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Tricks by interviewers..!

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    Tricks by interviewers..!

    Recently I had couple of fantastic interviews, but fallen flat on interviewer tricks ..!

    - One occasion recently at the end of an hour long tele interview, interviewer asked me email some documents which I prepared for the previous client to check my documentation skills..! I was quite excited about the way interview was progressing & very confident of the outcome. Still I declined first saying I don't keep any documents from previous clients, suspecting its a trick.! But later agreed to send it when he insisted. I sent it by masking some vital client info & converting it in to a PDF, thinking this guy is really going to check my document & going to get an offer soon..!

    30 minutes later I got call agent saying I am not selected, with out giving any concreate reasons.


    - On another occasion, I claimed to be a proactive tester in CV & during course of interview interviewer supplied me a set of very vague requirements & gone out for tea so that I can find solution. Without knowing the trick I made many assumptions & gave the solution. They were expecting me to seek clarifications on the vague requirements before jumping in to the solution like any good tester..!

    Here too I got negative response from agent as soon as I reached home though interview was very extensive and largely positive.


    These tricks really measures things which are not written in CV & might fall flat even if you do well in technical side.

    Any one else fallen flat on interviewer tricks..??
    Last edited by Darren_Test; 9 February 2010, 16:27.

    #2
    How is this a trick?
    Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

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      #3
      Getting caught for lying on your CV.

      <<Placeholder for now>>

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        #4
        Originally posted by NotAllThere View Post
        How is this a trick?
        Certainly for the second example that's what I was thinking.

        For the first I'd give them a few pages of a pdf with huge chunks out. The only thing complete would be the TOC, so they know what they would get if they hired me. If they insisted on the whole document I'd terminate the interview and withdraw my application.
        "I can put any old tat in my sig, put quotes around it and attribute to someone of whom I've heard, to make it sound true."
        - Voltaire/Benjamin Franklin/Anne Frank...

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          #5
          Originally posted by Darren_Test View Post
          Another hot topic..?

          - On another occasion, I claimed to be a proactive tester in CV & during course of interview interviewer supplied me a set of very vague requirements & gone out for tea so that I can find solution. Without knowing the trick I made many assumptions & gave the solution. They were expecting me to seek clarifications on the vague requirements before jumping in to the solution like any good tester..!

          This isn't a trick. It is a competency based assesment designed to test you for a particular skill that is required for that role IMO. For senior managmenet we used to do an outdoor day to test against common management competencies and clarrification and negotiation was one of them. We gave them a pond and a load of planks and said get that barrel from here to here (pointing at different sides of the pond). We took a very dim view of anyone that didn't (even jokingly) suggest just walking round the pond with it. It an effin pond not a river!

          First one was a tad sly I have to say. That is more like baiting than testing but sending him anything at all was a bit oops.. Guess in the heat of the moment with a contract hanging over you it is too tempting to turn down.
          'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

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            #6
            Originally posted by Darren_Test View Post
            - One occasion recently at the end of an hour long tele interview, interviewer asked me email some documents which I claimed to have prepared

            - On another occasion, I claimed to be a proactive tester
            [insert alarm bells smiley]
            Rule #76: No excuses. Play like a champion.

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              #7
              first one is a nasty trick, they should have stopped when you said you didn't have anything.

              second one is not a trick - they were looking for demonstration of a skill that a tester should have.
              This default font is sooooooooooooo boring and so are short usernames

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                #8
                First one isn't an interview trick - it's called free consultancy.

                The way round it is to tell the interviewer that all you can provide is the title page and index, since all content is protected by a non-disclosure agreement. "I'm sure that you wouldn't want me to share any documentation I write while I'm under contract to you, would you?"
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                  #9
                  Originally posted by TheFaQQer View Post
                  First one isn't an interview trick - it's called free consultancy.

                  The way round it is to tell the interviewer that all you can provide is the title page and index, since all content is protected by a non-disclosure agreement. "I'm sure that you wouldn't want me to share any documentation I write while I'm under contract to you, would you?"
                  Well.. the fact is when the interview was held, I wasn't working at all. So ideally I shouldn't be having that document at all, right..?

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Darren_Test View Post
                    Well.. the fact is when the interview was held, I wasn't working at all. So ideally I shouldn't be having that document at all, right..?
                    Ideally, you have the document, but aren't able to share it with others because of an agreement you have with that client.

                    You can prove that you did the document by providing the index etc., but you also don't give them anything too useful that they can rip-off. Client might also be a little assured that you won't go sharing all their gumpf with anyone else.

                    I have plenty of documentation and code that I have written for a number of clients - the idea of sharing the documentation with a third party is a no-no for me, though.
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