1136
Iron shooting (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by mod_pp@lemmy.world to c/memes@lemmy.ml
top 42 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website 132 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Then they tell you the previous person was incompetent or something to try and make it seem like they were a bad employee, not that it's a bad work environment.

"Oh? And who was in charge of their interview?" because unless they have a large hr department to handle hiring interviews, it was probably the person who hired you.

This is when you take notes in your notebook you should have brought with you.

I've noticed interviewers get visibly uncomfortable when I write in my notebook. It's like they're either trying to figure out if they just lied about something I will be able to reference later, or they just get that natural "someone is writing about me and I can't read what it is" feeling, I assume the former.

Simon Pegg wasn't lying in Hot Fuzz. The notebook is a powerful weapon if used right.

[-] The_Mike_Drop@lemmy.world 92 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

This is absolutely true. My former employer (a big box retail company) reduced my pay while I was on holiday. I had been there for years and accrued a bunch of pay rises - but the company got bought out and the new owners thought they could strip me of these because they felt they were temporary and non-contractual.

I got some legal advice that basically said they can't do that sort of thing and had a meeting scheduled with HR. I went in with my notepad, I stayed calm - pleasent even - no angry shouting or slamming tables with fists, I just politely asked them questions and wrote down everything they said, then read their answers back to them to confirm thats what they said. I had about 6 questions prepared and by the 4th they were visibly uncomfortable, it was an amazing feeling making them squirm like that. After I got done asking my questions, I dropped the legal advice I had been given on them and it was obvious the answers they gave supported my case very heavily. They panicked and reversed all there decesion plus I got back-pay.

But if the first thing I had done is charge in making accusations and quoting the law I know nothing constructive would have happened.

See the goal is to bury them in their own words.

Edit: predictably the company went bust the next year. So long Office Outlet!

[-] Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website 28 points 11 months ago

Always get them to bury themselves before dropping your intentions.

My wife is currently dealing with her employer and their complete lack of handicap spots, despite over 200 regular car spaces scattered all around a warehouse lot. She doesn't quite get how to "play the game" like this but she's learning.

One party recording state so I'd like her to go in to talk about it while recording, but her anxiety is completely stonewalling her from bringing it up.

Hit record on the phone, slip it in a pocket that has good clearance for the whole conversation, and get them to say the things they've said when they think nobody else can hear them.

Apparently the front office woman screamed at her to move her car (she parked there because the offices are isolated from traffic and have access to her work area)and "it's not our goddamn problem we don't have handicap spots, it's yours so deal with it"

I'm about to just skip around waiting for her to do things and file a complaint with the EEOC or at least the ADA government site complaint form. I'm sure that would take months, if not years before anything ever happened, but I can't hold her hand and be there when she confronts the owners about their 6-8 missing handicap spots.

[-] Vilian@lemmy.ca 21 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

but the notebook strat gonna helpnme get the job in the end of the day?

[-] Bonehead@kbin.social 38 points 11 months ago

Do you really want the job if the interviewer can't handle being interviewed by you?

[-] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 61 points 11 months ago

Yes, because I like eating and having a roof over my head.

[-] Bonehead@kbin.social 28 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I thought that once too and ignored my gut feeling. It was the most toxic work environment that I've ever experienced, and it essentially killed my software development career. I was eventually laid off and never recovered. I'm now a mail carrier.

[-] Nommer@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago

Had a similar experience. Toxic company that was awarded a contract hired in a bunch of people, gave us starting dates then a week before we were supposed to start they delayed our start data by 4 months. It only got worse and worse from there. I eventually quit when I was doing 4 other jobs, like with different pay scales and supervisors and everything, by myself. Killed any chances I had with IT since every other company around here doesn't want to risk yet another burnout from that place. I had the same place interview me twice 6 months apart and both times as soon as they saw that company on my resume they frowned and kind of cut it short.

[-] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago

How's the usps looking these days? You still got that asshole tearing the sorting machines down?

[-] Bonehead@kbin.social 6 points 11 months ago

I actually work for Canada Post. We've heard rumblings of the pre-sequenced mail coming our way, and some people have lost large chunks of money from it. Contract negotiations are coming up though, so we'll see how things go. Though it is nice having a union that is willing to fight the company for the workers...I've never had that before this job.

[-] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago

Ah i did the thing, oops. Good luck on your negotiations :D

[-] Vilian@lemmy.ca 1 points 11 months ago

why it killed your carrer?, you lose the desire to work in software development?

[-] Bonehead@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

It was because I believed the lie "if you start in Support, you'll have a chance to move over to Development". I spent 5 years waiting for them to keep their promise. I did everything they asked me to do, I even wrote code in order to demonstrate that I was able to do it. None of it mattered. And after 5 years of doing everything they wanted, chasing that goal post that kept on moving back on me, they laid me off unceremoniously. I then tried to apply to development jobs but I kept on getting asked the question why I haven't held a development title in more than 5 years. No answer I gave was apparently good enough. I spent the next five years bouncing from a tech support job that I got laid off from, and then a technical advisor job (which was really just tech support for the development team) that I got laid off from. After that, I decided I either get a development job, or I'm leaving the industry. Tech Support was killing me, and I refused to go back. And now I deliver mail for a living. It's a lot less stress than I had to deal with before. And I now get a true chance of a six-figure salary.

[-] Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website 18 points 11 months ago

Actually, I've had more than one interviewer comment on it saying it "shows (I'm) prepared" since many people don't bring anything to write on and sometimes have to ask for a paper.

As for whether that could be a bonus in getting hired? Meh. 110% depends on the field.

If the question is "will asking unnecessary questions and writing down answers help get this job" then I'd ask if the interviewer isn't prepared for a couple innocuous questions, then it shows a severe lack of preparedness on their part and I'd question whether I want to work for a place where someone gets shook by their underlings daring to question them.

I fully admit I am already biased against nearly any company that I would be interviewing at, so I'm already more willing to get confrontational in interviews if I feel I am not getting the respect I deserve (you know, the basic human decency of treating every random person you meet as an equal until they prove otherwise worthy), and drop them to keep looking than the average person. I'll eat ramen and peanut butter sandwiches for a few more weeks if I need to. I've walked out of interviews before.

I've walked out after the opening "greeting". "alright let's make this quick, I've got a dozen other interviews today" okay well if that's how you treat someone here for a simple interview I can't imagine how you treat your employees on a bad day, get fucked. I literally said "excuse me? You don't talk that way in a professional setting." and left.

[-] bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago

When I go to client sites I carry around a pad, and I tell people that ask it's just a prop to make it seem like I'm being thorough.

Really I have extremely good spatial recall and estimating retrofit jobs is a piece of cake in that respect.

[-] soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyz 66 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I always ask why they are hiring. It's important to know if you're a replacement or part of an expansion project.

If it's the latter I ask them how many they are hiring and what the long term goal is.

Standard interview practice

[-] dgbbad@lemmy.zip 55 points 11 months ago

Okay, I stole this a while back, but I feel it's needed here. It's my new favorite meme format.

[-] BruceLee@lemmy.ml 9 points 11 months ago

I need the name of this movie !

[-] Norgur@kbin.social 39 points 11 months ago

"you know that this job is for a brand new office we're opening, right? Have you, like, read the job description?"

You dun goofed

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 26 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yeah, it's the rule that's wrong because a rare exception exists. A rare exception that assumes something not mentioned, even 🙄

[-] SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zip 11 points 11 months ago

This is anecdotal, but in my last 4 jobs the role was newly created (three of them were for a newly formed team).

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Maybe you're just consistently the Liam Neeson of your workplace?

[-] MrVilliam@lemmy.world 27 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I did this at the interview for the power plant I've been working at for the past 2.5 years. There was a 3 person panel interviewing me and I think they were impressed that I not only asked this but kept asking it through vague bullshit answers. They initially just said "the previous guy left." And I just sat there for about 10 seconds, waiting for more info than that. Then I said "okay, did he quit, get fired, put in his notice, retire, get demoted, get promoted, become disabled, die off site, die while here...?" He had gone to a different company, but I was uneasy from their hesitance to be forthcoming, so I dug into questions about the culture there, work/life balance, advancement opportunities, safety record, management style, and (maybe my favorite) "what does success in this role look like and how are your feedback and expectations of that communicated to employees?"

They seemed uncomfortable and impatient, but because I already had a decent job at the time I had nothing to lose by swinging my dick around and cutting the bullshit. I highly recommend applying and interviewing for jobs while you're already reasonably well-employed. It's great practice, it keeps your resume up to date, you learn real negotiation tactics, and you get to decline offers that aren't a substantial step up. About a year and a half ago, I did a video interview in my underwear where the manager and supervisor running the interview couldn't hear me so I was live troubleshooting and resolved their issue. I got an offer, rejected it by telling HR to come back with a higher offer, got the same offer a week later, asked the HR lady why she wasn't capable of listening to my instructions and was wasting my time with greedy negotiation tactics (which really annoyed her), asked for her name and the name of her supervisor while wholeheartedly rejecting any offer that would come from her, reported the experience to her supervisor, got a call back from the HR lady full of apologies (which I didn't forgive but thanked her for), and emailed the supervisor I had interviewed with to thank him and let him know that everything sounded great but I couldn't work for a company whose HR department was that shitty to me before I even verbally accepted an offer. Because of the nature of my industry and our relatively young ages, I told him I wouldn't be surprised if I wound up working with him somewhere within the next ten years anyway, and I looked forward to that within a company that respects its employees as much as he seems to.

For those who don't already know, HR exists to fuck the workers in order to benefit the company. Do not trust a goddamn thing HR says. Get everything documented. Record everything they say if it's legal to do so in your state. If not, draft immediate, timestamped memos (like an email to yourself) of everything that just happened and was said, and be objective with your phrasing.

[-] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

That's my least favorite kind of standoff..

[-] troglodytis@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

What is US Congress debt ceiling brinkmanship?

[-] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago

Oh God, you've found my actual least favorite kind of standoff... how did you know??

[-] dudinax@programming.dev 6 points 11 months ago

What is nuclear brinksmanship?

[-] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

What's your favorite standoff? I only know vanilla and Mexican vanilla

[-] bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago

This just made me sad about Alex Trebek.

[-] Evotech@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago

He was promoted.

Boom dead

[-] hakunawazo@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago
[-] CrowAirbrush@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

I haven't left, convince me to.

this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
1136 points (99.2% liked)

Memes

45650 readers
1911 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS