How To Mess Up An Interview
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I was surprised this article was posted. Maybe this site, at an email everyday with updates, has too many updates - this one was not only worthless, it is dangerous.
I interview a lot of people, for my organization and client organziations, and if somebody followed Sean's advice I would not hire them. The main thing in an interview is be professional, skilled, and honest. I think somebody who followed his philosophy would be rooted out pretty quickly.
David
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There's no pleasing everybody....
I enjoyed the article...whether I agree or disagree doesn't really matter. Everyone has their own opinion.
It was fun to read. Thanks Sean.
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You know... it's absolutely incredible to me. The only thing any of you heard was blahblahblah--curse in an interview--blahblahblah...
You know what though, you're right. Don't follow my advice. Because I didn't tell you to make up your own mind and judge for yourself if cursing is appropriate, I flat-out told you to just curse in any interview you go into. Yes, that's exactly what I said. And all of you guys who caught me red-handed deserve kudos for exposing me for the inexperienced, unprofessional fraud I really am. I mean, who do I really think I am advising people to judge the situation they're in and make up their own minds. I must be really off my rocker.
I thought all I did was give some guidelines for how to do it if you wanted to, and come to find out what I was actually doing was advising everyone to curse no matter what. Man, I really missed the boat on that one. I guess I'd better go back and learn English because when I read the piece it never says just do it. I clearly need classes on grammar and vocabulary.
See, with all of you people saying that you do lots of interviews and would never curse whether interviewing or being interviewed, someone following the advice I thought I gave wouldn't curse in your interview because what I thought I said was not to curse if your interviewer doesn't. What I evidently said was to curse all you like anyway... again, so sorry, have to go back and study my English better... I mean, more gooder.
As for cursing being ignorant and unprofessional... well, I happen to know for a fact that Ken Henderson is a huge South Park fan. I'm pretty sure that means he's cursed and probably enjoys hearing a good curse now and then. So which one of you guys is going to write him and tell him he's ignorant and unprofessional? Come on, step up... I was also talking to a group of MVPs at PASS a couple weeks ago and of the 4 of them, I distinctly remember hearing all of them curse at one point or another. I guess the MVPs are ignorant and unprofessional as well. Which one of you is going to write them and tell them so?
I really don't think cursing makes you unprofessional. I think being a DBA for 10+ yrs and not being able to tell me the difference between char and varchar is unprofessional. I think not knowing the simplest basics about DBs is unprofessional. I think sabotaging a server when you lose your job is unprofessional. I can see it now... I take a query down from 20mins to less than a second and my VP refuses to push it into production because I said the s-word while getting it worked out, and only professional DBAs can push code into his production environment.
Seriously guys... don't you think it's a little narrow-minded to simply say that cursing is unprofessional? There are many factors that go into a word like that, and to rank someone based solely off of that is ridiculous.
Sean McCown
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Oh my god! oops, hope I didn't cause any offense.
I enjoyed the article and laughed even more at some of the responses.
I think the whole point is to team fit, outside of skills of course. Make sure you fit the team and they fit you. If the interviewer is swearing alot and you don't like it, then you probably won't enjoy working there. If the interviewer is expresing themselves with "god bless" etc, then maybe you can slip in a "my prayers are with you"
Regarding professionalism, I think some of you don't have much client facing experience. If a client swears like a trooper, don't stand there stiff as a "profesional" board in your armani suit. Enjoy a relaxed conversation with them, and you may gain their respect. This doesn't mean be someone your not.
Summary: Lighten up a bit a learn to read the people you are dealing with, whether they be clients or the person interviewing you.
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well said, TryHard!!
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[quoting Everardo]
Incidentally, your last sentence:
"don't use dang, or shucks, or monkeytrucker, or the like… it's really gay. Curse and be proud..."
may offend more susceptible readers with a different sexual orientation.
[done quoting Everardo]
You don't have to be a homosexual to find that last sentence offensive!
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HAAAAAAAAAA.
Well...Let me tell ya. If I walk into an interview and the PM or the group I'd be working with directly are holy rollers,......Peace, I'm out. I grew up in a near cult.....yeah...we all know the name of the religion. Anyways, somehow, I made it out alive, and nothing scares me more than the religious folk. I also feel yer right. Don't start swearing up a storm. I tend to keep it one below the interviewer, and believe it or not, if you have an interviewer that swears comfortably, they'll have a modicum of ease with you. Doesn't mean you get the job, but it doesn't necessarily mean you won't. All groups are different.
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Wow. This is a pretty bad article.
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I pretty much think the topic of cursing was way overdone, somewhat offensive and wrong. Most real life client situations involve groups (unlike the interview we just had described). Just because one profane person at a client's office curses doesn't mean others in the group do not resent it.
A savvy interviewer will test whether a candidate keeps their tongue civil even in the face of a powerful person setting a "bad" example ... or whether their "true self" starts gushing out. Personally, once I see that kind of "true self", I wonder what my clients are in for.
Who in their right mind is gonna think "I can't hire this guy, I said the s-word and he didn't reciprocate!" To suggest that such a person is not a "team player" is ludicrous. There are plenty of other ways to demonstrate being a team player during the interview than to join the interviewer in his imitation of John Carlin.
Other than that, I guess the article was decent.
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Sean, hopefully this won't get me shot, but i thought it was a good article from someone with an obvious sense of humour. Some people obviously just didn't read it properly and just picked up on the bits they didn't like rather than gettin the overall view of the article. I certainly didn't just read blahblahblah....must swear in interview....blahblahblah.
I've interviewed a variety of people in the past and turned away very technical people because they just wouldn't have been a good fit in the organisation, one guy actually told me he wasn't a good team player! An likewise, when being interviewed you just need to read the situation. If you can't do that how are you going to deal with external clients etc. If you have to work with people for probably more hours a day than you see your family you need to know you'll get on with them.
Got any jobs going Sean?
Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional -
it may be early and it maybe a locale thing,but what was the curse beginning ch---?
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I do not know about other countries, but in SA it is forbidden to ask certain questions in an interview. Like are you gay?
So a lot of interviewers are using body language and other tricks to determine what type of person they are interviewing. The interviewer could curse, offer a drink(alcoholic), smoke etc. If he does not like cursing, drinking, smoking etc., Sean will not last 5 minutes.
5ilverFox
Consulting DBA / Developer
South Africa -
like I'm going to take advice on what constitutes 'offensive' from someone who uses the word 'gay' as a derogatory term.
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You're an evil man. I like it. Thanks for sharing the secret.
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English is not my first language, so maybe I am not phrasing myself correctly, but it is not about being offensive. Asking questions about certain topics is being seen as being discriminating.
5ilverFox
Consulting DBA / Developer
South Africa
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