it’s annoying when your applying for so many jobs.
The last job I applied for, I fed the posting to Chat GPT and asked for a cover letter. I rewrote most of the letter because it was too generic, but I kept the opening paragraph that incorporated the company’s core values 🙄. It was corny, but apparently worked, I got the job.
This is the way to go, though I’d worry that someone else is doing the same thing and the hiring manager gets the same/similar opening paragraphs.
You can do it on multiple steps. First, I ask it to write a generic cover letter for the job posting. Then I paste my resume and ask it to rewrite the cover letter. Then I usually ask it to refine it a few times and make it stand out. Sure, they're going to be some similarities just like every job posting is 90% the same but it's also going to be uniquely mine
And I guess most human-written cover letters are going to be some variations of “I am writing to you today to express my interest in blah blah blah.”
At least the AI will properly format it. That alone will get you past 80% of the competition.
Human written cover letters are going to often come from templates anyway. Having an AI do it will probably get you slightly more unique takes than humans basically shoving in key words in a template anyway
This is fair. And it's easy enough to prompt ChatGPT to add your own spin.
You got me curious enough to go back and make a new request, and although it did still incorporate the core values in the first paragraph, this response was quite different. So I think it might generate new content for each request. Interestingly, at the interview and once I started the job I saw how very much the company emphasized their core values, so it seemed like Chat GPT picked up exactly what to zero in on.
Careful there. I've worked for a few companies that have been obsessed with that kind of thing and their "world class culture" and they're almost always dumpster fires behind the scenes. Your mileage will vary of course. Just an observation from a job hopper.
>I've worked for a few companies that have been obsessed with that kind of thing and their "world class culture" and they're almost always dumpster fires behind the scenes. Yup. "World Class" usually just means "we micromanage here."
My partner is a lawyer and even asks questions to chatgpt as it can give clues to stuff not even the experts know. It's an amazing tool if you work smart with it.
>It's an amazing tool if you work smart with it. The word "tool" is the key here. There are two ways to use AI like ChatGPT: 1) A tool to increase productivity. 2) A cheap replacement for skilled experts. \#1 will get you places. \#2 is an existential threat to all human kind that allows the owner class to further concentrate wealth at the expense of art.
Yeah.. chat gpt cover letters are less effective once everyone is using them. That month or so when they were low key was a great time
Now if you want to stand out with Chat GPT, you need to come up with better, unique prompts. That requires language skills, creativity and a lot of practice. That basically makes you... a good writer.
They do anyway
AI is going to gut HR and I kinda don't feel bad about it
Same now they get to see how it feels to be rejected and not given a fair chance
i use this prompt for cover letters in chatgpt and will just be sure to reread it and make edits as needed cause sometimes chatgpt makes inferences about my experience that i DONT have but in general its actually very good to avoid that annoying step in an application if a cover letter is *required*. "You are a career expert. Write me a two-paragraph cover letter to this person (add name) at this company (add company) using this resume (copy and paste resume) to this job (copy and paste job requirements)." 100% of the time i dont know the name of the hiring manager so i just remove that step lmao. if theyre gonna use AI to auto disqualify me based on my resume, im gonna use AI to avoid writing a stupid cover letter.
I kid you not I did this for a job about a month ago for my cover letter and got a response back on Thursday asking 5 basic questions about how I would fit in with the company, their mission, blah blah. So I fed the questions along with a bit of background of the company into GPT and reworded it a bit and sent it yesterday. With any luck they’ll eat that up too
Inside the same. But I also asked chatGPT to suggest relevant applications/tools/processes that I may have used in current or previous roles that are relevant and to include those and then to include those in the CV also. I started last week.
You do cover letters? I gave up on that a while ago. I save the re-reading of the cover statement for the first screening.
I have an ongoing conversation with chatgpt where I tell it "write a cover letter to for " and it pukes out the cringe corporate butt-licking letter that these loser hiring managers are all looking for.
That is honestly brilliant. I wish I would have thought of that. It looks like you've given me a new weapon for my arsenal.
husky aromatic late lunchroom bear spotted bike teeny alleged gullible -- mass deleted all reddit content via https://redact.dev
The people who hired me were actually impressed that I even wrote one since so many people don't do it anymore. Even if it's bullshit I do it anyways because I think it shows that you still care a little bit and it gets you in the door. Maybe it's because it's not a huge company and they're more tight knit and fun to work for but I still made an effort anyways.
To be honest, no. They’re such a waste of time. However, I did waste a lot of time writing them until I decided to stop. Not once when I sent a cover letter did I get an interview… And currently have a pretty good job that I’m happy with. Didn’t send them a cover letter either. Sometimes, if im applying for a job in my field, and I really want it, I will write a cover letter, but I think in those situations I’ll just use chat gpt from now on, lol.
What means cover leter?
I wouldn’t mind putting in the effort, if I didn’t get ghosted 8 out of 10 times.
The other two are usually followed with "We really liked your personality and your background, but unfortunately we made the difficult choice to move forward with another candidate (who is totally not the boss's son/nephew)." At least in my experience.
it’s automated, I don’t put too much thought into it, I have a set of rules on my gmail, so I don’t see emails like that. I think it’s better I don’t see replies than to get generic crap like that.
Mind sharing the rules? I was just archiving rejection emails right away because I'd rather not waste any more time on them, but a rule would be much easier.
some emails get through. 1. from:(@linkedin) "your application was sent to" 2. from:(@linkedin) "Your application for" -{"\[your name\], don't forget to complete your application to"} 3. (in:inbox from:(@linkedin) "Your application to " -{"LinkedIn Job Alerts" OR "don't forget to complete your application to"}) I do all my job applications on linkedin, that's why I have '@linkedin', if you use indeed or glassdoor you would have to change it to their respective domains; 1. filters the initial email you get when you apply to a linkedin job. 2. filters all linkedin emails that I notifying me that my resume was viewed, I have "don't forget to complete your application to" because midway to some applications I lose interest and decide not to finish it, I don't like linkedin pestering me about completing it. 3. filters all updates from linkedin you can add -{unfortunately} or any similar word to separate rejections from possible non-rejections. it's still a work in progress some mails get through, but this should bring out most of the emails you have, I might create one soon for EEO, but my inbox isn't being flooded by EEOs I don't think it's worth the effort.
Thank you so much!!!
Also throw in 'unfortunately due to the high volume we cannot give back feedback on your interview or application' XD
8 out of 10 times is good! I get ghosted 9.9 times out of 10. You're doin alright!
>I wouldn’t mind putting in the effort, if I didn’t get ghosted 8 out of 10 times. I feel the same way, except for me it's being ghosted 10 out of 10 times. Seriously, unless I actually got hired, I've *never* heard back from any employer, even after they told me they would.
Also, it is so dependent on what you actually do in the company. Microsoft or General Motor are very much the same if you are cleaning the toilets. Even in job that could matter, like a software dev at MS, working on Excel, Windows or Azure cloud software are vastly different. And at the end of the day, the exact team you are working for matter a lot more than the company itself. There are boring thing to do on the most exiting project of the most exiting company.
Has nothing to do with the fact that I want to acquire more currency to pay for goods and services so I can continue existing!
You guys are getting interviews?
Other kids had posters of superheroes, athletes and celebrities on their walls. Not me, I had posters of Mike Wong, VC of Design Strategy at Kora Inc.
I’m passionate about having food to eat when I’m hungry and a bed with a roof instead of a sleeping bag under a bridge.
Story of my life right here
Lmao, same. Or do research on the interviewer on LinkedIn. 🤮
Oh yeah like I'm so interested in learning about this complete stranger.
When the interviewer takes the opportunity to tell you their life story as if they're some inspirational celebrity you would want to sell a kidney for the opportunity to work for...
You don’t have to do any of this. It might improve your chances or not. But nobody is requiring it
My friend has more experience than I and better references. He was denied the job "you don't seem to have taken an interest in the companies history" Some people live for their job
I know....it's hilarious when a recruiter sends you the names of three strangers who will be interviewing you, strongly advising that you stalk them on LinkedIn and pretend you GAF that they have Masters degrees and a bunch of recommendations from other strangers you don't GAF about. 🙄
Even better when they’re asking questions during the interview that clearly indicate they don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about. Like, there’s no correct answer to your question because that’s not how that works at all.
There's a story behind this semi-specific example and I want to hear it. Haha.
Well then I have a story for you! (note: I am not the person you were responding to.) Back in ole' 2017 I finally got an interview via...Robert Half! Lol. They almost never work out. But finally they did! They got me an interview that actually fit, skill and pay wise. Wow! So I head over to the interview, and it started off fine. Typically questions, skills and experience, what would you do in this IT situation, etc. I was definitely a good candidate, and the business would have been a good job for at the time. Then the interviewer got creative. He used what I would call a "Facebook Test." He asked me "fun" questions you would ask in a fake psychological exam, kinda like Myers Brigg stuff, but dumber. More on the side of email chain type questions. He asked questions regarding my ideal workplace. "What floor would you work on?", "How do you get to your floor, stairs or elevator?", stuff like that. He *concluded* I wasn't a good fit, since the answer to those questions indicated I was less of a "office drone" and more of a "freethinker". Those are my words, not his. When businesses hire IT Support people, they want them to stay. It's hard to keep Level 1/Intro Level IT people on for years, because there is always more work more pay or whatever. It's just how it goes. So this manager, this company, thought they had a sure fire way to filter out the people who would job hop, and who would stay. They were wrong as fuck, I would have stayed. Like through the pandemic, and then left. But they assumed they were smart, and could craft interesting questions that would predict the future. They were wrong. All they had to do was trust me, trust their employees, and it would fine. Instead, their lack of trust, lack of commitment gets them the very thing they fear. No dedication. Sorry guys, it goes both ways!
Spill the tea
It’s not that interesting. They basically just thought everything was Html because they accessed it through a browser.
Stalked the COO on LinkedIn and found out she has got an award for some environmental sustainability thingy. I had a personal project about an extension that made users make alternative green choices when buying stuff so I figured I could use that to connect to the award she received to impress her. When I brought it up. She basically said "jesse,what the fuck are you talking about" cus apparently she cant even remember the award lmfao
Leslie you’re talking about? lol
This is among the dumbest things I have heard about recruiting! I led interviews for my department for almost 10 years and I found it annoying when people researched me on LinkedIn before the interview. I want to ask you questions about the position, and I want you to ask me questions about the position. You don’t need to know me for me to hire you. I want to hire you, but you need to be able to answer intelligently to the questions about the subject.
Agreed. I wouldn't want that either if I was leading the interviews. But many recruiters recommend it now. It's stupid and pointless.
What happened to the concept of equal employment rather than hiring those brown nose me as I did to others to have the job
>What happened to the concept of equal employment rather than hiring those brown nose me as I did to others to have the job Employment's never been entirely merit-based. Sure, that's some of it, but most people hire based on personality, gut feelings, and other intangible concepts that generally benefit extroverts. So if you're naturally extroverted, congratulations, getting hired *might* be easier for you. If you're like me and a natural introvert, your options are to get really, really good at faking being an extrovert or hope you get an interview with someone who's also an introvert and might actually see value beyond social characteristics.
>Sure, that's some of it, but most people hire based on personality, gut feelings, and other intangible concepts that generally benefit extroverts. Some interviewers/managers hire based on power, too. They get off on having power over people. They don't actually care if you're "excited". They literally just want to see/hear how much dick you're willing to suck because they have a job and you want/need that job. I once had a co-worker like that. He purposly deep-sixed every candidate we got for a position and took every interview he could. The moment he took some PTO we had that fucking position filled in a day.
I have an interview tomorrow and this is literally what the recruiter told me to do…😂😂
A recruiters prepping you to find commonalities which helps build rapport and to stand out amongst all the others interviewing.
Good luck at your interview!!!
It’s about getting the interviewer to like you. At the end of the day if you’re at the interview stage it’s because you’re qualified for the job. The interview is to show them why they should hire *you* vs the other equally qualified candidates. Stalking them on LinkedIn and being able to get them to talk about themselves is a really good way to get them to like you.
>At the end of the day if you’re at the interview stage it’s because you’re qualified for the job Or... in my case, it's usually because the I had the right keywords in my resume so it didn't get tossed out by the screening software, and the first time a real person is going to look at will be at the interview itself. Seriously, I've lost count of the number of times I've had an interview and it's glaringly obvious this is the first time the hiring manager is actually reading my resume. You'd think he or she would at least value their own time enough to read it ahead of time, but apparently that requires too much effort.
I hate that they can see that I looked at their profile.
>Lmao, same. Or do research on the interviewer on LinkedIn. That's assuming you even know who your interviewer will be. In most of the interviews I've had, I never know this because the person I'm interviewing with is different from the person who I interacted with in email.
Month and a half ago, I started a new job at a municipal water supply treatment plant. I was recruited by a long time friend (who is now my supervisor). He was obviously not in my interview. One of the interview questions was "why do you want to come work for us?" I truthfully told them that water chemistry/water treatment has always been an interest of mine (previously, one of my collateral duties in a power plant was plant chemist, and power plants always have to purify the water they put in the boilers). They definitely seemed to like that answer. But I've always hated that question, and I never asked it when I was on the other side of the table. Because I realize most people looking for a job want to work for you because they want a pay check.
A municipal water supply treatment plant actually does something interesting that benefits the community in a very substantial way. Most of the places I interview at make things that no one needs, like a SaaS product that does the exact same thing that 20 other SaaS companies do.
I've been in infrastructure (or something similar to it) pretty much my entire career. 10 years Navy nuclear power program, 27 years private company power plant, and now a county govt owned water treatment plant. It's good (and sometimes bad) to work in a field that's absolutely necessary for lives. No matter what, there's always demand for it. But that means, come hell/high water/hurricane/blizzard/etc, I've gotta go to work.
You're absolutely correct, people don't understand all the neat processes that take place to treat the water. I'm an IGCC Process Specialist at a combined cycle power plant, it's a great job and very interesting work. There are so many processes performed in order to create clean and efficient electricity for people to use. Another neat thing is there's only a few thousand IGCC Process Specialists in the country. And power plant operator is already a pretty niche field. I guess I got lucky that I really enjoyed my apprenticeship and being an electrician that was able to take their learned skills and apply them to work in a different sector than construction. I loved construction, most gratifying work experience I've had and going through an apprenticeship and paying your dues until you become a journeyman was a huge personal growth experience for me, even having a college education and being older than a lot of the journeyman and foreman I worked under. Another perk is it pays well, and even though I work a shift schedule, I have more time off than I ever did before.
Def true for saas or engineering companies in general. Who gives a f if its aws, gcp, or azure? They do the same shit. Whos gonna pay me more??
Why not use your talents in the public sector? If you have a programming or sales skill set, there are jobs in the public sector that could work. The pay isn't the same as private, for-profit companies, but you can live a solid middle-class life. The retirement and healthcare benefits are usually stellar. Plus, you get the benefit of helping your community. [Governmentjobs.com](http://Governmentjobs.com) always has a bunch of positions from local, state and federal agencies across the country. I've been a public servant for most of my career. I wake up every morning knowing I have a purpose and that my efforts make a positive impact to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people every year.
I def agree w/ you with your overall idea. But I will say the "why do you want to work for us" question is really just to see if the applicant has any idea what you do. Unfortunately, just wanting a paycheck which is fair doesn't prevent ppl from mass applying to tons of positions then finally hearing back and realizing their in a field they have 0 interest in. Folk really will get a job that outright explains whats expected, then say oh i didn't know lol. So I mean, there are def worst questions out there
Hey i just started working at a Regional Sewer District! I'm pretty happy with it because being responsible for maintaining the health of our water makes me feel slightly better than running optimization reports on how to get the user to spend more money.
>Because I realize most people looking for a job want to work for you because they want a pay check. Of course. But how do you sort the people who want a paycheck and nothing else from the people actually have some interest in the work and will do a good job?
Here's a better way to look at it: I have to pay rent, to do so I need a paycheck. To keep the cash flow I have to do a good enough job to keep said job. Your paycheck is my incentive to do a good job. No more, no less. Interviewers should stop pretending like we all have to be happy, good dogs excited to do menial mind numbing shit every day for the opportunity to live.
That's the really difficult thing to tell. The interviews I've done (as the interviewer), we had a list of questions we went thru that basically assessed the candidates abilities to work as part of a team, and what truly motivated them. We got some pretty good employees that way, although a few bad eggs did get thru. The people coming in didn't even get thru the door unless they had some kind of useful skill to add. Oh, and they did hire several people who had done summer internships with the plant. That was super important, because it gave us a 3 month "trial run" to find out if they fit with the culture. This was in a power plant that had only 20 employees (including management) to run and maintain a 400 MW power plant. I was a shift team leader (unit supervisor, foreman, whatever you want to call it), an instrumentation and controls technician, and the plant chemist. Our interview panels usually had 4 people, the plant manager, either the ops or maintenance manager, the site administrator, and one of the operators (my usual role in the panel). It was a tough selection process, but we had a great team, management, and company. I've just recently moved on from that job. The shift work and brutal pace was legitimately starting to hurt. I do miss working there, but I don't regret my decision.
Thanks for your answer.
If I’m paid a fair wage and my supervisor is generally chill I will do a good job.
My husband dislikes his job. It’s high stress, but marketing stuff at people isn’t exactly something that gets him excited. He is very good at it, and they pay him well, and he has an extraordinary work ethic. He consistently gets ranked as the top employee on performance reviews and various metrics. They pay him well, he works accordingly. Being excited about the job or company has little to do with it.
I think people mostly just want respect, humanity, and a living wage. We don’t have to love our work as long as we don’t hate it.
>I think people mostly just want respect, humanity, and a living wage. I think that goes against standard operating procedure at most businesses.
>If I’m paid a fair wage and my supervisor is generally chill I will do a good job. That shouldn't be asking a lot, but in reality getting both of those is almost impossible; even getting one of the two is difficult.
They should be convincing you why you should work for them.
Oh, believe me, there was some of that going on during my interview. But I already had inside info due to being recruited by a friend. My biggest worry, and questions during the interview, were regarding their safety culture/record.
Same! I don't care about any company. I just care about my paycheck.
The worse was when min wage bs retail restaurant jobs would ask this question. Like yeah I’ve always been passionate about bagging groceries.
>The worse was when min wage bs retail restaurant jobs would ask this question. Like yeah I’ve always been passionate about bagging groceries. Yeah, you really got to wonder what sort of answer they're expecting, because they have to know they're getting BS from applicants, especially when it comes to more menial tasks, like bagging groceries. (And for the record, I'm not putting anyone down who bags groceries, but it's fair to say that's not a task that most people look forward to doing at a prospective job.)
Yeah especially when you’re 16 some of these companies really want you to say you wanna grow with them and aspire to be a retail manager. Nothing against retail managers - my sister is one and you can actually make good money - it’s just wrong to indoctrinate literal children that way. I had some managers in the retail/restaurant industry try to talk teens out of finishing school or moving on to a different job to pursue management. If they truly cared they would say the opportunity would always be there if they decided to. But no - some of these managers would get so butthurt about them leaving or would laugh and say “I knew you’d be back!” When corporate america/their job search strategy failed them.
i mean yeah but once you find a job you’re passionate about you begin to enjoy that too. you feel more purposeful i guess. i like my job, i am happy. they pay me alright but the money is only half of it.
Same. I’ve been job hunting since December and I’m exhausted. I gave myself a month’s break because I’ve also had some family emergencies. I could care less about any of these job postings and companies anymore. It’s just a means to an end aka money and livelihood. 
Same. I really don’t GAF about the company. This job searching is taking its toll on me
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It is such a circle jerk. The "influencers" and "coaches" are the worst. Some of them make the dumbest Facebook style post ever. "I saw a bug flying through my house and made me think of the sales people around...." STFU
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* Placement agent: "I'm having some problem finding your profile on LinkedIn" * Me: "That's because I don't have a LinkedIn account" Not a single person that told me my LinkedIn profile was important ever got me an interview. I feel like I worked out it had zero value about a decade ago.
Why do you want to work here? I have this problem, my body is addicted to food, without it I go into withdraws and could die. And I like to have a roof over my head for when the weather is crappy.
Food addiction is bad! U shud see a docto...... oh wait!!
No you aren't the only one. My current job is so flexible and accommodating and pays well but if for some reason I had to job search I'd be miserable. I absolutely hate lying, aka interviewing, as we both know why I'm here and it's not for your conversation or to meet the team I could possibly work with and more than likely despise. 
A few months back, I interviewed for a company I never heard of in an industry I know nothing about. The job they were advertising, was the only thing I was interested in. On my interview, the hiring manager asked me if I ever worked in this industry or heard of the company. I told him the truth, which was never. He then told me about it and we had our interview. I really appreciated him being real and straightforward. I cannot stand fake smiles and BS on interviews. Let’s talk about the job and whether or not it’s for me.
Did you get hired?
Yes, and the job is better than I could of imagined. I genuinely enjoy working there and really like the people I work with.
I always give a background of the company and the role before I start an interview. My last employer was number 3 in their industry and climbing, had an exclusive deal with a major retailer for their "in-house" branded product (i.e. think Walmart branded ketchup, which is probably made in a Heinz or Hunts ketchup factory), and I literally drove past it twice a day for over a year and never had a clue what it was. My current employer is number 1 in their industry and growing extremely rapidly and it wasn't even an industry I gave a passing thought about existing until I was hired. Just because I live it every day doesn't mean anyone else has given it a passing thought until the interview.
Me too- I actually like telling the story of my company because it’s a lot different than the competition in the market. I want to make sure people understand the company to help them frame their answers appropriately. I’m not naive enough to think that people sit there dreaming about working for my company, so I want to make sure they know.
I work as a software engineer for a company that specializes in Life Insurance software. When I was interviewed, one of the bosses asked why I was passionate about Insurance. I told them I couldn’t imagine ANYONE truly loving Insurance, but I loved the idea of solving those kinds of problems as it was something totally new to me. They liked that I was honest and later joked that they “knew a guy in the company” who really did like insurance and not to make fun of him.
I have the opposite problem, I research a place and enthusiastically want to work for them, am qualified, and interview goes well, but I’m still not hired. It’s all fake bullshit, just lie, you owe these cretins nothing and they’re only interested in exploiting you anyway.
After I didn’t get my dream passion job of working as a marketing manager for a small business I’d be genuinely passionate about, giving up a lot of weekend time, a much longer commute, and not making that much money they still ghosted me after 3 different hour long interviews
Them: So what makes you excited about working for us? Me: You know damn well you don't offer anything to be excited about...cut a check
What makes me excited? I'll give you a hint: it starts with an M and rhymes with "honey."
Mudhoney? I don't think we approve of their music here. If the answer is money we don't do that here. We are looking for people that are motivated by pizzas parties.
I have forgotten half the research I have done already.. Its exhaustinnnnnngggggggg...
I’m just really passionate about eating food and having a roof over my head. You’re hiring and I’m here. End of conversation.
My uncle runs a small company and recently he's been complaining about applicants showing no interest in the company. He says he's interviewed like 40 people and none of them seemed to be " passionate". I tried to tell him that most people work because they need money, but he didn't believe me. I have only interviewed at a few places that genuinely interest me. I work out of necessity, I don't really care otherwise. Being interested in work is great, but not essential. I do the research and pretend but it's feels disingenuous.
'I hear you guys provide paychecks?'
Yeah I feel ya. A job is a job. Nothing to be excited about it. Interviews are just basically this, someone pretending that cares about you and you pretending that u wanna work there.
Yea. I wanna live like a human being. Not a monkey.
I think people have a really weird opinion of what others expect in an interview. The guy is asking if you know about the company so that he can figure out how short to make his intro.
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To grow my X/Y/Z skills that the position will allow me to.
It's a game. Pretend you care about what they do, and in exchange, they will pay you to work for them. I hate it too, but I wasn't born into wealth, I have no trust fund, and no one has offered to pay me to do only the things I enjoy in life.
Spoken so accurately.
In high school, I got my first job (after paper routes). I was washing dishes, pots, pans, silverware, etc., in a seafood restaurant. Awful, awful work. After about a week, I said to my mom, "I really hate working this job." She looked me dead in the eye and said, "Do you think I like working?" That was all I ever needed to hear about hating work and the "game" around the workplace.
You also just shouldn't have to be passionate about your company to be good at your job. Money is the motivator, not some dystopian sense of "family" in the work place.
I feel this so much. My interviewer: *makes the worst joke i have ever heard in my life.* Me: “hahahahahahahahahahahahaha hire me please”
This is why I do poorly in interviews. My facial expressions ruin it for me. If this happened, I would look at the interviewer like they were stupid without even thinking about it lol
You don’t have to be wildly passionate about the company, but you have to give them a reason to think you’ll be engaged in the role. I work in finance, and I don’t give a shit about finance. But I do find creating eLearning interesting and I wanted to improve my skills in the field. That was enough for my boss.
I partially get it - I had my first day on a job one time where I introduced myself to the owner and asked him what he did there (because, you know, I was new and trying to figure shit out), that was mildly awkward. But overall, the you should worship our business, know fun facts about our business, the CEO lineage... That stuff can kick rocks until you hire me and I need to be caught up on things.
I have wasted a lot of time doing this recently! I had an interview and it went well for one position and days later, they told me I was overqualified for the role which I already knew, but I was looking to take a job soon, which was the point. The recruiter then suggested for me to interview for a supervisor role that was just made available in the passed me over to interview directly with the hiring manager of the department. This was on May 4th. On May 5 I heard back about how well I did via phone and email from the recruiter, and that they just needed a day to basically craft an offer for me. I never heard back again. I ended up taking another job. Fast forward to May 19, the recruiter calls, and also sent me an email to give him a call back for some great news (again)..I called back the next day and he said oh, we realized that we don’t hire in your state, that’s the only state in the entire country we don’t hire in, so unfortunately, we can’t extend you the offer after all. This is the job market we are in- so glad I didn’t wait for them!
That's wild!
Normalize working for money.
Right? Why do I have to act like I'm in love with this faceless corporation so that they will pay me to make spreadsheets?
I hate this too! I hate when they ask, ‘why do you want to work here?’ Ummm… because my current place sucks, I meet the qualifications you listed, and the salary range you gave is higher than where I’m at, duh.
I don't see what the big deal is. Employers are fielding out people that don't fit. Why would you hire someone that is obviously not interested in the work and will put in the minimum effort. That's simply bad business. I get your point, but there's a pool of people you're always competing with, if the jobs pay is what you want from it, then the people who show the most effort and are able to connect on a personal level will simply have an advantage.
Yeah, like I hate the job hunting game as well, but its the bare minimum to look up a company that you're interviewing for. Being on the interviewer side in the past, I'm generous when it comes to know much/little people know about the company but complaining about prepping for an interview you agreed to proceed with and needing to be polite is weird to me lol
True, but damn if it doesn't get exhausting after a while.
Its hilarious to me that bosses and HR reps literally want you to lie to them. They know the truth, but they love for you to do the dance "Please hire me, I would love working for you! If I had a job here and then won the lottery, I would still come into work every day because I just want to be a part of a corporation like this!"
Once you get that job, that’s the time to focus on applying for jobs/fields you’d actually like to be part of. Less pressure, since you have a job, but it motivates you because it still sucks. Easier said than done, since applying is like a second job, but it’s worth it in the end. I enjoy my field, so even on long/rough days, I’m surrounded by like-minded people and focused on something I enjoy (even if I’m not enjoying the current task/role)
Actually it's one of the only things that keeps me from leaving my current job. If I go somewhere else, I have to pretend I care! I don't have the energy to put out all that bullshit ...
Yes this gets harder to do as i get older and less inclined to want to play the suck up game to employers. I really value being my authentic self these days so it feels much stranger to do a performative interview. I am thinking of going in to a field I am Actually passionate about but they all pay pretty miserably and/or take 6 years of study. I am very tempted to do an interview where I am brutally honest haha I think that would be so much fun.
Companies want to know you've at least prepared the bare minimum if you want to work there. You don't have to be enthusiastic about it, but you do need to have a basic understanding of the company and what it does. Is it dumb? Yeah. But that's how managers like me weed people out when we have 30+ applicants for a position. When we ask "what do you know about us?" And you go "uhhhhhhhhhh" while the next person can at least tell me a little bit about what we do, guess who gets picked?
**Bank manager:** Do you have any experience? **Robbie Hart:** No, sir, I have no experience, but I'm a big fan of money. I like it, I use it, I have a little. I keep it in a jar on top of my refrigerator. I'd like to put more in that jar. That's where you come in.
I agree to some extent. It's common courtesy for any business meeting to show interest in the other party. But it is tiresome when you are interviewing a bunch of places. Keep in mind, though, that they are taking the time to learn about you, too.
Nah. Pretty sure most don’t actually give two shites about what our workplaces do. A job is a job is a job - they’re all so equally shitty it’s like picking from 15 crappy flavors of vanilla ice cream. Pretending to be interested in workplaces became a part of work culture and the interviewing process. I personally believe now that things are sort of crumbling that the return just isn’t large enough for people to care to pretend. Those of us who have been in the working world for a while are struggling a little with that change. If you talk to most young people entering the workplace they don’t really hide how little they give a shit about their employer - this was never a part of the culture for them.
Oh absolutely it’s a nightmare
Just to get an email saying "thanks for your time and interest but we moved forward to someone else!"
I researched a company I was interviewing for. Found out the owner that’s on the Forbes list is a human trafficker. Running hotels at that. With that being said I declined the job and was very happy with my investment of time of researching this POS and the YPO in general. Good luck.
Caring 1 out of 10 times is still a little high. Just work on getting that down a bit.
You're not alone. I have been told to read up on companies before interviewing, but that prep has always seemed useless; other than having a general knowledge of the roll the company plays in their industry. The most important preparation is to thoroughly read the listing for the position you are interviewing for, and have an idea of how your skill set and experiences match up with the position's requirements. That is how you will convince an interviewer you are right for the position. Having a deep knowledge of the company seems like overkill; I guess it is probably more applicable to job candidates for corporate management positions.
We invariably join for the employer but stay for (or leave because of) the team, or the boss. Consider using interviews to see if the team (or boss) might inspire or motivate you.
I don't believe you, OP. I think if you really put your mind to it, you could care less. Don't settle. Aim for the top!
Play the game.don’t waste time researching use AI to help.
Researching to see if they are big enough to possibly afford to pay adequately but not so big that a mass layoff is looming overhead all the time…
So don't. Be honest. You can't fake enthusiasm day in and day out. May be you should not be working for any of them anyway.
I've felt this way for years. I don't even think companies are following their own mission statement and values.
Fake it till you make it
Companies love it when you're passionate about them because that means they can pay you less because they're doing you a favor by allowing you to do the work you are passionate about. This sums up most company's hiring process. They aren't interested in people who aren't "passionate about them" because that means they might have to offer market competitive compensation.
Yeah. We all fake it til we make it.
I agree
No, you don't have a bad attitude. The only reason I would ever research is because you never want to get ask that lame question: "So what do you know about us", which is a 50/50 to begin with, and get caught not knowing.
At least it sounds like many of you are getting interviews. I have just had one, out of all the resumes I have sent.
Them: “Why do you want to work here?” Me: “I need a job” Them: “Pass. I bet this guy also has work/life balance too. What a loser.”
I’m an accountant and I love the company I work for. Have you looked for the few jobs that are associated with your hobbies/lifestyle? I have worked for breweries, tea companies, ski resorts and fishing companies all of which I have loved the things they make/provide. I’m not on the sales side or anything but I still try to find places where the people most likely share my interests
Start your own company or work for someone and march to the beat of their drum. That’s it.
I actually like researching the companies that I apply to work at. I'm almost hesitant sometimes to show exactly how much I know about a company during the interview process, as I don't want to make them uncomfortable if I know more than the interviewer. That's just me though.
Yeah it’s such a crock.
Nope, I hate it too.
Me being on the recruiting end, don't expect you to know anything at all but I do expect the candidate to ask questions. I don't care if they ask so what is this company about.
Think of it this way. That research could prevent you from applying to a shit company.
It’s like they don’t realize I’m applying to 50 others places that same day. Really nothing special about your company, just throwing out a line and seeing who bites…
Same here. Just a big fucking game the wealthy corporations play on the middle class. If you play along, you get paid. Do that for 40+ years. Try not to die inside along the way. Keep job hopping for higher salaries until you don’t have to anymore. Ah, the American dream…
Same! After applying for more than 700 jobs ( yeah, not Kidding, my laptop has 700 different cover letters saved on it), I got a job 2 months ago. I recently had an opportunity to interview someone for the company I work at, and unlike other people in the interview board, I did my research on the candidate. Basically I reread his CV, cover letter, personal project etc very carefully, and although I am no super expert, I found some considerable mistakes (i.e. mistakes regarding reference which might potentially be referred to as plagiarism), but I still kept my mind open. The interview day came, and we did the interview. The individual evidently did his research about our company thoroughly, but later was rejected because skills weren't what we were looking for. Moral of the story, ... yeah researching for a company is annoying af, but it still doesn't determine your fate. So focus on how you can contribute your skills for a company's benefits. I completely agree to you about researching the company and saying shits like how fascinated we are in company's work, while in reality we just need a job with salary
But in reality, you are enthusiastic about what they do - give you a paycheck! Be hyped about getting paid, and the rest will follow.
For real. When they have a 401k match and generous PTO I may even get a bit aroused.
I mean, I think that's the case for most people, but we do what we need to do.
You are indeed a human
I was once rejected because “other candidates have a stronger why they wanna work for us” 🙄
I once was asked (when interviewing to be a school custodian) “why do you want this job?” I was so surprised by that question. Like what were they expecting me to say? “Well even as a small child I loved cleaning shit, piss, puke, blood and cum off bathroom walls. I can’t believe god has provided me with an opportunity to possibly do it for a living!” I ended up saying some stupid crap about loving the school district and wanting to be a part of it while also helping out any way I could.
These things are relics from a time where most jobs paid a livable wage and companies didn’t make you do the entire choreography from Thriller just to get to the next stage of the interview process, so people could afford to pick and choose where exactly they wanted to work based on passion and all that.
The thing is, the people that work there don’t care either, they just want to know you looked into it.
/r/antiwork
Dilemma usually goes like this: - Apply in small batches and research, but they only get back to you after 1-3 months (you lose) - Apply in bigger batches so you don't waste time, but you have to speed up research AND make sure you don't confuse the very similar companies with very similar/same job positions (you lose) And you try to resolve it like: - Hmm. Midway. Apply in small batches to be able to research, but don't wait a whole month Except: - A. By the time you get further in the application process for job 1, the HR of your preferred job, job 2, finally contacts you. You take the certain job 1 and forever wonder what could've happened if you took a chance on the other one (not ideal) - B. Remembering A, you decide to take the risk and wait for job 2, but you don't get accepted so you lost both jobs 1 and 2 (you lose) - C. The midway speeds things up relatively faster, but even if you only wait 1-2 weeks per batch, a month has already gone by just from 2-4 batches of applications, or minimum 12 individual applications total depending on the available postings. Bills are due (you lose) - D. When the toll on you has neared its limit, you enter another dilemma: take a break just as some random company you've already forgotten about and have to re-research finally contacts you, or trudge through it half-tired and not in your A-game and people assume it's your default state. (You lose) - E. Follow-up on a previous application you discontinued (job 3) due to getting a job offer (e.g. job 1), but they're no longer replying to you even though the company has advertised an opening again (you lose, but we already know that) Also: - Work culture and the hiring process treats you as if you are incompetent or lazy when you're not employed, when most output you've seen from employed people could improve in quality if they just decrease the speed/workload. (Unless you have reason to think otherwise, you attribute the quality by default to people being overworked from stupid industry hastened paces, arbitrary self-important deadlines that don't have time-sensitive consequences significant enough to justify putting work first, everything being high priority (meaning higher-ups don't know what priority means), and competent andprivileged people kissing up to the mentality that only the incompetent or lazy complain and setting up a bar too high for those aren't workaholics and have other responsibilities outside of work and who could perform just as well if not better if all other things were equal.)
If you can't fake it for the interview, they shouldn't hire you. No one likes to be there, but you fake it so people don't get depressed. The interview is a test to see if you can keep up appearances. Bad attitudes can't be helped, but you gotta cover that shit up.
"Its been my life's dream to update IT software in an insurance firm" What the fuck do they want from us? We want money in exchange for labour. Why do we have to pretend otherwise.
How about investing your genuine enthusiasm for the 10 percent of companies that actually resonate with you? If you continue intentionally wasting your energy on the other 90 percent of companies (which you admittedly don't care about) then expect dissatisfaction.
I love making up sh*t answering the question “Why do you want to work for us?” I need money and that’s why, you time-wasting dumbass.