New York Public Library interview questions

It depends on the branch and HR and how fast they want to fill the position. When I applied to be a page, they wanted to fill up the position quickly. It was not stressful.

The process was convoluted and murky from the beginning, unfortunately. I was contacted on a Monday with options for interview times that week. I responded in the affirmative for a Wednesday interview and asked where I'd be meeting and whom. On Tuesday evening, my Wednesday appointment was confirmed, but without details on location or contact. I replied again asking for those details, and one more time on Wednesday morning, without response. On Wednesday, I managed to locate HR by visiting the main branch and then walking around the block until I spotted another NYPL building. I was buzzed upstairs and found myself in a locked elevator bank with a keypad that read, "Call your contact from call box." Since I had no information about my contact, I was stuck in the elevator bank until a passing employee let me in. I then was left in a waiting room of sorts. I had arrived 15 minutes prior to my interview time. Twenty-five minutes later (10 minutes after my interview was to have begun), an employee passed and asked me who I was there to see. When I told her, she said, oh, she'll be another 5-8 minutes. Fifteen minutes after that (40 minutes after I arrived and 25 minutes after my interview was to have begun), my HR contact appeared and waived me back to her office, without an apology for the wait or the lack of communication leading up to the interview. Upon sitting, she began assailing me with questions about my current organization's structure, seemingly more interested in comparing the two than discussing my qualifications and the position. She then cut me off sharply mid-sentence and picked up the telephone to make a phone call. She informed me that she was confirming that she needed to confirm that "they were ready for me." It was now approaching an hour after my interview was to have started and was after closing hours. I asked who I was meeting and she shushed me and told me she would let me know. I was then whisked off to another office and left unceremoniously, finally with the hiring manager. This portion of the interview lasted close to two hours and was extremely interesting and enjoyable. After having contemplated walking out of the waiting room earlier in the evening, I was glad I had stayed for this. By the time the interview wrapped up, I had been in the offices nearly three hours. I can't imagine what I would have done if I had had a train to catch, other plans or obligations. I have never known an organization to be so inconsiderate of an interviewee's time. As we wrapped up what seemed to me to have been a rather good conversation, I was asked to follow-up with samples, which I sent the following day, as well as handwritten notes to both the HR contact and the hiring manager. Neither the emailed samples nor the notes were acknowledged by either. I remain surprised that anyone would spend that much time interviewing a person and requesting samples simply to ignore them. I did rather enjoy the conversation, so if it appeared that I wasn't the right candidate, but it was still worth their time to keep me until 7:00 pm, I wish that had at least been acknowledged as a worthwhile networking opportunity among peers.