Interview Observations - Part 2

As I mentioned in this post, the Hubster and I work for a start-up company that is currently hiring.  So we are in the process of interviewing candidates for a variety of jobs.


It's a hilarious and mind-blowing experience.

We were recommended someone I'll call J.  He has an impressive resume - a bachelor's degree, 2 masters degrees, and a PhD.  He was currently working in a lab, but was excited to interview with us.

He arrived at work and seemed to be nervous, so I tried to be friendly and put him at ease.  Since we're a company based on new technology, virtually everything that we do is considered to be intellectual property (IP).  Some of it is covered by patents, but some of it is trade secrets or things that we are working on developing.    Therefore, everyone that visits our facility is required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

I gave J the agreement and he stared at me blankly.  I reiterated that he needed to sign the agreement, but I would let him look it over and someone would be back in soon.  Instead of reading it over, he followed me out of the conference room and started wandering around the office.  I tracked him down, showed him back to the conference room and explained he should fill out the form.

J:  This form?  (holds up paper)

Me:  Yes

J:  Right now?

Me:  Yes

J:  Ok

Hubster and Ben went into the room to begin the interview.  I heard snippets of it and most of them went like this, "oh, I shouldn't have shouldn't have said that" and "that was right before I got fired."

Yikes.

Paul, Ben, and our Boss took J to lunch.  The same conversations happened at lunch.

After lunch, everyone had a few minutes of downtime to check emails, etc.  A few minutes later, J was hovering over my desk.  I asked him what was wrong and he said that he needed the plunger. 

I tried really hard not to cringe, but I know I did inside for a variety of reasons.  Poor guy - how awful on an interview.

After everyone reconvened in the conference room, J gave a presentation on his accomplishments and ideas.  The vast majority of his slides ended with this phrase "but I did this one for a job interview that I didn't get."

Oy.

After J left, we all sat down and discussed adding him to the team.

Me:  He was kind of a train wreck.  I don't think so.

Hubster:  Um.  I vote no.

Boss:  I think he's kind of out there.  I don't know if he's going to fit in, but it's your decision, Ben.  He's going to require a lot of hands-on management.

Ben:  I thought he was brilliant.  Hired!

Me:  Head bangs on table.

J started working with us a few days ago.

I suspect there will be many posts related to him.  The first week with him has already had my parents in giggles when describing his behavior.

Stay tuned.