"Her questions were more and more like improvisation. By the end, I didn't even feel like I was being evaluated as a specialist." The creative person told about a messy interview for which the recruiter was not prepared. It turns out that there are many such situations. Why?

«Sometimes it seems like recruiters believe, ‘Why read a resume when you can just ask?’ And you sit through an interview and they’re amazed by your education or experience, as if it’s just a discovery,» notes the surprised creative.

According to Andriy, it was a regular January daytime interview. «I prepared myself properly: I polished my resume, opened my portfolio, and remembered my strengths. I thought everything would go smoothly. From the other side of the screen, a recruiter greeted me with a gentle smile and the words:

— Good afternoon! How are you feeling?
„Good afternoon, everything is great. I’m ready to tell you about my experience,“ I replied, expecting that she had already read my resume.
„Well, tell me about yourself,“ was the phrase that rang the first bell.
— You’ve probably already seen my resume?
„Of course, but I’m interested to hear it from you. I always ask this question.“
— Good. I am an art director with 10 years of experience in design and advertising. I have a specialized education, I have worked with many brands…», says Andriy.

Here the recruiter interrupted the man:

— Oh, you have a design education? That’s so interesting! Usually we’re all self-taught. It seems to be even fashionable now.
I was a little taken aback, but I answered calmly:
— Yes, I have a specialized education. I mentioned this in my resume, as well as key projects that I am proud of.
— Oh, you know, I haven’t had time to delve into the resume yet. There are a lot of candidates right now. Can you tell me a little more about the projects?

«At that moment, I realized something was wrong… Her surprise at my education, which she could have noticed from the first line, and the questions, the answers to which were already indicated, made me think: Why waste time on preparation, if the other side didn’t even read my materials? Then she asked if I knew how to work with Photoshop, as if it wasn’t listed in my resume among all the tools.

«And by the way, do you know how to work with Adobe Illustrator?» she asked, almost happily.
— Yes, I know. And that’s also stated.

«We continued the conversation, but her questions became more and more like improvisation. In the end, I didn’t even feel like I was being evaluated as a specialist,» the specialist notes.

Then the creative person understood why the question «Tell me about yourself» was needed.

«It is not for getting to know the candidate better. It is a way to hide the fact that the resume was not even opened before the meeting. Yes, you will now ask the question: „Should the recruiter study each candidate, if there could be hundreds of them?“ But you yourself draw up the requirements for the vacancy, determine the criteria by which you are looking for the right person. Your task is to check whether the candidate meets these criteria, and to do this, it is enough to spend a few minutes reading his resume. This is the basis of your work — to choose the best ones, and not to ask questions to which the answers have already been written,» says Andriy.

He suggests that there is a special kind of people who never prepare for anything.

«They probably told the teacher during the exams: 'Please tell me the assignment, because I didn’t read it.' And now they’re sitting in front of you at the interview, asking: Are you really a designer? That can’t be!» And you think: 'No, you can’t be a recruiter!'» the specialist ironically says.

IT fans «poured» almost a hundred comments under the joker’s post.

«Maybe they have a system that selects candidates based on keywords, and that’s why the recruiter doesn’t delve into it. In my experience, everyone starts with ‘tell me about yourself,’» says designer Olena Kovalenko .

CEO Kostyantyn Sinenko says that such situations remind him of the «watchman effect.» «As sad as it may be, many recruiters behave in a way that shows their importance. And the more incompetent the recruiter is, the more he will flaunt his „cool“ role,» he says.

«Nobody reads resumes. There’s a bot that displays a list of relevant candidates, and the recruiter communicates with them,» says DevOps Andriy Rogovsky .

More comments here.