I haven’t had much formal experience in interviewing people and no experience on the other side of the table in more than ten years, but today I found myself giving advice to job applicants. Karma, my office mate has advertised two positions in his rapidly growing business and I’ve been the only one around when most of the candidates come in. I’m surprised at the number that have asked to see previous applications. I’ll have to ask Karma if that’s normal practice in Bhutan.
The next surprise is the questions I got. ‘It says “Women are encouraged to apply.” Does that mean that preference is given to women?’ ‘It says “Email submissions are accepted.” Do we need to send an email as well?’ You could put that down to language problems, but these applicants have completed twelve years of schooling given in English. Nerves, perhaps.
Then there are the people who want to apply without having read the job description and those that say they’ve read it, hand over their application, then on the way out ask what the job description actually means. Many can’t even be bothered paying 2 Nu per page to have their application printed on fresh paper, choosing instead to use the backside of scrap paper.
Finally, most of them ask how many people have applied before them and look dejected when I tell them. Then come the questions that would be asked of an interview coach. I have to tell them that all the applicants will have the academic requirements, or will pretend to, and they have to distinguish themselves by demonstrating that they have a genuine, and preferably long standing, interest in the job area. What a novel idea.
The biggest shock came when one of these applicants, after hearing my suggestions, decided he needed to update his cover letter. He took the application off Karma’s desk, grabbed a chair and sat down at the nearest clear flat space, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he’d just commandeered my desk. There’s a career limiting move if ever I’ve seen one.