[Mogura]

Seeing
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triggered a memory.

A couple of years ago I went on a job interview for a management position. We got to discussing management styles and approaches to dealing with issues of team dynamics when the hiring manager (who would have been my boss had I been hire) asked me about my MBTI. I stated as a matter-of-factly (and somewhat enthusiastically) that I was an INTJ. Since he had brought up the subject I decided to ask him his MBTI as well. He was an INTJ!

So, there we sat, marvelling at the fact that our personality type is so rare (yet suited for the type of job--IT) as well as the odds of making such a discovery at a job interview. We kind of bonded in the way that only overlords can. I thought that this would certainly give me a leg-up in my application.

I didn't get the job.

To this day, I've always wondered if the reason I didn't get the job was because he "knew how I thought". Of course, there is always the chance that someone better qualified, more experienced, etc. came along. But still I wonder.

I got a head's up from a source that his team was having some behavioral issues. So, chances are he was looking for someone to take on that burden. Hence, the management styles discussion. Perhaps he might have thought that I would just fire the team and replace them with Lego Mindstorm bots. Who knows?

As an INTJ, and putting yourself in a hiring manager's seat, would you be more likely or less likely to hire a fellow INTJ, all other things being equal (skills, experience, etc.)?

Oh, and if you have a job interview mystery, please post. Perhaps as a group we can make some sense of it all...

[Supaslim]

	Originally Posted by Mogura To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	We kind of bonded in the way that only overlords can.

I had an image of Dr. Evil and Darth Vader chatting over a cuppa joe in a Starbucks, somewhere.

Really though, if it was a management position, perhaps he was looking for an extrovert? I don't know.

If I were hiring, to be honest- I don't know if I would ask about the MBTI. After all, only you can type yourself, and many people tell you what they WANT to be typed as. Maybe not here, but elsewhere, I've encountered obvious extroverts and feelers claiming to be INTJ because it's less common. But then, I can't say what they are, because we're back to the only you can type yourself thing. If I were in the situation of the employer, I would just want the best qualified applicant who seems capable of exceeding expectations in the position being offered. Maybe he immediately decided you were exactly like him, and he couldn't see himself doing well in that position? I don't know.

Their are two similar situations I can bring to mind, but neither of them were job interviews- well, one kind of was. The first instance is when I was auditioning to join the university choir. I made it past the two required auditions, and the director had talked to me like I was in the choir (discussing robe fees, when practices were, etc). Next day, I got an email saying I didn't make the cut, and if I wanted to know why, I should email him back. I never did. I figured I didn't want to know (even if I did).

The other scenario was when I was applying to be an RA. I got past the first hurdle, the application and resume step. I made it through the interview favorably, too. Hell, a few of the judges even gave me thumbs up when they thought nobody was looking (I knew all of them). And then, I got informed that they had decided I wasn't RA material. Way to send mixed signals, right?

[Verge]

I'm in a management position at work and I've thought about taking on the role of being the hiring manager... but when I told the INTJ that I'm dating that, he told me that it's best that I don't because I wouldn't hire anyone. We don't get the best applicants.

That being said, I think I would be more likely to hire a fellow INTJ... I've been joking for a long time that we just need to clone me and have my clones do all of the work... I'm kind of serious when I say that, although no one ever thinks so.

In my opinion, the manager that interviewed you probably knew the whole "overlord" mindset that you had going and decided it would be best to hire someone that was easier to subordinate.

I don't mean this as an insult, but I think that while he may have really liked you from your chat and wanted to hire you, someone with better qualifications came along. That's the answer that makes the most sense to me. We don't often let emotional things like bonding get in the way of doing the logical thing, do we?

[Mogura]

	Originally Posted by Verge To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	In my opinion, the manager that interviewed you probably knew the whole "overlord" mindset that you had going and decided it would be best to hire someone that was easier to subordinate.

I should add that he would have been in another country. He needed someone to be autonomous.

As for not getting to job, I like to think the he somehow sensed that I'm a no-nonsense, no-bullshit kind of guy...
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[yoginimama]

	Originally Posted by Mogura To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I should add that he would have been in another country. He needed someone to be autonomous. As for not getting to job, I like to think the he somehow sensed that I'm a no-nonsense, no-bullshit kind of guy... To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

He might very well have decided that, much as he liked you personally, you were not a good fit with the overall corporate culture.

[MikeC]

It depends on the position. If it involves a lot of teamwork invoving interpersonal communication or public relations, I'd prefer not to. If the job is independent of others and requires a fair bit of analytical work, then I'd check his track record or call his character referees.

I won't hire someone just because he/she is like me.

	Originally Posted by Mogura To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Oh, and if you have a job interview mystery, please post. Perhaps as a group we can make some sense of it all...

Not quite a mystery, but...

At my first (real) workplace, I told the manager during the interview that I dropped out of my masters program, as I was busy battling a court case for something silly I did. Odd as it may seem, but the prosecutor became one of my character referees. All my friends left me then.

Granted that the manager knew my work, yet he hired me despite the minor setbacks. We still keep in touch, and I trickle down jobs to the old place now and again.

[soleilune]

	Originally Posted by Supaslim To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I had an image of Dr. Evil and Darth Vader chatting over a cuppa joe in a Starbucks, somewhere.

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My husband, an ENFJ, has referred to me as Dr. Evil on more than one occasion; Darth Vader once. He fondly refers to us as 'Pinky and the Brain'.

Back on topic, although I'd be interested in a potential hire's personality type I don't think it would matter at the interview stage. I look at qualifications, experience and what I can learn about how honest they are about those things, and how they might 'fit' in our workplace, during the interview. That's not to say the interviewer in this case works that way. If there were some issues of the type mentioned, INTJs aren't readily considered the best at handling them. (Although I think we can be. We may not be touchy-feely but we DO like to think outside the box. Firing is a less than creative solution, and frequently ineffective.)

That being said, I'm recognized as the best at what I do in my organization, but my perceived lack of people skills has been pegged as a reason not to promote me. I've seen this same thing suggested by other INTJs regarding their own work/career situations.

---------- Post added 05-22-2010 at 02:10 PM ----------

	Originally Posted by MikeC To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Not quite a mystery, but... At my first (real) workplace, I told the manager during the interview that I dropped out of my masters program, as I was busy battling a court case for something silly I did. Odd as it may seem, but the prosecutor became one of my character referees. All my friends left me then.

Hmmm... it sounds like you have an interesting story to tell, MikeC.

[gdavid]

	Originally Posted by Mogura To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I didn't get the job.

Maybe the decision had already been made, he knew you wont get the job and he said he was an INTJ only to comfort you. Or maybe he found someone cheaper or more skilled and decided after all the type wasn't so important. You could have called or emailed to ask... in fact you are still able to. I can come up with a variety of reason why you wouldn't get the job...

[Mogura]

	Originally Posted by gdavid To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	You could have called or emailed to ask... in fact you are still able to. I can come up with a variety of reason why you wouldn't get the job...

Actually, no.

Usually when I go to an job interview, there is an exchange of business cards. In a few cases there isn't, and I have always wondered why (They don't follow proper business protocol? They don't want someone contacting them for feedback? Etc.). In this case, I didn't get his business card, so there wasn't an exchange of contact info.

In hindsight, the job wasn't that big of a "loss". As I mentioned previously, it came with headaches...

[plushbug]

	Originally Posted by Mogura To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	As an INTJ, and putting yourself in a hiring manager's seat, would you be more likely or less likely to hire a fellow INTJ, all other things being equal (skills, experience, etc.)?

It would depend 100% on the job I was hiring for...

If I were hiring primarily to get the candidate's technical or specialist skill set into the organization, looking for someone task-focused, with good planning and organizing skills and the ability to work independently, I'd hire an INTJ without hesitation.

If, however, I were hiring into a position where I needed a candidate to be strongly people-oriented as well, sensitive to emotional and political undercurrents in a potentially fractious group, eg., in an active supervisory role responsible for any or all of team building, motivating and monitoring individuals' performance, staying alert to relationship issues within their work group (conflict resolution!) staying on top of discipline problems and handling disciplinary action nose-to-nose...not so readily. Not nearly so readily! because even if I felt that the person I was looking at had the necessary knowledge, people-handling skills, and even some degree of experience, at minimum I'd be leary of pushing any flavour of strong introvert into an intense, high-touch environment. We just don't do as well or get on as comfortably in such situations, as compared to, say, any of the EN-types, or ESTs.

My thought about your INTJ interviewer is that while he probably enjoyed having an INTJ candidate come through the doors (we don't happen along every day, after all!) if he was hiring for a team having "behavioural issues", there's a good chance you're correct in suspecting that he was looking for someone to bring in to handle these--either take on the burden, or at least act as a buffer between him and same--and recognized handing 'em off to another like himself mightn't be happiest solution for either of you.