Interviews
We are currently expanding our department's staff strength. We have 4 analysts...and we are trying to expand to 8 analysts.
2 advertisements over 2 Saturdays in 1 month. Tons of resumes sent in.
We embarked on the interview process with 15 potential candidates. Of the 15, only 3 made the cut. Of these 3, only 1 accepted our offer. Darn...now we have to continue the interviewing, to find another 3 more colleagues...
The interview process can be quite tedious...while it's fun and interesting to get to know different people and hte mindset they bring into an interview, it does take you away from your official "ever-so-urgent" work.
We had 3 candidates yesterday. Very qualified people (on paper). So qualified, I was scared...coz my qualifications are not as good as them. But, we interviewed them anyway. It's always good to have qualified people. Makes work easier...
One candidate stood out. He wanted so much to be a "hero" that he stood out. The way he answered questions etc...was a bit cocky. He thinks he knows so much...talked and talked and talked. But I'm not sure if he realised that whatever he was saying, was alll very general broadbased concepts. So we asked him something more specific (a few times, somemore...). Each time, we realised he never answered the question! Did he really not know the answer? or was it just his way of talking - go in 1 BIG round, abt general, broad concepts, but never answering the questions.
Some of the specific questions had very simple answers. Some of the answers were mere "Yes" or "No". But he went on and on and on...I felt it wasn't nice to interrupt him "ok, ok...just answer the question."...so we just let him finish what he wanted to say.
Since he says he plays the stock market, we asked him what is he looking at now and what stock would her recommend to a client now, given the current market conditions. His answer? One big round...blah blah blah...and "I'll wait for the next correction". No recommendation. Well, nothing wrong with waiting for the next correction. Just that, from a brokerage point of view, that means u are not generating business for the brokerage. You're telling your client not to trade now - means no money, no commission...
The written test we gave all candidates was well, to some extent, not realistic as the time allocated was too short. But, we weren't looking for the prefect answer. We weren't looking for the person who could analyse this stock well. (C'mon, to analyse a stock well would require a few days or weeeks or years...to consider all the factors and to understand everything properly.) We wanted to see how the candidates respond in a stressful, tight-deadline environment. That's life. Sometimes, the BOSS gives a last min instruction. Regardless of how busy you are, you just have to get it out. Perfect or not, that's a different story. But for survival, you just get something out, right? (vs. nothing at all, for sure it's "please show yourself out the door"...). The test was also to see how well the candidates can write - their control of the language. Our job scope includes a lot of report writing...
After the allocated 30min, this candidate can tell me "There's not enough time to digest all the information. (he paper was blank). The time is too short lah..." (hello? All the other candidates can come up with something lorh...) So I gave him another 20 min (wah, I'm so generous). And after that 20min...I went to collect the paper, he told me "er...I have to write about the industry and the acquisition. Haven't finish yet..." (seriously, he sounded like he was giving excuses for not being able to do it)
So I told him "well, to be fiar, all the other candidates completed it in 30 to 40 min. We have to be fair to the rest as well."
"But, but..."
Me: "And...they don't even have you kind of qualifications (he has 2 Masters and is taking his CFA.)"
So I let him complete his last sentence, and he finally handed in his paper.
Well, he wasn't shortlisted for the 2nd interview.
2 advertisements over 2 Saturdays in 1 month. Tons of resumes sent in.
We embarked on the interview process with 15 potential candidates. Of the 15, only 3 made the cut. Of these 3, only 1 accepted our offer. Darn...now we have to continue the interviewing, to find another 3 more colleagues...
The interview process can be quite tedious...while it's fun and interesting to get to know different people and hte mindset they bring into an interview, it does take you away from your official "ever-so-urgent" work.
We had 3 candidates yesterday. Very qualified people (on paper). So qualified, I was scared...coz my qualifications are not as good as them. But, we interviewed them anyway. It's always good to have qualified people. Makes work easier...
One candidate stood out. He wanted so much to be a "hero" that he stood out. The way he answered questions etc...was a bit cocky. He thinks he knows so much...talked and talked and talked. But I'm not sure if he realised that whatever he was saying, was alll very general broadbased concepts. So we asked him something more specific (a few times, somemore...). Each time, we realised he never answered the question! Did he really not know the answer? or was it just his way of talking - go in 1 BIG round, abt general, broad concepts, but never answering the questions.
Some of the specific questions had very simple answers. Some of the answers were mere "Yes" or "No". But he went on and on and on...I felt it wasn't nice to interrupt him "ok, ok...just answer the question."...so we just let him finish what he wanted to say.
Since he says he plays the stock market, we asked him what is he looking at now and what stock would her recommend to a client now, given the current market conditions. His answer? One big round...blah blah blah...and "I'll wait for the next correction". No recommendation. Well, nothing wrong with waiting for the next correction. Just that, from a brokerage point of view, that means u are not generating business for the brokerage. You're telling your client not to trade now - means no money, no commission...
The written test we gave all candidates was well, to some extent, not realistic as the time allocated was too short. But, we weren't looking for the prefect answer. We weren't looking for the person who could analyse this stock well. (C'mon, to analyse a stock well would require a few days or weeeks or years...to consider all the factors and to understand everything properly.) We wanted to see how the candidates respond in a stressful, tight-deadline environment. That's life. Sometimes, the BOSS gives a last min instruction. Regardless of how busy you are, you just have to get it out. Perfect or not, that's a different story. But for survival, you just get something out, right? (vs. nothing at all, for sure it's "please show yourself out the door"...). The test was also to see how well the candidates can write - their control of the language. Our job scope includes a lot of report writing...
After the allocated 30min, this candidate can tell me "There's not enough time to digest all the information. (he paper was blank). The time is too short lah..." (hello? All the other candidates can come up with something lorh...) So I gave him another 20 min (wah, I'm so generous). And after that 20min...I went to collect the paper, he told me "er...I have to write about the industry and the acquisition. Haven't finish yet..." (seriously, he sounded like he was giving excuses for not being able to do it)
So I told him "well, to be fiar, all the other candidates completed it in 30 to 40 min. We have to be fair to the rest as well."
"But, but..."
Me: "And...they don't even have you kind of qualifications (he has 2 Masters and is taking his CFA.)"
So I let him complete his last sentence, and he finally handed in his paper.
Well, he wasn't shortlisted for the 2nd interview.