Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Monotone interviews?

Does Wells have a guideline for managers to be emotionless/monotone in interviews?

I've had a couple interviews recently (totally different parts of the bank), and both managers were monotone, poker face, etc.

I can already hear the jokes about how I must have bored them 😄, but that's not the case. They were both monotone from start to finish, and I made a conscious attempt to not be that way so that I'd sound engaged (without being cheesy).

If they weren't interested in me, then it seems like the interview wouldn't have been scheduled at all...

So I'm wondering if acting robotic is a guideline so that interviewees can't allege that a different interviewee was given special treatment? I'm just guessing because I've never had interviews like this before, and they both happened within about a week of each other.

Both recruiters were nice, happy, enthusiastic. The interviewing managers were very wooden though.

Could just be a coincidence, but it also seems like Wells trying to avoid more allegations of discrimination in the interview process.

Or maybe I'm overthinking it 😄 (You know how your mind gets when you're anxious to leave your role and the suspense is getting to you.)

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| 1409 views | | 13 replies (last August 31, 2022) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1itAZm7c

13 replies (most recent on top)

The interviews are based upon a set of questions. I had to submit which questions I would use beforehand.

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Post ID: @1yam+1itAZm7c

Let me spare you the confusion and wasted time…. Here in HR we are soulless and do as we are told. We read from scripts and never really try to make things sounds like they are our own statements or questions.

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Post ID: @1uvl+1itAZm7c

I would suspect they already have someone in mind and are just going through the motions and not happy about it. You wasted your time and they hired bobby-jane in the cube next to them

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Post ID: @1nck+1itAZm7c

Hiring manager here. I try to stay neutral in interviews because I don’t want to give people false hope that they are the candidate we’ll hire - even when they may be! You’ve seen it on here, people who said everything went great, hiring manager loved them and they didn’t get the job.

I try not to be void of personality - the candidate should be interviewing me, too even if passively. I am pretty middle of the road emotionally and make comments like, “If selected for the position….”

It’s also true the DEI guidance is another layer of “stuff” to keep in mind while just trying to find someone with the right skills. And, of course, one more thing that can get you in hot water if you mess it up.

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Post ID: @1gqz+1itAZm7c

The interviewers are actually doing it the way it is supposed to be conducted. “Getting to know someone's real personality” does not result in hiring successful workers. You’re better off randomly picking from a stack of minimally qualified resumes. Performance matters, not personality.

Behavioral interviews, correctly done by trained interviewers, out-perform all the other interviewing techniques that people think work but don’t. Except hiring solely based on an IQ test. It out performs all other. Combined. The only thing to out perform IQ is SST. But it is a whole system of organization and even it still results in 25% of hires needing to be thrown back.

Not that anything solves the “boss wants to hire her sister’s best friend, so let’s skew our results” problem.

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Post ID: @1crf+1itAZm7c

Everyone is required to use an "interview guide". You're not able to free form your own questions or get to know the candidate. It's tedious for all parties. Name a time when you did an amazing task, etc. Managers hate it because you can't get to know someone's real personality. Anyone can Google these stupid questions.

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Post ID: @1hde+1itAZm7c

Every time I had that interview it’s because they already picked someone. I just tried to use it as practice until I met a team that was actually engaged

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Post ID: @ppg+1itAZm7c

Its the question guidelines to stay out of the bad press. Its also the managers that are here. Be glad you got that far as most recruiters are months behind.

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Post ID: @ztn+1itAZm7c

Yeeeaaahhh, I'm going to need you to come in Saturday and work on those TPS reports.

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Post ID: @pls+1itAZm7c

I guess you can only be so enthusiastic when you are forced by HR to ask 10 different “Can you tell me about a time….” form questions.

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Post ID: @mgv+1itAZm7c

Par for the course

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Post ID: @iua+1itAZm7c

It’s not you. It’s the people interviewing you. I’ve seen this before. Interviewing was just an HR formality. They already knew who they were going to hire.They were just going through the motions. Then again, with interviews on a Friday afternoon? Don’t give up. Interviewing takes a long time.

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Post ID: @oeb+1itAZm7c

Coincidence and overthinking. I say this because I just interviewed about six people in the past two months. Luckily, I hired before the renewed DEI garbage.

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Post ID: @nqb+1itAZm7c

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