Interviewing recent college grads: WTF is wrong with you?

[Boomer28]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100684583

Just saw the above and had a 1st hand experience on Friday:

Girl who looks great on paper came in for an interview with us. 15 minutes late. Right there I'm pissed, no call or email to let me know. Her excuse? Traffic. We're in LA, no shit there is traffic......got worse from there...

No copy of her resume. Not even wearing a suit, just a blouse and pants. Claimed to be an 8/10 in Excel skills when asked, didn't know what a pivot table was. Could tell me nothing about our company, nothing. Simple Google stuff, she seemed to have no idea what she was here for.

At the end of the interview which consisted of me telling her about the job and company she had zero questions. None. I assume at that point she has not interest but then she proceeds to tell me how excited she is about the position and company....

This was the worst but not first one I've had like this over the past few years. How do you get to this point in life with out these simple skills? Shitty parents? Entitled narcissistic delusions? What gives?

[Jer]

Entitled narcissistic delusions?

You nailed it.

I'm surprised she didn't show up in jammies.

[BmillsSkier]

I think Old Larry or someone started a thread about this a year or so ago.

It's absurd how ill-prepared recent college (and even professional school grads [Law and MBA in my experience]) grads can be.

Simple shit just like you said. Show up on time. Be prepared. Be professional. You want the job? Fucking close then.

Finklesteinshitkidsonsabitches if you ask me. A whole generation of participation trophy winners.


#getoffmylawn

[Art Shirk]

Had someone actually answer their cell phone during an interview a few months ago. Gave us one of those "wait a minute finger" gestures.

[RootSkier]

You want the job? Fucking close then.

Wait, you expect recent grads to close the deal at the interview? How so? It seems to me that a recent grad would be a little presumptuous to bust out too much confidence. Yeah, maybe if it's sales...but for most fields, I would tend to think you would come off as an uber-douche if you waltz in with no experience and are like "here are my salary requirements, I need 4 weeks of vacation, and I'll start two weeks from Thursday."

I could be wrong, though.

[esseff]

Every year, the pool of 'talent' for grad / entry level descends to pathetic levels. i don't see how most will ever survive.

[Cruiser]

Lemmegitthisstraight, candidate showed up to the interview not drunk or high, was wearing sensible shoes, and had a coherent conversation with you? Sounds like you've got a winner there. You could've done plenty worse.

[iceman]

GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!!

edit: ha, just noticed Bmills' hashtag

[Benny Profane]

Walked ten miles to work for my first job. In the snow. Uphill. Both ways.

[Flyoverland Captive]

I once asked a clearly unqualified applicant why he applied for a position with us. He replied, "You're an equal opportunity employer, so I know you have to hire me."

[BrianH]

You didn't just turn 50 by any change, did you? That's about when I started to notice the youth of Athens

We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently inhabit taverns and have no self control. -- attributed to an inscription in an Ancient Egyptian tomb, quoted in Buckminster Fuller's I Seem To Be a Verb

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. -- misattributed to Socrates

But at t he same time I seem to notice that many kids seem higly attuned to "stranger danger" and won't look at, much less acknowledge others.

[mtngirl79]

my guess is that nobody taught these kids how to interview for jobs and after failing to get a job they will hit up google and figure out what they are doing wrong...

[gretch6364]

What field? I interviewed a bunch of recent grads over the past couple years for jobs in public accounting and they were all in suits, prepared, and very polite. I don't think you can expect pizza delivery candidates to be as prepared as those applying to be day time managers at the local Subway.

[butterscotch]

^^^Was just going to say this (edit: what mtngirl said). No one really teaches you the interview process. Still, there's no excuse for being late.

[systemoverblow'd]

We were interviewing applicants recently for a paid internship. It was explained in the application that we were looking for someone for a 3 month trial internship with the intent on offering them full time salaried position + usual benefits if they worked out.

One of the applicants asked what pay we were going to offer after the 3 months so he didn't waste his time. Oh I'm sorry. You got a lot of high paying first time production jobs in the works? Waste time getting work experience for pay a big problem for you?

I'm not sure what we are going to offer the kid we did give the internship to, but I'm sure its a bit more than the average adult in middle America and they are right out of college. Pretentious shitheads.

[berko]

You all should be thankful. This current trend makes it a lot easier to spot the good candidates.

[Parvo]

When I was hiring for lift operators at the local college, a very stoned applicant came to our table at the job fair. I looked at him and said, "you know, we drug test."

Kid replied all nervous "right now???"

[hutash]

We were interviewing applicants recently for a paid internship. It was explained in the application that we were looking for someone for a 3 month trial internship with the intent on offering them full time salaried position + usual benefits if they worked out.

One of the applicants asked what pay we were going to offer after the 3 months so he didn't waste his time. Oh I'm sorry. You got a lot of high paying first time production jobs in the works? Waste time getting work experience for pay a big problem for you?

I'm not sure what we are going to offer the kid we did give the internship to, but I'm sure its a bit more than the average adult in middle America and they are right out of college. Pretentious shitheads.

While I see your point, the number of pretentious shithead companies that "offer internships" to get free or cheap labor is as much of a problem as stupid interviewees. Many are simply taking advantage of college grads.

As noted above, I think every generation thinks the younger one is full of pretentious shitheads. While each does have its share, I don't know if they are really on the rise.

[jahoney]

my guess is that nobody taught these kids how to interview for jobs and after failing to get a job they will hit up google and figure out what they are doing wrong...

+1

A lot of kids think they're smart... but they aren't. Then there's the parents that enable kids to think that way -- I have this friend that thinks he's the smartest person that ever lived. His parents play into it by letting him explain things to them (which are often not wholly correct), and his brothers stand by him because they're both dumb as rocks (sell weed for a living). So because he's the smartest in the family, he becomes smart overall? I don't think so... he's never had a real job (he's 23) and I don't know how he'll ever find one. Still in the JC, no plans for transfer. Says he likes engineering so people think he's smart but he is STRUGGLING through first semester calc, which isn't easy, but I did it and I'm not an engineer. I did it 4 years ago. The kind of guy that will talk your ear off then when you have something to say he'll tell you how you feel and what you were about to say.

He will be forever stubborn and arrogant, fueled by his family's (and only their) praise. He lives at home. His parents pay for everything (fuel, insurance, food, alcohol, even fucking WEED). This is primarily why I don't really chill with him anymore. Not really much of a friend, either, especially when you get hired by his brother to help with his bday party who paid me via the deadbeat who shorted me cash at the end of the night. No more than $40, but still inexcusable. Jokers, man.

[systemoverblow'd]

While I see your point, the number of pretentious shithead companies that "offer internships" to get free or cheap labor is as much of a problem as stupid interviewees. Many are simply taking advantage of college grads.

As noted above, I think every generation thinks the younger one is full of pretentious shitheads. While each does have its share, I don't know if they are really on the rise.

I agree. In my field, internships are normal. And they usually don't pay. And they usually don't hire you. I did two 6-month internships for free. So, I think getting a stipend of $10/hr for 3 months with the promise to hire (if you don't suck) at a real salary is pretty damn good. I wouldn't think that was great had I been in another field, but seeing what I and many people I know had to go through to break into the field, these applicants were lucky as hell to get an opportunity like this, IMHO.

[Timberridge]

my guess is that nobody taught these kids how to interview for jobs and after failing to get a job they will hit up google and figure out what they are doing wrong...

No. What they will do is go back and live with mom and dad for the next 8 years and try to find themselves.

Urgency tends to improve when there is no safety net.

[Hutch]

I spent 3 years on a law firm hiring committee in Salt Lake and interviewed dozens of second year BYU law students. I'll take the stoners any time.

[BrianH]

As noted above, I think every generation thinks the younger one is full of pretentious shitheads.

And each is right!

[smartyiak]

I've never understood why interviewees should have questions. In my field, for all of the jobs I've interviewed, the interviewer has told me: 1) what I'd be doing, 2) how much I'd be paid, 3) how many billables I need to not get fired.

I've looked at their website to learn more about the place, i.e. how many offices/employees, who is a partner, who are their clients, notable cases...

Other than those first three things and stuff I can learn from a google search, what sort of question should I have?

(note: I've never been late, checked Facebook, or brought my goldfish to any interview).

[systemoverblow'd]

Other than those first three things and stuff I can learn from a google search, what sort of question should I have?

Ask about potential growth opportunities. How they see the department evolving in the future. What's a typical work week like. How they like working there. What are the pros and cons of working for said company. etc, etc, etc.