Job Interviews - A Waste of Time?

[Vdubchaos]

Interviews are not a waste of time - the company you interviewed at, is.

Yep

NEVER EVER apply one person's/companies stupidity to ALL.

Mind you, there will be times where you will run into this in MANY companies, then it's ok.



Interview is NOT one of those items.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I would have told them straight up that I would not drive 100 miles unless they compensate me for mileage after the second time. Unless you were already planning to relocate to that area, that shit is crazy.

 

[Genx87]

Eh I should had read the OP before voting no. In general job interviews are not a waste of time. In the OPs case it is a waste of time.

 

[FerrelGeek]

What others have said. Many jobs these days will have at least 3 interview phases. But so many companies totally suck at the interview process. A good bit of that seems to be due to total incompetents running HR recruiting. The more I see of these people, the less respect I have for them. I have a friend that's been looking for a graphic artist position: art director, web designer, marketing brochure designed, etc. She's extremely well qualified, but has had issue after issue with HR people. Totally clueless. In one instance, she was in the process of telling the HR tool that she would relocate at her own expense to get the job and said tool hung up on her.

My other big pet peeve is that if you don't make the cut, many companies won't even bother to tell you. Depending on the position, companies are being very selective and unfortunately it's allowing them to behave in a very unprofessional manner.

 

[edro]

What the hell is plant health care?
You need a bachelor's degree and it only pays $16/hour?
Sounds similar to forestry, where you end up being a trash collector for parks and rec.

But, it sounds more fun than sitting in a cubicle for 1/3 of your life.

 

[Scarpozzi]

My last interview was all in one day...
1. 30 minute introduction
2. 1 hour lunch
3. 1 hour director Q&A cross interview
4. 1.5 hours official interview

So it was like 4 hours....luckily, I got the job.

 

[Anubis]

What the hell is plant health care?

horticulture?

 

[Robert Munch]

Had an interview today bypassed all the non-sense questions and provided my skillset/background with accomplishments. Lasted no longer than 30 minutes guy wanted to hire me asap. I've had success by answering the questions beforehand that might come up by providing my significance in said roles with a wealth of information that might be beneficial to the next company.

I've noticed contract/consulting gig's are much easier to interview rather than full time perm hires.

 

[rudeguy]

That's what I'm thinking...



Plant Health Care/Tree Care (PHC requires a four year degree and experience). The lowest position is brush dragging.

I had a bad experience with the last job in this industry and I'm getting the feeling this will be the same.

Trust your gut.

 

[Lonyo]

Had an interview today bypassed all the non-sense questions and provided my skillset/background with accomplishments. Lasted no longer than 30 minutes guy wanted to hire me asap. I've had success by answering the questions beforehand that might come up by providing my significance in said roles with a wealth of information that might be beneficial to the next company.

I've noticed contract/consulting gig's are much easier to interview rather than full time perm hires.

You think? Maybe it has something to do with it being easier to get rid of a contractor, and less of a long term commitment and lower expense to the company, e.g. benefits/etc

 

[turtile]

What the hell is plant health care?
You need a bachelor's degree and it only pays $16/hour?
Sounds similar to forestry, where you end up being a trash collector for parks and rec.

But, it sounds more fun than sitting in a cubicle for 1/3 of your life.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/Gardennotes/101.html#PHC

Basically, it's kind of like a doctor for plants. There's a shortage of workers in the industry but given the pay, anyone can see why. They've even started hiring internally with people with no idea of what they are doing in almost every major business. If you ever wonder why there are huge bee kills and other problems, this is the reason. Under qualified people who have no idea how each chemical class works against pests. It won't be long before resistance pops up among other things.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/plants/25000-dead-bees-in-target-parking-lot-130621.htm

The label on the products says "do not spray on plants in the flowering stage or with the potential to flower within 38 hours". It's against the law not to follow the label but who cares, right? Just spray it on a tree while it's in flower.

But in reality, I would be on a rig spraying pesticides, fertilizing, identifying pests and problems, injections, pruning, releasing biologicals... as fast as possible!

The pay in the entire industry sucks. My last job paid a $28K salary in which I ended up working 50-70 hours a week (no vacation or benefits too). I had to run a scheduling system in Corel Paradox (who uses that anymore...), mix nutrient tanks/pH, write and spray pesticide schedules, tune the system for PAR and weather, log sales and get the orders on a plane... And do the production work when they were short staff.

I also had to work with Sulfuric acid over head with no goggles - luckily two drops only burned giant holes in my pants.

I saw one job ad a few years ago that required a 4 year degree, 2 years experience, CDL license, pesticide license, heavy equipment experience for a whopping $11 an hour. (Florida)

Thanks for everyone's input, I think I'll take a pass on yet another interview!

 

[mvbighead]

Pretty much that which has already been said.

My current position I interviewed, and then had a second interview some month or so later. Turns out, they were going to proceed with some level of re-org and wanted to make sure they knew how things were going to play out.

They can be a bit unorganized, but they didn't ask me to drive to different locations repeatedly only to be told the job posting had already closed.

And for $16/hr? No chance in hell I jump through those kind of hoops for that kind of money, let alone a job that paid well.

 

[Ns1]

The pay in the entire industry sucks. My last job paid a $28K salary in which I ended up working 50-70 hours a week (no vacation or benefits too). I had to run a scheduling system in Corel Paradox (who uses that anymore...), mix nutrient tanks/pH, write and spray pesticide schedules, tune the system for PAR and weather, log sales and get the orders on a plane... And do the production work when they were short staff.

I also had to work with Sulfuric acid over head with no goggles - luckily two drops only burned giant holes in my pants.

I saw one job ad a few years ago that required a 4 year degree, 2 years experience, CDL license, pesticide license, heavy equipment experience for a whopping $11 an hour. (Florida)

Thanks for everyone's input, I think I'll take a pass on yet another interview!

WTF




caps

 

[Robert Munch]

You think? Maybe it has something to do with it being easier to get rid of a contractor, and less of a long term commitment and lower expense to the company, e.g. benefits/etc

Not necessarily because the roles i've been involved with came down to offers working full-time perm but, yes I agree with you.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/Gardennotes/101.html#PHC

Basically, it's kind of like a doctor for plants. There's a shortage of workers in the industry but given the pay, anyone can see why. They've even started hiring internally with people with no idea of what they are doing in almost every major business. If you ever wonder why there are huge bee kills and other problems, this is the reason. Under qualified people who have no idea how each chemical class works against pests. It won't be long before resistance pops up among other things.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/plants/25000-dead-bees-in-target-parking-lot-130621.htm

The label on the products says "do not spray on plants in the flowering stage or with the potential to flower within 38 hours". It's against the law not to follow the label but who cares, right? Just spray it on a tree while it's in flower.

But in reality, I would be on a rig spraying pesticides, fertilizing, identifying pests and problems, injections, pruning, releasing biologicals... as fast as possible!

The pay in the entire industry sucks. My last job paid a $28K salary in which I ended up working 50-70 hours a week (no vacation or benefits too). I had to run a scheduling system in Corel Paradox (who uses that anymore...), mix nutrient tanks/pH, write and spray pesticide schedules, tune the system for PAR and weather, log sales and get the orders on a plane... And do the production work when they were short staff.

I also had to work with Sulfuric acid over head with no goggles - luckily two drops only burned giant holes in my pants.

I saw one job ad a few years ago that required a 4 year degree, 2 years experience, CDL license, pesticide license, heavy equipment experience for a whopping $11 an hour. (Florida)

Thanks for everyone's input, I think I'll take a pass on yet another interview!

If you're working 70 hours per week for $28K per year, I have a tip -- find another field.

 

[Ns1]

If you're working 70 hours per week for $28K per year, I have a tip -- find another field.

no vacation or benefits either

 

[IndyColtsFan]

no vacation or benefits either

Yeah I was walking out the door and had to type my last message fast. That is ridiculous. You can make that at some fast food joints and get benefits.

 

[Ns1]

Yeah I was walking out the door and had to type my last message fast. That is ridiculous. You can make that at some fast food joints and get benefits.

OP could work as a prostitute and get fucked in the ass less.

 

[rudeguy]

Yeah I was walking out the door and had to type my last message fast. That is ridiculous. You can make that at some fast food joints and get benefits.

Taco Bell?

 

[xeemzor]

no vacation or benefits either

Sounds like most IT recruiters that call me. No, I don't want to move from consulting to support at 15/hr so go away before I punch you.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Sounds like most IT recruiters that call me. No, I don't want to move from consulting to support at 15/hr so go away before I punch you.

My favorite is when I get emails for 3 month desktop support gigs. I actually responded to one with:

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm sorry, did you even bother READING my resume?"

I did a Google search on the moron that contacted me yesterday with a similar job and saw one guy started a recruiter hall of shame for recruiters like that and yes, the moron yesterday was on it!

 

[MustISO]

I guess I've had it pretty easy. Previous job had a technical phone interview, meeting with managers at their office for about an hour and then got an offer.

Current job had a friend recommend me. It was just lunch at a nice restaurant and got an offer that afternoon.

 

[nageov3t]

I had 11 (!!) interviews to get my current job.

#1: interview with low-level HR peon (talked about the overall interview process, and various conflict resolution/team building scenario discussions where I said how I'd deal with different work-place dramas)

#2: technical interview with a perspective coworker

#3: technical interview with head of messaging/Exchange department to discuss how I'd deal with their needs/issues

#4: technical interview with head of data protection (aka: backups) department to discuss how I'd deal with their needs/issues

#5: technical interview with head of DBA group to discuss how I'd deal with their needs/issues

#6: technical interview with head of Windows support team to discuss how I'd deal with their needs/issues

#7: technical interview with head of Unix support team to discuss how I'd deal with their needs/issues

#8: interview with my perspective boss to talk about the department, what he's looking for, going over my resume, etc

#9: non-technical interview with my perspective boss's boss

that was all on one day. like 3-4 weeks later, I got called back for 2 final interviews:

#10: non-technical interview with my perspective boss's boss's boss

#11: interview with high-level HR person to talk about benefits, salary expectations, etc

the day after the final interview, I got the job offer letter... from what I understand from talking with my boss, the company (200 year-old hospital) has a lot of bureaucracy and people who you need to involve just to make them feel important to keep the waters smooth.

I'm a storage engineer, so unfortunately my job touches alongside of every other IT department, and every department head wanted to sign off on the new hire to ensure a good fit.

at the end of the day, the huge pay bump plus much, much better benefit package made the hassle worth it.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Got my job after 2 interviews.
1) Phone interview (~30-40 minutes)
2) Informal interview over beers (Flying Saucer)

 

[zinfamous]

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/Gardennotes/101.html#PHC

Basically, it's kind of like a doctor for plants. There's a shortage of workers in the industry but given the pay, anyone can see why. They've even started hiring internally with people with no idea of what they are doing in almost every major business. If you ever wonder why there are huge bee kills and other problems, this is the reason. Under qualified people who have no idea how each chemical class works against pests. It won't be long before resistance pops up among other things.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/plants/25000-dead-bees-in-target-parking-lot-130621.htm

The label on the products says "do not spray on plants in the flowering stage or with the potential to flower within 38 hours". It's against the law not to follow the label but who cares, right? Just spray it on a tree while it's in flower.

But in reality, I would be on a rig spraying pesticides, fertilizing, identifying pests and problems, injections, pruning, releasing biologicals... as fast as possible!

The pay in the entire industry sucks. My last job paid a $28K salary in which I ended up working 50-70 hours a week (no vacation or benefits too). I had to run a scheduling system in Corel Paradox (who uses that anymore...), mix nutrient tanks/pH, write and spray pesticide schedules, tune the system for PAR and weather, log sales and get the orders on a plane... And do the production work when they were short staff.

I also had to work with Sulfuric acid over head with no goggles - luckily two drops only burned giant holes in my pants.

I saw one job ad a few years ago that required a 4 year degree, 2 years experience, CDL license, pesticide license, heavy equipment experience for a whopping $11 an hour. (Florida)

Thanks for everyone's input, I think I'll take a pass on yet another interview!

Holy shit, dude. why not look for a job at the water plant or something? Sounds like you have the knowledge and experience for something like that, with tons of upward movement potential, better pay, benefits, vacation, etc.

And you know, working for the city, bro. Money in your pocket.