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outhole surfer
Mar 18, 2003

my favorite is asking both the hiring manager and potential teammates "What is the most miserable aspect of the role?"

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ultravoices
May 10, 2004

You are about to embark on a great journey. Are you ready, my friend?
op questions got me two jobs

PokeJoe
Aug 24, 2004

hail cgatan


op questions have left interviewers visibly shook sometimes, like they weren't expecting to have to think about anything

Video Nasty
Jun 17, 2003

PokeJoe posted:

op questions have left interviewers visibly shook sometimes, like they weren't expecting to have to think about anything
The boss was visibly contemplating how he wanted to respond to "What are your company values" and I got him to really elaborate on it because it caught him so off-guard.

reversefungi posted:

"Can I get a short product demo at some point during the interview process, to have a better understanding of what I'd be working on?"
This is awesome and I'm saving it for the future.

toiletbrush
May 17, 2010

PokeJoe posted:

op questions have left interviewers visibly shook sometimes, like they weren't expecting to have to think about anything
at one of my first 'career' programming interviews about 15 years ago the interviewer off-handedly said the company practiced 'extreme OO' and when I asked what that meant he floundered for about five minutes before saying he didn't really know.

it was at that point I realised the power you have as an interviewee and it made all my other interviews since then 10x easier

Sapozhnik
Jan 2, 2005

Nap Ghost
I still think the "company values" thing is a bit of a :jerkbag: question for anything that isn't like, an actual workers' co-op but that's just me

like amazon's constant prattling on about The Twelve Management Herbs and Spices and their insistence that you obediently wag your tail and recite them right there in the interview is just absolutely nauseating. "loving the labor market to death so that Jeef has an even more stupendously gigantic pile of loving money", that's Amazon's loving "company values".

post hole digger
Mar 21, 2011

yeah that one and the 'what's the most impressive thing you've seen out of someone else you've interviewed recently' question from the op always struck me as odd.

Truman Peyote
Oct 11, 2006



company values are definitely a bit of a biz school jackoff opportunity, but i think if the company makes a big deal out of their values it's important to ask how they come up in practice, day-to-day. i have justified a lot of pragmatic rule-breaking by referring to the Official Corporate ValuesTM at this job, am i going to be able to do that at the next place?

raminasi
Jan 25, 2005

a last drink with no ice
if i were interviewing somebody at my current job and i got that question i would say something like "idk if we have any official corporate values but everyone is really nice and leaves by 5, does that count?"

Video Nasty
Jun 17, 2003

Truman Peyote posted:

company values are definitely a bit of a biz school jackoff opportunity, but i think if the company makes a big deal out of their values it's important to ask how they come up in practice, day-to-day. i have justified a lot of pragmatic rule-breaking by referring to the Official Corporate ValuesTM at this job, am i going to be able to do that at the next place?

I got an honest answer from the boss of the company that he doesn't like that HR wishy-washy corporate speak and he "encourages curiosity" and "expects mistakes" which honestly made him 1000% more approachable for the remainder of the interview.

The Fool
Oct 16, 2003


Video Nasty posted:

he doesn't like that HR wishy-washy corporate speak

stuff like this is usually a red flag because it's said by people annoyed that they can't do racism at work

Plorkyeran
Mar 22, 2007

To Escape The Shackles Of The Old Forums, We Must Reject The Tribal Negativity He Endorsed
we have official corporate values but i really don't have any clue what they're supposed to actually mean

post hole digger
Mar 21, 2011

Plorkyeran posted:

we have official corporate values but i really don't have any clue what they're supposed to actually mean

post hole digger
Mar 21, 2011

pretty sure our corp values include the phrase 'outrageously audacious' somewhere in there. i janitor fuckin containers for a living. shut up.

Quackles
Aug 11, 2018

Pixels of Light.


post hole digger posted:

pretty sure our corp values include the phrase 'outrageously audacious' somewhere in there. i janitor fuckin containers for a living. shut up.

Are they outrageously audacious containers? :v:

hobbesmaster
Jan 28, 2008

Video Nasty posted:

HR wishy-washy corporate speak

my favorite version of this is at large companies where you have “town halls” where a SVP of engineering says one thing about hiring and then the head of HR says in wishy washy speak actually we are going to do none of those things

hot dog event
Apr 17, 2002

our org is in the middle of creating new company values

i ran into one of the c-suite folks after a full day of meetings and the guy looked completely washed. glad i don't have to do that poo poo

Vinz Clortho
Jul 19, 2004

“a healthy disregard for the impossible”

ummmm…

FMguru
Sep 10, 2003

peed on;
sexually

hot dog event posted:

our org is in the middle of creating new company values

i ran into one of the c-suite folks after a full day of meetings and the guy looked completely washed. glad i don't have to do that poo poo
really earning their almost-seven-figgies by sitting in a room for eight hours and arguing about best way to order the clauses in "one company. one team. one vision"

qirex
Feb 15, 2001

we used to have a value for collaborating and one for innovating but our exec team, I’m sure with the help of some extremely expensive consultants, came out with “collaborate to unlock innovation” this year so that’s like 2 values on one!

Achmed Jones
Oct 16, 2004



sorry boss my innovation is still locked

Captain Foo
May 11, 2004

we vibin'
we slidin'
we breathin'
we dyin'

Achmed Jones posted:

sorry boss my innovation is still locked

shouldn’t have made the values IoT

champagne posting
Apr 5, 2006

YOU ARE A BRAIN
IN A BUNKER

reversefungi posted:

I have a continuously growing list of questions in a Google doc. Whenever I run into something that's either "That's awesome, how do I make sure I find this again in the future" or "this is absolute garbage I never want to encounter this in a job again", it goes in the list. An obvious one that has saved me some grief is "Can I get a short product demo at some point during the interview process, to have a better understanding of what I'd be working on?" If they show you a janky pos app, makes it very easy to turn down and move on

mind if I put this excellent advice in the op?

reversefungi
Nov 27, 2003

Master of the high hat!
go for it!

asur
Dec 28, 2012

Sapozhnik posted:

I still think the "company values" thing is a bit of a :jerkbag: question for anything that isn't like, an actual workers' co-op but that's just me

like amazon's constant prattling on about The Twelve Management Herbs and Spices and their insistence that you obediently wag your tail and recite them right there in the interview is just absolutely nauseating. "loving the labor market to death so that Jeef has an even more stupendously gigantic pile of loving money", that's Amazon's loving "company values".

Amazon's insistence and coaching in the interview is weird, but asking about the company values gives insight into upper management and then you should follow it up by asking when they've applied it to their work, either in general or a specific value if you find it important,l. This will give you an idea if the values are followed. Definitely a manager question though.

4lokos basilisk
Jul 17, 2008


asur posted:

Amazon's insistence and coaching in the interview is weird, but asking about the company values gives insight into upper management and then you should follow it up by asking when they've applied it to their work, either in general or a specific value if you find it important,l. This will give you an idea if the values are followed. Definitely a manager question though.

way back like 5 years ago i interviewed for amazon and the recruiter specifically told me to read up about the values.

i got a nope due to failing a whiteboard so i am not sure if knowing the values would have mattered a lot or
no

AnimeIsTrash
Jun 30, 2018

4lokos basilisk posted:

way back like 5 years ago i interviewed for amazon and the recruiter specifically told me to read up about the values.

i got a nope due to failing a whiteboard so i am not sure if knowing the values would have mattered a lot or
no

I did some online coding screening for them, and after the 2 problems I had about 20 questions about how I feel about company values.

The Fool
Oct 16, 2003


my org has something like 5 values and its all stuff like "be bold" and "better together"

the only time they ever come up is during the performance review cycle where we're expected to describe how our accomplishments exemplify specific values

zombienietzsche
Dec 9, 2003

AnimeIsTrash posted:

I did some online coding screening for them, and after the 2 problems I had about 20 questions about how I feel about company values.

I had these too. It was extremely obvious which answer the 'correct' one was for all of them, so I almost wonder if they're testing for enough social awareness to be cutthroat in the Amazon politics cesspool

Xarn
Jun 26, 2015

Sapozhnik posted:

I still think the "company values" thing is a bit of a :jerkbag: question for anything that isn't like, an actual workers' co-op but that's just me

like amazon's constant prattling on about The Twelve Management Herbs and Spices and their insistence that you obediently wag your tail and recite them right there in the interview is just absolutely nauseating. "loving the labor market to death so that Jeef has an even more stupendously gigantic pile of loving money", that's Amazon's loving "company values".

Agreed. I have no loving clue what my employer's supposed values are, but mine are working on interesting things in a good team and get paid a lot for it. As long as my values are met, idgaf.

cheque_some
Dec 6, 2006
The Wizard of Menlo Park

4lokos basilisk posted:

way back like 5 years ago i interviewed for amazon and the recruiter specifically told me to read up about the values.

i got a nope due to failing a whiteboard so i am not sure if knowing the values would have mattered a lot or
no

I interviewed at Amazon a few years back and after 4 grueling hours of "tell me about a time where you" questions I finally said, "I don't think I have an answer to that" when they asked me to recount an example of some really specific contrived scenario.

Afterwards the recruiter told me they passed on me because of that.

Not that I cared because I jokingly asked I was going to be working 14 hours a day and the manager's response was, "Well I wouldn't say, quite that long..."

hobbesmaster
Jan 28, 2008

if anyone wants to know the way you’re supposed to handle that according to Amazon specific interview coaches (a very real thing that exists) you identify the leadership principle (every question should map to one primarily) and tell one of the stories you prepared that is applicable to that leadership principle.

Quackles
Aug 11, 2018

Pixels of Light.


hobbesmaster posted:

if anyone wants to know the way you’re supposed to handle that according to Amazon specific interview coaches (a very real thing that exists) you identify the leadership principle (every question should map to one primarily) and tell one of the stories you prepared that is applicable to that leadership principle.

No offence, but that sounds like a bunch of bull-💩.

hobbesmaster
Jan 28, 2008

yes, behavioral interviews questions are testing your ability to bullshit in a corporate environment

Quackles
Aug 11, 2018

Pixels of Light.


hobbesmaster posted:

yes, behavioral interviews questions are testing your ability to bullshit in a corporate environment

Even so, this particular case feels like more BS than usual.

PokeJoe
Aug 24, 2004

hail cgatan


Quackles posted:

No offence, but that sounds like a bunch of bull-💩.

that's the point, to filter out people who don't want to eat poo poo for breakfast. they want employees that ask for seconds

champagne posting
Apr 5, 2006

YOU ARE A BRAIN
IN A BUNKER

cheque_some posted:

I interviewed at Amazon a few years back and after 4 grueling hours of "tell me about a time where you" questions I finally said, "I don't think I have an answer to that" when they asked me to recount an example of some really specific contrived scenario.

Afterwards the recruiter told me they passed on me because of that.

Not that I cared because I jokingly asked I was going to be working 14 hours a day and the manager's response was, "Well I wouldn't say, quite that long..."

"tell me about a time you were wrong" is the question I should be asked more often, but it never comes up.

"tell me about a time you had a conflict with a coworker" comes up every interview

Not a Children
Oct 9, 2012

Don't need a holster if you never stop shooting.

PokeJoe posted:

that's the point, to filter out people who don't want to eat poo poo for breakfast. they want employees that ask for seconds

very much the vibe I got from the interview

ultravoices
May 10, 2004

You are about to embark on a great journey. Are you ready, my friend?

Quackles posted:

No offence, but that sounds like a bunch of bull-💩.

let me tell you about what jobs are made of, buddy

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Doom Mathematic
Sep 2, 2008

champagne posting posted:

"tell me about a time you were wrong" is the question I should be asked more often, but it never comes up.

If that ever comes up I'll just say "I neglected to prepare for this question."

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