The person(s) responsible for coming up with the methods in which to conduct interviews at Weebly need to be fired. Why? Complete and utter stupidity. I can only imagine what the HR department consists of… From what I experienced, I’d say a bunch of simpletons fresh out of college with their HR degrees who have now entered the real world armed with the knowledge of scheming up new rules and guidelines on how to conduct a “proper interview”. Well congratulations. You’ve created something so incredibly idiotic, you’re driving people who normally keep to themselves to write scathing reviews. I can’t tell you how infuriated I am with my interview experience. Large companies remind me of big government and the awful bureaucracy that goes along with it. Creating a bunch of new rules, regulations and guidelines because you think its really going to help always has the exact opposite effect. It does not have to be that way! You are allowed to use common sense. Unfortunately, it seems to be the norm at companies like this and I’ve finally decided to write about it. I think it’s a very fair statement to say that the vast majority of people who go to an interview get nervous. Of course when someone is nervous, they’re not themselves. They misspeak, forget important things to say… they don’t portray themselves in the best or most accurate light. However, that in no way means that they are unqualified! I was (am) 100% qualified for the position in every possible way. From my technical skills to direct experience and personal traits, I would have made the perfect fit. I even would have made a great addition as it relates to culture. But due to the absurdity of the interview that was conducted, they never got to understand that or see my true talents. So here’s what you can expect when you interview at the Weebly Scottsdale office: You’re promptly directed into a room where you’re met with 3 drone-like people, also known as completely incompetent and dumbed down fools. For an hour, they read off a bunch of BS questions from a script which they didn’t even write and in no way actually pertain to the position you’re applying for! On top of that, I’d imagine that they don’t even know how to properly evaluate the answers given to the meaningless questions asked. I never once got asked a question related to the position. Yes, I’m serious. Instead, I was asked ridiculous questions like: “how many pennies would it take to fill up this entire table?” Or, taking one of my hobbies, they asked to role play a scenario such as - “You work at Game Stop. I’ve never played a video game before - sell me on one”. Now I understand exactly what they’re trying to do. With the first question, they’re trying to evaluate how you think. How you come to conclusions. In all honesty, wouldn’t it have made more sense to ask me a critically thinking question that actually pertained to the role? Do you honestly believe that critically thinking as it relates to math is the exact same as critically thinking as it relates to a customer service role within a tech environment? The same could be said about the role playing example. Do you really believe that selling a video game to someone is comparable? Its not! How about just cutting to the chase and ask me to role play something like: me talking with a new or current customer and seeing how I can A: solve their issue(s) and B: up-sell them on a new service? You know… doing what the job entails? I’m not a math genius and I’m not a retail salesperson. Using some pseudoscience methodology to try and correlate illogical tasks with those of the actual position will never yield genuine results. It’s not going to make any sense either. However, I do have amazing experience performing the exact duties of the role I was applying for, which I would have loved to demonstrate for you! But of course, you never took the time to see or understand that. Again, had you bothered to ask some real questions, you easily would have. So how can you make the interview process better? It’s really quite simple - Throw away the scripts and talk to people like human beings! Have a conversation with them as you would a friend. Use some humility. Crack a joke. Make people feel comfortable so they come out of their shell and you’ll actually see them for who they really are. After all, that’s how they’re going to be acting when they’re on the job. Then, here’s the crazy part - ask direct and legitimate questions to see how their experience aligns with the role they’re applying for. And by doing this, people are not acting the part of the person they think you want to see. You’re going to make it harder for people to feed you answers they believe you want to hear - which, let’s be honest, happens all the time in “proper interviews”. Interviews do not have to be “proper” or “traditional” or overly complex. Sometimes the best results are achieved by using the simplest means.