Remember. If someone asks you what you're biggest weakness is, lie. Say something like "I tend to overperfect" or "I put in too many hours."

"I often bullshit on my resume" is right out.

The closest anyone will come to perfection is on their resume.

Ultimately, the best answer to, "Do you read the Wall Street Journal?", would have been, "You're kidding, right? Nobody reads that rag!"

You still don't get the job but you can see how it makes the story POP! The enjoyment you'd get from telling this story and describing the look on his face would be immeasurable, if only in your bar.

strangest one I was ever asked was "what would you write in your own obituary"

I couldnt answer, I was all of about 21 and still prit'near invincable.

...i still remember one interview where the female HR lady read one question that went

"How would you describe yourself in one word"

Without thinking, I said "good..."

Then it clicked - you know insert foot type thing. Wasn't even thinking that, but boy did I blush...

HR, a pretend job made up by people who havent a clue about real work.

The only position a person at HR is qualified to conduct an interview for is their own replacement. There are schools that put out these experts who don't have a clue as to any job but their own so they are reduced to asking inane questions made up by some psych department.

It seems even worse in any technical field. The applicants they forward for the position couldn't be any more unqualified if they tried. What is even more frustrating is hearing from people whom you would like to have on your team tell you they were rejected by HR or got lost in the shuffle. Our best people were hired only after they got hold of their future boss directly and had the boss hand the CV or resume to HR and say "Hire this one".

If I had to give one piece of advice to a young person hitting the real world it would be network. Get to know who is who in your chosen profession and get yourself known, even if it means doing some peon work. Things are a heck of a lot better once people know your name or know of you.

I hear a great way to network is to get a job in HR.

This admission of wrong doing is a hoot...and so akin to the arrogant crap we hear from the Libranos when they get caught stealing and lying.

First thing I noted was the use of the royal plural "we" in the missive...and then the standard non appology for driving a political policy.

PULL THE PLUG!!! this is a tax trough parasite that thinks its a damn extention of government....yet it escapes the democratic will.

How sick these mothercorpse axe grinders are.

My own interview with Goldman Sachs was also in New York, 20 years ago. They flew me down there, put me up in a hotel in the World Trade Centre and I spent a day meeting people.

They told me it went really well. The highest ranking guy I met was a partner who told me to follow up with him afterward, but apparently didn't explain that to the guy who'd set up the interviews.

As a result, when I attempted to contact the partner, the other guy got upset, thinking I was going over his head. I didn't get the job.

Even great companies like Goldman that don't involve HR can have dysfunctional hiring.