Drowned Crow Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Well, the industry needs STEM people willing to work for peanuts and hugs, and not demanding salaries commensurate with the highly trained and highly skilled class that they are. I have long since stopped recommending people enter STEM fields, because the industry is looking for the equivalent of burger-flippers. (I'm sorry that you got the short straw in your latest job venture. I don't have many contacts in the pharma industry in the Bay Area either. :( ) Yeah, I do love those occasional stern warning from CEOs to the American people that they need to become scientists and engineers or this country is fucked. Why can't people just do their patriotic duty and become scientists and get paid minimum wage? Is that so much to ask? And if I ever have children I fully intend to forbid them from going into science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 What I would say re: delegation is that since I've been working in both roles I've had no problem assigning tasks that are for users not at my site -- I'm the only one at my site, the team I'm leading is spread out around the area -- but that I've tended to want to take on the tasks for the people where I am, especially when they request me. I've recognized it and reached out to my manager, who's been helping me, for some advice and have been improving. And that I think it's especially important for the team, because they have to have the opportunity to step up in order to grow.Is that enough of a positive spin, or should I 86 this idea as the weakness I acknowledge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning Lord Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I got caught out in an interview once where they asked me what I knew about the school and I was... honest. I had looked it up on the internet and the reviews/posts I found about it were almost 100% negative, very off-putting. For some reason, I felt it my duty to tell them "Hey, if you google your school, it looks like a real shitstorm." I didn't get that job. I am currently in the process of interviewing for a position that would be a tremendous jump forward for me. The problem I am having is that the stages of the process don't match what I've had in the past and aren't clearly defined. At the end of the second interview...or talk...or chat... I am not sure what they are... I was left thinking "Okay, he's sending me a contract to look over," but when I reflected, it didn't seem at any point like I had been offered the position... and the contract email didn't materialize (this was only 20 hours ago). Nerve-wracking. Ini... I am confused, you say you take on tasks at your site rather than delegating, but also say you're the only one at your site? I like your answer, but I'd cite exactly what advice you were given and how you parlayed that advice into improvement. Just my two scents. (the third one is cucumber melon) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 more people in STEM careers I kind of want to punch them in the face.that was the old cold war plan under ike's education czar, james conant. the idea was to grant y'all higher salaries in exchange for your role in defeating the communism. i guess now that the left lost on a world historical scale, y'all can be freely proletarianized for reals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drowned Crow Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 more people in STEM careers I kind of want to punch them in the face.that was the old cold war plan under ike's education czar, james conant. the idea was to grant y'all higher salaries in exchange for your role in defeating the communism. i guess now that the left lost on a world historical scale, y'all can be freely proletarianized for reals. What about all the other dangerous ideologies that have yet to be drowned in oceans of blood? Like moderate socialism, centrism, pacifism, or rationalism? I'm desperate and I've got some great ideas on the weaponization of rabies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Ini... I am confused, you say you take on tasks at your site rather than delegating, but also say you're the only one at your site? I like your answer, but I'd cite exactly what advice you were given and how you parlayed that advice into improvement. Just my two scents. (the third one is cucumber melon) I do a lot of offsite stuff for leadership, after hours meetings, that kind of thing. EDIT: Possible alternative weakness is organization, which is a problem I used to have and legitimately solved for myself. Possible reasons not to use this: 1. I haven't had this problem for a long time. I'm not naturally organized, and knowing that -- and that I needed to be organized -- I put into place a bunch of systems to help me keep track of everything and it's not really been an issue for quite some time. 2. Organization is the other big thing that someone in this position needs, and I don't know if I should cop to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Screening interview done, none of these questions were on it. We skipped the general since I know all five of the people on the panel, and they had six or seven questions they let me look over in advance. I had answers for all of them, I hope they were good ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywolf2375 Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Screening interview done, none of these questions were on it. We skipped the general since I know all five of the people on the panel, and they had six or seven questions they let me look over in advance. I had answers for all of them, I hope they were good ones. Good to hear they had you move ahead in the interview steps. My question for the board...I have responsibility for over 100 people, from our sales phone reps to the SP responsible for them BUT I am not a manager. Anything I look into as a move requires management experience and I haven't been HR responsible for someone since 1998. Each time I go to an interview, I get the "do you manage anyone now?" No. "oh, ok." And from there it is a flush. Anything I can do to swing the perception of being an individual contributor coaching, leading, etc but not being responsible for the signing of a mid year/year end review? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 I have no idea whether I've moved forward yet. Except I'd fucking better have. I've worked way too hard over the last year not to get this job. The other guy from my team who applied told me he hopes I get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Greywolf: You can't say that you do in all but name? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Greywolf - your answer should be "Yes, I have 100+ dotted-line reports". I have 11 direct reports and 8 dotted-line reports. The latter require oversight/supervision, team management, resource planning & balancing, coaching, feedback, training, motivation and significant input on hiring/firing/promotion/compensation, but their official direct supervisors are in another business unit. If your management role day-to-day is significant, then it does not matter (outside of the most hierarchical bureaucracies) who is officially signing the year-end review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zelticgar Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Good to hear they had you move ahead in the interview steps. My question for the board...I have responsibility for over 100 people, from our sales phone reps to the SP responsible for them BUT I am not a manager. Anything I look into as a move requires management experience and I haven't been HR responsible for someone since 1998. Each time I go to an interview, I get the "do you manage anyone now?" No. "oh, ok." And from there it is a flush. Anything I can do to swing the perception of being an individual contributor coaching, leading, etc but not being responsible for the signing of a mid year/year end review? How long have you been in this role? Assuming you have had this level of responsibility for a reasonable amount of time you should make sure you are clear with your manager that you have a goal of moving into a supervisor position and ask them what your path is to get there. Their answer will tell you whether it is realistic to expect it will happen. Here is some advice on the interview issue. Warning, the HR weasel words are bolded. Make sure you practice them so it comes out naturally. Regarding the issues you run into during interviews I would sell yourself as a manager when speaking with external companies. If you are doing the job who cares if you have responsibility for the performance reviews? If they specifically ask you about doing reviews then explain to them your company has a centralized management hierarchy that relies on matrix oversight. Explain to them that you have matrix responsibility for whatever teams your oversee. If it is internal then you need to be clear with them that you have matrix responsibility for certain teams and get some internal references over to the hiring managers ahead of time that will endorse your management skills ahead of an internal interview. Most of the internal openings i deal with are handled this way. Hiring Managers dont want to take risks so if they can hire someone that has endorsements from people they trust it is an easy decision because then they can just blame whoever referred the person if something goes wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_BlauerDragon Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I don't think I really have great answers for the "common" interview questions. I don't know if I want to answer the "greatest weakness" question honestly. If I did, I would say that I don't delegate enough -- but there's a reason for that. I work with VIPs in the organization, so things really need to be done right, and I have years of experience that tell me they won't be. Like, a while back I was asked to accept help from a lower-level team to cover absences, so I agreed, and then his team lead told him not to go. And I have meetings that I go to in suits, and I've had people on my team covering show up in hoodies. But we're being asked to do more with less, and to not go mad I need to delegate more. But I'm concerned that copping to that will be a strike against me in a leadership role. I kindly ask that you forgive me for wading in without reading anyone's response beyond your original post, but I think I may be able to suggest a train of thought that will be beneficial for this and I feel the response needs to be fresh and untainted by what anyone else might have already put forth, or how they may have put it.To me, this question comes down to two things;1. How well do you know yourself? Do you know what your limitations are? Do you know the areas upon which you most need to work on improving? To me, it sounds like you have a pretty good idea.2. How tactfully can you answer the question? This part is one of the more important aspects, I think. The higher one goes in the chain of command, the greater the need is for them to be able to say what they need to say without saying it. Consider saying that your weakness is that you need to learn to entrust others to be able to adequately perform their appointed tasks without feeling the need to do everything yourself just to ensure that it is done right. This sounds a little less like you are saying "I need to pass more of my work off to these slacker losers that never do anything right" and more like "I need to have faith in the abilities of my coworkers, and I know that, but I take quality very seriously and have very high standards for what I expect from myself and my team." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Good advice, thanks. The screen is done -- and didn't ask this sort of question -- but assuming I survived this round I'll keep it in mind for the next one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperry Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 This topic is quite apropos for me, as I'm currently desperately seeking to leave my current employer, and am kind of overwhelmed searching for a new job. I am the absolute worst at HR interview nonsense. I am the worst at "Why do you want this soul crushing corporate job?" questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewJ Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 On the subject of going through interviews when the decision on who they will employ has already been made... I've been in that very situation twice in about 6-9 months (and both times I knew what the decision was before I had the interview). I didn't get the first role (which was a sideways move) and I did get the second (which was a promotion). In the case of the first role, there had been two roles previously (Role A and Role B). The person who performed Role B had left and they were combining the two roles into one. And they had already decided the person in Role A was getting the combined one, but they still went ahead with advertising it and interviewing for it anyway. I was applying from outside the division and knew none of that when I applied, but I heard it on the grapevine before the interviews. And it was pretty much confirmed to me in my feedback afterwards (they basically told me that we were both very good candidates, but if they gave me the role they'd have to fire the other guy - and there wasn't much reason to give me the job over him). Second one was a similar situation to you, Ini. My boss had left and I'd been filling the role in an acting capacity for three months. But again, they went through the interview process, even though I knew they had decided to appoint me. (The boss over the prior 3 months and who I would be reporting to was the only one doing the interviews. And he's in a different city and I don't have much dealings with him really. The GM for the business, who is two doors down from me and I have a dotted line to and effectively work ofr on a day to day basis had already approved my appointment and didn't attend any of the interviews. I knew there was absolutely zero chance of them appointing someone without him being involved. It was clear he knew I would be appointed and had no intention of wasting his time by attending meaningless interviews). Oh... and one of the other candidates for the second role was the same guy who got the first one. :) 90% of me is annoyed that they waste everyone's time like that. But the positive to take from it is, no matter which way the decision is going, the experiance of sitting an interview is of benefit. You mentioned you haven't had to do one in ages. So if they don't give you the role (and they already know they won't), then the experience will be invaluable if you decide to pursue other roles. And if they have already decided to appoint you, well you might still want to go for another position in 1, 2, 3 years and having some meaningless practice now will hold you in good stead then. (I guess my advantage was I knew the outcome going in both times, so there wasn't much pressure). Oh... and my answer to the "what areas do you need improvemnt in" question was to talk about about wanting to broaden my knowledge to other areas outside my responsibility, but which we interract with. (In my case, it was an accounting role and I said I wanted to strengthen my knowledge re the sales side of the business and improve my understanding of how our pricing structures work etc, as this would enable us to work together more effectively - and I intended to schedule time with the Sales Manager to this end. The truth was I'd already had those discussions with the Sales Manager and had a pretty good understanding, but it was a good, positive story to tell). :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liffguard Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I am the absolute worst at HR interview nonsense. I am the worst at "Why do you want this soul crushing corporate job?" questions. This is relevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Thursday Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 This is relevant. SMBC has one other suggestion to the greatest weakness question: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2150 It takes a bit more effort, but I'm sure the results would be much more satisfying :P ST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Is it still protocol to send follow up "thanks for your consideration" emails when it's a panel of five and it's just a screen? I need to do it this morning if so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elder Sister Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Is it still protocol to send follow up "thanks for your consideration" emails when it's a panel of five and it's just a screen? I need to do it this morning if so.Yes; definitely send a group email thanking them for the opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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