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WadRUG'naDoo
Joined: 15 Jun 2010
Location: Shanghai
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 Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:05 am Post subject: |
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Really? You don't say. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Come on... |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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Man, its like none of you have ever had a job interview before. Questions like these (along the same lines of: What was the most challenging thing about your last job?, What is the worst thing someone would say about you? Tell me about a problem you overcame etc are designed to see whether you can be reflective, honest, but at the same time diplomatic and level-headed.
Honestly, anyone one of those people in this thread who genuinely think this is a stupid question and get indignant about the idea of answering it, I wouldn't hire you (and I'm not talking just in context of Korean ESL teaching. For any job). It is a very effective method for discovering personality issues. |
You're joking right? Anyone with half a brain would be able to deal with this question by saying 'let me think' and then saying something like 'the weather in summer or the traffic' that wouldn't offend anyone but that's not the point. Secretly they'd be thinking 'what a stupid question and what the hell has this got to do with teaching English?' Also they'd probably be thinking, as I mentioned before that they probably shouldn't tell the truth about hating Kimchi even though there's no reason why a dislike of fermented cabbage leaf should have a detrimental effect on their ability to work in the Korean public school system.
In short, the vast majority of people would be able to produce a bog standard answer that would tell the interviewer nothing, while their impression of their potential employers would immediately plummet. That's why it's a stupid question. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 2:17 pm Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| edwardcatflap wrote: |
| Aha, the old mistranslation excuse. Well who knows but the main point is if the candidate had said that he didn't like Korean food or K pop, for example the chances are that would have counted against him. For a teaching job. You apologists will try and make out it wouldn't but let's be honest and admit that it probably would. |
Since when am I an apologist?
As for intentionally asking something provocative (and beyond the job description) to see how the applicant responds, I don't know if that's really a defensible interview tactic. |
Yet is is common place and quite effective when you consider what I said before: once applicants reach the interview stage, many employers are far more interested in finding out if that person is sane and will fit into the workplace. You do not measure that by asking about work experience or qualifications as those tend to be established facts once you get called for an interview.
There are limits of course and asking questions that go beyond this limit will defeat the purpose and be ineffective. However well presented behavioral or situational questions are really effective.
Asking a candidate if hates an ethnic group is useless and ineffective.
Asking him or her how he feels about diversity (say if the job is for an employer that has a very diverse workforce) then it is quite useful.
You go for more demanding jobs and you sometimes get numerous interviews for the same position, one of them being completely focused on testing your reactions to situations. Some team-work forcused jobs will host team interviews that last an entire morning where applicants work in a team on certain work-type scenarios (for teaching the closest you get to this is typically the demo lesson). |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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| oh and julius, considering that list of yours....I am astounded you are still in a place you clearly hate so much about! Christ that list was a mile long. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Asking him or her how he feels about diversity (say if the job is for an employer that has a very diverse workforce) then it is quite useful. |
Yes because if he says he's against it, then you'll know he's a racist and you shouldn't employ him  |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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| edwardcatflap wrote: |
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| Asking him or her how he feels about diversity (say if the job is for an employer that has a very diverse workforce) then it is quite useful. |
Yes because if he says he's against it, then you'll know he's a racist and you shouldn't employ him |
You clearly do not get this or are being obtuse about it on purpose....
Seriously it is not that complicated. No sane person will say they are a racist (well you would be surprised) but some answers will reveal somethings about how a person deals with something like diversity...but oh wait, its not according to what you think is good in an interview so it just has to be stupid. 
However, you want to feel all offended if such questions pop up, or secretly think less of an employer is asked such questions, thats your call. |
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transmogrifier
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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| edwardcatflap wrote: |
| Quote: |
Man, its like none of you have ever had a job interview before. Questions like these (along the same lines of: What was the most challenging thing about your last job?, What is the worst thing someone would say about you? Tell me about a problem you overcame etc are designed to see whether you can be reflective, honest, but at the same time diplomatic and level-headed.
Honestly, anyone one of those people in this thread who genuinely think this is a stupid question and get indignant about the idea of answering it, I wouldn't hire you (and I'm not talking just in context of Korean ESL teaching. For any job). It is a very effective method for discovering personality issues. |
You're joking right? Anyone with half a brain would be able to deal with this question by saying 'let me think' and then saying something like 'the weather in summer or the traffic' that wouldn't offend anyone but that's not the point. |
Well, judging from some of the suggested answers here, obviously not.
Again, it is a very simple way of testing common sense and decision making. And you're right - it might turn off some of the applicants. Good thing is, these applicants are probably not the ones I'd want to hire anyway.
An interview is never just about being able to do the job. If it were, you'd get everyone to do a demonstration lesson and that's it. It is also about sussing out the personality and work ethic of the person. And questions like this help to do that.
Anyone who got affended or angry with that type of question is not anyone I want to work with, because they are humorless dolts. |
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transmogrifier
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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| edwardcatflap wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Asking him or her how he feels about diversity (say if the job is for an employer that has a very diverse workforce) then it is quite useful. |
Yes because if he says he's against it, then you'll know he's a racist and you shouldn't employ him |
I'll tell you this for free - you sound like someone I'd never consider hiring. I certainly hope you can hide your insufferable smugness in interviews. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| edwardcatflap wrote: |
| Aha, the old mistranslation excuse. Well who knows but the main point is if the candidate had said that he didn't like Korean food or K pop, for example the chances are that would have counted against him. For a teaching job. You apologists will try and make out it wouldn't but let's be honest and admit that it probably would. |
Since when am I an apologist?
As for intentionally asking something provocative (and beyond the job description) to see how the applicant responds, I don't know if that's really a defensible interview tactic. |
Yet is is common place and quite effective when you consider what I said before: once applicants reach the interview stage, many employers are far more interested in finding out if that person is sane and will fit into the workplace. You do not measure that by asking about work experience or qualifications as those tend to be established facts once you get called for an interview.
There are limits of course and asking questions that go beyond this limit will defeat the purpose and be ineffective. However well presented behavioral or situational questions are really effective.
Asking a candidate if hates an ethnic group is useless and ineffective.
Asking him or her how he feels about diversity (say if the job is for an employer that has a very diverse workforce) then it is quite useful.
You go for more demanding jobs and you sometimes get numerous interviews for the same position, one of them being completely focused on testing your reactions to situations. Some team-work forcused jobs will host team interviews that last an entire morning where applicants work in a team on certain work-type scenarios (for teaching the closest you get to this is typically the demo lesson). |
Again, maybe it's semantics, but my objection is really to the word "hate", which could easily be something of a translation problem. You could accomplish the same thing by asking about what is challenging about living in Korea or something to that effect. Asking someone what they hate about Korea goes beyond reasonable limits and isn't going to be particularly effective, IMO. What they're trying to figure out is legitimate, but the way in which they're trying to figure it out is not. As I said, however, this may not be entirely within their control due to language difficulties. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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I'll tell you this for free - you sound like someone I'd never consider hiring. I certainly hope you can hide your insufferable smugness in interviews. |
I don't agree with 'diversity', I hate most of Korean popular culture and my main weak point is laziness but I've had enough intelligence over the years to have been able to conceal these dark thoughts and get most of the jobs I've wanted thanks |
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12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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I would have answered with a simple question: Why do you assume I hate something about Korea?
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transmogrifier
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 5:03 pm Post subject: |
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| edwardcatflap wrote: |
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I'll tell you this for free - you sound like someone I'd never consider hiring. I certainly hope you can hide your insufferable smugness in interviews. |
I don't agree with 'diversity', I hate most of Korean popular culture and my main weak point is laziness but I've had enough intelligence over the years to have been able to conceal these dark thoughts and get most of the jobs I've wanted thanks |
Lucky we don't know who everyone is here in real life.  . Anyway, congrats. There's plenty I believe that I would never be stupid enough to mention in an interview, much like there is a lot that I would never mention in front of my students either.
Many people will be able to cover their true opinions in the fae of this type of question, and good for them - they are playing the game. But it is those who CAN'T, well.....you don't want them working for you. |
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Los Angeloser
Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 4:01 am Post subject: |
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| I hate that Pepsi lovers can get cola cheaper than Coke lovers. I also hate that McDonalds Korea doesn't have a "well being"(light menu), you know, a salad etc...option. Korea fat! |
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Los Angeloser
Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 4:02 am Post subject: |
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| 12ax7 wrote: |
I would have answered with a simple question: Why do you assume I hate something about Korea?
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I wouldn't have hired you, for you answered a question with a question. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 4:10 am Post subject: |
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| Chickenpie wrote: |
| Where did you get that list from? |
Its a collection of stuff I wrote on the "Things you'll never get used to" thread.  |
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