Yes, I’m interested in your time for money exchange program.
That’s great! We offer competitive rates for your time, for instance, our Platinum plan can offer you up to 34% of what your time is actually worth on the open market, but due to your weak resume with gaps in employment history and the fact that you don’t have a doctorate for this entry level position, I’m afraid that the most we can offer you is a Silver plan, at 18% of your market value.
That is of course before you factor in the mandatory taxes and assays affording to relevant state laws and… how does federally required minimum wage sound?
This is a question for skilled workers with multiple offers when there are more candidates than positions, so it’s pretty stupid when managers at McDonald’s ask it during an interview. I suppose they can use the given answers to determine if someone is assigned to the cash register or the frier. Even McDonald’s requires a certain level of bullshit tolerance and people skills at the front of the house.
For low level jobs, I see the interview as more of a test of “can this candidate handle basic communication, avoid acting in a way that will alarm others, handle a bit of pressure, and generally behave in a way that I don’t see us regretting hiring this person for at least as long as it takes to have an interview?”
For those interviews, there aren’t so much right answers as there are wrong answers.
Going in to interviews with the subtle art of not giving a fuck mindset transforms their nature entirely. While I don’t enjoy being in a position where I need to go do interviews, the interviews themselves aren’t that bad, they can even be enjoyable if you tune your dgaf properly.
Though it’s important to understand that the not giving a fuck mindset isn’t a “I don’t care what you think” kind of energy, it’s “whatever happens here, I’ll be fine”. Reach for what you want and give it your honest best shot, but leave any desperation at home. Even if you might not be fine, cross that bridge later.
I have been asked this question at ever skill level of job I have applied for, since high school.
It’s interesting that when I finally made it to the level where that kind of question is appropriate, they stopped asking. They know why you want to work at a company with an amazing reputation for taking care of employees, and use their time to ask more important questions. I’ve asked it only twice now that I interview people, and it was when the candidate pool was narrowed down to two amazingly qualified and intelligent people, and I needed some sort of tie breaker. It’s not a great tie breaker, but I was out of ideas. That’s more of a deficiency with my interview prep than a reflection of the company though.
Employer: “I assume you’re stretching for the peak of your Mazlovian Hierarchy, so why don’t you tell us about that?”
Me: scraping breadcrumbs off the carpet and shoving them into my mouth, half paying attention “I’m sorry, Mazlovian what now?”
Isn’t oxygen at the peak?
“The position offers monetary compensation in exchange for the adequate performance of tasks. I require monetary compensation and will therefore perform said tasks adequately.”
It’s a given you want money. The question is why this job vs another? If you don’t stand out from the 100 other applicants then they’ll take whoever will accept the lowest pay or whoever has the most charm.
If you come off as desperate then they might try to lowball you
Sure, but depending on the field, there is no difference from one job to another. I can do data analysis on your engine, your electrical grid, your stupid app. It’s all numbers to me. Going through the motions of pretending I was called by destiny for your company is insulting to both of us. Same category as a damned cover letter. I had ChatGPT write whatever I thought would get me in the door and you honestly shouldn’t trust a single one ever.
If you can find that special someone that really does have a thing for your company, neat. Otherwise, maybe don’t use this question because you’re probably just going to learn how well the applicant can brown nose. There are plenty of interview questions to choose from that might yield useful data.
“Otherwise, maybe don’t use this question because you’re probably just going to learn how well the applicant can brown nose. There are plenty of interview questions to choose from that might yield useful data.”
The comic is about this specific question, so all else being equal, if I have to choose between someone that responds like you did and someone with any hint of friendliness, then I know who I would rather work with…
Yeah, if someone is being a cunt and saying that, sure. Most people have the good sense to be friendly during an interview and if they can’t manage that, I have no defense for them.
But you don’t even need this question to judge friendliness. The question is completely worthless and is very “dance monkey dance”. I asks the applicant to degrade themselves by lying to your face about some higher meaning for no useful information to the interviewer. As I said, there are way better questions to ask.
I’m job hunting right now. I want to give whoever comes up with job advertisement text the finger.
Here’s text from one I saw recently: “Are you a visionary creative leader with a passion for social media and an eye for aesthetics?” Can you go fuck yourselves? I have a passion for doing my job properly and getting paid for it.
I never ask why since it’s damned obvious, I don’t work for a charity either. I ask why this company. Get much better insight into candidates.
What? Even if you work here an entire hour you won’t make that much.
I once was fed up and just sendt my CV for a while. Didn’t get a single contact. They need that honey around their mouth.
That said, LinkedIn offers this easy apply thing where you just send them your CV and maybe answer a very quick question or two (i.e. “are you authorized to work in this country?”) and they don’t even give you the opportunity for a cover letter. I don’t know if it will get me a job, but it’s quite nice compared to all the other job sites.
I heard you get them cash here for my time.
The only people who ever ask that are pompous assholes. And they especially love asking that of younger people.
The companies I loved working for so far have never ever asked that question. They ask questions that are relevant to the role.
