We're hiring for a C# role and we had a number of phone interviews last week and then invited some in for F2Fs. Most candidates sounded good on the phone.
We had candidates all afternoon and one young lad stood out as exceptional. He was funny, had a great attitude, trendily dressed, great CV and we all loved him. He was so good we overrun by a few minutes before heading off to the other room where we had another candidate.
We were two minutes late and all apologized as we met the candidate. He tutted as we walked in & looked at his watch. All suited and booted he looked like an actuary going to a funeral, what was worse, the suit was four sizes too small and he looked like someone was squeezing jelly out of a tube.
We took him into our meeting room, largeish with a large lozenge shaped table. We sat opposite and introduced ourselves. He scowled. We offered him a choice of drinks, teas' , coffees, water. He asked for a thimble sized plastic beaker of tepid water which we thought was a bit odd. He sipped it loudly, before having a coughing fit.
I was in the middle and would be doing the interviewing. The other 2 asking extra questions, leaning forward and being really engaging.
"So, quickly take me through your CV & recent experience" I said. "But you'd better make it quick as you'll want to to be out of here before 6 as there's a tube strike. Don't want you getting stuck in town and not being able to get home to your lovely wife & kids you mentioned."
"All of it?" he asked?
"No, just what's relevant".
He then started giving a brief explanation of each role, from 1997 onwards. We got as far as 2003 and I had to say "Move on!".
"Where too?" he asked.
'Just the relevant stuff' I said
He bristled.
So far he was going through the roles he did 18 years ago, and this could take some time to get through. We didn't need to know about his paperround and how the others had bullied him by taking his Beano. It was weird
He was really really rude, and his interviewing style made no sense to me. If you are hiring for a C# guy, what does it matter what projects he did with VB6 18 years ago? Fair enough you might want to get the measure of how someone has grown over that time, to try and get inside their head a little, but for a contract gig it is normally the past 2-5 years, techy test, bit of a grilling, some scenario based questions and interview over.
It was just weird. And rude. What I am thinking is that when we got into the first 5 minutes of the interview, and we were stating his case he needed to leave early, that frankly he treated his wife like a piece of tulip and didn't want to get back to her. We should have politely made our excuses and left.
Instead we sat there, again just trying to do our best in a bad situation and giving him a chane. Then he left and we heard he'd pulled his CV from the agency. Which was a good job, because he didn't fit it and from what we could tell, his knot tying badge at Scouts wasn't the type of qualification we felt showed he had done C#
What a weirdo. We gave the role to the graduate for 500 quid a day. He had more experience.
We had candidates all afternoon and one young lad stood out as exceptional. He was funny, had a great attitude, trendily dressed, great CV and we all loved him. He was so good we overrun by a few minutes before heading off to the other room where we had another candidate.
We were two minutes late and all apologized as we met the candidate. He tutted as we walked in & looked at his watch. All suited and booted he looked like an actuary going to a funeral, what was worse, the suit was four sizes too small and he looked like someone was squeezing jelly out of a tube.
We took him into our meeting room, largeish with a large lozenge shaped table. We sat opposite and introduced ourselves. He scowled. We offered him a choice of drinks, teas' , coffees, water. He asked for a thimble sized plastic beaker of tepid water which we thought was a bit odd. He sipped it loudly, before having a coughing fit.
I was in the middle and would be doing the interviewing. The other 2 asking extra questions, leaning forward and being really engaging.
"So, quickly take me through your CV & recent experience" I said. "But you'd better make it quick as you'll want to to be out of here before 6 as there's a tube strike. Don't want you getting stuck in town and not being able to get home to your lovely wife & kids you mentioned."
"All of it?" he asked?
"No, just what's relevant".
He then started giving a brief explanation of each role, from 1997 onwards. We got as far as 2003 and I had to say "Move on!".
"Where too?" he asked.
'Just the relevant stuff' I said
He bristled.
So far he was going through the roles he did 18 years ago, and this could take some time to get through. We didn't need to know about his paperround and how the others had bullied him by taking his Beano. It was weird
He was really really rude, and his interviewing style made no sense to me. If you are hiring for a C# guy, what does it matter what projects he did with VB6 18 years ago? Fair enough you might want to get the measure of how someone has grown over that time, to try and get inside their head a little, but for a contract gig it is normally the past 2-5 years, techy test, bit of a grilling, some scenario based questions and interview over.
It was just weird. And rude. What I am thinking is that when we got into the first 5 minutes of the interview, and we were stating his case he needed to leave early, that frankly he treated his wife like a piece of tulip and didn't want to get back to her. We should have politely made our excuses and left.
Instead we sat there, again just trying to do our best in a bad situation and giving him a chane. Then he left and we heard he'd pulled his CV from the agency. Which was a good job, because he didn't fit it and from what we could tell, his knot tying badge at Scouts wasn't the type of qualification we felt showed he had done C#
What a weirdo. We gave the role to the graduate for 500 quid a day. He had more experience.
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