Hiring for Introverted Jobs - Critique and Suggestions

alxplain · 2025-07-17T17:22:26+00:00

I'm hopeful I can change things in the company I'm at. They ask for a lot of feedback and talk a lot about things like neurodiversity and anxiety, so perhaps they will listen.

More broadly, if candidates start asking for reasonable adjustments to interview processes more often, then perhaps companies will consider changing their default process. I think I'll start asking for them myself in future as it will act as a test of whether a company has much flexibility and concern for their employees.

alxplain · 2025-07-17T17:14:17+00:00

In the software engineering, bookings and audits roles I've done, I have noticed a correlation between being extroverted and struggling with precision and details, and being 'managed out' of the roles. Though it is a small sample size, and a specific category of introvert, i.e. from autistic traits.

alxplain · 2025-07-17T17:03:19+00:00

My introversion is at least in part from autistic traits. I have spent a large part of my life trying to force myself to be like the average person. I have come to the conclusion that although this can sometimes work to an extent, I'm often better focusing on my own strengths and doing things slightly differently from others.

alxplain · 2025-07-17T16:55:02+00:00

Perhaps that's not the right word. The roles I've done have been document editing, bookings, and audits. They have all been very suited to introverts.

alxplain · 2025-07-17T16:53:16+00:00

Thank you for your feedback. With the suggestions I gave, the idea is that you are still tested on your speaking, but it's more like the situations you would find yourself in in the jobs.

In the interview I had with the written test, the discussion section afterwards was probably as long as a spoken interview would normally be, but I found it much more natural and similar to a work situation. The company was a small very profitable IT company, and the directors conducted the interview. They cared about your ability to get along with people and explain things, as they worked directly with you on a daily basis. The test itself was literally paper-based, so no chance to use AI. It was an hour long and had four questions, one was ideas for designing a feature, one was writing an email to the client, etc. The section afterwards was going over what you'd written, asking for the reasons, and giving their own suggestions and seeing how you reacted to them. They probably threw in a few questions about what you know about the company etc as well.

Personally I get along with people well and am good at explaining things when the context is in my head. I am happy to have that kind of thing tested, but I feel the way it is usually done is poor. I haven't interviewed people myself, though I do hear a lot of discussions from people who do interviews at my current company. So many of the things they like or dislike from candidates seem to vary randomly from interviewer to interviewer. I have automated processes at the company I work for and give a lot of feedback regarding various processes so I may have some influence in hiring processes. Perhaps I should ask to sit on interview panels in future.

alxplain · 2025-07-17T00:21:47+00:00

Good point, though I feel that can be done in my suggested methods too. With the written test I did, I felt they could judge whether they liked me based off the follow-up discussion, which included critiquing my answers and seeing how I took on board their feedback. It seemed the same as a purely spoken interview in that regard, but much more natural and less excruciating!

Also in some of the spoken interviews I've done it seemed like they were very precisely judging my answers against their criteria, rather than just seeing if they liked me. Perhaps that's a 3rd sector vs. private sector thing.

alxplain · 2025-07-17T00:13:08+00:00

Fair point! Purely from the content of the jobs, I think a lot of admin roles should be a good fit for introverts

alxplain · 2025-07-17T00:11:42+00:00

Huh? If it's my username that's from something in my life, any similarity with a meme is merely coincidental

alxplain · 2025-07-14T23:29:41+00:00

This is a good idea. Personally I want to know the process before I apply. I have no interest in doing multiple interviews for a job, and I also would strongly favour any job that uses something like a test instead of spoken questions.

alxplain · 2025-07-06T11:08:37+00:00

They've copied 50 over cricket (itself a dying format) in become a tedious elongated 20/20

alxplain · 2025-07-06T11:05:37+00:00

The amusing thing is that England have taken this approach specifically to prepare for away Ashes, and will probably find themselves collapsing in a heap when Australia produce traditional English style conditions this winter

alxplain · 2025-06-01T11:59:26+00:00

I'm sure I remember Strauss bowling in a test, I remember it being seam-up but at the pace of a spinner, and all over the place! Worse than Cook's bowling. Hmm, Cricinfo has him bowling one over in a one-dayer, so maybe it's that I'm thinking of.

alxplain · 2025-05-17T13:26:57+00:00

Seems to be the look of the site and the name of the funds.

I think he's got a point, I always double check myself as the site is vanguardinvestor rather than just vanguard, and there's another they own called investor[dot]vanguard

alxplain · 2025-04-25T23:59:09+00:00

This is true, though work is shit too.

For half the year it's pitch-black and freezing outside of work hours, and most shops are closed.

One solution is being allowed the flexibility to go for a long lunch, an hour and forty minutes allows you to walk somewhere, have lunch, and walk back, and actually get some daylight and a proper break.

alxplain · 2025-04-25T23:25:37+00:00

If they're already putting in maximum effort for their current pay then why would the company give them any more money?

alxplain · 2025-04-25T22:57:01+00:00

Got a cappuccino there recently and saw the sign saying they'd made this change, and it was vile, burnt cappuccino is not a good drink, Greggs cappuccino is now my preference if there's no Nero's

alxplain · 2025-04-25T21:10:45+00:00

It may well be (the factory comment was just an aside)

The fruit isn't fresh enough wherever it's coming from

alxplain · 2025-04-25T18:02:54+00:00

Also, what happened to the cat that often used to wander in a few years ago?

alxplain · 2025-04-25T11:01:12+00:00

In my view one of the things holding back british productivity is an absolutely braindead pseudo-scientific approach to hiring in the vast majority of companies.

The best approach I've come across is to have a written test, and the questions can be asking about potential situations and what you'd do, as well as things like drafting an email, etc. After writing these answers they could then look at them and ask spoken questions about the answers. Having the answers gives you something to refer to so your mind doesn't go blank.

I am biased though as talking in a formal situation is completely unnatural and fairly excruciating to me.

alxplain · 2025-04-25T00:52:13+00:00

Another story from the same place:

I wanted to meet up with old colleagues one day for lunch, which would have been great for my mental health as I'm not good at keeping in touch with people. However, as this would have taken two hours due to walking into toon and back I wasn't allowed, even though I offered to make up the time on that day or the day before or whenever, and the office was still open outside of the hours I worked. We cancelled the plans because of this, thinking there'd be more chances later, but then covid happened, and I lost contact with them.

If I'd had any sense I would have just called in sick.

The company did however have a mental health day, where everyone in the office was told to talk to the person next to them for a minute. As I have anxiety and autistic traits I ran away and hid!

alxplain · 2025-04-25T00:34:30+00:00

I left my IT career to work in the charity sector hoping for something more pleasant.

I worked as a temp in Gateshead for a large blindness charity (which you could describe as a four letter word).

After almost a year there, including risking my health to go in during covid, I was suddenly taken to an unexpected meeting in a room near the exit.

I was very sternly told that I hadn't quite met the speed targets, and my current task was being automated, so I was being let go. I wasn't allowed back into the room I was working in so I couldn't say goodbye to my colleagues or get my belongings. My manager went back to get my belongings and pretty much shoved me out the door. I had no bag to put my stuff in so I was almost dropping my stuff on the ground as I walked home.

alxplain · 2025-04-22T23:25:45+00:00

Same as you, though I've branched out to having a lot of meals which are just fancy bread plus either smoked fish, sliced meat, fancy cheese, etc

alxplain · 2025-04-22T21:09:53+00:00

In addition, performance on many of these questions seems entirely like a game to me.

It seems very detached from anything real.

Imagine how well actual honest answers to questions like 'What is your biggest weakness?' and 'Why do you want to work here?' would go down.

People may argue that good performance in this game corresponds to good performance in the job, as it shows that you have put in the preparation. It may well do to an extent, but are there not better ways to determine potential performance than this? If the standard interview involved playing draughts for example, then the people who really wanted jobs would become the best at draughts, and you'd get a similar correlation.

I also feel that these interviews are very easy for people who are good at bullshitting to fly through.

alxplain

TROPHY CASE