Interviewing with an "ass" or a "jerk", pardon the language...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified)
in
Career Management
Hi, All! I sent this in to the MT guys and Maggie suggested I put it here in the forums. Here's the situation: You've prepared for an interview, listened to all related podcasts, done your homework, and you get to the interview and the guy is a complete ass (inexperienced, doesn't know what he's doing)... or a jerk (wants to take advantage of his interviewer position and play with you a little bit). He still makes the decision to fail you or pass you. How do you handle that? It'd be interesting to know what you think! Cheers, Carolina, from Bogotá, Colombia.
Submitted by Mike Tietel on Tuesday December 23rd, 2008 6:04 pm

You handle it the way you handle any other interview as per your preparation and the MT interviewing podcasts. Don't let his lack of professionalism de-rail you. If he "fails" you, that's fine - consider it a practice interview. If he "passes" you and you get an offer, then you're in the driver's seat and can decide whether you'll take the job despite his behavior. DO NOT give him feedback - it smells too much like giving feedback to your boss.

Also, file the interviewer's behavior in your "delta" file (things to do differently when you're in that role).

Submitted by Tom Hausmann on Thursday December 25th, 2008 4:29 pm

No matter what, remain professional.

Take into account AFTER the interview whether that is the kind of company where you want to work.

Submitted by John Hack on Friday December 26th, 2008 6:46 pm

I agree:

"Now matter what, remain professional."

If you don't get an offer, be glad.

If you do, you have to figure out if the interviewer was an exception or was representative of management... You might consider the offer if he's an exception, and should politely decline if he's typical of management there.

John

Submitted by Inactive Membe… on Saturday December 27th, 2008 10:08 am

Keep to your gameplan.
The best part about being thoroughly prepared (with behavioral answers, great questions, and a solid close) is that you can stick with your plan even when the interviewer seems to be unprepared or unprofessional.
-Hugh

Submitted by Tom Waltz on Thursday January 1st, 2009 8:21 am

I think you should not be so quick to label someone. You've put two insulting labels on a person you barely know. You're assuming that the person does not know what he's doing and is trying to take advantage or play with the interviewer.

I'd call those more a problem in the way you see people than in his actual behavior.

Is it possible the interview did not go the way you wanted and you are just trying to justify it by pinning it on him?