<p>Unexpectedly, my D just had to undergo an ENTIRE job interview in a foreign language! The original job posting had stated knowledge of the language was preferred, and she does have some (rusty) knowledge. Since she has no summer job yet, of course she submitted an application. She made it to the first round of the process months ago. In the original interview, when asked about her language skills, she told them she was not fluent. They wanted to know if she had placed out of the language for college. She did place out (which one can do without an oral exam), and so she said yes. She heard nothing for months except that she was on the waiting list. So she assumed she had not gotten the job.</p>
<p>Suddenly, yesterday late afternoon she gets an e-mail with a more detailed description of the internship, with a list of candidate requirements (which now includes fluency), as well as an interview time for this morning. When they started to speak to her, she explained to them what I just told you. They said nothing to put her at ease and kept asking her questions. It was brutal. She did the best she could, which was pretty badly. I suppose other candidates might have less knowledge than she does and it could work out, but I kind of doubt it since it's a common language and she's weaker than others.</p>
<p>They have the right to do what they want, but I think it was unfair to put her in that situation and especially without warning.</p>
<p>Honestly, GFG, it was a great learning experience and she hung in there and gave it her best. Good for her!</p>
<p>Job interviews are all over the place these days and it pays to get experience with handling unexpected questions and unexpected structure of the interview.</p>
<p>Really, really. Good for her. Laugh it off. Who knows what they were looking for? Tell her she did a great job. Seriously she could have just hung up or walked out.</p>
<p>It beats not getting an interview at all. </p>
<p>so A. she passed the first nterview
b. she got a second interview
c. interview questions were unexpected and she did her best
d. they didn’t tell her she didn’t get the job!
e. she has one more interview experience</p>
<p>Surprise! I think this could be a good warning for those who over-estimate their fluency (or pad their resume)…if you say you’ve got a particular skill, the employer may well demand to see it in action. GFC, I’m sure your D did her best in the situation, and I hope it works out for the best.</p>
<p>When D1 was interviewing for IB job, even though her resume said she was an A&S student with very few finance courses, it still didn’t stop some of those interviewer from asking her finance questions. She didn’t pad her resume, but interviewers still did what they wanted to do. She did the best she could and just shrugged it off. She was not apologetic about not knowing everything they asked.</p>
<p>When I interview people I try not to embarrass them. If I were an interviewer in this case, I would have asked one or two questions in the foreign language, once I figured out the candidate’s level, I would have backed away.</p>
<p>The only possible thing I think she could’ve done was responded to the email yesterday saying that she wasn’t fluent, but I’m not even sure that would’ve been a good idea. Part of me suspects that maybe no other candidates were fluent either, as possibly the waiting list could have been all applicants with knowledge but no fluency, and then the company turned to the waiting list and used the interview to differentiate the more skilled speakers. Also, I think they might have known that she was rusty in the language, as she did tell them that she placed out of college classes (and therefore did not take the language). I agree with oldfort that the interviewer could have tried harder to not make it as brutal, but also agree with sax that it is a great learning experience to have!</p>
<p>That was pretty unfair, and also what a great experience! Whenever I have had these types of interviews where the employer is pretty clueless and makes it extremely difficult for me, I know right then that I don’t want to work there.</p>
<p>It sounds pretty grueling, and unfortunately we have to go through a few of these in our lifetime.</p>
<p>I tell my staff to always be gracious when they interview because even if we do not end up hiring someone, he/she could be our best PR (or the worst).</p>
<p>I’d try to be positive and hope that they hadn’t found anyone they liked with better language skills. I’ve interviewed for jobs in a foreign language - it’s pretty nerve racking even when you aren’t rusty. </p>
<p>My son had an interview last week where they actually asked him that dumb question about “If you were a fruit what would you be”. He said he was really tempted to walk out at that point, luckily he did not, it’s a job he could use!</p>
<p>Oh, you have to tell us what fruit he said! I suppose they want a reason too? “Star fruit” might be a good response; it has a positive sound. I guess you should avoid something prickly like a cactus pear, and also kiwi since it looks unappealing (my friend told me it reminds her of a part of the male anatomy, lol.)</p>
<p>“My son had an interview last week where they actually asked him that dumb question about “If you were a fruit what would you be””</p>
<p>You have got to be kidding. Stupid interview questions have gone downhill from something perhaps useful. " if you were a vintage car which one would you be.". Or “if you were a non -human animal, which would you be.”. Those at least let the interviewe show some thought relating their personality to a living creature. “I am like a gazelle because…”.<br>
Comparing oneself to a fruiting body of a plant ? I would have thought long and hard about wanting to enroll there, or having my future publications associated with that institution.</p>
<p>He refused to play the game and said he’d be an orange because he liked orange juice. They asked him back for round two, so I guess he didn’t fail. It’s just a summer job.</p>
<p>I interview all the time and I was curious why people ask the if you were an xyz what would you be. Apparently people ask it to see how people think on their feet, they don’t care about the answer. I just think it’s stupid. Any non traditional interview question would let you see how people think on their feet. And by that, more than tell me your biggest weakness, etc. </p>
<p>Doing an interview in a foreign language when the person stated they weren’t fluent was probably to test how much they did know to test their level. What a misery though.</p>
<p>Well, D wrote the interview thank you notes in the foreign language. She does read and write better than she speaks. So maybe that will help her sorry case, lol! </p>
<p>I think the failure so far of her job search is getting to me, and yesterday was the last straw. She is a smart and poised young lady at a top school, with some really nice work experience for a 19 year old. But at the few interviews she’s gotten, there was always some expected qualification she lacked. Legitimately, yes, she did not possess the particular skill or experience to the degree they were seeking. But seriously, are there that many 19 or 20 years olds out there that have it all? Experience in the exact aspect of business or industry, knowledge of statistical modeling or a specific software program (beyond Excel or Word), fluency in a foreign language, strong leadership experience (varsity athletics for example), GPA above 3.5, etc. etc.? We thought she was doing well to have gotten into HYPS and to have already worked in several professional settings as opposed to the grocery store or ice cream shop!</p>
<p>As a mom, I saw that my D studied her heart out to excel in high school, went to 9-5 jobs in the summers while her high school friends hung at the beach, and is now working really hard at college. It hurts that that is not enough for her to be able to get a summer internship, because I really don’t see how she could have done more. And as I explained in a different thread, her school lets out late in June, so it’s not like she can come home and find a job at the Target or something. Those minimum wage jobs will have already gone to high schoolers and college kids who get home in May.</p>
<p>GFG- hugs. Don’t let the current mania get to you.</p>
<p>Your D is only 19 years old. If she ends up unemployed this summer, that’s a great opportunity to teach herself whichever statistical modeling or software program companies seem to want. She can take an online course to bolster her resume; her life isn’t over at 19 if she isn’t interning at JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs for gods sake!!!</p>
<p>You can’t get agitated over this. Companies (my own included) cut back significantly on summer intern programs since the economic downturn. They are expensive to run, they are a hassle for the line folks who have to get a college kid up to speed in a few short weeks only to have them leave once they get productive, and when we’re cutting back, they are an obvious place to cut. So your D’s experience really reflects the fact that millions of college kids are competing for very few slots.</p>
<p>Your D could volunteer for a non-profit if she doesn’t need the cash from the ice cream shop type of job. She can still find an editing or research job for a professor on campus (those get posted late.) She can still find an RA position for one of the many on-campus summer programs for HS students; she may be able to coach her sport at a summer camp.</p>
<p>I think as long as she’s not sitting at home updating her Facebook page all summer, she’ll be just fine in the job market down the road. But it’s tough out there right now, and companies get to be very choosy about awarding the very few internship spots they have. Why hire a kid who doesn’t know STATA or SPSS or R or Matlab if you’ve got 12 resumes on your desk of equal quality of kids who already do???</p>
<p>When my ds was interviewing for an engineering job after his first employer weny belly up (this was about 2 yrs out of college) more than one company threw math/engineering problems at him , without warning, to calculate. Ugh!</p>
<p>Yup, my son went through that for some banking jobs. No calculator allowed either! On his most recent internship, the interviewer said: “You have 5 minutes. Teach me something!” I can see how this makes sense for a sales job or a position which entails making pitches. They can find out how well-spoken, interesting, and generally engaging the candidate is. But for the sort of position he was going for it did not seem to make much sense.</p>
<p>I used to spring a tricky but simple HP12C finance problem on kids with big-time MBAs when they said they knew how to use one well. Nobody did it. Just liked to see how they did under unexpected pressure.</p>