Just had a strange interview...anybody ever encountered this?

abckidsmom

abckidsmom

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I went for a panel interview for a position, had a standard preplanned interview with a worksheet for the panel to write my responses to 5 specific questions and then they wrote bullet points of what we discussed in the free discussion part of the interview where I asked my questions and there was more discussion related to the questions, etc. Straightforward.

Then they took my picture and measured for uniforms.

After that was the weird part: with one guy, I sat down and did the standard interview again. Same questions, same note taking. I changed some of the things, but kept most of the same answers with even the same phrasing, in case they were checking to see how consistent I was.

Odd.

Ever hear of something like this?
 
What was the second interviewers Title? Sometimes places narrow it down to who they want and do a quick second interview with a Chief, owner or the person your getting assigned too. who knows
 
It's a small department...the entire admin staff is comprised of only 4 people. The last guy was a lower grade officer- a Lt, but functionally more like a Batallion Chief.

The panel was the Acting Chief, an HR rep, and a rep from the County governing body.

It felt like they were sniffing around for people who can't BS the same BS in an unexpected situation. Looking for consistency?
 
abckidsmom said:
It's a small department...the entire admin staff is comprised of only 4 people. The last guy was a lower grade officer- a Lt, but functionally more like a Batallion Chief.

The panel was the Acting Chief, an HR rep, and a rep from the County governing body.

It felt like they were sniffing around for people who can't BS the same BS in an unexpected situation. Looking for consistency?
Click to expand...

Yeah..looking for consistency maybe. Was it the same EXACT scenario?
 
rwik123 said:
Yeah..looking for consistency maybe. Was it the same EXACT scenario?
Click to expand...

The second one was much more casual, only one guy, and I knew him personally, so it was more relaxed and chatty...but the exact same questions and he took (sparse) notes.
 
I think your gut feeling is right. haha the interview processes are always changing
 
Did they give you any intravenous drugs?

Just kidding. Yeah, they were trying to shake your story.
 
Consider yourself Practice

My take on this is the new guy needed more exposure to the type of 1 on 1 interviews you had. Unless it felt like a "Good Cop/Bad Cop" scenario, odds are it was just a little more time in the trenches for the FNG.

I'd even gamble he was assigned to do a personal interview, hadn't taken the time to figure one out himself and just did what he had already seen.
 
firetender said:
My take on this is the new guy needed more exposure to the type of 1 on 1 interviews you had. Unless it felt like a "Good Cop/Bad Cop" scenario, odds are it was just a little more time in the trenches for the FNG.

I'd even gamble he was assigned to do a personal interview, hadn't taken the time to figure one out himself and just did what he had already seen.
Click to expand...

No, not this at all. I guess it could have been the good cop/bad cop thing. It was strange.
 
good luck on the job!

Maybe you can ask them about the interview style after you get an offer!
 
Was the second interviewer present at the first? I've been to a few places where I was interviewed by everyone in the chain of command. Sometimes done as a panel, sometimes done individually (due to their own scheduling constraints). They normally posed roughly the same questions as well (as they had only a small pool of questions approved by HR to ask candidates).
 
It's easy

to mistake a screw up for clever deviousness. Maybe the hidden recorder failed the first time?B)
 
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