Australian Infront

interview questions

Posted 19.08.2010 @ 11.58AM

we're interviewing at the moment and i'm quite comfortable going through portfolios with people and asking what part they played in the process etc

anyone have any others - more pysch/personality type questions?

Posted 19.08.2010 @ 12.10PM

I think you can suss out plenty by the way someone holds themselves in an interview, are they articulate, confident etc, but the one thing I'd specifically be asking is what they are passionate about (in life, in general). Whether it's reading up on serial killers, playing in their band, rocket science, or attending church... helps paint a wider picture...

Posted 19.08.2010 @ 12.48PM

hahahah we had this guy start who had an awesome folio, jobs with foils and intricate printing techniques used, he was able to explain it, but when he started he was terrible. Didn't know how to do the simplest things... what you see is not always what you get.

Maybe ask about their weekends, see that they have a good life/work balance, see that they are sane people, thats just as important as qualifications and skills. You don't want a loose cannon.

Posted 19.08.2010 @ 2.07PM (Edited 19.08.2010 @ 2.19PM)

I also think it's important to work out prospective applicants knowledge of your company. When I used to interview kids in my store, I used to keep them waiting for around five minutes and watch how they interacted with products. The kids who showed absolutely no interest in the store & stood there tapping their foot, were the ones whose application had a tendency to be quite weak. I once had an applicant who had no idea what I sold and seemed genuinely surprised when I ended the interview after she shrugged in response to the question.

I want prospective applicants to give me some information about my business. It's not to much to ask that if you apply for a job, you should research the company first. I don't want to employ anyone who doesn't feel passionate about their work and although no one is going to love your business as much as you do, I would expect that an employer should at least like the company they work for.

Posted 19.08.2010 @ 3.54PM

"If you have a tray full of jobs to do for various clients, with looming deadlines, how would you deal with that?"

Posted 23.08.2010 @ 7.25AM

one place i went set me a little task, to be honest i was insulted they did it, a layout they gave me had type set with registration, asked why i didn't see it i said

'what kind of moron sets a file up like that to start with'

i'm crap at interviews, i know my job but putting up with inane questions annoys me

best i stay working for myself

Posted 23.08.2010 @ 9.23AM

stay away from those places that do task interviews.
they are normally production houses and only pump out shit

Posted 23.08.2010 @ 11.17AM

::stay away from those places that do task interviews.

Maybe you should of given your awesome folio guy a task in the interview ;-)

Posted 23.08.2010 @ 7.03PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Candle_Problem

Posted 24.08.2010 @ 10.22AM

Amongst other questions (which I wont disclose, as I employ via AIF), I ask potential employees to do a type ID test.

Show them a sheet of different type written in sentences, and get them to ID them / explain where they've seen it before.

This task says loads about their attention to detail + typography competence. I believe that ignorance of type = ignorance of design.