A HR related Question about Interviews

[RonProwse]

Over the last few weeks i have been looking to move on from my present role due to the fact I was managing a team of 5, 3 on shore and 2 off shore (good old India) well now im managing a team of ME and im still expected to to the work of the others..... So my question is this....


I been for a few interviews over the past few weeks one of them i made it to the last round, at round one i wanted the position and thought it suited my skills but at the second i was interviewed by someone i thought was totally unprofessional. before i say what happend i am not looking at taking any action if i could but i just wanted to ask those HR types out there if this guy had over stepped the mark.

Second meeting, showen into room to await the guys, first guys turns up, same guy as interview 1 and he greets me in a professional manor, second guy walks in shakes hands and is intoduced by guy number 1, second guy then says this and i quote 'I've had a bad day and your about to have one I laugh, he then say I might throw you though the window if i dont get what i want. he then made me go though some weird scripting code that i had never seen line by line, i asked him outright if there was any point to it!

I think this guy over stepped the mark to the point that i feel i should write to the company but has he broken any laws or left the company open to some Industral trib, I had a lucky escape to be honest, the place is very fly by night operation with nothing going for it, I just felt annoyed that the guy should be so unprofessional and during the interview and had clearly set out to try and belittle me, sorry pal it did not work

Your thoughts please.

[Digger]

I'd just ring up HR and ask if that was part of the process. They will inevitably say no (unless they do that to all the candidates).

If the process was not fair, then you are entitled to various bits as the person who got the job may not have been threatened with violence during the interview, and may not have been told at the outset that they were going to get a tough time.

Not really sure why a company would conduct themselves this way, but unless everyone goes through a similar procedure under similar conditions then it cannot be deemed to be fair.

I would suggest that you would like to see the notes from the interview (as I think its your right under data protection) which will probably put the shits up them a bit and possibly stop this guy being a wanker again in interviews.

Digs.

[jonesor]

I had someone do something similar in an interview I had a few years ago. It was arranged via a recruitment agency, and the guy there reckoned that they do that sort of thing sometimes to test your reactions under pressure.

Either that or you were dealing with a wanker.

[Scubee]

Originally Posted by Digger

If the process was not fair, then you are entitled to various bits as the person who got the job may not have been threatened with violence during the interview, and may not have been told at the outset that they were going to get a tough time.

You would only be able to take this to a tribunal if there was any suggestion of discrimination under one or more of the six strands. it is extremely difficult to show that discrimination occured at a recruitment stage, because even if you are able to get hold of your own interview notes, you are not entitled to ask for the interview notes of anyone else, such as the person who was eventually appointed, which means that you don't have a real or theoretical comparator.

[Ian@1904]

Pofessionalism aside, was the coding in any way relevant to the job?
When interviewing for some roles I test peoples knowledge of accounting, Excel or both, with a practical test. Applicants are advised about this in advance. (This has proved to be a complete eye opener and removes the bullsh*t candidates)

In your example was being able to read, understand, edit the code something essential to know? I amaware of developers that talk thier way through interviews with no knowledge of a computer language, expecting to learn it on the job.

I have been interviewed by people who want to assert their "cleverness" at interviews. Revenge was sweet six months later

[RonProwse]

Im not intrested in pushing this any further as i said i think I had a lucky escape, this was an hedge fund and i was also very shocked that i established during the interview just how little DR or main servers they owned, in fact on leaving there was a server cabinet with two standard floor standing fan cooling it!

While im happy to take ANY technical test I had already taken a online one and a written, they still gave me a spec and asked me to write a complete system (DB side including scripts, C# asp.net front end) this was no easy test they expected it to take 4 hr it took me 6hr but it was funny as they wanted me to write a system they were going to build!

Ian@1904 You summed it up i think he was trying to establish a pecking order, but i just thought he was a total wan*er.

R

[Ian@1904]

Originally Posted by RonProwse

Im not intrested in pushing this any further as i said i think I had a lucky escape, this was an hedge fund and i was also very shocked that i established during the interview just how little DR or main servers they owned, in fact on leaving there was a server cabinet with two standard floor standing fan cooling it!

While im happy to take ANY technical test I had already taken a online one and a written, they still gave me a spec and asked me to write a complete system (DB side including scripts, C# asp.net front end) this was no easy test they expected it to take 4 hr it took me 6hr but it was funny as they wanted me to write a system they were going to build!

Ian@1904 You summed it up i think he was trying to establish a pecking order, but i just thought he was a total wan*er.

R

So actually they wanted free consultancy, by taking the best bits of each specification.

BTW floor fans are fine. I have been known to use portable air con units when the main cooling system has failed. Which was a tad uncomfortable for this staff with desks just outside the IT room

[ScubaNat]

Originally Posted by RonProwse

Over the last few weeks i have been looking to move on from my present role due to the fact I was managing a team of 5, 3 on shore and 2 off shore (good old India) well now im managing a team of ME and im still expected to to the work of the others..... So my question is this....


I been for a few interviews over the past few weeks one of them i made it to the last round, at round one i wanted the position and thought it suited my skills but at the second i was interviewed by someone i thought was totally unprofessional. before i say what happend i am not looking at taking any action if i could but i just wanted to ask those HR types out there if this guy had over stepped the mark.

Second meeting, showen into room to await the guys, first guys turns up, same guy as interview 1 and he greets me in a professional manor, second guy walks in shakes hands and is intoduced by guy number 1, second guy then says this and i quote 'I've had a bad day and your about to have one I laugh, he then say I might throw you though the window if i dont get what i want. he then made me go though some weird scripting code that i had never seen line by line, i asked him outright if there was any point to it!

I think this guy over stepped the mark to the point that i feel i should write to the company but has he broken any laws or left the company open to some Industral trib, I had a lucky escape to be honest, the place is very fly by night operation with nothing going for it, I just felt annoyed that the guy should be so unprofessional and during the interview and had clearly set out to try and belittle me, sorry pal it did not work

Your thoughts please.

Not sure about the coding part, but speaking as someone who has recruited for Hedge Funds in the past, and just as someone who has recruited in the past full stop, what that guy said to you was completely out of order, and you really should follow it up with his superiors because he can't go around treating people like that! That could actually be viewed as a verbal threat, or intent to cause harm, something like that anyway, and you don't know for certain that he hasn't, or wouldn't, do that anyone! Regardless of what a whackjob the guy is, and how much you want to brush it under the carpet and just get on with life, treat everything like this as serious!

[uwila]

Originally Posted by ScubaNat

Regardless of what a whackjob the guy is, and how much you want to brush it under the carpet and just get on with life, treat everything like this as serious!

I agree, and think the best way is to write a simple letter addressed to the MD of the business. State that you had been very pleased to get through to stage 2 and had high hopes of being offered the job. Then add that meeting bloke 2 totally changed your mind about the company. Avoid any mention that you think they are not funding their IT hardware properly, but tell them that you were alarmed by this chap's manner and that there's no possibility of you accepting a job with a business that uses their recruitment methods.

If you sound like a reasonable chap, the the MD will have to question wether or not this bloke is loosing them the chance to employ the best.

Cheers, Chris

[Stephen]

I’m involved in a fair number of interviews at a range of levels. What we ask and how we ask it is quite constrained and the sort of behaviour you mention is totally unacceptable. I very much doubt that the questioning was somehow strategic (testing your response under pressure), and I doubt that the Exec Director would approve. If indeed this approach was sanctioned by the company, would you want to work for it?