Anyone here ever take a job interview just for practice?

[Bandit]

Every now and then a company will reach out to me on LinkedIn and try to push me to interview for a random position at their company. I usually say no since I'm not in the job market and I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now with my career. I decided to take a company up this week on a screener call/interview because I feel like with all this working from home I could probably use the interview practice. Am I crazy? Does anyone else do this?

[Peter_Black]

@bandit my mom does this actually. and it must work, anytime she has wanted to change jobs, she has a new one within like 2 weeks

[davesaddiction]

@bandit Always good to have connections and "one in the back pocket", but you also don't want to waste anyone's time or preemptively burn any bridges, so I'd only interview with companies that you actually would/could theoretically work for in the future, or that you'd actually seriously consider taking the job if they made you a great offer (10-20% more than you're making).

[Tripper]

@bandit I do it often. Anytime I'm contacted by a recruiter I take it as seriously as possible just incase something amazing materializes, and also to stay sharp as you're suggesting. Most recently and right before Rona, I went to offer with a transportation company. The job sucked and so did the office, but what I got from that interview was "hey you have it pretty good there guy." and I needed that at the time.

Even if I did take that job I bet I would have been canned real quick because Rona.

[ranwhenparked]

@bandit No, but I have gone in to interview at jobs I wasn't totally sure I wanted, and had the attitude of, "oh, well, if I don't get it, at least it's practice" , kind of similar, but I didn't take them exclusively or primarily for practice.

I also tried to intentionally bomb an interview once, for a job I really didn't want, which failed spectacularly and ended up with me being guilt tripped into taking the position.

[ibRAD]

@bandit I kinda did a few years ago. I had been interested in a company for a few years and noticed they had a pretty senior job opening so applied and got an interview. Interview went well, but I guess they liked someone better for the position at hand.

A couple of weeks later they called and said they had a place for me and to come for another interview. (incidentally, the guy that got the original job was part of the interview so I got to meet him at least!) I came and the job they had in mind was way below my skill level. Foot in the door and all that but I wasn't taking what I assume would have been a big pay cut and less challenging job when I already had a job I liked perfectly fine. I quoted them a very high salary/vacation requirement for the job at hand (would have been about right for the job I'd originally applied for) and surprise- they didn't hire me because I wanted too much. Oh well. I'm still happy at the company I was at back then.

[ttyymmnn]

@bandit

A job interview? No. A trumpet audition? Absolutely. And they are basically the same thing.

[AkioOhtori]

@bandit I came here to say "no" but based on your description go for it. I wouldn't actively seek one out, but the people who spam you on Linkedin deserve to have their time wasted. IIRC my former boss did this a couple times and ended up getting offered (and declining) a position for which he wasn't remotely qualified.

[SpecsGTP]

Yep. Sure have. It worked great for confidence building and working out some jitters and developing great responses to questions instead of just good ones. I got offered the job but turned it down.

Does it seem like a "jerk" move? Maybe, but what about when the roles are reversed and you interview for a job you never had a chance of getting because it was always going to a specific applicant and you were there just to fill the required number of interviewees that they had to have; I've been through that one too.

[MidEngine]

I have in the past, but have no interest going forward. So much of the interview is "tell me why we should invest time in you, convince us why you could be the leading candidate". Oh, and also you need to meet with ten different people, and it'll take a couple of months. Of course, no mention of salary other than "we're competitive". Fuck it, it's not worth the aggravation.

[Bandit]

@tripper said in Anyone here ever take a job interview just for practice?:

@bandit I do it often. Anytime I'm contacted by a recruiter I take it as seriously as possible just incase something amazing materializes, and also to stay sharp as you're suggesting. Most recently and right before Rona, I went to offer with a transportation company. The job sucked and so did the office, but what I got from that interview was "hey you have it pretty good there guy." and I needed that at the time.

Even if I did take that job I bet I would have been canned real quick because Rona.

That's a funny story and one reason I decided to take it. I'm curious where I stand within the market in terms of desired experience, salary, etc. This position is above my current level too so that's why it piqued my interest.

[Chariotoflove]

@bandit

Kinda sorta? When I was hunting for a faculty position, I took an offer to fly out and visit a department, even though I didn't think it likely it would end in a job. I thought it might still be good to give my talk and make some connections. I later thought I wasted my time. But the food was good.

[MM54]

My luck, my current employer would somehow find out through the grapevine and it'd end up coming back to bite me

[2Poor_sh2Furious]

@bandit my practice interview this summer turned into a starting date next month lol

[Bandit]

@mm54 said in Anyone here ever take a job interview just for practice?:

My luck, my current employer would somehow find out through the grapevine and it'd end up coming back to bite me

Wow that'd be harsh.

[Bandit]

@poor_sh said in Anyone here ever take a job interview just for practice?:

@bandit my practice interview this summer turned into a starting date next month lol

I get that. After I got my bachelors degree I planned on continuing my schooling and getting a masters and doctorate under one of my favorite professors, I took an on-location job interview with my current company primarily because I wanted to see what their offices were like. They ended up making me an offer I couldn't refuse so here I am today and I couldn't be happier with the decision. Funny how those sorts of things work!

[MybirdIStheword]

@bandit wow must be nice to be wanted...

[ToniCipriani]

I kind of did late last year. A company reached out to me for a position and did a few rounds of interviews. Wasn't super urgent to leave my current job.

[TexturedSoyProtein]

@bandit Speaking as someone whose job it is to regularly reach out to people for jobs at my company, there are varying degrees of on-target someone can be with their search and outreach. Myself I avoid bulk messaging mass quantities of raw keyword hits and instead send targeted outreach to people whose profiles I've actually read. Shocking, I know. Anyway, if this job is something that you could see yourself being a fit for, regardless of your current situation, it doesn't hurt to take the call and see if it maybe is a good opportunity. Otherwise if you don't really feel like you're a fit for the job it could be a waste of everyone's time.

[Bandit]

@texturedsoyprotein That's good to hear, glad I'm not entirely crazy following up on a job that seems like it could be a good fit even if I'm not actively job searching.

[i86hotdogs]

When I was job searching a few years ago, I would take every interview opportunity I could. Even if the job wasn't of interest. The downside to that, though, was 99% of those interviews were over the phone. So the in-person experience was still a little dry. It definitely helps knowing what kind of questions are asked in those interviews, especially in a field like mine.

[orneryduck]

Yes, just wanted a practice run and worked with a headhunter to get a feel for how the market was. To my surprise, one of the companies wanted to hire me but their budget was too low for the role. Bullet dodged as the relocated their corporate offices a year later and I wouldn’t have been down to move.

[pip bip]

@bandit hell no.

[Saracen]

I was actively interviewing for over a year to find a new position (would have been a lot shorter if it wasn't for COVID). I applied to a lot of openings and was also getting bombarded by recruiters. Since it had been so long since I was in the job market, I decided I would field as many relevant (to my experience and compensation requirements) interview requests I could, because I needed the practice.