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Help with upcoming job interview
The Ender
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi H/A,
I have always been terrible at job interviews, so if someone could construct a Synth / Toaster that resembles me and can ace an upcoming job interview for me, you'd have my gratitude. I'd ask that the machine not be programmed to attempt to terminate me, though, once the task is completed (if possible). I can provide photo references via PM to assist with getting my likeness correct.
Alright, for real though: I moved to Vancouver Island about 3~ years ago and have been unable to find work up until now. Yesterday, I was contacted after answering a help wanted ad for Save On Foods; this is only the 3rd time I've had a potential employer call me back, and I've been looking pretty hard.
I guess this is a just a bit of culture shock for me, but I have never experienced interviews / pre-interview screenings like what is apparently the norm here. Basically, this is what I was used to while living in central Alberta:
You answer a help wanted request, the employer gets back to you in a day or two and schedules an interview (usually the same day they call you, sometimes the day after), the interview is mostly about seeing whether or not you'd be a good fit for the position and that you are who you say you are. They don't ask interpersonal questions and there is a mutual understanding that for non-career jobs, the applicant is just looking for work while the employer is just looking for man hours. I never experienced a negative reaction when answering the question, "Why did you want to work here?" by saying, "I'm just looking for work and saw your ad while reading [X]," (I wouldn't speak for them, but it was my impression that most managers appreciated the candor / honesty. Also, I know for sure that this was a very common answer).
That all being said, I certainly have never been good at interviews anyway (maintaining eye contact with people is difficult beyond words for me, as is any kind of small talk) - but I think the truncated nature of that kind of interview process helped a lot.
Things are completely different here. As I said, most employers haven't even called back, much less scheduled an interview. I've been asked a lot of interpersonal questions during pre-interview screening (I was screened both via phone call and via an online questionnaire that was 10 pages long. Again, not something I'm used to!) that I feel give a negative impression unless I answer them dishonestly (which I do not like to do), such as, "Do you like to mingle a lot at parties?", "Are you shy?", "Do you enjoy watching team sports or single person sports?"... and these are mixed-in with more 'serious' screening material about whether or not you're a thief / likely to assault other employees.
During the phone screening, when I was asked, "Why do you want to work here?" I replied, "I'm just looking for work and saw your ad on Kajiji," the screener gave a very negative "Umm...." and then advised me to think of something else to say. I was legitimately blindsided and just said I had worked in retail for quite a while and had experience with customer service. She accepted that answer but then advised me that I should add something special about Save on Foods & the position itself when talking to the store manager, and why I would specifically want to work there. Again, for an entry level retail position like the one I'm applying for, I've never had that kind of thing insisted upon, ever (until I moved here).
...Soo now I'm anxious that I'm going to just bomb this upcoming interview even moreso than I already would. I have been thinking about how to answer that one specific question that the screener advised me on, for example, and I cannot for the life of me think of something that would come out of my mouth sounding honest. I also got the impression from the questionnaire that the manager will be looking to sniff out & reject candidates with social anxiety, and I cannot effectively hide mine (it was something I was getting better at while I had medication, but those days are long gone. And the cat is already out of the proverbial bag anyway given that I answered the questionnaire as honestly as I could).
Can anyone suggest a good way to answer, "Why do you want to work at Save On Foods as a part time grocery bagger?" and/or offer advice on anything I could say / do to make my social anxiety appear less apparent / negative?
If anyone has experience with an HR department that asks those kind of screening questions, can you explain what you are looking for / why that material is important to the company you work for?
I have always been terrible at job interviews, so if someone could construct a Synth / Toaster that resembles me and can ace an upcoming job interview for me, you'd have my gratitude. I'd ask that the machine not be programmed to attempt to terminate me, though, once the task is completed (if possible). I can provide photo references via PM to assist with getting my likeness correct.
Alright, for real though: I moved to Vancouver Island about 3~ years ago and have been unable to find work up until now. Yesterday, I was contacted after answering a help wanted ad for Save On Foods; this is only the 3rd time I've had a potential employer call me back, and I've been looking pretty hard.
I guess this is a just a bit of culture shock for me, but I have never experienced interviews / pre-interview screenings like what is apparently the norm here. Basically, this is what I was used to while living in central Alberta:
You answer a help wanted request, the employer gets back to you in a day or two and schedules an interview (usually the same day they call you, sometimes the day after), the interview is mostly about seeing whether or not you'd be a good fit for the position and that you are who you say you are. They don't ask interpersonal questions and there is a mutual understanding that for non-career jobs, the applicant is just looking for work while the employer is just looking for man hours. I never experienced a negative reaction when answering the question, "Why did you want to work here?" by saying, "I'm just looking for work and saw your ad while reading [X]," (I wouldn't speak for them, but it was my impression that most managers appreciated the candor / honesty. Also, I know for sure that this was a very common answer).
That all being said, I certainly have never been good at interviews anyway (maintaining eye contact with people is difficult beyond words for me, as is any kind of small talk) - but I think the truncated nature of that kind of interview process helped a lot.
Things are completely different here. As I said, most employers haven't even called back, much less scheduled an interview. I've been asked a lot of interpersonal questions during pre-interview screening (I was screened both via phone call and via an online questionnaire that was 10 pages long. Again, not something I'm used to!) that I feel give a negative impression unless I answer them dishonestly (which I do not like to do), such as, "Do you like to mingle a lot at parties?", "Are you shy?", "Do you enjoy watching team sports or single person sports?"... and these are mixed-in with more 'serious' screening material about whether or not you're a thief / likely to assault other employees.
During the phone screening, when I was asked, "Why do you want to work here?" I replied, "I'm just looking for work and saw your ad on Kajiji," the screener gave a very negative "Umm...." and then advised me to think of something else to say. I was legitimately blindsided and just said I had worked in retail for quite a while and had experience with customer service. She accepted that answer but then advised me that I should add something special about Save on Foods & the position itself when talking to the store manager, and why I would specifically want to work there. Again, for an entry level retail position like the one I'm applying for, I've never had that kind of thing insisted upon, ever (until I moved here).
...Soo now I'm anxious that I'm going to just bomb this upcoming interview even moreso than I already would. I have been thinking about how to answer that one specific question that the screener advised me on, for example, and I cannot for the life of me think of something that would come out of my mouth sounding honest. I also got the impression from the questionnaire that the manager will be looking to sniff out & reject candidates with social anxiety, and I cannot effectively hide mine (it was something I was getting better at while I had medication, but those days are long gone. And the cat is already out of the proverbial bag anyway given that I answered the questionnaire as honestly as I could).
Can anyone suggest a good way to answer, "Why do you want to work at Save On Foods as a part time grocery bagger?" and/or offer advice on anything I could say / do to make my social anxiety appear less apparent / negative?
If anyone has experience with an HR department that asks those kind of screening questions, can you explain what you are looking for / why that material is important to the company you work for?
With Love and Courage
0
Posts
"Why do you want to work at Save On Foods as a part time grocery bagger?"
I'm looking to work for a company that can provide a steady, positive atmosphere with room for me to grow as I learn and gain responsibilities. From what I have researched* Save On Foods is a postitive workplace environment and one I hopefully can contribute to with a can-do attitude and enthusiasm.
That's my on the spot answer right now, written in about a minute with only two typo corrections. Don't copy this, but start thinking along these lines. If your answer is "whelp I want money and you had a posting" and the next candidate responded something like the above, which would you pick as a hiring manager?
*Research every company before the interview. Go to their corporate and/or franchise website, find out how the company operates, what the company's mission statement is, the works. Every bit you know about the company and what they stand for on paper helps you match that in your interviews and resume.
The first thing you should do, if you haven't done so already, is hit their website and read as much stuff as you can on their career pages.
Find anything written about the work environment, opportunities for advancement or stuff like that. Pretty much anything that's got a bullet point.
When they ask why you want to work there, parrot back as much of that as you can remember, maybe add a bit about having shopped there for a while.
"I want to work here because I've been a customer at your store for years, and it seems like you have a really great, team oriented environment here with opportunities for advancement."
Edit: So, pretty much what Enc said, but with a bit of added of cynicism for flavor.
But does it show initiative and commitment to this specific application? Yes. Yes it does. That tells me as a hiring manager that you are hungry for the work, motivated enough to put effort into the application, and smart enough to know how to find information about the company on your own.
As for your social anxiety... The truth is that retail involves working with customers and making them happy. That's just a big part of the job. You have to find a way to convince the hiring manager that you're going to give good customer service when talking to the customers.
Other things I recommend are to have some stock questions on hand you can ask them. Have you ever heard the advice that when you're first getting to know someone, one way to make them feel super positive toward you right away is to show you are curious about them by asking lots of "tell me about yourself" type questions? Most people are really affected by that, even if they don't realize it, and employers are just the same way. Here are a couple very generic stock questions I always take into interviews for those "so do you have any questions for us?" type situations.
--Can you walk me through a typical day on the job? Give me maybe an hour-to-hour snapshot of what a typical day is like.
--For you personally, what would you say is your favorite part of working for this company and what would you say is the part you find most stressful or difficult? (Be careful not to say "your least favorite part of the job" or "the part of the job you hate" etc.)
--Every job has particular days or times of the year when things are a little more chaotic than usual. Can you describe when that is for this company and what I can expect during those days?
The thing about this type of question is that it shows that you are evaluating/analyzing THEM as well, and could potentially turn them down, which implies you have standards and are perhaps a choosier and higher quality candidate.
You can also ask them about pay, benefits, time off, etc, but always save those questions for absolute last. Coming right out of the gate with those can seem "grabby".
As much as I hate to say lie on these interpersonal questions, think of them more as what they really are, a test to make sure you are smart enough to know what they are looking for and expecting you to say.
"Yes I love people! Yes people always gravitate towards me!"
They are basically the probing questions to make sure you aren't a creep that will scare away customers. They don't really care or want to know what you do on the weekends.
At my retail job, if someone failed the online personality test that was part of our hiring process, our response to them was to literally to re-take it and "think about your answers very carefully."
And as for how to answer the "why do you want to work here" question. Do your research and follow enc and see's advice. To them being honest and saying "I'm just looking for work and saw your ad" warns them that they are probably going to have to go through all of this again in a month or two after something better comes up and you quit.
I'm not telling you to lie on an application or your resume (don't do that), but for these types of interview and pre-interview questions, they really aren't looking for brutally honest answers.
...'Business professional' means 'suit & tie', correct? I've been double-checking that throughout the day because I don't want to look like an overdressed assclown, but I'm sure the screener said the interview would be business professional.
You can take off a jacket and tie
Yes, suit & tie. When it comes to job interviews always air on the side of being over dressed. Outside of the tech industry and a handful of other "hip" professions, I don't think anyone has ever not gotten a job because they were over dressed.
I always go to every interview with the mentality that this is a practice interview, and the results don't matter. Only what I can take from the experience. I know it's hard, but when I started going in with that attitude, I had a lot more interest in me.
Wear a suit and tie unless instructed not too (I have been told to not wear a suit and tie to the interview by an interviewer before). If you are instructed not to wear a suit and tie, follow directions and go with business casual or whatever level of dress you are requested to follow.
Knock em dead.
I like some of the general questions offered in this thread. I always come up short in that part of the interview, though i never come up empty. I really liked "describe a typical day," "why do you like working here?" One i came up with for a job with more seasonal fluctuations (like working for a school, a program developer, or a non-profit), "when is your crunch-time or busy season?"
For your demeanor, one strategy is to act as though you already got the job and this is orientation and your boss is sizing you up and trying to place you. Anxiety about failure and thinking about what happens if you don't get hired can wait.
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
There is one already. It's called the SE++ Job Thread, and it's filled with a bunch of cool dudes, dudettes, and at least one moon.
Also, good luck lemurs, and congratulatory red pandas.
These are important features of the SE++ Job Thread, and shouldn't be left out when describing it.
Shoot, how'd I forget about those?
Is there a Bad Form Robin? If not someone should find one, 'cause I certainly deserve to be given one.
In fact, based on your conception of job interviews before, do you write cover letters? A new one for each job?
Eh, there's plenty of us that are more than happy to help on interviews and other items too. Every company is different in what they look for in an interviewee, but if there's a default, it's happy, motivated and detail-oriented.
Interview is tonight. Suit's on, and ready to go (well not really but here we go anyway). Time to see if I've 'still got it'(and by 'still got it' I mean 'still can't pass an interview to save my life'. Please God tell me I don't still got it).
Thanks for the advice & well wishing, thread.