Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

vivatifosi

In answer to your question Gen, I'd go to the Caribbean and build my own island. There's a guy in the Grenadines who wanted his own island but couldn't afford it, so he built his own island in the Grenadines out of trash. It's such a fabulous story and an interesting project... it took him much longer than three weeks, but it wouldn't me as I'd have unlimited money and therefore resources. Plus it is the ultimate in recycling. Tobago Cays are blinking blooming gorgeous too:

http://coolbeachbars.wordpress.com/caribbean/jantis-happy-island-union-island/

I'd like to go to the moon, but the closest I got was a belt from Van Allen (that's a 70s fashionista quote).

ETA, this could be a second choice. Or rent a Ferrari and blat it round all of the F1 circuits that I could blag my way into:

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

The Dakar.

chewmylegoff

Generali wrote: »

I want someone to do Excel, pay invoices and work with me on projects for members of senior management who will ask them where the projects are.

If they can't answer the question, "What would you do for a holiday?" then I have my doubts as to how they will answer a question like, "How is my business case for our $1.5 billion FX facility coming on?" (a question that would need answering urgently and correctly if I was to call in sick at any point this month).

In my rather brusque manner I say that someone who gets the job needs to be house trained already.

The job isn't an amazing one but the next promotion is a pretty good one. Thus we're looking for someone pretty good.

I never ask any questions which aren't about the job during an interview, because we are not allowed to. Our HR department is absolutely insane and has provided strict advice that we shouldn't even engage in small talk before or after the interview. For instance, apparently asking someone how their journey to the interview went creates the risk that you will subconciously discriminate against them if they mention travelling in from an area less salubrious than where you live. I did wonder out loud how HR were managing the risk that before the interview I might read the applicant's CV which 99.9% of the time contains their address, but they didn't seem bothered by that.

That said, I don't think you need to ask outside the box type questions as although it is generally important to find people who you can bear to be in a room with for 10 hours+ a day, you can usually tell from whether or not they are fractious / a bit mad by speaking to them about work.

vivatifosi

Did the NPs have fun? Hope you had a good time.

zagubov

chewmylegoff wrote: »

I never ask any questions which aren't about the job during an interview, because we are not allowed to. Our HR department is absolutely insane and has provided strict advice that we shouldn't even engage in small talk before or after the interview. For instance, apparently asking someone how their journey to the interview went creates the risk that you will subconciously discriminate against them if they mention travelling in from an area less salubrious than where you live. I did wonder out loud how HR were managing the risk that before the interview I might read the applicant's CV which 99.9% of the time contains their address, but they didn't seem bothered by that.

That said, I don't think you need to ask outside the box type questions as although it is generally important to find people who you can bear to be in a room with for 10 hours+ a day, you can usually tell from whether or not they are fractious / a bit mad by speaking to them about work.

I'm reminded of the story of the company that randomly pulls out half of the applications and dumps them in the bin to weed out the unlucky ones.


There's a book called How to Move Mount Fuji" that's full of lateral-thinking type questions companies in the US use. Well worth a read.

chewmylegoff

So...viewed another house tonight. Because there is so little on the market we went to look at a "project" house. I thought it was about 50s build from the outside picture and street view but it was actually more like 20s/30s. There were no internal pictures on rightmove so I was expecting the very worst but actually it wasn't that awful.

There are some slightly concerning cracks but nothing worse than the previous house of the same age I refurbed (when I say I, I mostly mean the other people that did it in return for money of course), a sort of lean to extension falling off the back of the house which needs to go and a calamity of a garage which needs to be knocked down (at the back of the house and access is not wide enough for a modern car so no point rebuilding). Back garden needs digging out and the downstairs needs a wall knocking out so the kitchen / second reception can be merged into one space. Doesn't appear to need major rewiring or new windows though, no sign of damp and most of the floors were level which is a good start.

We added up what we thought it would cost and then doubled it. It's affordable but seems there is little "profit" (not that we would be selling any time soon) as a reward for taking the risk and putting up with the inconvenience. It is only £100k less than a similar house we saw which was in perfect condition.

Need to get a builder in there really, but apparently there is someone coming for a third viewing tomorrow. Will just have to let them get on with it I suppose as if they are prepared to offer anywhere near the asking price then we are not minded to compete (or bother paying a builder to come and have a look). Only been on the market a week or so, so will probably just wait it out and see what happens.

Itismehonest

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

The Dakar.

Bike, quad, motor or truck?

lemonjelly

Generali wrote: »

Here's something for the Nice People to ponder.

I've been interviewing some people and used the boring HR list of questions but chucked in a couple of my own. Most of them were technical questions (e.g. what Excel function would you use to.....) but I put one in to see what people were like:

If you had 3 weeks off work and an unlimited amount of money, what would you do? Time is limited, money is not.

The answers were very boring. So I throw the question open to you mob. What would you do?

I'll let you know my answer tomorrow (my time).

Generali wrote: »

I think some people are taking my question a bit personally which is slightly odd.

My answer, FWIW, would be to fly to the moon. My colleague wanted to fly round the world to visit all her old mates that she rarely, if ever, got to see.

First thing I'd do would be throw a massive party for a multitude of friends and family.

Second thing would be to indulge in excessive book, record and cd shopping.

Third thing would be taking people to all sorts of worldwide places & have massive experiences. Spaceflight (similar to your moon suggestion) would definitel be up there!

Doozergirl

chewmylegoff wrote: »

So...viewed another house tonight. Because there is so little on the market we went to look at a "project" house.

It sounds partially promising, chewy

Clearly, you're better off seeing what the third viewers end up doing, but the final decision on this sort of house might be whether the type of house you describe as being in 'perfect condition' is the same as this house being 'eventually perfect for us'. If it is, then it may not be worth the hassle.

It sounds like there has to be a reasonable profit for you to go through that. I don't know how big the house is but demolition costs relatively little - getting waste taken away is the main expense. If the only structural work is a wall knocking and some relatively heavy landscaping, £100k would be pretty high unless you have lir's taste in amethyst baths

I hope the NPs enjoyed their dinner and company this evening. I've spent most of the evening writing an appeal to DHs third parking ticket in a matter of weeks.:(

vivatifosi

Doozergirl wrote: »

Yes, we're applying there. Did they let you look around?

What fascinating stuff to research! There must be more than just the average amount of information out there about those ancestors.

I spoke to the archivist a while back who helped in terms of telling me where the original school archives are kept and giving me a contact to get hold of them. In terms of the school, I didn't go in the building, but I took the family to College Green and Edgar Tower, as that's where the school was when their family attended. In fact our tour went:

Start off at Worcester Station
Walked into town past the Butts, explained how in Tudor times, their ancestral menfolk had mandatory archery there once a week.
Walked down the street where the family's house was (not anymore) and saw the church where they were baptised.
Walked up to the Cathedral where their relatives (living in Worcester at the time) sided with the Parliamentarians. Saw the grave of the former Bishop who was friends with the family.
Went to the Commandery, a building the family visited as part of the Clothier's Guild
Visited several other Tudor buildings nearby to see what the houses were like, including Mac n Jac's for lunch.
Went to the Guildhall, unfortunately the Mayoral portraits start more recently.
Went to the archives at the Hive, where we were allowed to make a special visit to the vaults to see the original charter from Queen Elizabeth that the family were a party to.

There is a lot more info on them than average ancestors, though sadly not straightforward. Most of the stuff written about them on the internet is 100% made up guff and cutting through that has been very hard: made up marriage into wealthy families, made up parents, made up children... It's not impossible to get behind (back to the 1580s you can get their BMD records) but there is so much junk out there.

Still they are very interesting: involved in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, tinkering in local politics, hiding their Recusancy, becoming bigwigs in London, being in on the East Indes early days (1640s) as well as Virginia (1620s). They certainly aren't typical. But equally, they aren't my family. I doubt mine will be as interesting and if they are, I probably won't be able to find out:(.

PasturesNew

zagubov wrote: »

I'm reminded of the story of the company that randomly pulls out half of the applications and dumps them in the bin to weed out the unlucky ones.

Ah, that's what happens to mine!