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Jobseekers testing interviewers

Posted July. 08, 2016 08:44,   

Updated July. 08, 2016 09:29

한국어

If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?’ The interview question by Goldman Sachs reminds us of a Zen riddle. Other tricky interview questions include: "What would you do if you were the one survivor in a plane crash?" (Airbnb) and "Using a satellite photo, tell me how many blades of grass are in a square meter of the turf outside this building." (Microsoft) There is a common interview questions by global companies: ‘What challenges did you have in your life and how did you overcome?’ and ‘Why do we need to hire you?’

Meanwhile, Korean companies, which hire a large number of employees, often ask embarrassing questions to interviewees. Some interviewers ask the interviewee’s father’s annual salary while others interview candidates only for three minutes or only promote their company. Many interview questions often discriminate gender and appearance. An interviewee said, “While they asked male applicants what they majored in, they asked me when I am going to get married.” Other interviewee said, “They talked down to me at the outset and asked me, ‘You look like you’re going to survive in a jungle but aren’t you sensitive?”

What also bothers interviewees is excessive waiting time, not asking for a convenient interview schedule to interviewees, and the unilateral cancellation of an interview schedule. An in-depth study of 1,068 interviewees conducted by the Presidential Committee on Young Generation, the Youth Hope Foundation, and the Youth Policy Partners yesterday showed that 64.8 percent of respondents were unpleasant during interviews. One interviewee passed a stress interview and got an offer via text message, but the company cancelled the offer saying it mistakenly sent the text message. According to the survey, jobseekers found interview techniques most difficult (43.3 percent). So, the Youth Hope Foundation starts an interview consulting from July.

But what is more urgent is not an interview consulting for interviewees but for interviewers. A training that teaches respect and care for jobseekers to interviewers who ask embarrassing questions instead of good questions to recruit best employees. Today, stories about bad interviewers spread widely through social media, leading to a big loss to their company. Interviewers’ overuse of their power could hurt jobseekers’ mind. They may not be able to give a job to them, but at least they shouldn’t let them down.



고미석기자 mskoh119@donga.com