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In article F7DECA8E801AD51195F100508BB89DA6036F15EC -at- svr-orw-exc-04 -dot- wv -dot- mentorg -dot- com, barry_kieffer -at- mentorg -dot- com ("Kieffer, Barry") writes:
>
>Standing up and walking out on an interview proves that the candidate was not a professional.
>
>Even if the interviewer is asking ridicules questions, be a
professional and try to answer them as best you can. If you discover
during the interview that you are not interested in the position, see
the interview to its end. Both parties have already committed the time.
Besides, tech writing is a small world, and you never know how your
actions might influence another interview - we tech writers do gossip
during STC and other get together. It would be a shame to have your
name come up in conversation about the candidate who "ran away during
the interview" to "go cry in the bathroom".
>
There's a difference between ridiculous questions and
questions that are wildly inappropriate and verge on
sexual harassment. There might also be cases where it
becomes clear in the course of the interview that the
job for which you thought you were interviewing is not
the job that is being offered.
I've only once walked out of an interview, and that was
during a job hunt in Houston many years ago, when you
literally could not get an interview at any reasonably
sized company without going through a recruiting firm.
Despite my repeated insistence that I wanted a pure
editorial job, not a secretary-cum-newsletter-editor
job, I was sent to a company interviewing for what was
clearly a secretarial position. As soon as I ascertained
from the questions what was happening, I politely when the
opportunity presented itself explained that the recruiter
had unfortunately made an error and there was no point in
continuing the interview.
(As this was the third time they'd told me they had
"a great opportunity" for me, but the first time I
didn't catch the discrepancy in job responsbilities
*before* I went to the interview, I then proceeded
to drive back to the recruiter's office and stand
there until I saw her remove my folder and destroy
it...)
As for "Both parties have already committed the time,"
ending the interview early only really affects *your*
time, as you're the one who's had to travel to the
interview. In most cases, the people interviewing you
can go back to their desks with a little more spare
time than they thought they were going to have that day.
*****************************************************************
Janice Gelb | The only connection Sun has with
janice -dot- gelb -at- eng -dot- sun -dot- com | this message is the return address. http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8018/index.html
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