a job application asked me to rank if torturing a person was worse than prostitution by Alison Green on February 12, 2018 A reader writes: I’m trying to change fields from copywriting freelancer to something in the admin assistance sphere. It could be that my greenness is showing, but is it typical for applications to ask you to rate atrocities? After submitting a resume and cover letter, I was directed to fill in an online form. The […] Read the full article →
I’m supposed to write 23 mini-essays in 24 hours before an employer will even interview me by Alison Green on February 5, 2018 A reader writes: I am in the early stages of job searching and have a situation that I’m not sure is abnormal or not. I received the following questionnaire to complete after I applied for a director level job in the nonprofit/association industry. The initial request was to complete this within 24 hours. I was […] Read the full article →
why are employers so rude to job candidates? by Alison Green on July 5, 2017 A reader writes: I’ve been job hunting for about 18 months and I can’t handle all of the broken promises. I’ve had people make offers of help and then disappear. I’ve had interview offers rescinded (mostly involving scheduling conflicts until I find that the job has been filled). I’ve been told to follow up and […] Read the full article →
interviewer told me to clear the whole day for a phone call by Alison Green on June 14, 2017 A reader writes: I received a call back for a position that I’ve really been hoping to get. The job has pretty decent pay for what it is, and the location is somewhere I’ve been hoping to go for quite some time. However, the person I spoke with informed me that I wouldn’t be able […] Read the full article →
how to deal with a bad interviewer by Alison Green on June 7, 2017 A reader writes: I recently interviewed for a position that I think I’m under-qualified for. The position is to be a dean of department at a university which requires 7+ years experience in a similar post and a great deal of knowledge about financial markets. I graduated from the top ivy league school in the […] Read the full article →
flaky interviewer is causing child care problems by Alison Green on February 10, 2017 A reader writes: My husband is a stay-at-home dad for our 6-month-old daughter (amazing!) with events experience in a notoriously flaky creative industry. When he’s worked with other companies in the industry (some small and independently run, others pretty big and established, but trying to maintain a scrappy vibe) he’s had lots of rescheduled meetings, […] Read the full article →
company wants references from “coworkers you didn’t get along with” by Alison Green on October 5, 2016 A reader writes: I’m currently interviewing for a new position with a company that works remotely. Over the past two weeks, I’ve had 10+ video calls with every member of the small team, along with a bunch of unpaid work tests that have included everything from client proposals to personality tests. It’s starting to feel […] Read the full article →
employer told me to write 15-20 short essays before they’ll even interview me by Alison Green on August 1, 2016 A reader writes: I applied for a job on a company’s website a few weeks ago. I received an email from HR at 3:30PM on Friday afternoon acknowledging my application and asking me to respond to a set of pre-screening questions. The email asked that I provide my responses within 48 hours. Does this mean […] Read the full article →
my company asks personal, invasive questions about your childhood and adolescence by Alison Green on July 27, 2016 A reader writes: I’ve been working for the past three years at a large global organization. After three interviews, I was brought on board for a one-year trial period, a common situation for junior staff, and I was recommended to go through the formal hiring process at the end of that first year. Thus began […] Read the full article →
was I asked to a fake interview by someone who was lonely or looking for dates? by Alison Green on July 19, 2016 A reader writes: I was contacted on LinkedIn by someone at a very prestigious company, saying they were looking for someone with my skill set. I told him (let’s call him Andy) I was interested, and he set up an interview. But when I went in for the meeting, the other person who was supposed […] Read the full article →