Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => The Dressing Room => Topic started by: Dmoney on August 14, 2012, 05:55:47 PM
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So, today I had an interview for a promotion in work. I would have ended up as a shift leader, but essentially doing the same tasks, only with a couple of added responsibilities.
I flopped the interview pretty badly, partly because I haven't had one in so long, party because I was unprepared, party because I felt like another colleague pretty much had the role sewn up before the interviews even took place.
Anyway, I feel like the longer I work here the more I forget how to do my actual job, the less I care. I'm a Broadcast Engineer. I have no idea what I'd rather do. I'm 29, and I suck at interviews.
Anyone here even gone through a career change or faced a similar situation? I can't progress where I work. There aren't really any roles to more into. The routine is getting to me.
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I'll let you know after next week (finish Friday, never been unemployed in my life)...
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I know how you feel.
I once went for a promotion/more senior role within a company that I didn't get. I was so angry because I had basically created that role, had been filling it, I knew all the stakeholders and was simply the natural guy to get it...
So, what went wrong?
HR motherf**kers!
I swear that once HR managers get involved the whole process becomes a drama of their self importance.
In the old days, a boss could/would have the balls to make a decision and hire the person he knew was right for the job.
Now, an outsider must dominate the whole process.
Makes me just want to be self employed from now on. :x
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Take what you can from it. Good interviewers know bad interviewees, and that that doesnt always reflect on in job performance. They should take your CV, record and references into balance with it. I'm also terrible in interview, I've done 4, 3 of which were 8 years ago.
Make note of what didnt go well and change plan for next time. Thats what I did with interview 4, recently, which went badly (very badly as far as I'm concerned, I brainfarted on questions I should have just knocked out of the field). I also prepared for the wrong sort of interview, so a lesson for me was check what to expect beforehand; what sort of interview.
Past that its as much a numbers game as anything. If 10% of applications go to interview and youre chances of passing are 10%, do the maths on the applications you have to send out (hypothetical numbers, I dont think things are that grim, but that depends on job/field/background etc).
I have a couple of reasonable ideas of what I'd like to do (the interview I believe I've flunked was for something that was WAY top of my list, after that, dont know), but bear in mind its all a journey. You should look at any application as something that can lead to something else, not something that youre going to be stuck with. Any change can tell you something more about what it is youre actually after, even if that exact change isnt the one you want, and better than than just going through the same motions again and again (done that too, resigned to start production).
Also, dont take any of it personally. Try, learn, try, learn. You never know where that might lead you.
Edit: I realise this contradicts my avatar, but there is only try. The only possible way to give yourself no chance whatsoever at anything is to not try.
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haha cheers!
I have thought about going back to studying, but the cost is insane now. Even thought about just quitting and not having a job for a while, but that's a damn fast way to use my savings for no good reason.
I was interviewed by my boss and another guy who i wouldn't say I get on with that well, who is the supervisor at our other site. I've known him since I started working here and never felt like we've got on. I was told I did badly in the interview, but my boss knows I'm more competent than I came across. Kind of frustrating, but the main problem I have is just feeling like I'm wasting my time.
In my old job, I'd do autocad drawings of mpeg compression systems, edit suites etc. create a cabling guide for a wireman to build it. Factory test it. Ship it to site... (India, Turkey, Serbia) and build it on site, and test it again. I'd be talking with customers, manufacturers, whoever...
Here all do, is the same boring checks, day in, day out. I get spoken down to by people who have the same job i used to have. I'm just not feeling challenged, or like I'm having a good time. I don't feel like I care. I feel like I've forgotten all the stuff I used to know because I've been doing mundane stuff for so long.
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Sorry to hear that but Mark is, as always, right. And Dave is also right about HR people- the question is, who employs them and why? They are the enemy of all logical decisions.
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I agree about HR and what Mark says is correct too. HR wasn't involved this time at least.
I think I'll spend to weeks between now and when my boss comes back from holiday to look at my options and decide what I want to do. After that I'll get some more detailed feedback from the interview which will at least help if I decide to move on.
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well i had my first interview in a long time today too. i have worked for the company over a year now after starting as an agency worked, but being strung along with temporary contracts as soon as the government changed the rules about agency worker pay.
i know i interviewed well, i know i have proven myself multiple times over - but part of me still expects them to go a different route for some BS reason. but at this point i know i have done everything i can
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at least you have a job, it's not like you were sacked for failing! I don't have a job and don't think I'll get one soon so consider yourself lucky
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oh I do! don't get me wrong, I know I'm very lucky. That's why I wouldn't chuck the towel in without having somewhere to go.
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Anyone here even gone through a career change or faced a similar situation?
Not really, but I once turned up an hour late for an interview because I made a last-minute decision to go and buy a ticket to see UFO and in the meantime something went disastrously wrong on the Tube.
They let me hang around until the end of the day and go ahead with the interview, but it was very obvious I'd already blown it....
The UFO gig was good, though! :D
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Anyone here even gone through a career change or faced a similar situation?
Not really, but I once turned up an hour late for an interview because I made a last-minute decision to go and buy a ticket to see UFO and in the meantime something went disastrously wrong on the Tube.
They let me hang around until the end of the day and go ahead with the interview, but it was very obvious I'd already blown it....
The UFO gig was good, though! :D
PQ - you are so rock and roll!
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PQ - you are so rock and roll!
Oh yes.
Who else would put UFO ahead of Price Waterhouse, eh? :wink: :lol:
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Never know, you might have done alright. I thought my interview for my current job was awful but i somehow still got offered it!
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You've probably done better than you thought. I'm about to apply for a job in the Gear/Music Equipment Industry and I feel VERY intimidated.
Paddy
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You've probably done better than you thought. I'm about to apply for a job in the Gear/Music Equipment Industry and I feel VERY intimidated.
Paddy
Nah I know did I really bad. After the interview my boss (one of the two guys interviewing me) took me to one side and said that although he knows I'm a good engineer, I came across really badly in the interview. He said he'd give me more detailed feedback when he comes back from holiday in 2 weeks.
what kind of job are you going for?
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Ah that's not good then :s I went for an interview with the Police a few weeks back and new that I'd failed as I walked into the room!
It's a training role btw.
Paddy
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Sounds interesting. Hope you do well.
Last night I was looking at electrical engineering courses and music related courses at uni's and such. Not sure I could hack going back to school though. I found a few jobs I might try and get some info about but they are in the same area of work I'm in now.
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Sounds interesting. Hope you do well.
Last night I was looking at electrical engineering courses and music related courses at uni's and such. Not sure I could hack going back to school though. I found a few jobs I might try and get some info about but they are in the same area of work I'm in now.
Which company do you work for mate?
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ATOS, formerly known as Siemens, formerly known as BBC Tech.
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Aha ... I work for the BBC too. I deal with ATOS / Siemens etc. on a weekly basis for things. Usually INETOPs.
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Internet Ops? IS that the Maidenhead lot or the guys in TVC?
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That's the mob from Maidenhead. I work for OTG (Online Technology Group).
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Come on, you will find another good job. Do not lose your confidence!
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At the moment I'm sitting on interview panels quite frequently. Let me start with saying two things: at least where I work, the people on the panels are normal "human beings" who understand a lot of things that is going on with candidates, e.g. family, delays, problems etc. Second, a lot of red tape applies in bigger companies and that can sometimes effect how the decision-making process goes, e.g. you must ask the same questions to every candidate, even if that is maybe not really logical, everything needs to be accountable and absolutely comparable, you may not make any assumptions, etc.
In general, in my experience after shortlisting the CV/qualifications aren't that important anymore - otherwise people wouldn't have been shortlisted for an interview. In other words, everybody shortlisted has the required qualifications for the job and is theoretically employable.
Favouritism probably exists, but the more the process is accountable and overlooked by HR departments the less it is likely to actually happen. I would argue that, unlike the views people have taken in this thread, usually HR involvement helps to keep everything fair. Of course you do hear stories from other places etc., and I won't be so naive to suggest that everything is always perfectly fine.
The interview is really important and is best approached with a natural attitude. If you try to bendover twice to make something work that you're not, it will be much harder to be convincing.