JOB INTERVIEWS....PART 2

I have had a boss. He would interview people for jobs for days together. He would literally conduct the interview like a Darbar with three to four panelists sitting. Everyone taking notes. HR personnel scurrying up and down to attend to his errands. Tea and coffee should flow freely. Lunch breaks should be like celebration, with food coming from best of the best joints for everyone, including candidates to get them impressed. In the end he would ask each one of the panelist who should be selected. Our scores and ratings have little meaning. The job would go to the person with the poorest family back ground even if he was found to be little lacking in technical skills. His logic was simple, the person with the highest need would never leave the job and would stay with you greatly obliged for longer period of time !! Boss was always right, even if boss was not right, boss was always boss !!

We have people attending interviews. With nice dress, very harsh perfume which would obviously put anyone off ! If someone has any problem with asthma the person would die then and there. Despite all these preparations, when asked to write down something, the interviewee would be puzzled as he had come without a pen. I get put off by such candidates !! I do not hesitate to tell them about this then and there !!

There was another candidate who had come for a officer's position. He was asked to chronologically list down his job history. What he had written was not matching with the bio-data sent by him in mail. On asking flash came the reply, "The resume sent to you was the one prepared by xxxxx Management consultants. This one is done by YYYYY recruiting agency !! " . Should we recruit such a candidate !!

When we were interviewing a candidate for a section head position there was a candidate with Sanskrit as second language. He was from a minority community and Sanskrit was totally alien to them. On asking how did he choose Sanskrit over Urdu etc. He started stating how easy it was to copy in such an such university. How did he manage to clear all his papers etc. with great enthusiasm without realizing that he was attending an interview and honesty was very much sought after virtue in the position he had applied. Without second thought we had to reject him !!

There was a lady candidate who had applied for general opening. As there was no opening the mail was left in the active file. After a few days there was a telephone call asking me the status of her application by her. I told her to wait for a few more days. Then after a few days there was a call from local level political person asking about the same candidate and her applications status. I told him that we have no opening and therefore the file was in active list awaiting suitable opening. Then to insulate myself against any issue I had sent the CV to my MD. As the lady had earlier worked in the company in the same location earlier and had disciplinary issues my MD told me to call her for an interview and close the case as unsuitable.

She was called for an interview. She told me in view of her past reputation she would not be able to attend the interview in the office, could we have the meeting elsewhere in a restaurant etc. I had to put my foot down and tell her in office or no where else. The lady came fully decked up and was shown the door after polite conversation, discussion, tea & snacks etc. in the presence of  a lady from HR department. After that too there were two or three calls from various pressure points. But we could handle the same easily.

There is a company which always look for internal candidates for any vacancies. All such internal vacancies are published in a notice boards of various branches, locations etc. Everyone is given an option to apply through respective heads of department. Formal interviews are held. Ratings given, results published and the same interviews are at time used as feedback sessions for performance improvements. Thus winners go and grow a long way in the company. Others take that as a feedback & motivation to perform better !!