Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

Malcolm.

nembot wrote: »

One guy got really annoyed, when we gave him the answer and simply would not accept it - unsuprisingly, he wasn't offered a position.

I would have passed the interview, I have excellent soft skills, however I'm taking viagara to fix this.

fc123

nembot wrote: »

To be fair LIR, it wasn't that he got the answer right or wrong, but he argued the point in a way that would not be conducive to a happy work evironment. Gawd blimey, that is corporate - but going forward

It was taxation, just googled and found an easier way to explain.



It's a strange world innit?

Well ....I wouldn't have passed the test...got the VAT issue the wrong way around doh.:o

Malcolm.

fc123 wrote: »

Well ....I wouldn't have passed the test...got the VAT issue the wrong way around doh.:o

It's a test of soft skills rather than being 'right'...

fc123

Malcolm. wrote: »

It's a test of soft skills rather than being 'right'...

Without the viagra joke (:o)...what are 'soft skills'? Am I missing something or do I call them something else?

LydiaJ

Several years and about 3 house moves ago, I used to be friends with someone who worked in HR. She seemed to regard it as self-evident that recruitment should be done solely on the basis of objective scores for various activities, and there should be no subjective element of "whether we feel we will get on with this person" etc. She seemed to think it would be unlawfully discriminatory to do otherwise.

In fact, AIUI, in the UK you can perfectly legally discriminate on any grounds whatsoever, regardless of whether they are relevant to the job, as long as you don't pick one of the big 7 (sex, sexual orientation, race/nationality/ethnic origin, disability, religion/belief, age or gender reassignment) or something that could be considered to be caused by one of those. Thus you can recruit a tall man in preference to a short man, but you cannot recruit a tall man in preference to a short woman. And you absolutely can pick the person with whom everyone gets on well in the pub, provided that none of your applicants were Muslims with objections to alcohol who might be at a disadvantage in a pub.

Malcolm.

fc123 wrote: »

Without the viagra joke (:o)...what are 'soft skills'? Am I missing something or do I call them something else?

Because it's late and someone's already written it, I'll copy and paste.
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Soft skills is a sociological term relating to a person's "EQ" (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that characterize relationships with other people.[1] Soft skills complement hard skills (part of a person's IQ), which are the occupational requirements of a job and many other activities.
A person's soft skill EQ is an important part of their individual contribution to the success of an organization. Particularly those organizations dealing with customers face-to-face are generally more successful if they train their staff to use these skills. Screening or training for personal habits or traits such as dependability and conscientiousness can yield significant return on investment for an organization.[2] For this reason, soft skills are increasingly sought out by employers in addition to standard qualifications.
It has been suggested that in a number of professions soft skills may be more important over the long term than occupational skills. The legal profession is one example where the ability to deal with people effectively and politely, more than their mere occupational skills, can determine the professional success of a lawyer.[3]
URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soft_skills&action=edit&section=1"]edit[/URL Examples of soft skills

• Participate in a team (see team building)
• Lead a team (see leadership)
• Unite a team amidst cultural differences
• Teach others
• Coach others
• Motivate others
• Provide services
• Negotiate
• Decision making
• Problem solving
• Observe forms of etiquette
• Active Listening
• Maintain meaningless conversation (small talk)
• Maintain meaningful conversation (discussion/debate)
• Defuse arguments with timing, instructions and polite, concise language
• Foresee situations
• Establish rapport
• Empathic communication
• Self-awareness
• Proactive Attitude

lostinrates

what mkes ''situations'' so important that its in bold?

Malcolm.

lostinrates wrote: »

what mkes ''situations'' so important that its in bold?

I was wondering the very same thing.

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

what mkes ''situations'' so important that its in bold?

Probably to see if you have an enquiring attitude.....:p

Sorry to hear you have been having a few problems with the purchase, lir. I can't offer any advice, but you'll remember when we bought this place, some people wanted to play mind games. We just reiterated our 'good buyer' status, ad infinitum, and it seemed to work. People need reminding...;)

On the aptitude test thing, I was a borderline 11+ child and vividly remember the day I attended 'third part purgatory' to decide which way I should go. It was nothing like I imagined it would be, having only a short lecture and test, the rest being extremely practical. We all wore numbers and worked in teams of six to construct make believe vehicles from junk, put up a tent, and compete in 'It's a Knockout' style games.

All that was fine, but then they led us to these huge piles of wooden bricks to work individually, following the instruction, 'Build a bridge.' I was flummoxed because, for the first time, I couldn't see what the purpose was behind the test.

I asked the nearest observer guy a question like: 'Are you getting us to do this to find out how creative we are, or do you want to see who still enjoys playing with bricks, rather than Meccano and more technical stuff?' It seemed a reasonable question, but the chap became quite grumpy. 'Just build a bridge!' he said,through gritted teeth.

'OK' I replied, 'I'll do my best, but please note down that I don't play with wooden blocks nowadays!'

It's funny now, but I was pretty upset. I kept thinking 'How do I do this creatively and look bored at the same time to cover myself?' Anyway, I did my best and I was really quite pleased with my effort in the end.

As we were leaving the playground, I overheard one examiner say to another: 'Did you see what number 22 built?' I was 22! To this day I don't know what that comment meant, as it was said in a flat tone, but for the next few weeks I thought that I'd failed in some way. When the result came through, it seemed I'd imagined wrongly, or it simply didn't matter in the greater scheme of things.

Maybe that tale has some tenuous relevance to your current situation. Sometimes it isn't even guessable which is the right path to take, so we just put our heads down and get on with it....Best of luck anyway!:):)

lemonjelly

On the HR thing, it is like the rules about not using ladders until you've had traing (& recieved the token certificate of confirmation) on the correct usage of ladders.

Which leads to a box ticking regime wherein every year they review this training and tick a box to confirm it has been done.

One place I work had this & I got admonished for changing a lightbulb using the 2 step stepladder we have (NB that is the only ladder we have, so any fall is only the equivalent of a step anyway!). They told me off. I then got asked what I'd do next time. Tongue in cheek I said I'd stand on a chair or desk...just to see the mushroom cloud!

I've been asked all sorts of silly stuff at interviews. Who would I go to a fancy dress party as? One interview I went to was split into 2 bits where first all the candidates had to play a massive board game together. I assume to examine team working.

I have to say, having taken part in interviews, although I sit there aware of objective criteria, & being part of a panel, my main focus on recruits is "will you add to & fit in with what we have as a team, or will you have an adverse impact on the team?" If they're not going to fit in, or will be disruptive, or will cause problems then for me it can be a no. That is why the personal chit chat can be beneficial, as it can highlight a persons flexibility (or lack of) & additional skills.

That reminds me, one other tip for wageslave. Don't go for dutch courage before the interview...I remember an applicant arriving. Now in honesty I don't know if he'd just had a quick drink to settle the nerves, kill some time or whether he'd been having several, but on arrival, the overwhelming smell of alcohol meant that all the interview panel were reluctant to recruit him.