{"id":8155,"date":"2017-08-19T15:49:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-19T10:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=8155"},"modified":"2017-08-19T15:49:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-19T10:04:59","slug":"why-i-never-pass-the-modern-day-common-job-interviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/why-i-never-pass-the-modern-day-common-job-interviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I never pass the modern-day common job interviews?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sunil Babu Pant\/Pahichan – It will be a \u2018miracle of sort\u2019 if I even get to the point where I am called for a job interview because the whole job application process is self-advertisement. The job selection process is never design to look at \u2018who you are\u2019, rather qualifies and disqualifies you for the job based on how good\/bad you are to design the self-advertisement packages and plots (CV, reference letters, corporate antiquates like your dress code, the way to sit on the chair, your eye contact, smile and look confident even if your unhappy etc.). The whole modern-day job selection processes is designed to objectification of your-self and prepares you to submit to the company\/organization\/institution as an asset. They may offer you\u00a0some sort of<\/em>\u00a0freedom and creativity, that too, to enhance the possibility of you becoming\u00a0easy<\/em>–objectification<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0better<\/em>–asset<\/em>\u00a0to the company, otherwise your\u00a0true<\/em>\u00a0freedom and creativity<\/em>\u00a0will be taken away if you ever get selected.<\/p>\n

I have been into the stage of actual job interview twice in my life, which too, the jobs were recommended to me to apply by the friends who were insiders and they thought I qualify of the jobs but I miserably failed and in both occasions I didn\u2019t even get any feedback from either of the organizations who interviewed me.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at the actual job interview commonly asked questions and my observations why I will never know how to answer them that the interviewers may like to hear and, most importantly, why several questions, I find, so wrong for people who grew up in Asian (and other non-Western) Cultures:<\/p>\n

1. What is your strength?<\/p>\n

This is a question commonly asked in most interviews. You are expected to speak of your best quality or ability. I find this question hugely uncomfortable because I was taught\u00a0not to talk about self-praising<\/em>; we believe that praising about one\u2019s abilities and strengths is the job of\u00a0egoistic ignorant<\/em>\u00a0people. I felt so stupid trying to answer this question. And\u00a0inflated ego<\/em>\u00a0is not something we appreciate. We are taught to appear humble and become humble. I already failed from the first question.<\/p>\n

2. Why did you choose this field?<\/p>\n

The interviewers actually wish to hear what qualifies you for the field you have chosen. When they ask you this question, you are expected to explain to them your special inclination for the field you have selected. You need to enumerate your skills and abilities that make you ideal for the field. This is when I find myself in awkward situation where I am so uncomfortable to \u2018self-advertise<\/em>\u2019 and trying to do a \u2018push-sale<\/em>\u2019 of myself. This idea is so\u00a0diminishing\u00a0<\/em>to try to allow myself to objectification, something I can never do. And answering something like:\u00a0\u201cI choose this field because I enjoy doing \u2018this or that\u2019 which is closer to the job I will be doing if get selected and I hope to find \u2018meaning of life\u2019 here<\/em>; will automatically disqualify you.<\/p>\n

3. What are your skills and hobbies?<\/p>\n

The interviewers will not get impressed with reading or painting or singing and dancing, listening or telling stories as skills and hobbies. They like to hear that you speak of hobbies that are relevant to the job. If you are applying for jobs that apply logic, you may reveal your special interest in solving puzzles. This is where you must prepare to give up your innate skills and hobbies that qualify you as a happy person, creative person. You must be prepare to adapt new hobbies and skills that fits to the job if you get selected. This is the start of submitting your genuine freedom and creativity.<\/p>\n

4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?<\/p>\n

The modern day Employers (with corporate mindset, no matter which company or organization or institution the employer represent) seek candidates who have a vision for themselves and this vision must be in line with company\/organization\/institutions\u2019 vision which is a tangible material growth. They like to hear that you set the highest achievable position as your goal. You are considered qualified if you are able to tell the interviewers that you wish to hold a particular senior position at the end of 5 years. But a person believing in \u2018Karma-theory\u2019<\/em>\u00a0who might say:\u00a0I believe in good-action\/good-did now and don\u2019t have (high) expectation for the future (of my karma now),\u00a0<\/em>will lead to the disqualification instantaneously. By this question you are told that you must always focus on the future, not the present moment they may enjoy and live. Such a wrong question to ask for a candidate who grew up in Asian (Karma<\/em>) cultures, not the\u00a0achievement-driven<\/em>\u00a0Western cultures.<\/p>\n

5. Are you a good leader?<\/p>\n

The modern day company, institution or organization desperately wants people with leadership qualities. The good leadership qualities are expected to excel in your field, they expect to hear from you about your \u2018some sort of plan in life\u2019 to ascend the ladder of success (ultimately more tangible material achievements). You are expected to have the ability to lead a team and get work done from other candidates (basically means \u2018be in-control of the job environment\u2019). What happens if you don\u2019t value much of\u00a0the tangible material achievement,<\/em>\u00a0rather you value more of the\u00a0intangible intellectual and emotional achievements<\/em>? And what happens if you don\u2019t like to be a\u00a0leader<\/em>, rather you prefer to be \u2018a coach<\/em>\u2019 or \u2018a facilitator\u2019\u00a0<\/em>and create a job-environment that is not obsessed with \u201cvision<\/em>\u201d but enjoys \u201chere and now<\/em>\u201d? Will you still be selected?<\/p>\n

6. What is your salary expectation and why?<\/p>\n

This is again hugely uncomfortable question for me as in the process of answering this question I am putting\u00a0\u2018a monetary label\u2019, \u2018a price tag\u2019\u00a0<\/em>on myself, means I am ready to become an asset and I am OK with\u00a0the objectification<\/em>\u00a0of myself. I am allowing the company\/organization\/institution to objectify also my intellectual and emotional side, if not only the physical side of myself. And you will be thoroughly assessed by the company, whether the\u00a0price tag\u00a0<\/em>is actually lucrative enough for them or not, during your probation period if you ever get selected.<\/p>\n

So the job selection process is just a preparation for the submission of your genuine freedom and creativity. A person who cherish freedom and creativity and refuses to sell the\u00a0soul<\/em>\u00a0to the companies\/organizations\/institutions, I will never pass any\u00a0modern day job interviews<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Thank you and Namaste !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunil Babu Pant\/Pahichan – It will be a \u2018miracle of sort\u2019 if I even get to the point where I am called for a job interview because the whole job application process is self-advertisement. The job selection process is never design to look at \u2018who you are\u2019, rather qualifies and disqualifies you for the job based on how good\/bad you are to design the self-advertisement packages and plots (CV, reference letters, corporate antiquates like your dress code, the way to sit on the chair, your eye contact, smile and look …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":4297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[621,492,490],"tags":[157],"class_list":["post-8155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","category-slider","tag-sunil-babu-pant"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8156,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155\/revisions\/8156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}