RE: Advice for Job Seekers

["Jeanne A. E. DeVoto" <jaed -at- jaedworks -dot- com>]

At 2:16 PM -0700 4/4/2000, Lydia Wong wrote:
><snip> One of our favorite questions to ask interviewees is "what are the
>three best and the three worst traits of your former managers?" </snip>
>In our experience asking this question, the only time I remember getting an
>odd response was from the person I mentioned in my first post. Otherwise,
>most people have had very thoughtful, interesting responses, and we have
>often spent part of the interview then discussing things like corporate
>culture, management styles, and expectations.

It may be worth considering that if you ask a question - any question -
during an interview, you're unlikely to get brutally honest feedback about
what the interviewee thinks of the question, for the obvious reason that
most of them want the job and don't want to alienate you by challenging
your interviewing style. I'd guess the person you mentioned was not that
interested in the job, or not well socialized, or both; but most people you
interview want the job and are savvy enough to realize that complaining
about your questions won't get them the job.

I find such questions uncomfortable myself, although I am not asked them
often; since I'm a contractor, I suspect managers are less interested in my
thoughts about management style than they would be if I were seeking
permanent work. But I try to answer the question as best I can. I'm not
about to bring up any qualms about it during the interview itself.

On the other hand, if you find that asking this question elicits relevant
information, I suppose it does what it's supposed to do, anyone's possible
discomfort with it notwithstanding.

--
jeanne a. e. devoto ~ jaed -at- jaedworks -dot- com

Currently seeking technical-writing contracts:
http://www.jaedworks.com/tech-services/resume.html