Can bad interviewees get hired?

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Nov 29, 2021 31 Comments

My wife has great experience and a strong resume that always gets her an interview, but is pretty bad when it comes to interviewing (mostly anxiety driven). She’s relentlessly prepared with notes, watching interviewing tips on YouTube, researching roles, doing mock interviews, etc. but when it comes down to the actual interview she just can’t think on the fly for hypothetical questions or articulate herself and her experience.

I’ve worked at multiple FAANGs and know she’s way more accomplished and would add more value than many people that have cleared the hiring bar if she could only get in!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TC: 350


UPDATE: she got an offer from G


#interview #google #Facebook #amazon #faang

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TOP 31 Comments
  • No. Thinking on the fly, being able to work under pressure, being able to come up with a solution in interview-kind constraints is essential, so if she doesn’t have those skills, she’s not as ‘accomplished’ as you think.

    Also, your point of view is biased since it’s your wife. For all you know, she could be of subpar intelligence and so needs more preparation (ie her relentless preparation makes only a small difference).
    Nov 29, 2021 9
    • Amazon
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      OP
      @clearO ok thanks for your feedback and for being a top contributor on blind.
      Nov 30, 2021
    • New
      ffdnjddj

      New

      ffdnjddj
      I think we can have a nuanced discussion about this. I think OP is not wrong - you get an email and have time to think. You have time to brainstorm, get feedback, etc. you are in meetings and you are generally comfortable enough with your co-workers and your already secure, so your not in fight or flight mode and scrambling to think in lighting speed. I’d also argue that responding to emails in lightning speed in real life is not helpful - you actually want to be careful about that no matter how urgent it is. Read it over a few min at least.

      At the other end, part of scoring these high-level jobs IS being able to stay calm and confident under pressure, and articulate yourself concisely and throughly. I think that’s the difference between not just your wife, but most candidates. The truth is, if you can make it to on-sites, you can get hired. So I agree, part of the process is a little frustrating and there’s luck involved. I’m just not sure there’s any other way; if the questions are not dynamic and catching you off guard, people can cheat their answers. I guess doing an MBA program on-site is more possible actually. You have your phone calls, your essays, test scores etc. and all that data confers a result.

      Thoughts?
      Dec 10, 2021
  • As much as I totally understand that you know your wives abilities and excellence , you don’t know that of others that cleared the interview too. It’s possible that better peeps are out there too, hers is coming very very soon.
    Nov 29, 2021 2
    • Amazon
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      OP
      Fair feedback, I certainly have my bias. I guess objectively I can base knowing she’s qualified by her nearly 100% success rate in getting interviews (past the screening call)
      Nov 29, 2021
    • With the current DEI initiatives I wouldn’t put too much weight on the screen success rate.

      Most big companies have strict quotas to bring X% of Female candidates on-site for the full loop (ex: 40% of all on-site candidates must be DEI)
      Nov 29, 2021
  • Wayfair / Eng
    BlueCouch

    Go to company page Wayfair Eng

    BlueCouch
    See a therapist. Anxiety is hard to tackle especially when it's about stuff that one doesn't have to deal with everyday and by definition is a high stress situation. Talk to a therapist and check if any pharmaceutical solution can help for the situation itself.
    Nov 29, 2021 1
  • Salesforce
    d33P1

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    PRE
    Amazon
    d33P1
    interviewing skills are almost orthogonal to real life skills. if she wants to be good at interviews she needs to do interviews and practice.

    there is no magic incantation that she can learn that will make things better overnight. practice. leetcode. practice.
    Nov 29, 2021 2
  • SoFi
    nwOY38

    Go to company page SoFi

    nwOY38
    This is one thing I hate about phone screens and onsite code pairing, it's hard not to treat it like a "performance" whereas real work is much different. I prefer companies that offer take home projects that you extend on site, but I know many people hate that.

    It's definitely a numbers game and she has to feel comfortable with rejection, knowing that it doesn't truly reflect her abilities. It's a feature of faang interviews that good candidates won't make the bar, but very few bad ones will. It's a numbers game and she will have to just not settle for less.
    Nov 29, 2021 1
    • New
      php_donkey

      New

      php_donkey
      Does sofi do take homes? I outright murder take homes so I’m interested in interviews that give them.
      Nov 30, 2021