Interviews for me were not that common during my teenage years of high school. I was very fortunate to work at my father’s restaurant and have family and friends who always were there when I needed work. I rarely ever had to write a resume or cover letter. Once I graduated high school and decided that I wanted to experience what it’s like not working for your family. I wrote my first resume to Lowe’s Warehouse. Where I earned my first job on my own with no friends or family help. It was the first interview I had ever done, I was unsure what kind of attire and clothes I needed to wear. Even though I had never done an Interview I received tons of advice from friends and family. Some of that advice was to ensure that my social media was aligned with the company’s goals and expectations with no crazy or party pictures. To avoid any bias before the interview. In this week’s reading ” how to take the bias out of interviews” by Iris Bohnet I learned that was an actual honest approach or strategy interviewers do to analyze who you are. None of which I think my Interviewers did during my interviews because i was never asked personal questions.
The structure of the interview I think aligned very well with the principles of an interview because once I submitted the resume, and my recommendation letters. I was later called for an interview. The style of questions asked was behavioral and situational. Where they wanted me to give an example of a scenario or situation where I might have been in a problem, and how did I resolve it. I think what made this interview effective is they asked me questions regarding problem-solving which later on I found to be an essential skill to have during my work there. They never asked me questions that seemed irrelevant like what grades did I earn in high school, or what’s my favorite thing to do in my spare time. Or any questions that are illegal like whether I smoke or have medical conditions.
Overall I think that each company has different ways of interviewing and hiring employees. But I love the article I read this week “How to get a job at Google” and the approach google has taken on not criticizing a candidate’s school GPA. I think it’s a creative and unique approach that works for them. But I can’t say that might work for everyone. Unstructured interviews with no fixed questions can sometimes be difficult for applicants to prepare which can also result in their interviews being ineffective. But like I mentioned I think it depends.
