Yup.
But in the field of work I did, I had multiple advantages.
First was the high turnover rate. Most nursing facilities and home health companies have trouble keeping staff. So, chances are high that if you apply, you’re getting hired unless you’re absolutely horrible.
Second, I had experience out the wazoo by the point where I realized the above. Which meant not only did I have a good work history, it was also a history of sticking at a given employer, so I knew I could almost guarantee being hired even if there were applications stacked deep.
Third, I was visibly strong. Men were much rarer in my area as nurse’s assistants back then, so we tended to get snapped up fast for what is a physically demanding job. Since I’m a big ol’ fella that looks like he can throw people around easily, I could have gotten hired most places even if I had a shitty work record and been an asshole to whoever was doing the hiring.
Luckily, I’m not that kind of asshole (and was less of one in the ways I am an asshole back then), and I am instead charming as fuck in person. Which was my other advantage. It doesn’t show online, but if someone isn’t biased against sasquatches, they tend to respond well to me.
So, after the main company I worked for folded due to the administrator embezzling it into the ground, the first interview I had when they asked that I was able to be honest and say “look, this is what I do. I take care of people. I want to get paid for doing it, and word is that you pay the best in the area. Hire me at whatever your pay cap is, and I’ll be your best NA. Might take a few weeks before you believe that, but you will.”
On screen, that looks cocky and snide. But in person, it got a smile and an immediate hire. At the pay cap, and a promise of full time hours as long as I wanted them. Worked there until my body finally gave out.
I am instead charming as fuck in person. Which was my other advantage. It doesn’t show online
Honestly? I totally saw it
Well, thanks :)
Funny, my last job as the Buyer for a chain of bike shops was much the same straight talk. I told the owner, “Look, I’ve already worked in a high end shop, and I have owned my own business twice. I spend all money like it is my own regardless of the amount. If I make a purchase, regardless of the amount of money involved, I’m mentally spending my own money and thinking in terms of paying back your loan. I have real independent ethics and self awareness. I hold myself to the standard of employees I wish I had been able to find for my own business. I expect freedom, flexibility, respect, and autonomy, but I offer a conservatively consistent and reliable person that will always defer to you when I am unsure about an investment or a sum of money I cannot backup with my own finances.”
I find that people who fail to understand that kind of directness, and honesty without all of the insane courtship rituals that now underpin the hiring process are terrible to work for in the first place. I’d rather die than do the debasing mockery of a HR department or some circlejerk clown show of an interview like whores in a brothel. These things are valueless. Look at any large company and you’ll find a range of skills and aptitudes that do not reflect some great filter of value begotten by HR inventing a reason for its own existence as a malignant tumor growth out of the role of an account managing payroll in a back office.
When I was asked why in the hell I worked for such garbage pay, I told people straight, I can’t run a business with fluctuating income and keep up with paying child services payments. I need rock solid consistency to rebuild my life from the ashes they create for the profit of their agents that are paid on commission. They couldn’t take a bike from me like how they wrecked my commercial driver’s license and business.
I always kinda implied the obvious that I work to survive. Anyone that feels the need to say otherwise would be a prime reason I would walk away. Only a useless clown like a malignant HR tumor would ever question a thing like this. As a business owner twice – of course my employees work for their own survival. And of fucking course I have an ethical and moral responsibility implied by that relationship. If I feel the need to say otherwise, I’m a worthless piece of shit you should never work for and anyone that says such a thing while working for another person is the responsibility of that higher up and absolutely reflective of their moral and ethical depravity. No one should ever put up with such a malignant cancer of a person at any level. They are blatantly telling you “This is a terrible place to work because it produced or failed to filter out me.”
Damn, now I wish I had a bike business so I could hire you.
No, because I need that job to get money but saying so would most likely prevent me from getting that job and, by extension, money.
I see you’ve played knifey-spooney before
Aww, 20 dollars. I wanted a peanut!
Wait! 20 dollars can buy you lots of peanuts
Explain how?
The Redditification of Lemmy lol
No
Kinda, but it was for a temp job doing physical labor.
If we were allowed to be honest that’s what everyone would say. But honesty doesn’t pay. Lying does. Spinning a yarn of bullshit about opportunity and gratitude yields a better result sadly.
Yes, when discussing pay. I said flat out “I need to be making X/week, is that realistic here?” Got that job, working it now. I don’t have time to mess around.
This is a sales job, though.
Always, every time.
“Why do you want to work here?”“Because you have an opening, and the pay looks commensurate for the responsibilities. So far, the role looks like a good mutual fit. But I’m going to need more details to ensure we’re good for each other.”
I have the ability to do the job you require and am willing to do it in the listed times for the price stated. Let’s get this going.
I bloody hate having to be all “yeah im really passionate about mopping floors at 6am? There’s nothing I love more than getting yelled at by customers.”
It frustrates me because having to suck them off like that is the only technique that works because why don’t interviewers see straight through it? Their entire purpose at that point is to hire the best guy for the job, and consistently they just fall for bullshit.
They’re not asking “why do you want a job” they’re asking “why do you want this job”.
As in, out of all the jobs that will pay you money, why do you want this one in particular?
There are other points during an interview process to lay out your pay expectations.
“Well I want this particular job because you called me back for an interview and the others didn’t”
“Why did you apply here and not every other company in the world?”
“Because I am capable of doing the work and can commute to the work location in a manageable amount of time.”
“Sorry, you must not have heard me; you called me back for an interview and the others didn’t.”
I mean, sure, if you don’t want to try any other answer to help convince them to hire you out of all the other applicants.
“I want this job because employmesayswhat”
“I can eat a standard pack of instant noodles in less than 30 seconds”
Hired!
Cooked or uncooked? Either way, you seem like a good fit for the team.
Baked dry and then snorted through my tear ducts.
Thanks boss, I look forward to designing 2 stage rockets with the rest of my equally qualified coworkers!
I’ve been very pleased with your performance since joining the family 30 seconds ago. How would you feel about joining our management training program? Double the work for 10% more pay. I’m so proud. Can I call you son?
I failed out of school in kindergarten but I know double and 10% mean numbers going up so I’ll say yes. And since you’re so nice about it I’ll even do half the work for 10% more because I’ve seen those numbers on cartons of cream and I know the cream rises to the crop or something, which is good.
It’s about how you say it though.
If you can manage to not be weird about it, you can turn the concept into corpospeak ans do just fine.
Paraphrasing, because it’s partially going to depend on the interviewer. “Your company has the market position to offer a pay scale that matches my quality as an employee” can end up nailing an interview.
Saying “I don’t care where I work as long as I get paid”, less so.
I would never want to work at a place where I have to talk like this unironically. It’s ridiculous.
If you are competent, you show it directly. No need to hide behind bullshit buzzwords.
Well, at least that’s my reverse filter for companies.
My current team leader interviewed me in a band shirt and we deep dived into realistic brainstorming for how I would approach real problems and we instantly vibed.
I immediately knew that’s a good place.
As in, out of all the jobs that will pay you money, why do you want this one in particular?
“Because you’re the only company out of 300 that emailed me back”
“I’m looking for a role where I can make good use of the skills I bring to the table” (because implicitly, the 299 places that didn’t email back don’t have a role where you can fit in and be useful (even if that’s only true in the sense that they didn’t hire you so therefore you can’t contribute there))
Tell them “I need this job because working 40 hours a week at the sperm bank is very exhausting”
Let’s reverse roles for a second. You’re the employer. What reasons would there be, for you to advertise an opening? Could your primary motivation possibly be paying people money? (Rhetorical question) Considering you already have a team, what kind of person do you want to fill the position? What profile should they have? And how would their motivation reflect on their expected performance?
P.S. I’m not saying, not to talk about money, but there’s a time for talking about that vs. finding out, whether you’re a fit. And answering a question about your main motivation on why you want to be part of their team with money, doesn’t reflect well on you or any expectations of you.
I did, while in high school and well before I realized I had ADHD and probably autism too, given the familiar behaviors in my diagnosed kids. That’s relevant because I had to work hard at learning social norms and conventions for stuff like interviews. Wal-mart offered me the job anyway, but I missed out on it because I missed the call and kept forgetting to check my voicemail.
As long as I can remember, I’ve had a strong passion for eating food.
I’ve had a few candidates openly say that they took some time off and now their savings for that time period were used up and they needed to find a job to begin paying bills from income again. I enjoy such comments because it leads to me asking how they’ve spent their time away, what brought them to the realization that they wanted a dedicated time for themselves and how the last job before this time off went for them. Lots of opportunity to learn about the human in front of me.
And then you don’t hire them because they have a 2 year gap in their resume and they were honest about spending that time in Thailand with a harem of transsexual prostitutes.
I absolutely joke with the interviewer by saying I like being able to pay my bills. It always gets a laugh, and then I go into fake reason I want to work there.
I’ll use something real that I like about them, but to be clear, it’s still 99.9% money and 0.1% that other thing lol
I’m stealing that.
That’s the kind of stuff I’m, today, mature and emotionally stable enough to force myself to lie about, lol. I’m good at yapping so I think that the one time I was asked that I just BSd my way out of it, what else would I do? Should I tell the company that consumerism is vacuous, stupid and immoral and as such they should also consider doing something prosocial instead of selling Nespresso machines?😅
The comic: https://smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-08-17
That’s pretty funny.
