"We don't care about your skills, we just want the right personality"

worldsending

Ha! I thought this was a forum where people talked about work seriously. I'll ask on another website.

LilElvis

worldsending wrote: »

Ha! I thought this was a forum where people talked about work seriously. I'll ask on another website.

If you had asked a serious question then the tone of the responses might have been more to your liking.

Tabbytabitha

worldsending wrote: »

Ha! I thought this was a forum where people talked about work seriously. I'll ask on another website.

Shopping around until you find people who agree with you will be little help in the long run.

comeandgo

worldsending wrote: »

Have other people been in interviews where you were skilled, qualified, and experienced for a position but the focus was more about being the "right personality

But your personality is not much of your choice. So why should it be an employment factor? And if it isn't, should companies be allowed to advertise these jobs like this?

I think your personality is very much your choice and a very fundamental part of any employment, if you don’t or can’t fit in you will find it very hard to get any job.

jbond

comeandgo wrote: »

I think your personality is very much your choice and a very fundamental part of any employment, if you don’t or can’t fit in you will find it very hard to get any job.

Attitude can always be worked on and improved, but there's no point being someone you're not, it's much harder work than just being your natural self.
You won't find it 'very hard to get any job', all working environments can be different.

unforeseen

Normally by the time you get to the face to face interview point your technical ability to do the job has already been decided based on your CV etc.

The face to face is to decide whether you will 'fit in'. There may be an element of the role involved such as on of their SMEs being present to ask questions about the role but mainly it's about whether you will fit in.

This is the way NHS Wales works in some areas. Interviews have nothing to do with the job applied for, they are playing buzzword bingo looking for certain responses.

moneyistooshorttomention

unforeseen wrote: »

This is the way NHS Wales works in some areas. Interviews have nothing to do with the job applied for, they are playing buzzword bingo looking for certain responses.

:rotfl::rotfl:as I could probably guess the answer to that one:rotfl::rotfl: being late 20th/early 21st century time period in Britain....:cool:

Spendless

unforeseen wrote: »

This is the way NHS Wales works in some areas. Interviews have nothing to do with the job applied for, they are playing buzzword bingo looking for certain responses.

When I first returned to work after having kids, this is one of the interviews I attended (not NHS but public sector). At the end of the interview I had to ask what the job entailed actually doing as it hadn't been mentioned, just a set of questions with the 'correct' word responses they were looking for. I didn't get the job and decided these type of interviews weren't for me.

Pennywise

elsien wrote: »

Out of interest, what jobs are you applying for where you are finding this happening - smaller family businesses?

No, the opposite. I've always found it easy to get jobs in the smaller/private businesses. It's been the larger/corporate employers I've always struggled with, and they're the ones who were clearly going for personality rather than ability - the ones who asked which footie team I supported, whether I'd join their pub quiz team, etc. It was the smaller/private firms where there was a far greater mix of personalities, some quite eccentric, but in my opinion, the quality of the business service overall was far higher.

demiruss

I disagree that you can pick your personality, but finding the right fit is good for both parties. It's those blanket "must be outgoing" statements in job ads are irritating. I am on the quiet side, but I'm confident talking to people in a professional capacity. I find it lazy that many employers believe extrovert = good communication skills/etiquette; I regularly cringe at the lack of self-awareness some of the louder staff have with patients - especially the non-native patients. And while they might appear to get along better in the workplace, I've been shocked by the phoneyness since working in HR