The too perfect applicant

I've wondered at the organisational chart myself, even when it isn't a question but a presentation at the start of the interview it seems pointless. "Hey, you! candidate, here is some information that is only relevant if you get the job and only then six months down the line. You have no control over this at all, and when the new CEO starts in June it will all change anyway, the people you see here today you will never see again! Coool, huh?!"

It's like getting the bus timetable during the interview to make sure you get there on Monday in 5 weeks time. IF you get hired.

Oh and the one time we went through this and I then recognized the CEO in the corridor 1.5 hours later, they thought I was mad for saying "is that the CEO from the presentation just now?".

I thought this was a fair question for CERN, specifically, to ask: bearing in mind it's the world-renowned centre of research and academic physics.

If you don't know the structure of CERN, at least vaguely, you might not be paying enough attention to recent developments in physics.

This is also a post on CERN's official recruitment blog. The question now potentially acts as a 'were you interested enough to read and follow-up on the information we gave you?' test.

>> Then, on the stressful occasion, the recruiter asked me to explain their organisation chart, with the names of departments heads, which I couldn’t recall accurately. Was this question a subtle way of giving me advice on or an assessment of my preparation?

> What's the point of this question?

For what it's worth: if you apply in the country I live in for a position in public services you will be asked something about who's who and if you aren't you better find a way to mention it in the oral interview.

Also, it's a mandatory bullet point on the list of every job coaching service to tell the unemployed to get to know the organization chart of the companies you send your resume to.

Care to elaborate for those of us not familiar with how it works with "just any other academic position"?)

I assume this blog is not just about the strictly academic jobs (postdocs, fellows), but all the other jobs (engineers, administration, civil construction, ...).

If you apply for a fellowship (or even as a summer student), the process is roughly (from hearsay, I have no inside knowledge): A few hundred people apply via web form. This is whittled down by formal criteria (completeness, qualifications, publications) to a handful, or a few dozen maybe. Then they might do video interviews with various groups (sometimes they don't know where the new hire is going to work exactly - a fellow gets to choose his/her area of interest). Then there is probably a lot of internal discussion an politics. If you are already well-known, or one of the groups is interested in you, you have a great advantage at this step. Finally, they invite you in for an in-person interview. From what I've heard, if you get that far and don't screw up, your chances are pretty good.

I was once asked to name the last 5 CEOs and the past major acquisitions of that bank during an interview. I was a junior software engineer not even working in that industry.