As I mentioned in the previous post, I had a job interview yesterday. It was terrible. It looked like they had known they would not hire me before they met me. It’s a Japanese company, and there ware five interviewers: one Canadian HR manager, two Canadian executives, one Japanese executive, and one young Japanese kid. The HR kept smiling at me, the Canadian executives looked very reluctant and only asked ordinary questions like “what did you learn at school?”, and what the Japanese ones technically did was asking questions, but those “questions” ware actually messages to me that they would not hire me. I like harsh questions because answering harsh questions is a good chance to show my ability. But their questions ware not harsh but mean. Why the hell did it happen?
It all makes sense if I suppose in this way; there is a rule in that Japanese company that they have to interview a certain number of candidates to hire one person, and I was not selected as one based on my resume. The HR knew it, felt bad to me, and kept smiling at me to make me feel less bad. The Canadian executives knew it, knew that the interview would only waste their time and that they had to do it because it was decided by Japanese executives, and ware so reluctant. The Japanese ones knew it, and since they are typical bossy Japanese bosses, they gave me mean messages. I don’t know. But it makes sense anyway. Typical Japanese people love to make rules to show that they are rule followers.
I really don’t know. But if that’s the rule, it’s so silly. They wasted their time, I wasted my time and gasoline (it’s in Palmerston and takes 1.5 hours drive one way), and above all, they made a very very bad image of the company. Even if it was not the rule, what makes them ask mean questions? As I mentioned, I like harsh questions, but there is a big difference between “harsh” and “mean”.
How mean? When the Japanese executive started his turn, he said “英語で訊けない事があるので日本語で話します (I should not ask those questions in English, so I ask in Japanese)”, and asked me “お歳はいくつですか (How old are you)?” HOW OLD ARE YOU??? Is this the first question in a job interview? No way! He asked the question knowing that it’s against the Canadian rule. Now I think I should have answered that question in English so that every Canadian there would know it.
In an old post, I wrote “charity is not for people”. If you do good things to people, those people will do good things to other people, and eventually someone else will do a good thing to you. Charity is not only for other people but also for yourself. The opposite is also true. If you do bad things to other people, it will eventually result in something bad for you. But that seems their corporate culture.
Another Japanese proverb goes “see people’s behavior and correct yours”. I should use this experience as an opportunity to learn. What mean things do I do to other people? How do I make other people feel terrible? What could it result in? They seem to have given me a good lesson.