I say it sometimes as a bit of a joke. It depends on when it comes up. It’s moreso with third party recruiters through forms that refer your resume to other places because they ask things like “what are your top 3 wants.” So I’ll typically say salary is number one because I wouldn’t work for free.
If the question is ever “why are you looking?” No. I wouldn’t say I “needed money”, even if I was taking a sort of unpaid sabbatical and ran out of savings. The reality is everyone knows you need money. Another reality is looking “desperate” is a negative at times. Frame yourself as someone confident and ambitious. “I’m looking for the next step in my career journey.” “I’m looking for an increase in responsibility and an increase in compensation to match.” Things like that.
I’m essence, yeah. I had nothing but nice things to say about the current company I was working for. Liked my job, like the company, boss, etc. Whenthe interviewers asked why I was leaving I told them that it was a small, family owned business (not my family). I loved working there but I’m only making about half the market value for my degree. The current boss told me from the start that he wouldn’t be able to pay what I’m worth, but asked that I learn what I could there, then let them know when I’m going to move on. I relayed all that to my interviewers and they loved it. Later they cited that answer as one of the reasons they hired me.
Hi essence, it’s nice to meet you
Hahaha cursed autocorrect
I said that on the interview for the job I’m currently working. Sure I didn’t it with those exact words, but pretty much. Guess it worked.
I almost always say this. I usually turn down the job and state that the pay being offered is a little too low … they sometimes raise it.
Yes
Said it in every interview I’ve ever been in. It’s the truth, usually not my only answer though.
a more useful question would be,“out of all the ways you could make money why are you thinking about this one?”
I hate questions like that. You need a good answer ready because you don’t wanna seem like a bad pick, but those are such bullshit questions. “I applied and you responded.”
Not that I recall. The trick to answering the question, I think, is to say a few nice things about about the organization, or the position, or yourself.
“I’m interested in working for a dynamic institution like Yoyodyne Industries…” or “As you can see from my resume I have a wealth of experience in spline reticulation…”
I found it was useful to write out my own cheat sheets of answers for common/likely interview questions, including some “personal experience”/“tell me about a time you…” type questions just to drill with.
It’s honestly trickier with overtly shittier jobs/orgs, like sales, food service, or cleaning. Kinda hard to say why you love Target or Walmart or McDonald’s. You can touch on how you like the product, but best to circle back to talking about your work ethic.
For those shitty customer facing service industry jobs my go to is talking about enjoying a social environment and highlighting pleasant and productive experiences (easily fabricated if needed) with customers in other jobs.
An interview is an opportunity for both of you to decide if it’s a good fit. Unfortunately the seeker is usually happy to accept anything. Lying is counter productive. They only want to hear any reason that you picked their workplace. Consider it structured small talk and focus on your energy.
I generally say: "let’s be realistic, I’m not passionate about what your company does. I am here to trade my time for wages and I have heard good ones about [company name].
Elaborate by mentioning something from their website to appear engaged and interested. Say you were a perfect fit because you meet all the requirements, talk about a friend who works there, mention using their products or services, or just mention that it’s close to your house and will be a short commute. Ultimately this is a soft question that is just to get a quick idea of each person applying.
Honestly I’ve never been asked this question
I did, while in high school and well before I realized I had ADHD and probably autism too, given the familiar behaviors in my diagnosed kids. That’s relevant because I had to work hard at learning social norms and conventions for stuff like interviews. Wal-mart offered me the job anyway, but I missed out on it because I missed the call and kept forgetting to check my voicemail.
Yup.
But in the field of work I did, I had multiple advantages.
First was the high turnover rate. Most nursing facilities and home health companies have trouble keeping staff. So, chances are high that if you apply, you’re getting hired unless you’re absolutely horrible.
Second, I had experience out the wazoo by the point where I realized the above. Which meant not only did I have a good work history, it was also a history of sticking at a given employer, so I knew I could almost guarantee being hired even if there were applications stacked deep.
Third, I was visibly strong. Men were much rarer in my area as nurse’s assistants back then, so we tended to get snapped up fast for what is a physically demanding job. Since I’m a big ol’ fella that looks like he can throw people around easily, I could have gotten hired most places even if I had a shitty work record and been an asshole to whoever was doing the hiring.
Luckily, I’m not that kind of asshole (and was less of one in the ways I am an asshole back then), and I am instead charming as fuck in person. Which was my other advantage. It doesn’t show online, but if someone isn’t biased against sasquatches, they tend to respond well to me.
So, after the main company I worked for folded due to the administrator embezzling it into the ground, the first interview I had when they asked that I was able to be honest and say “look, this is what I do. I take care of people. I want to get paid for doing it, and word is that you pay the best in the area. Hire me at whatever your pay cap is, and I’ll be your best NA. Might take a few weeks before you believe that, but you will.”
On screen, that looks cocky and snide. But in person, it got a smile and an immediate hire. At the pay cap, and a promise of full time hours as long as I wanted them. Worked there until my body finally gave out.
I am instead charming as fuck in person. Which was my other advantage. It doesn’t show online
Honestly? I totally saw it
Well, thanks :)
Funny, my last job as the Buyer for a chain of bike shops was much the same straight talk. I told the owner, “Look, I’ve already worked in a high end shop, and I have owned my own business twice. I spend all money like it is my own regardless of the amount. If I make a purchase, regardless of the amount of money involved, I’m mentally spending my own money and thinking in terms of paying back your loan. I have real independent ethics and self awareness. I hold myself to the standard of employees I wish I had been able to find for my own business. I expect freedom, flexibility, respect, and autonomy, but I offer a conservatively consistent and reliable person that will always defer to you when I am unsure about an investment or a sum of money I cannot backup with my own finances.”
I find that people who fail to understand that kind of directness, and honesty without all of the insane courtship rituals that now underpin the hiring process are terrible to work for in the first place. I’d rather die than do the debasing mockery of a HR department or some circlejerk clown show of an interview like whores in a brothel. These things are valueless. Look at any large company and you’ll find a range of skills and aptitudes that do not reflect some great filter of value begotten by HR inventing a reason for its own existence as a malignant tumor growth out of the role of an account managing payroll in a back office.
When I was asked why in the hell I worked for such garbage pay, I told people straight, I can’t run a business with fluctuating income and keep up with paying child services payments. I need rock solid consistency to rebuild my life from the ashes they create for the profit of their agents that are paid on commission. They couldn’t take a bike from me like how they wrecked my commercial driver’s license and business.
I always kinda implied the obvious that I work to survive. Anyone that feels the need to say otherwise would be a prime reason I would walk away. Only a useless clown like a malignant HR tumor would ever question a thing like this. As a business owner twice – of course my employees work for their own survival. And of fucking course I have an ethical and moral responsibility implied by that relationship. If I feel the need to say otherwise, I’m a worthless piece of shit you should never work for and anyone that says such a thing while working for another person is the responsibility of that higher up and absolutely reflective of their moral and ethical depravity. No one should ever put up with such a malignant cancer of a person at any level. They are blatantly telling you “This is a terrible place to work because it produced or failed to filter out me.”
Damn, now I wish I had a bike business so I could hire you.
I’ve had a few candidates openly say that they took some time off and now their savings for that time period were used up and they needed to find a job to begin paying bills from income again. I enjoy such comments because it leads to me asking how they’ve spent their time away, what brought them to the realization that they wanted a dedicated time for themselves and how the last job before this time off went for them. Lots of opportunity to learn about the human in front of me.
And then you don’t hire them because they have a 2 year gap in their resume and they were honest about spending that time in Thailand with a harem of transsexual prostitutes.
As long as I can remember, I’ve had a strong passion for eating food.
They humour our statements that we want to work for their company for altruistic reason but suggest that they give us some cash anyway.
We humour their protestations that the job spec in any way resembles the actually work we are expected to traverse.
It’s an ongoing dialogue of falsehood in the understanding that no-one will break the spell.
Kinda, but it was for a temp job doing physical labor.
