Was this dumb on my part?

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today in a over the phone job interview this lady asked me some questions. One of her questions was......

Job lady: "How are you when meeting new people" and i responded "I get frightend when meeting new people"

and another question.

Job Lady: "How would your friends describe you." My answer too that question was "shy"



this job interview was for the possibility of me working in a big supermarket. More too the point do you think it was dumb some of the things i said in the interview?

Hey, at least you were honest. Your answers probably scared her off, though.

Why did it scare her off?


my parents wanted me too lie on the part where i said i was very shy around people. do u think that is wrong? I think my parents try too manipulate me in that aspect

they advertise for "someone who is 100% honest and trustworthy" and yet want them to lie on their application - I don't get it either...

if you lie now, they will find out later and it may cause problems either for them or you.

short term if you need the money, it's bad. long term, you will find an employer who is happy with you just the way you are, as you would be with them - and as such, can put 100% effort into what you do.

Working in a supermarket, you would often meet new people. You have told the employer that every time this happens you will be frightened. You need to offer more of an explanation, as you have just given the impression that you would either run away, or act like a deer in headlights. Say you find it frightening if you have trouble with lying, but also explain what you would do, i.e. show them that this wouldn't be a problem, that even though you are frightened you would still be friendly and helpful towards the new person. Try to avoid one word or short answers.

When your stocking shelves, people may ask you where something is. Your answer suggests you wouldn't even be able to answer "Where are eggs?"

You have to understand the job and give the right answer. You could have answered "I can be a little reserved, but I wouldn't have a problem helping customers find what they are looking for."

You didn't lie, but the answer was situation appropriate. You won't be getting to know customers on an intimate level, but they will ask questions about how to find things.

When they say 100% honest, they usually mean that you won't cheat them or steal from them.

I adopt a "no ask, no tell" policy when it comes to interviews, always put your best face forwards and worry about the negatives once you actually get the job. then you work through it. If you have to, word your response in such a way as it shows that you have the issue in hand and its not an issue

I once interviewed a guy who started the interview by saying "I have Asperger's and I'm just letting you know because I'm not good at social skills, but it's not a problem in my work performance." This was years ago, before I started studying ASD. I really appreciated his honesty and it explained his quirks, which, yes, I picked up on right away.

But even then, I would have hired someone with AS over someone who was NT and had, say, self esteem problems, or didn't really want the job. I might have assumed one of those things if he hadn't disclosed his AS to me. Managers are TRAINED to look for things like eye contact, how you sit, your tone of voice, etc. which most people with ASD cannot help. The "autistic look" has been often described as "aloof" and this is NOT what you want in an employee. But if you know that the person does indeed care about the job, no matter what their body language says, this goes a long way.

I didn't hire the guy because he had all the wrong skills for the position I had open and I didn't have anything coming up that I could have moved him to. But I say if you know you have problems in an interview, just tell them you're on the spectrum and then give them your own definition of what that means.

If you want the job you have to sell yourself to them. You have to be appealing to them. You have to give them a reason to hire you over someone else. Those answers did not.

Now that you know this, next time you can do better.

Nobody seems to have asked this yet, but honestly, if its a big supermarket, what position exactly were you applying for? This would affect my answer to your question.....

Also, did you really want to work at that supermarket? or did your parents talk you into applying? or was this on your own initiative?

You've already gotten alot of good perspective here. I think Oliveoilmom said it best though so far. Ill add that It was only dumb if you really wanted the job. Unfortunately the society we live in was not built for people on the spectrum. So sometimes we have to make ourselves appear to fit in better then we do to attain things we need or want.... Lying when it doesn't really matter or hurt anyone (Except possibly yourself, and no I don't count the "Corporation of whatever store chain" you were applying at as a person), is not a big deal IMHO. When the world only gives you two choices, you choose what you have to to survive, period.

Aldran

I don't think you should lie about something in a job interview if it's actually relevant to the job. They are going to find out you were lying once they hire you and you can't do it or perform poorly. If a job asked me how athletic I was and if I could lift a certain amount of weight even if lying got me the job they would quickly see that it was a lie when I started.

If I were asked "How are you when meeting new people" or "How would your friends describe you" I don't even know how to answer those. I'm shy and not good at meeting new people. I have very few friends and none that live near me and I don't even know how they would describe me.

There's a huge difference between lieing and brutal honesty.

^ This

There is a big difference. You can actually be too honest.

My sister-in-law has the problem of being too honest in interviews, and thus has great difficulty in securing work. She hasn't learnt that there are just some things people don't need to know.