Adebimpe1:
A Senior HR professional who think asking personal questions are wrong really needs to buckle up. Organizations differ, and questions relating to the job being interviewed for are to be asked, as the case may be.

But then, you don't just ask questions relating to the job alone. It is quite advisable to get to know the candidates you're interviewing. No one will ask you about your family problems, how many times you've been with a woman, or other nasty questions. But questions relating to alcohol, drugs, temper-based, psychological, emotional and stress-related questions are often times viewed as personal questions.

Most job seekers do not actually understand what personal questions are. A candidates that sees "how often do you take alcohol" questions as being personal and decline to answer, will certainly get drunk to the plant, gets himself killed and put the lives of others at risk.

As a professional in the HR, you will not want to recruit someone with anger problems. Most times, candidates lose the chance of getting a well paid job because they refuse to answer certain question. Most candidates even sees "why did you graduate with 2-2 when your mates had 1st class" questions as personal. Not all interviews require job-based questions. As a professional. I only need to ask you two questions that only people very experienced in the field will know. You guys in the HR often ask unrelated questions, and ends up recruiting the wrong guys who ends up destroying the whole job.

As for my post, I used the word "silly" to emphasize on it being used by the young man who replied me. The questions that I have mentioned above are seen as "silly" by most Nigerian job seekers. I was like that until I lost several offers.

Finally, I represent my company in good light, even though you're fighting hard to believe that.

I feel as though you have changed your stance from your earlier position of asking silly questions at interviews.

Is my understanding wrong?.

Anyway, wish us all the best in our endeavors. Let us stay professional.

Aniomaman81:
Have you heard the saying, 'Quit while you are ahead' ? That's the advice I would give to you at this stage. In an earlier post, you said the sillier the questions gets, the closer the person is to getting a job from you.

I don't know the HR professionals whom you've worked with who recruit the wrong guys and end up 'destroying the whole job' but I hope it isn't the HR team at your current organisation; you have put your Linkedin name on here and you should really be mindful of what you put online, if you are truly a professional.

How personal can you go with questions at an interview before it becomes offensive, uncomfortable or downright against labour regulations? You can get away with it in Nigeria but in some countries, you will set up your firm for a law suit because of your indiscretions. Any professional knows that drinking on the job is gross misconduct which can lead to dismissal, so how does their alcohol intake outside of work affect their performance on the job? The average professional in the UK goes to the pub after work in the UK, so if someone takes a pint everyday, that makes them unable to perform in their role? How do you judge someone's temperament by the 'personal questions' you ask them at the interview? Do you understand there are psychometric tests which help bring out those traits these days, rather than you putting your organisation in trouble by asking what would really be 'silly questions'?

You really need to stick to what your profession is and stay out of HR and recruiting, because I would be worried as your employer with the calibre of people you must have recruited over the past years based on your utterances here; I'm a HR Director and my advice would be to keep details of these violations you are committing on behalf of your organisation offline...The Internet never forgets.

Quit while you are ahead...

Thanks Director. And yes, I've heard your quote and even used it several times.

Sometime in the past, I was interviewed for a control room operator position in Lagos. I was interviewed by the HR personnel (HR director, manager and account officer) and the questions asked were actually in-appropriate. I was expecting questions in the area being recruited for and some other personal questions that nairalanders have termed "silly", but the HR guys are sneaky guys, and asked wrong questions. Not a single technical question was put forward and I left thinking I had mistakenly attended the wrong interview.

Fast-forward two months, I got a call from the operation & maintenance manager of the same power plant and I was re-interviewed, got the job and moved on. I resumed to learn that the former guy recruited caused a big loss by over-filling the generators with lube oil. Hydro-lock occurred and crankshafts were damaged. About 78 million naira was spent to fix them. All because some HR guys recruited the wrong guy. The whole HR were fired.

Please know, that I don't ask silly questions in interviews as you all think. If I happen to be in the team to recruit, I ask one or two technical questions, and few so called "silly" alcohol/drug/emotional based questions. If asking personal question like alcohol, emotional and stressed-based questions are silly, then we are in trouble.

Random alcohol/drug test are usually done in standard organizations; mine included and these are standards. Most young guys like myself sees such questions as personal, even though it is not. A company that wants to employ you has the right to know you as a person.

Now tell me, would you criticize someone in your team for asking such questions in interviews? Are such question, in your own understanding, silly?

Let's learn from each other.

nmreports:


I feel as though you have changed your stance from your earlier position of asking silly questions at interviews.

Is my understanding wrong?.

Anyway, wish us all the best in our endeavors. Let us stay professional.

Do you know what these guys are calling "silly" question?

1. Do you take alcohol? How often?
2. Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Ever been in crime related case with the police?
3. How do you manage your emotions at the work place? How will you react if one of your team mates did or say something you don't regard as a joke?
4. Are you married? How often do you jump in and out of intimate relationships?


The above questions may seem personal, yes! But an interviewer needs to know if you are a random drinker, a criminal, a hot-tempered person who will end up breaking another employee's head, or a guy who will be recruited today and he'll resign tomorrow, thereby keeping the company at "oh-God". A guy who cannot keep a relationship cannot be committed to a job. It may sound funny, but a recent survey has proved it.

Let's learn from each other.

Adebimpe1:
A Senior HR professional who think asking personal questions are wrong really needs to buckle up. Organizations differ, and questions relating to the job being interviewed for are to be asked, as the case may be.

But then, you don't just ask questions relating to the job alone. It is quite advisable to get to know the candidates you're interviewing. No one will ask you about your family problems, how many times you've been with a woman, or other nasty questions. But questions relating to alcohol, drugs, temper-based, psychological, emotional and stress-related questions are often times viewed as personal questions.

Most job seekers do not actually understand what personal questions are. A candidates that sees "how often do you take alcohol" questions as being personal and decline to answer, will certainly get drunk to the plant, gets himself killed and put the lives of others at risk.

As a professional in the HR, you will not want to recruit someone with anger problems. Most times, candidates lose the chance of getting a well paid job because they refuse to answer certain question. Most candidates even sees "why did you graduate with 2-2 when your mates had 1st class" questions as personal. Not all interviews require job-based questions. As a professional. I only need to ask you two questions that only people very experienced in the field will know. You guys in the HR often ask unrelated questions, and ends up recruiting the wrong guys who ends up destroying the whole job.

As for my post, I used the word "silly" to emphasize on it being used by the young man who replied me. The questions that I have mentioned above are seen as "silly" by most Nigerian job seekers. I was like that until I lost several offers.

Finally, I represent my company in good light, even though you're fighting hard to believe that.

I am not going to argue on this topic. I think it depends on the part of the world we live and work. In my part of the world, you cannot dabble into personal unrelated question with a candidate / potential employee.

ymx:



I am not going to argue on this topic. I think it depends on the part of the world we live and work. In my part of the world, you cannot dabble into personal unrelated question with a candidate / potential employee.

Valid

Come on dude, you have bee spitting of how a certified black belter or whatever. Take this advise, I was only 28 when I started heading a team of only 4 people, who achived close to that amount you quoted. Fastforward 6 years, the company has left nigeria. I burnt bridges, I made enemies cos of my irrational judgement. I stole millions, and spent them that way. Right now, I have downgraded massively, I wish I can right some wrong. So take a chill pill. You can get fired tomorow, grow up, wake up.

charles009:
Come on dude, you have bee spitting of how a certified black belter or whatever. Take this advise, I was only 28 when I started heading a team of only 4 people, who achived close to that amount you quoted. Fastforward 6 years, the company has left nigeria. I burnt bridges, I made enemies cos of my irrational judgement. I stole millions, and spent them that way. Right now, I have downgraded massively, I wish I can right some wrong. So take a chill pill. You can get fired tomorow, grow up, wake up.

Lol. Funny.

Urgent Vacancy To Close 6pm Today

Sorry this is coming late.

I urgently need to recruit a young man to execute a couple of functions in my organization.

Qualities i am looking for include:

> Attention to details
> Diligence
> Strong work ethic
> Advanced microsoft package skills
> Good communication skill
> Good presentation skill
> Quality people skill

Responsibilities will cut across areas like Logistics, Project Execution and Admin duties.
If you are such a person or you know such applicant, kindly forward CVs to seun.omotoso@meaircon.com
Deadline is 6pm today as interview comes up tomorrow.

Best regards.