Off Topic Thread too point uh

Synode

Synode wrote: »

Any particular reasons not to upgrade from Win7? I use it in work and at home and was considering upgrading soon

I've upgraded from Win 7, I haven't found anything yet that makes me wish I hadn't. As of now I'd say I don't have much reason to not upgrade.

P_1

Synode wrote: »

Any particular reasons not to upgrade from Win7? I use it in work and at home and was considering upgrading soon

Ah just personal preference on my part. If you want to go for it, go for it

Podge_irl

Synode wrote: »

Any particular reasons not to upgrade from Win7? I use it in work and at home and was considering upgrading soon

Windows 7 works well. It's more that there is no real hurry as 7 remains a good OS while 8 is manky.

pickarooney

So I'm interviewing 'English-speaking' candidates for a support role today and the first guy just sat there for two minutes straight opening and closing his mouth when I asked him to describe his last job. Then it took two more minutes to complete the first sentence, with four mistakes in the five words.

I asked the second guy what his previous company specialised in.

'Cleaning up... after the gypsies'
So... literally ethnic cleansing?

b.gud

pickarooney wrote: »

'Cleaning up... after the gypsies'
So... literally ethnic cleansing?

I was a hygiene engineer specialising in large scale cleaning of extended caravan holiday waste

irishbucsfan

pickarooney wrote: »

So I'm interviewing 'English-speaking' candidates for a support role today and the first guy just sat there for two minutes straight opening and closing his mouth when I asked him to describe his last job. Then it took two more minutes to complete the first sentence, with four mistakes in the five words.

I asked the second guy what his previous company specialised in.

'Cleaning up... after the gypsies'
So... literally ethnic cleansing?

In the UK the candidates for entry level positions are astonishingly poor. I don't interview for any of those positions in the UK any more, I delegate where possible until the last possible moment, I'm just completely disenchanted with the entire UK labour market. In other countries I try to make it to as many 1st round interviews because I actually enjoy them, the UK candidates for the same job aren't half as good but cost more than twice as much. People who complain about youth unemployment rates in the UK should sit with me for a day of those interviews and they'd very quickly understand where a company like ourselves is coming from...

molloyjh

irishbucsfan wrote: »

In the UK the candidates for entry level positions are astonishingly poor. I don't interview for any of those positions in the UK any more, I delegate where possible until the last possible moment, I'm just completely disenchanted with the entire UK labour market. In other countries I try to make it to as many 1st round interviews because I actually enjoy them, the UK candidates for the same job aren't half as good but cost more than twice as much. People who complain about youth unemployment rates in the UK should sit with me for a day of those interviews and they'd very quickly understand where a company like ourselves is coming from...

Having done a few here I've found the quality to be quite mixed. Some have been very good, but some have been truly awful. We recently had 1 girl who simply forgot she had an interview. It was an early morning one and we rang her to see where she was. She was still in bed and her response was simply "oops, I forgot about that. Oh well.".

junglyparty

Peregrine wrote: »

How the hell did you manage that?

Not sure what good it will do but try PMing an admin and see if they can reset it. I've no idea if they can or not.

I never logged out. Somehow my cookies got deleted. I wasn't used to using whatever password I had for that account. I've tried all the usual passwords and no luck. I'm blaming a heavy long weekend.

P_1

junglyparty wrote: »

I never logged out. Somehow my cookies got deleted. I wasn't used to using whatever password I had for that account. I've tried all the usual passwords and no luck. I'm blaming a heavy long weekend.

Fire off an email to hello@boards.ie to see if they can reunite you with your old moniker

b.gud

molloyjh wrote: »

Having done a few here I've found the quality to be quite mixed. Some have been very good, but some have been truly awful. We recently had 1 girl who simply forgot she had an interview. It was an early morning one and we rang her to see where she was. She was still in bed and her response was simply "oops, I forgot about that. Oh well.".

I once interviewed for a bar job in a hotel at about half 9 in the morning drunk after coming home from a house party and got the job*

*it was arranged last minute and I told the manager I was drunk before I went down. He didn't mind because we'd worked together before so he knew what I was like at work, i.e. not the kind of person who'd normally turn up to an interview drunk

irishbucsfan

molloyjh wrote: »

Having done a few here I've found the quality to be quite mixed. Some have been very good, but some have been truly awful. We recently had 1 girl who simply forgot she had an interview. It was an early morning one and we rang her to see where she was. She was still in bed and her response was simply "oops, I forgot about that. Oh well.".

About 30% of our applicants don't show up for interviews. It's appalling. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't had to go through it.

Zzippy

Blame the education system in UK/ROI. I've only sat on an interview board once, wouldn't like to do it again. It was for a technical job in GIS, which I had a lot of knowledge in, so I was asked to select candidates for interview and do the interviews. Every one of the people who got an interview, and a few more, had a masters in GIS. Impressive enough. I wouldn't even have got an interview myself. When it came to the interviews, they were all incredibly useless when asked any technical questions to do with the subject they actually had a MSc in.

Universities are all about numbers these days, get as many students through as possible, get as much money in as possible. Never mind quality. It's no wonder graduates aren't ready for industry, and no wonder our universities are sliding down the rankings. Have a few mates who are lecturers and the pressure on them to churn out graduates and not fail too many is ridiculous. When you have 600 first years in a course how are they supposed to get to know any of them, never mind teach them properly...

irishbucsfan

irishbucsfan wrote: »

In the UK the candidates for entry level positions are astonishingly poor. I don't interview for any of those positions in the UK any more, I delegate where possible until the last possible moment, I'm just completely disenchanted with the entire UK labour market. In other countries I try to make it to as many 1st round interviews because I actually enjoy them, the UK candidates for the same job aren't half as good but cost more than twice as much. People who complain about youth unemployment rates in the UK should sit with me for a day of those interviews and they'd very quickly understand where a company like ourselves is coming from...

I don't know if this is typical but I work for a large corporation and recently had to work with a group of English entry level and Irish entry level staff and I thought the Irish guys were vastly superior, with maybe one or two exceptions. The difference was really marked.

P_1

http://www.irishnews.com/sport/rugbyunion/2015/08/03/news/in-pictures-us-soldiers-play-american-football-and-baseball-at-ravenhill-210221/

This looks pretty class I have to say

CatFromHue

Zzippy wrote: »

Blame the education system in UK/ROI. I've only sat on an interview board once, wouldn't like to do it again. It was for a technical job in GIS, which I had a lot of knowledge in, so I was asked to select candidates for interview and do the interviews. Every one of the people who got an interview, and a few more, had a masters in GIS. Impressive enough. I wouldn't even have got an interview myself. When it came to the interviews, they were all incredibly useless when asked any technical questions to do with the subject they actually had a MSc in.

I dunno, I can see what you mean by I'm not sure if you're 100% right.

Colleges can only really teach students the building blocks of subjects, there just isn't enough time to do much more even at MSc level. I think some companies forget this and are happy to pay the low grad wages while forgeting the reason the wages are so low in the first place. There has to be some inhouse training to get the people up to speed as they're starting off from a low level.

Realistically a technical person won't be much use in a specific area, even with a Masters, until they've worked 9-5 in it for 6 months to a year.

irishbucsfan

Sky Mango Tux wrote: »

I don't know if this is typical but I work for a large corporation and recently had to work with a group of English entry level and Irish entry level staff and I thought the Irish guys were vastly superior, with maybe one or two exceptions. The difference was really marked.

I'd believe it. I've given up hope on the locals over here I'm afraid.

Saying that I taught a few classes in some local schools this year as part of some charity stuff and some of those kids seemed very bright and interested so there may just be a lost generation that the system missed out on.

I don't care about college education for an entry level position. I've discovered there's very little that translates, but then the bar is set so low that if someone came in and was able to correctly spell their own name then they'd probably get a 2nd interview.

awec

CatFromHue wrote: »

I dunno, I can see what you mean by I'm not sure if you're 100% right.

Colleges can only really teach students the building blocks of subjects, there just isn't enough time to do much more even at MSc level. I think some companies forget this and are happy to pay the low grad wages while forgeting the reason the wages are so low in the first place. There has to be some inhouse training to get the people up to speed as they're starting off from a low level.

Realistically a technical person won't be much use in a specific area, even with a Masters, until they've worked 9-5 in it for 6 months to a year.

The candidates who will be good are blatantly obvious, as are those who are just hopeless. I have done tech interviews in the past a few times, and you will know if someone is good enough in the first 5 minutes.

It might take them 6 months to a year to get used to the job-specific things, but you would never ask job-specific questions in an interview (unless it's something you specifically required the candidate to have).

mfceiling

pickarooney wrote: »

So I'm interviewing 'English-speaking' candidates for a support role today and the first guy just sat there for two minutes straight opening and closing his mouth when I asked him to describe his last job. Then it took two more minutes to complete the first sentence, with four mistakes in the five words.

I asked the second guy what his previous company specialised in.

'Cleaning up... after the gypsies'
So... literally ethnic cleansing?

What is the job title?

It's a shame that so many young people lack the most basic forms of social skills. Barely able to hold a conversation bar one or two word answers.

I wonder are the schools teaching by the book or are there any "maverick" teachers who go outside the box? Kids that have hundreds of "friends" on social media but really are unable to communicate socially at all.

awec

irishbucsfan wrote: »

In the UK the candidates for entry level positions are astonishingly poor. I don't interview for any of those positions in the UK any more, I delegate where possible until the last possible moment, I'm just completely disenchanted with the entire UK labour market. In other countries I try to make it to as many 1st round interviews because I actually enjoy them, the UK candidates for the same job aren't half as good but cost more than twice as much. People who complain about youth unemployment rates in the UK should sit with me for a day of those interviews and they'd very quickly understand where a company like ourselves is coming from...

IMO most technical interviews are a load of crap, and I say that as someone who has done numerous interviews in the past (as the interviewer).

1. They are not a true reflection of the day to day working environment or even the work itself
2. Most technical interview questions are rubbish and far too abstract. Why should anyone really care if you can write code on a whiteboard to detect a loop in a linked list.

That said, I don't think anyone to date has come up with a better alternative so they are what they are.

CatFromHue

awec wrote: »

The candidates who will be good are blatantly obvious, as are those who are just hopeless. I have done tech interviews in the past a few times, and you will know if someone is good enough in the first 5 minutes.

It might take them 6 months to a year to get used to the job-specific things, but you would never ask job-specific questions in an interview (unless it's something you specifically required the candidate to have).

I'm not disagreeing I was just trying point out the jump between college and real life experience.

awec

awec wrote: »

IMO most technical interviews are a load of crap, and I say that as someone who has done numerous interviews in the past (as the interviewer).

1. They are not a true reflection of the day to day working environment or even the work itself
2. Most technical interview questions are rubbish and far too abstract. Why should anyone really care if you can write code on a whiteboard to detect a loop in a linked list.

That said, I don't think anyone to date has come up with a better alternative so they are what they are.

I joined the company I'm with now in an entry level technical role and in the interviews they asked basically no technical questions. It was about establishing that I understood what the company did, that I wasn't a total idiot, and that they could put me in front of a client. Though they seemed aware that going into an entry level role I wouldn't have all the skills right off the bat, and they give you time and space to learn. I thought the process was quite fair.

Zzippy

CatFromHue wrote: »

I dunno, I can see what you mean by I'm not sure if you're 100% right.

Colleges can only really teach students the building blocks of subjects, there just isn't enough time to do much more even at MSc level. I think some companies forget this and are happy to pay the low grad wages while forgeting the reason the wages are so low in the first place. There has to be some inhouse training to get the people up to speed as they're starting off from a low level.

Realistically a technical person won't be much use in a specific area, even with a Masters, until they've worked 9-5 in it for 6 months to a year.

Well, in this instance we were looking for someone with at least some aptitude. The job required working with a particular industry-leading GIS software package. Every candidate we had indicated on their CV that they were experienced in said package, yet when asked even basic questions about how to do basic tasks using said package they nearly all looked blankly back.

To put in context, my first job was in GIS after becoming proficient with an earlier version of this package on a short work experience gig - I received zero formal training and only had a few weeks to familiarise myself with it. These guys had completed a masters in GIS, part of which was supposedly a module on the software package and associated assignments. Now either the college didn't teach that module properly, or the students did sweet FA beyond the bare minimum. It's probably a bit of both, since we did find one candidate who had clearly done a lot more than her fellow classmates and gained a surprisingly good proficiency. Needless to say she got the job.

esterhayes

Zzippy wrote: »

Well, in this instance we were looking for someone with at least some aptitude. The job required working with a particular industry-leading GIS software package. Every candidate we had indicated on their CV that they were experienced in said package, yet when asked even basic questions about how to do basic tasks using said package they nearly all looked blankly back.

To put in context, my first job was in GIS after becoming proficient with an earlier version of this package on a short work experience gig - I received zero formal training and only had a few weeks to familiarise myself with it. These guys had completed a masters in GIS, part of which was supposedly a module on the software package and associated assignments. Now either the college didn't teach that module properly, or the students did sweet FA beyond the bare minimum. It's probably a bit of both, since we did find one candidate who had clearly done a lot more than her fellow classmates and gained a surprisingly good proficiency. Needless to say she got the job.

I did a GIS module in college, i'm a recent graduate, I'd probably struggle to answer many questions on it but I suppose if i was going to an interview i'd spend some time re-acquainting myself with it all.

Doing the bare minimum was what most people did in that module, mostly because the exam was very predictable and the assignments weren't overly complex.

Stheno

Zzippy wrote: »

Well, in this instance we were looking for someone with at least some aptitude. The job required working with a particular industry-leading GIS software package. Every candidate we had indicated on their CV that they were experienced in said package, yet when asked even basic questions about how to do basic tasks using said package they nearly all looked blankly back.

To put in context, my first job was in GIS after becoming proficient with an earlier version of this package on a short work experience gig - I received zero formal training and only had a few weeks to familiarise myself with it. These guys had completed a masters in GIS, part of which was supposedly a module on the software package and associated assignments. Now either the college didn't teach that module properly, or the students did sweet FA beyond the bare minimum. It's probably a bit of both, since we did find one candidate who had clearly done a lot more than her fellow classmates and gained a surprisingly good proficiency. Needless to say she got the job.

I've had the misfortune to have to support a GIS environment, GIS users are serious nerds ime, I can only imagine what you'd want to ask in an interview.

Having an Msc in it and not been able to answer basic questions indicates something is wrong, after a few months of supporting it, I could answer basic questions.

Zzippy

Stheno wrote: »

I've had the misfortune to have to support a GIS environment, GIS users are serious nerds ime, I can only imagine what you'd want to ask in an interview.

Having an Msc in it and not been able to answer basic questions indicates something is wrong, after a few months of supporting it, I could answer basic questions.

Yeah, I would have understood recent geography graduates not being up to speed, having seen the quality of teaching of GIS at undergrad level in a department where I've given guest lectures, but a Masters degree in the specific subject would imply at least some proficiency or knowledge of the subject.

Stheno

Zzippy wrote: »

Yeah, I would have understood recent geography graduates not being up to speed, having seen the quality of teaching of GIS at undergrad level in a department where I've given guest lectures, but a Masters degree in the specific subject would imply at least some proficiency or knowledge of the subject.

Well I'm an IT bod so I'd be able to specify the special requirements for GIS in terms of the pc etc, and knowing what they used it for, requirements around that and how to manipulate it.

Does that mean I've technically an MsC in GIS?:pac:

Zzippy

Stheno wrote: »

Well I'm an IT bod so I'd be able to specify the special requirements for GIS in terms of the pc etc, and knowing what they used it for, requirements around that and how to manipulate it.

Does that mean I've technically an MsC in GIS?:pac:

Going on the interviews I did, you've a f*cking PhD as far as I'm concerned!

Stheno

Zzippy wrote: »

Going on the interviews I did, you've a f*cking PhD as far as I'm concerned!

That's desperate, in my IT department the GIS crowd were special, we knew loads about them and their requirements.

And i was the It manager so I knew nothing

Wang King

I'm doing a round of interviews at the moment for an entry level position in our company.... It's sapping my will to live

pickarooney

mfceiling wrote: »

What is the job title?

It's a shame that so many young people lack the most basic forms of social skills. Barely able to hold a conversation bar one or two word answers.

I wonder are the schools teaching by the book or are there any "maverick" teachers who go outside the box? Kids that have hundreds of "friends" on social media but really are unable to communicate socially at all.

Technical support agent. A few guys just upped and quit last week so we have several positions open. Unfortunately it's the guys who speak English, Dutch, German and Russian who are leaving and we need people who can at least hold a conversation in one of those languages as well as French. It's one thing to exaggerate your competencies in a technical area as you can hope they don't ask hard questions or bluff your way a bit but I don't get why people would pretend to speak a language on a CV. It's pretty hard to fake!