Signs you are interviewing for a fake opening

[Anonymous]

The title says it all. What were some giveaway signs that they were just fulfilling their interview quota/equal opportunity obligation and had already decided who would get the job?

[Anonymous]

When they make fun of you...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When they make fun of you...

Ouch

[Anonymous]

I've been on both sides of this. It is pretty easy to tell in the interview if they're not really interested in you. It will seem almost robotic - they're just going through the motions - and it will end abruptly with a perfunctory, "thanks for coming in."

You are also likely to find out very quickly that you didn't get the job. If they are considering a number of candidates, it takes a while to check references and come to a decision. Obviously that doesn't take very long if they already had chosen the person.

[Anonymous]

I’ve seen it happen, and I don’t believe there wold have been any sign.

Interestingly, I disliked the true candidate SO much. And since it was unspoken between the bosses & myself, when they asked for input on the hire, I said, ‘Larla 2’ meaning the second and ‘fake’ interviewee. She actually would have been better. Bosses said, “really...” because they expected me to go along with their plan.

I ended up working with the real hire, the one they planned all along and boss could tell I didn’t want her to be there. He thought it was personal...until we got a new manager (from outside the company). You know how outside people can see things that inside people have been blind to? She could tell the hire wasn’t a good fit.

So I don’t know what happened with the real hire..if it was a promise made to her; but she really was terrible.

[Anonymous]

^amyways, the fake interviewer would have had zero clue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When they make fun of you...

Ouch

Yes...I went to one interview where they kept hammering my inexperience and even told me to "keep the faith, keep being hungry"
I responded, great, well I wouldn't be here if you didn't think I was worthy of interviewing. Awkward silence. Schleps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been on both sides of this. It is pretty easy to tell in the interview if they're not really interested in you. It will seem almost robotic - they're just going through the motions - and it will end abruptly with a perfunctory, "thanks for coming in."

You are also likely to find out very quickly that you didn't get the job. If they are considering a number of candidates, it takes a while to check references and come to a decision. Obviously that doesn't take very long if they already had chosen the person.

Yep, this. It sucks.

[Anonymous]

I was in a fake interview once. It was scheduled for an hour. It took me maybe 15 minutes to realize it, mostly because I wanted it to be a real job. It was really obvious, but it's hard to explain it - just such an obvious and as someone said above robotic.

It was just the way they asked the questions and wrote down my answers - there was something so perfunctory in it. They were asking the exact same questions, but they didn't respond in a typical way to my answers. There was no tell me more about that or anything. I know they were sticking to a script, but it was more than that.

And, then when i had a chance to ask questions their answers were again just very rote. There was zero sense they were evaluating me as a member of the team, or for fit. I asked one or two short, typical questions just to continue to play along and then they wrapped up with just the thanks for coming in line.

It was weird, and I was a little bummed/mad at wasting the time, but about halfway through I just relaxed and decided to just treat it as a good experience for interviewing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen it happen, and I don’t believe there wold have been any sign.

Interestingly, I disliked the true candidate SO much. And since it was unspoken between the bosses & myself, when they asked for input on the hire, I said, ‘Larla 2’ meaning the second and ‘fake’ interviewee. She actually would have been better. Bosses said, “really...” because they expected me to go along with their plan.

I ended up working with the real hire, the one they planned all along and boss could tell I didn’t want her to be there. He thought it was personal...until we got a new manager (from outside the company). You know how outside people can see things that inside people have been blind to? She could tell the hire wasn’t a good fit.

So I don’t know what happened with the real hire..if it was a promise made to her; but she really was terrible.

You mean you were fully engaged and interested during the Larla 2 interview? That's hard to do when you know it will not go anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen it happen, and I don’t believe there wold have been any sign.

Interestingly, I disliked the true candidate SO much. And since it was unspoken between the bosses & myself, when they asked for input on the hire, I said, ‘Larla 2’ meaning the second and ‘fake’ interviewee. She actually would have been better. Bosses said, “really...” because they expected me to go along with their plan.

I ended up working with the real hire, the one they planned all along and boss could tell I didn’t want her to be there. He thought it was personal...until we got a new manager (from outside the company). You know how outside people can see things that inside people have been blind to? She could tell the hire wasn’t a good fit.

So I don’t know what happened with the real hire..if it was a promise made to her; but she really was terrible.

You mean you were fully engaged and interested during the Larla 2 interview? That's hard to do when you know it will not go anywhere.

You’re right, but I guess in my case they were both internal interviewees. The job description meant looking for someone who was already incredibly knowledgeable about the business. I suppose that changed things. It wasn’t as impersonal.

[Anonymous]

Been there but I am an A-hole and I don't like to cede unnecessary ground so when I was in the situation (for a GS-15 job that I had no business making it to the final round, clue #1) I still tried to make it as hard a possible for them....

As Jim Carey said "So your telling me there's a chance?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been on both sides of this. It is pretty easy to tell in the interview if they're not really interested in you. It will seem almost robotic - they're just going through the motions - and it will end abruptly with a perfunctory, "thanks for coming in."

You are also likely to find out very quickly that you didn't get the job. If they are considering a number of candidates, it takes a while to check references and come to a decision. Obviously that doesn't take very long if they already had chosen the person.

Agree with the first part but not necessarily the second. Just because you hear a “no” right away doesn’t mean the interview was fake. It could just mean that you were such a bad fit/poor interview that they would never consider you. I’ve been doing a lot of hiring and people who are a definitive no hear back almost right away, within a day or two, we don’t like to leave them hanging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The title says it all. What were some giveaway signs that they were just fulfilling their interview quota/equal opportunity obligation and had already decided who would get the job?

IMF, WB, IFC -- usually filled internally but need to "run a process" and "do a posting".

[Anonymous]

I've been on a few interviews where it was clear they were going through the motions. It's sad and insulting. During the interviews, I was very tempted to cut the interview short and say that it was apparent that the position wasn't the right fit, and thanking the interviewer for his/her time. It takes balls to do this, but you can at least tell yourself that you didn't kiss a$$ for no reason.....