The Trials and Tribulations of a Would-Be Facebook Employee 241
An anonymous reader writes "It may be hard for Facebook HR infrastructure to keep up with the rapid growth of the company, so scheduling and performing Skype screening interviews with the prospective new developers appears deteriorating into disorderly jumble. In a blog post, a recent candidate for a development job at Facebook has shared his excruciation at coordinating and then having this preliminary interview, pointing out the unhelpfulness of HR staff at Facebook during all stages of the process."
I had a skype interview (not with facebook) (Score:5, Interesting)
It was horrendous. Not the best speaker at the best of times, it was a total flop over video. The format made it hard to read body language and get a feel for where the interview was going, the lag made it a PITA with people talking over each other and also made it hard to read how the discussion was going. In the end, though I was well qualified for the position, I realized I had not made a single good case for why they should hire me. Naturally, I didn't get a call back and I couldn't blame them. I would avoid doing it again in future if at all possible.
Somehow I find it hard to be sympathetic (Score:3, Interesting)
Why is this news? (Score:5, Interesting)
I recommend Toastmasters (Score:5, Interesting)
If you have difficulty expressing yourself in front of others for whatever reason (stage fright, for instance) consider joining Toastmasters [toastmasters.org].
It's a club for people who want to learn to speak in front of an audience. It's got branch clubs all over the world, so there's probably one near you. They meet twice a month (more or less - depending on the club) and have a nominal yearly dues.
After about two years of going you start to "get the hang of it" and become more relaxed and fluent when talking to groups.
If you think you might get a Skype interview and if you have trouble with presentations, you should check them out.
Re:Ludicrous expectations (Score:4, Interesting)
Given all that potential difficulties why would a company like Facebook, which lives and dies on the Internet and surely understands its complexity, use something as unreliable as Skype for an interview?
I use phones, in fact I set up a land line just for my last job search so that this would not be an issue. The reliance on Skype for something like this is a poor choice.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)