| Topic Name: |
Second Interview with HR |
| Message Name: |
The Outcome |
| Date Posted: |
04/29/2002 |
| In Reply To: |
I am not an HR rep but it really sounds like they are doing things backwards. I mean, aren't you supposed to see HR first then go to the hiring managers? I guess at this company HR is required to play some role, however strange. Does every company in Germany do it that way? My only advice would be to go in, be confident, professional, not overbearing. A good tactic I learned for interviewing concerns eye contact. You know it is very important to make eye contact with the person you are speaking to, for sincerity's sake. You can look at the bridge of their nose, right between their eyes, and they don't know the difference. It appears to them that you are looking them directly in the eye, and usually they are the first to break the eye contact. Don't do it as if you are staring at them. But maintaining good eye contact imparts sincerity and definitely makes them feel like you are hanging on every word they say. It's worked for me in the past. If they break eye contact first, it's almost like you win a victory. I know some of you will laugh at me, but honestly, try it sometime. It also works well when you are trying to sell someone something. Good luck. |
| Message: |
Thanks for your replies.
After so much interview practice, I went in confident, warm, and full of eye-contact. Found, however, that the HR reps had pasted-on smiles and couldn't care less about my answers to their flimsy questions ("So, how do you like it here?"). They didn't ask a single question about my background or qualifications. The next day at 11, the hiring supervisor called me to say that the international projects they had wanted me for have not come through yet, so they hired an internal candidate to work on domestic projects. So I wasn't even still in the running when I walked in there. Now why did they put me through that HR charade if they already knew who would wind up with job?
Happy ending: although I had other offers, I was so interested in their research topics that I asked if I could do a PhD based in their group. They hired me on for a 3-year doctoral post to develop these international projects, and--ok, I'll be poor for the next 3 years--but I'll get a PhD at the end of it. This is actually better for my career than the job I lost out on would have been. Funny how things work out sometimes . . .
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